CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/win/me_v11.zip/ME.REF

Text File | 1994-10-17 | 1MB | 27,427 lines

* 01/01/AM

"They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."
                                                   --Joshua 5:12

   Israel's weary wanderings were all over, and the promised
rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce
Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land
which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of
the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may
be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in
active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with
Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a
cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a
double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls
between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we
have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can
cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with
exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall
begin to be "for ever with the Lord."

   A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do
service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is
no reason why the New Year's text should not still be true. "We
who have believed do enter into rest." The Holy Spirit is the
earnest of our inheritance; He gives us "glory begun below." In
heaven they are secure, and so are we preserve in Christ Jesus;
there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories
too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this
is not denied to us; they rest in His love, and we have perfect
peace in Him: they hymn His praise, and it is our privilege to
bless Him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on
earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like
the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels' food of old, and why
not now ? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the
fruit of the land of Canaan this year!

* 01/02/AM

"Continue in prayer."
                                                --Colossians 4:2

   It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred
Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in
furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing
promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, "Then
began men to call upon the name of the Lord;" and just as we are
about to close the volume, the "Amen" of an earnest supplication
meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling
Jacob--there a Daniel who prayed three times a day--and a David
who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we
see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of
commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but
the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain
that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to
be conspicuous in our lives. If He has said much about prayer,
it is because He knows we have much need of it. So deep are our
necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to
pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know
thy poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God?  Then, may the
Lord's mercy show thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a
Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant,
the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying
saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword,
the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be
a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father's face, and live in
thy Father's love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy,
humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ,
and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of His love. Pray
that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and
that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto
for this year must be, "Continue in prayer."

* 01/03/AM

"I will give thee for a covenant of the people."
                                                   --Isaiah 49:8

   Jesus Christ is Himself the sum and substance of the
covenant, and as one of its gifts. He is the property of every
believer. Believer, canst thou estimate what thou hast gotten in
Christ? "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
Consider that word "God" and its infinity, and then meditate
upon "perfect man" and all his beauty; for all that Christ, as
God and man, ever had, or can have, is thine--out of pure free
favour, passed over to thee to be thine entailed property
forever. Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent. Will it not console you to know that all these great
and glorious attributes are altogether yours?  Has he power?
That power is yours to support and strengthen you, to overcome
your enemies, and to preserve you even to the end. Has He love?
Well, there is not a drop of love in His heart which is not
yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of His love, and you
may say of it all, "It is mine." Hath He justice? It may seem a
stern attribute, but even that is yours, for He will by His
justice see to it that all which is promised to you in the
covenant of grace shall be most certainly secured to you. And
all that He has as perfect man is yours. As a perfect man the
Father's delight was upon Him. He stood accepted by the Most
High. O believer, God's acceptance of Christ is thine
acceptance; for knowest thou not that the love which the Father
set on a perfect Christ, He sets on thee now? For all that
Christ did is thine. That perfect righteousness which Jesus
wrought out, when through His stainless life He kept the law and
made it honourable, is thine, and is imputed to thee. Christ is
in the covenant.

     "My God, I am thine--what a comfort divine!
     What a blessing to know that the Saviour is mine!
     In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am,
     And my heart it doth dance at the sound of His name."

* 01/04/AM

"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ."
                                                  --2 Peter 3:18

   "Grow in grace"--not in one grace only, but in all grace.
Grow in that root-grace, faith. Believe the promises more
firmly than you have done. Let faith increase in fulness,
constancy, simplicity. Grow also in love. Ask that your love
may become extended, more intense, more practical, influencing
every thought, word, and deed. Grow likewise in humility. Seek
to lie very low, and know more of your own nothingness. As you
grow downward in humility, seek also to grow upward--having
nearer approaches to God in prayer and more intimate fellowship
with Jesus. May God the Holy Spirit enable you to "grow in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour." He who grows not in the
knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed. To know Him is "life
eternal," and to advance in the knowledge of Him is to increase
in happiness. He who does not long to know more of Christ, knows
nothing of Him yet. Whoever hath sipped this wine will thirst
for more, for although Christ doth satisfy, yet it is such a
satisfaction, that the appetite is not cloyed, but whetted. If
you know the love of Jesus--as the hart panteth for the
water-brooks, so will you pant after deeper draughts of His
love. If you do not desire to know Him better, then you love Him
not, for love always cries, "Nearer, nearer." Absence from
Christ is hell; but the presence of Jesus is heaven. Rest not
then content without an increasing acquaintance with Jesus.
Seek to know more of Him in His divine nature, in His human
relationship, in His finished work, in His death, in His
resurrection, in His present glorious intercession, and in His
future royal advent. Abide hard by the Cross, and search the
mystery of His wounds. An increase of love to Jesus, and a more
perfect apprehension of His love to us is one of the best tests
of growth in grace.

* 01/05/AM

"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the
light from the darkness."
                                                   --Genesis 1:4

   Light might well be good since it sprang from that fiat of
goodness, "Let there be light." We who enjoy it should be more
grateful for it than we are, and see more of God in it and by
it. Light physical is said by Solomon to be sweet, but
gospel light is infinitely more precious, for it reveals
eternal things, and ministers to our immortal natures. When the
Holy Spirit gives us spiritual light, and opens our eyes to
behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we behold
sin in its true colours, and ourselves in our real position; we
see the Most Holy God as He reveals Himself, the plan of mercy
as He propounds it, and the world to come as the Word describes
it. Spiritual light has many beams and prismatic colours, but
whether they be knowledge, joy, holiness, or life, all are
divinely good. If the light received be thus good, what must the
essential light be, and how glorious must be the place where
He reveals Himself. O Lord, since light is so good, give us more
of it, and more of Thyself, the true light.

   No sooner is there a good thing in the world, than a
division is necessary. Light and darkness have no communion;
God has divided them, let us not confound them. Sons of light
must not have fellowship with deeds, doctrines, or deceits of
darkness. The children of the day must be sober, honest, and
bold in their Lord's work, leaving the works of darkness to
those who shall dwell in it for ever. Our Churches should by
discipline divide the light from the darkness, and we should by
our distinct separation from the world do the same. In judgment,
in action, in hearing, in teaching, in association, we must
discern between the precious and the vile, and maintain the
great distinction which the Lord made upon the world's first
day. O Lord Jesus, be Thou our light throughout the whole of
this day, for Thy light is the light of men.

* 01/06/AM

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you."
                                                   --1 Peter 5:7

   It is a happy way of soothing sorrow when we can feel--"HE
careth for me." Christian!  do not dishonour religion by always
wearing a brow of care; come, cast your burden upon your Lord.
You are staggering beneath a weight which your Father would not
feel. What seems to you a crushing burden, would be to Him but
as the small dust of the balance. Nothing is so sweet as to

               "Lie passive in God's hands,
               And know no will but His."

O child of suffering, be thou patient; God has not passed thee
over in His providence. He who is the feeder of sparrows, will
also furnish you with what you need. Sit not down in despair;
hope on, hope ever. Take up the arms of faith against a sea of
trouble, and your opposition shall yet end your distresses.
There is One who careth for you. His eye is fixed on you, His
heart beats with pity for your woe, and his hand omnipotent
shall yet bring you the needed help. The darkest cloud shall
scatter itself in showers of mercy. The blackest gloom shall
give place to the morning. He, if thou art one of His family,
will bind up thy wounds, and heal thy broken heart. Doubt not
His grace because of thy tribulation, but believe that He loveth
thee as much in seasons of trouble as in times of happiness.
What a serene and quiet life might you lead if you would leave
providing to the God of providence! With a little oil in the
cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the
famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need
you care too? Can you trust Him for your soul, and not for your
body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, He has never
fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have done with
fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a
gracious God.

* 01/07/AM

"For me to live is Christ."
                                              --Philippians 1:21

   The believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do so
when God the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by grace
he was brought to see the dying Saviour making a propitiation
for his guilt. From the moment of the new and celestial birth
the man begins to live to Christ. Jesus is to believers the one
pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to part with all
that we have. He has so completely won our love, that it beats
alone for Him; to His glory we would live, and in defence of His
gospel we would die; He is the pattern of our life, and the
model after which we would sculpture our character. Paul's words
mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim and end
of his life was Christ--nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the
words of an ancient saint, he did eat, and drink, and sleep
eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul,
the heart of his heart, the life of his life. Can you say, as a
professing Christian, that you live up to this idea? Can you
honestly say that for you to live is Christ? Your business--are
you doing it for Christ? Is it not done for self-
aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, "Is that a
mean reason?" For the Christian it is. He professes to live
for Christ; how can he live for another object without
committing a spiritual adultery? Many there are who carry out
this principle in some measure; but who is there that dare say
that he hath lived wholly for Christ as the apostle did? Yet,
this alone is the true life of a Christian--its source, its
sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one
word--Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself,
praying to live only in Thee and to Thee. Let me be as the
bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work
or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, "Ready for either."

* 01/08/AM

"The iniquity of the holy things."
                                                  --Exodus 28:38

   What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a
disclosure is made! It will be humbling and profitable for us to
pause awhile and see this sad sight. The iniquities of our
public worship, its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness,
irreverence, wandering of heart and forgetfulness of God, what a
full measure have we there! Our work for the Lord, its
emulation, selfishness, carelessness, slackness, unbelief, what
a mass of defilement is there! Our private devotions, their
laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity, what a
mountain of dead earth is there!  If we looked more carefully we
should find this iniquity to be far greater than appears at
first sight. Dr. Payson, writing to his brother, says, "My
parish, as well as my heart, very much resembles the garden of
the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many of my
desires for the melioration of both, proceed either from pride
or vanity or indolence. I look at the weeds which overspread my
garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that they were
eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may
walk out and say to myself, 'In what fine order is my garden
kept!' This is pride. Or, it may be that my neighbours may
look over the wall and say, 'How finely your garden flourishes!'
This is vanity. Or I may wish for the destruction of the
weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is
indolence." So that even our desires after holiness may be
polluted by ill motives. Under the greenest sods worms hide
themselves; we need not look long to discover them. How cheering
is the thought, that when the High Priest bore the iniquity of
the holy things he wore upon his brow the words, "HOLINESS TO
THE LORD:" and even so while Jesus bears our sin, He presents
before His Father's face not our unholiness, but his own
holiness. O for grace to view our great High Priest by the eye
of faith!

* 01/09/AM

"I will be their God."
                                                --Jeremiah 31:33

   Christian! here is all thou canst require. To make thee happy
thou wantest something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this
enough? If thou canst pour this promise into thy cup, wilt thou
not say, with David, "My cup runneth over; I have more than
heart can wish"?  When this is fulfilled, "I am thy God," art
thou not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death,
but He who filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our
wishes who can measure? but the immeasurable wealth of God can
more than overflow it. I ask thee if thou art not complete when
God is thine? Dost thou want anything but God? Is not His
all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail?
But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest
rapturous delight. Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in
this thy portion, for God is the Maker of Heaven. Not all the
music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from living
strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, "I will be
their God." Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of
delight; come, bathe thy spirit in it; swim an age, and thou
shalt find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shalt
find no bottom. "I will be their God." If this do not make thine
eyes sparkle, and thy heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly
thy soul is not in a healthy state. But thou wantest more than
present delights--thou cravest something concerning which thou
mayest exercise hope; and what more canst thou hope for than
the fulfillment of this great promise, "I will be their God"?
This is the masterpiece of all the promises; its enjoyment makes
a heaven below, and will make a heaven above. Dwell in the light
of thy Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with His love.
Get out the marrow and fatness which this portion yields thee.
Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy.

* 01/10/AM

"There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."
                                                 --2 Timothy 4:8

   Doubting one! thou hast often said, "I fear I shall never
enter heaven." Fear not! all the people of God shall enter
there. I love the quaint saying of a dying man, who exclaimed,
"I have no fear of going home; I have sent all before me; God's
finger is on the latch of my door, and I am ready for Him to
enter." "But," said one, "are you not afraid lest you should
miss your inheritance?" "Nay," said he, "nay; there is one crown
in heaven which the angel Gabriel could not wear, it will fit no
head but mine. There is one throne in heaven which Paul the
apostle could not fill; it was made for me, and I shall have
it." O Christian, what a joyous thought! thy portion is secure;
"there remaineth a rest." "But cannot I forfeit it?" No, it is
entailed. If I be a child of God I shall not lose it. It is mine
as securely as if I were there. Come with me, believer, and let
us sit upon the top of Nebo, and view the goodly land, even
Canaan. Seest thou that little river of death glistening in the
sunlight, and across it dost thou see the pinnacles of the
eternal city? Dost thou mark the pleasant country, and all its
joyous inhabitants? Know, then, that if thou couldst fly across
thou wouldst see written upon one of its many mansions, "This
remaineth for such a one; preserved for him only. He shall be
caught up to dwell for ever with God." Poor doubting one, see
the fair inheritance; it is thine. If thou believest in the
Lord Jesus, if thou hast repented of sin, if thou hast been
renewed in heart, thou art one of the Lord's people, and there
is a place reserved for thee, a crown laid up for thee, a harp
specially provided for thee. No one else shall have thy portion,
it is reserved in heaven for thee, and thou shalt have it ere
long, for there shall be no vacant thrones in glory when all the
chosen are gathered in.

* 01/11/AM

"These have no root."
                                                     --Luke 8:13

   My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this
text. Thou hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have
been stirred and a lively impression has been made; but,
remember, that to receive the word in the ear is one thing, and
to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite another;
superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart,
and a lively impression of the word is not always a lasting one.
In the parable, the seed in one case fell upon ground having a
rocky bottom, covered over with a thin layer of earth; when the
seed began to take root, its downward growth was hindered by the
hard stone and therefore it spent its strength in pushing its
green shoot aloft as high as it could, but having no inward
moisture derived from root nourishment, it withered away. Is
this my case? Have I been making a fair show in the flesh
without having a corresponding inner life? Good growth takes
place upwards and downwards at the same time. Am I rooted in
sincere fidelity and love to Jesus? If my heart remains
unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may
germinate for a season, but it must ultimately wither, for it
cannot flourish on a rocky, unbroken, unsanctified heart. Let me
dread a godliness as rapid in growth and as wanting in endurance
as Jonah's gourd; let me count the cost of being a follower of
Jesus, above all let me feel the energy of His Holy Spirit, and
then I shall possess an abiding and enduring seed in my soul. If
my mind remains as obdurate as it was by nature, the sun of
trial will scorch, and my hard heart will help to cast the heat
the more terribly upon the ill-covered seed, and my religion
will soon die, and my despair will be terrible; therefore, O
heavenly Sower, plough me first, and then cast the truth into
me, and let me yield Thee a bounteous harvest.

* 01/12/AM

"Ye are Christ's."
                                            --1 Corinthians 3:23

   Ye are Christ's." You are His by donation, for the Father
gave you to the Son; His by His bloody purchase, for He counted
down the price for your redemption; His by dedication, for you
have consecrated yourself to Him; His by relation, for you are
named by his name, and made one of His brethren and joint-heirs.
Labour practically to show the world that you are the servant,
the friend, the bride of Jesus. When tempted to sin, reply, "I
cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ's." Immortal
principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin. When wealth is
before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ's, and
touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers?
Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ's.
Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing
nothing? Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the
sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry,
"No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ's. If I were not purchased
by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two
burdens; but I am Christ's, and cannot loiter." When the siren
song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply,
"Thy music cannot charm me; I am Christ's." When the cause of
God invites thee, give thy goods and thyself away, for thou art
Christ's. Never belie thy profession. Be thou ever one of those
whose manners are Christian, whose speech is like the Nazarene,
whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of heaven, that
all who see you may know that you are the Saviour's, recognizing
in you His features of love and His countenance of holiness. "I
am a Roman!" was of old a reason for integrity; far more, then,
let it be your argument for holiness, "I am Christ's!"

* 01/13/AM

"Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold:
but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber."
                                                 --1 Kings 22:48

   Solomon's ships had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat's
vessels never reached the land of gold. Providence prospers one,
and frustrates the desires of another, in the same business and
at the same spot, yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one
time as another. May we have grace to-day, in the remembrance
of this text, to bless the Lord for ships broken at Ezion-geber,
as well as for vessels freighted with temporal blessings; let us
not envy the more successful, nor murmur at our losses as though
we were singularly and specially tried. Like Jehoshaphat, we may
be precious in the Lord's sight, although our schemes end in
disappointment.

   The secret cause of Jehoshaphat's loss is well worthy of
notice, for it is the root of very much of the suffering of the
Lord's people; it was his alliance with a sinful family, his
fellowship with sinners. In 2 Chron. 20:37, we are told that the
Lord sent a prophet to declare, "Because thou hast joined
thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works." This was
a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been blest to
him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning's text we find
him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same vessels
with those of the wicked king. Would to God that Jehoshaphat's
experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord's people,
to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life
of misery is usually the lot of those who are united in
marriage, or in any other way of their own choosing, with the
men of the world. O for such love to Jesus that, like Him, we
may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; for
if it be not so with us, we may expect to hear it often said,
"The Lord hath broken thy works."

* 01/14/AM

"Mighty to save."
                                                   --Isaiah 63:1

   By the words "to save" we understand the whole of the great
work of salvation, from the first holy desire onward to complete
sanctification. The words are multum in parro: indeed, here
is all mercy in one word. Christ is not only "mighty to save"
those who repent, but He is able to make men repent. He will
carry those to heaven who believe; but He is, moreover, mighty
to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty
to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the
despiser of His name to bend the knee before Him. Nay, this is
not all the meaning, for the divine power is equally seen in the
after-work. The life of a believer is a series of miracles
wrought by "the Mighty God." The bush burns, but is not
consumed. He is mighty to keep His people holy after He has made
them so, and to preserve them in his fear and love until he
consummates their spiritual existence in heaven. Christ's might
doth not lie in making a believer and then leaving him to shift
for himself; but He who begins the good work carries it on; He
who imparts the first germ of life in the dead soul, prolongs
the divine existence, and strengthens it until it bursts asunder
every bond of sin, and the soul leaps from earth, perfected in
glory. Believer, here is encouragement. Art thou praying for
some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ is
"mighty to save." You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but
your Lord is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it
to put forth its strength. Does your own case trouble you? Fear
not, for His strength is sufficient for you. Whether to begin
with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is "mighty to
save;" the best proof of which lies in the fact that He has
saved you. What a thousand mercies that you have not found Him
mighty to destroy!

* 01/15/AM

"Do as thou hast said."
                                                 --2 Samuel 7:25

   God's promises were never meant to be thrown aside as waste
paper; He intended that they should be used. God's gold is not
miser's money, but is minted to be traded with. Nothing pleases
our Lord better than to see His promises put in circulation; He
loves to see His children bring them up to Him, and say, "Lord,
do as Thou hast said." We glorify God when we plead His
promises. Do you think that God will be any the poorer for
giving you the riches He has promised? Do you dream that He will
be any the less holy for giving holiness to you? Do you
imagine He will be any the less pure for washing you from your
sins? He has said "Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." Faith lays hold upon the promise of pardon, and it does
not delay, saying, "This is a precious promise, I wonder if it
be true?" but it goes straight to the throne with it, and
pleads, "Lord, here is the promise, 'Do as Thou hast said.'" Our
Lord replies, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." When a
Christian grasps a promise, if he do not take it to God, he
dishonours Him; but when he hastens to the throne of grace, and
cries, "Lord, I have nothing to recommend me but this, 'Thou
hast said it;'" then his desire shall be granted. Our heavenly
Banker delights to cash His own notes. Never let the promise
rust. Draw the word of promise out of its scabbard, and use it
with holy violence. Think not that God will be troubled by your
importunately reminding Him of His promises. He loves to hear
the loud outcries of needy souls. It is His delight to bestow
favours. He is more ready to hear than you are to ask. The sun
is not weary of shining, nor the fountain of flowing. It is
God's nature to keep His promises; therefore go at once to the
throne with "Do as Thou hast said."

* 01/16/AM

"I will help thee, saith the Lord."
                                                  --Isaiah 41:14

   This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of
us: "I will help thee." "It is but a small thing for Me, thy
God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What!
not help thee? Why, I bought thee with My blood. What! not help
thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will
I not do the less? Help thee! It is the least thing I will
ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more. Before
the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I
laid aside My glory and became a man for thee; I gave up My life
for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In
helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee
already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I
would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I
am ready to give. 'Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing
for me to bestow. 'Help thee?' Fear not! If there were an ant
at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin
thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing
but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. 'I will
help thee.'"

   O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength
than the omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more
wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself
in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of
the Spirit? Bring hither thine empty pitcher! Surely this well
will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring them
here--thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs. Behold, this river
of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go
forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine
helper!

       "Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismay'd!
       I, I am thy God, and will still give thee aid."

* 01/17/AM

"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion."
                                               --Revelation 14:1

   The apostle John was privileged to look within the gates of
heaven, and in describing what he saw, he begins by saying, "I
looked, and, lo, a Lamb!" This teaches us that the chief object
of contemplation in the heavenly state is "the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sins of the world." Nothing else attracted
the apostle's attention so much as the person of that Divine
Being, who hath redeemed us by His blood. He is the theme of the
songs of all glorified spirits and holy angels. Christian, here
is joy for thee; thou hast looked, and thou hast seen the Lamb.
Through thy tears thine eyes have seen the Lamb of God taking
away thy sins. Rejoice, then. In a little while, when thine eyes
shall have been wiped from tears, thou wilt see the same Lamb
exalted on His throne. It is the joy of thy heart to hold
daily fellowship with Jesus; thou shalt have the same joy to a
higher degree in heaven; thou shalt enjoy the constant vision of
His presence; thou shalt dwell with Him for ever. "I looked,
and, lo, a Lamb!" Why, that Lamb is heaven itself; for as good
Rutherford says, "Heaven and Christ are the same thing;" to be
with Christ is to be in heaven, and to be in heaven is to be
with Christ. That prisoner of the Lord very sweetly writes in
one of his glowing letters--"O my Lord Jesus Christ, if I could
be in heaven without thee, it would be a hell; and if I could be
in hell, and have thee still, it would be a heaven to me, for
thou art all the heaven I want." It is true, is it not,
Christian? Does not thy soul say so?

                 "Not all the harps above
                 Can make a heavenly place,
                 If God His residence remove,
                 Or but conceal His face."

All thou needest to make thee blessed, supremely blessed, is "to
be with Christ."

* 01/18/AM

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
                                                   --Hebrews 4:9

   How different will be the state of the believer in heaven
from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer
weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never
known. Anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength
unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, "Help me to serve
Thee, O my God." If he be thoroughly active, he will have much
labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his
power, so that he will cry out, "I am not wearied of the
labour, but I am wearied in it." Ah! Christian, the hot day
of weariness lasts not for ever; the sun is nearing the horizon;
it shall rise again with a brighter day than thou hast ever seen
upon a land where they serve God day and night, and yet rest
from their labours. Here, rest is but partial, there, it is
perfect. Here, the Christian is always unsettled; he feels
that he has not yet attained. There, all are at rest; they
have attained the summit of the mountain; they have ascended to
the bosom of their God. Higher they cannot go. Ah, toil-worn
labourer, only think when thou shalt rest for ever! Canst thou
conceive it? It is a rest eternal; a rest that "remaineth."
Here, my best joys bear "mortal" on their brow; my fair flowers
fade; my dainty cups are drained to dregs; my sweetest birds
fall before Death's arrows; my most pleasant days are shadowed
into nights; and the flood-tides of my bliss subside into ebbs
of sorrow; but there, everything is immortal; the harp abides
unrusted, the crown unwithered, the eye undimmed, the voice
unfaltering, the heart unwavering, and the immortal being is
wholly absorbed in infinite delight. Happy day! happy! when
mortality shall be swallowed up of life, and the Eternal Sabbath
shall begin.

* 01/19/AM

"I sought him, but I found him not."
                                          --Song of Solomon 3:1

   Tell me where you lost the company of a Christ, and I will
tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost
Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there
you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You
will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the
sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in
which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting
the Scriptures?  You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is
a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is
there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not
gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan
tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the
Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever
travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile
back for the lost evidence.

   Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to
Him. But how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you
would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose
presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose
company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch Him
every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you
have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even
though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find
Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord.
Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a
tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the
tempest--not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart
seek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself
thoroughly up to the search, and verily, thou shalt yet discover
Him to thy joy and gladness.

* 01/20/AM

"Abel was a keeper of sheep."
                                                   --Genesis 4:2

   As a shepherd Abel sanctified his work to the glory of God,
and offered a sacrifice of blood upon his altar, and the Lord
had respect unto Abel and his offering. This early type of our
Lord is exceedingly clear and distinct. Like the first streak of
light which tinges the east at sunrise, it does not reveal
everything, but it clearly manifests the great fact that the sun
is coming. As we see Abel, a shepherd and yet a priest, offering
a sacrifice of sweet smell unto God, we discern our Lord, who
brings before His Father a sacrifice to which Jehovah ever hath
respect. Abel was hated by his brother--hated without a cause;
and even so was the Saviour: the natural and carnal man hated
the accepted man in whom the Spirit of grace was found, and
rested not until his blood had been shed. Abel fell, and
sprinkled his altar and sacrifice with his own blood, and
therein sets forth the Lord Jesus slain by the enmity of man
while serving as a priest before the Lord. "The good Shepherd
layeth down His life for the sheep." Let us weep over Him as we
view Him slain by the hatred of mankind, staining the horns of
His altar with His own blood. Abel's blood speaketh. "The Lord
said unto Cain, 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me
from the ground.'" The blood of Jesus hath a mighty tongue, and
the import of its prevailing cry is not vengeance but mercy. It
is precious beyond all preciousness to stand at the altar of our
good Shepherd! to see Him bleeding there as the slaughtered
priest, and then to hear His blood speaking peace to all His
flock, peace in our conscience, peace between Jew and Gentile,
peace between man and his offended Maker, peace all down the
ages of eternity for blood-washed men. Abel is the first
shepherd in order of time, but our hearts shall ever place Jesus
first in order of excellence. Thou great Keeper of the sheep, we
the people of Thy pasture bless Thee with our whole hearts when
we see Thee slain for us.

* 01/21/AM

"And so all Israel shall be saved."
                                                  --Romans 11:26

   Then Moses sang at the Red Sea, it was his joy to know that
all Israel were safe. Not a drop of spray fell from that solid
wall until the last of God's Israel had safely planted his foot
on the other side the flood. That done, immediately the floods
dissolved into their proper place again, but not till then. Part
of that song was, "Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people
which thou hast redeemed." In the last time, when the elect
shall sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the
Lamb, it shall be the boast of Jesus, "Of all whom thou hast
given me, I have lost none." In heaven there shall not be a
vacant throne.

              "For all the chosen race
              Shall meet around the throne,
              Shall bless the conduct of His grace,
              And make His glories known."

As many as God hath chosen, as many as Christ hath redeemed, as
many as the Spirit hath called, as many as believe in Jesus,
shall safely cross the dividing sea. We are not all safely
landed yet:

           "Part of the host have crossed the flood,
           And part are crossing now."

The vanguard of the army has already reached the shore. We are
marching through the depths; we are at this day following hard
after our Leader into the heart of the sea. Let us be of good
cheer: the rear-guard shall soon be where the vanguard already
is; the last of the chosen ones shall soon have crossed the sea,
and then shall be heard the song of triumph, when all are
secure. But oh! if one were absent--oh! if one of His chosen
family should be cast away--it would make an everlasting discord
in the song of the redeemed, and cut the strings of the harps of
paradise, so that music could never be extorted from them.

* 01/22/AM

"Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a
branch which is among the trees of the forest?"
                                                  --Ezekiel 15:2

   These words are for the humbling of God's people; they are
called God's vine, but what are they by nature more than others?
They, by God's goodness, have become fruitful, having been
planted in a good soil; the Lord hath trained them upon the
walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to His glory;
but what are they without their God? What are they without the
continual influence of the Spirit, begetting fruitfulness in
them? O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast
no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make
thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to
God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a
debtor. Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast.
Consider what thou wouldst have been but for divine grace. Look
upon thyself as thou art now. Doth not thy conscience reproach
thee? Do not thy thousand wanderings stand before thee, and tell
thee that thou art unworthy to be called His son? And if He hath
made thee anything, art thou not taught thereby that it is grace
which hath made thee to differ? Great believer, thou wouldst
have been a great sinner if God had not made thee to differ. O
thou who art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have been as
valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon thee.
Therefore, be not proud, though thou hast a large estate--a wide
domain of grace, thou hadst not once a single thing to call
thine own except thy sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation,
that thou, who hast borrowed everything, shouldst think of
exalting thyself; a poor dependent pensioner upon the bounty of
thy Saviour, one who hath a life which dies without fresh
streams of life from Jesus, and yet proud! Fie on thee, O silly
heart!

* 01/23/AM

"I have exalted one chosen out of the people."
                                                   --Psalm 89:19

   Why was Christ chosen out of the people?  Speak, my heart,
for heart-thoughts are best. Was it not that He might be able
to be our brother, in the blest tie of kindred blood? Oh, what
relationship there is between Christ and the believer! The
believer can say, "I have a Brother in heaven; I may be poor,
but I have a Brother who is rich, and is a King, and will He
suffer me to want while He is on His throne? Oh, no! He loves
me; He is my Brother." Believer, wear this blessed thought, like
a necklace of diamonds, around the neck of thy memory; put it,
as a golden ring, on the finger of recollection, and use it as
the King's own seal, stamping the petitions of thy faith with
confidence of success. He is a brother born for adversity, treat
Him as such.

   Christ was also chosen out of the people that He might know
our wants and sympathize with us. "He was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin." In all our sorrows we have His
sympathy. Temptation, pain, disappointment, weakness, weariness,
poverty--He knows them all, for He has felt all. Remember this,
Christian, and let it comfort thee. However difficult and
painful thy road, it is marked by the footsteps of thy Saviour;
and even when thou reachest the dark valley of the shadow of
death, and the deep waters of the swelling Jordan, thou wilt
find His footprints there. In all places whithersoever we go, He
has been our forerunner; each burden we have to carry, has once
been laid on the shoulders of Immanuel.

      "His way was much rougher and darker than mine
      Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?"

Take courage! Royal feet have left a blood-red track upon the
road, and consecrated the thorny path for ever.

* 01/24/AM

"Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler."
                                                    --Psalm 91:3

   God delivers His people from the snare of the fowler in two
senses. From, and out of. First, He delivers them from the
snare--does not let them enter it; and secondly, if they should
be caught therein, He delivers them out of it. The first
promise is the most precious to some; the second is the best to
others.

   "He shall deliver thee from the snare." How? Trouble is
often the means whereby God delivers us. God knows that our
backsliding will soon end in our destruction, and He in mercy
sends the rod. We say, "Lord, why is this?" not knowing that our
trouble has been the means of delivering us from far greater
evil. Many have been thus saved from ruin by their sorrows and
their crosses; these have frightened the birds from the net. At
other times, God keeps His people from the snare of the fowler
by giving them great spiritual strength, so that when they are
tempted to do evil they say, "How can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?" But what a blessed thing it is
that if the believer shall, in an evil hour, come into the net,
yet God will bring him out of it! O backslider, be cast down,
but do not despair. Wanderer though thou hast been, hear what
thy Redeemer saith--"Return, O backsliding children; I will have
mercy upon you." But you say you cannot return, for you are a
captive. Then listen to the promise--"Surely He shall deliver
thee out of the snare of the fowler." Thou shalt yet be brought
out of all evil into which thou hast fallen, and though thou
shalt never cease to repent of thy ways, yet He that hath loved
thee will not cast thee away; He will receive thee, and give
thee joy and gladness, that the bones which He has broken may
rejoice. No bird of paradise shall die in the fowler's net.

* 01/25/AM

"I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the
praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath
bestowed on us."
                                                  --Isaiah 63:7

   And canst thou not do this? Are there no mercies which thou
hast experienced? What though thou art gloomy now, canst thou
forget that blessed hour when Jesus met thee, and said, "Come
unto me"? Canst thou not remember that rapturous moment when He
snapped thy fetters, dashed thy chains to the earth, and said,
"I came to break thy bonds and set thee free"? Or if the love
of thine espousals be forgotten, there must surely be some
precious milestone along the road of life not quite grown over
with moss, on which thou canst read a happy memorial of His
mercy towards thee? What, didst thou never have a sickness like
that which thou art suffering now, and did He not restore thee?
Wert thou never poor before, and did He not supply thy wants?
Wast thou never in straits before, and did He not deliver thee?
Arise, go to the river of thine experience, and pull up a few
bulrushes, and plait them into an ark, wherein thine infant-
faith may float safely on the stream. Forget not what thy God
has done for thee; turn over the book of thy remembrance, and
consider the days of old. Canst thou not remember the hill
Mizar? Did the Lord never meet with thee at Hermon? Hast thou
never climbed the Delectable Mountains? Hast thou never been
helped in time of need? Nay, I know thou hast. Go back, then, a
little way to the choice mercies of yesterday, and though all
may be dark now, light up the lamps of the past, they shall
glitter through the darkness, and thou shalt trust in the Lord
till the day break and the shadows flee away. "Remember, O
Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses, for they
have been ever of old."

* 01/26/AM

"Your heavenly Father."
                                                 --Matthew 6:26

   God's people are doubly His children, they are His offspring
by creation, and they are His sons by adoption in Christ. Hence
they are privileged to call Him, "Our Father which art in
heaven." Father! Oh, what precious word is that. Here is
authority: "If I be a Father, where is mine honour?" If ye be
sons, where is your obedience? Here is affection mingled with
authority; an authority which does not provoke rebellion; an
obedience demanded which is most cheerfully rendered--which
would not be withheld even if it might. The obedience which
God's children yield to Him must be loving obedience. Do not
go about the service of God as slaves to their taskmaster's
toil, but run in the way of His commands because it is your
Father's way. Yield your bodies as instruments of
righteousness, because righteousness is your Father's will, and
His will should be the will of His child. Father!--Here is
a kingly attribute so sweetly veiled in love, that the King's
crown is forgotten in the King's face, and His sceptre becomes,
not a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy--the sceptre
indeed seems to be forgotten in the tender hand of Him who
wields it. Father!--Here is honour and love. How great is a
Father's love to his children! That which friendship cannot do,
and mere benevolence will not attempt, a father's heart and
hand must do for his sons. They are his offspring, he must
bless them; they are his children, he must show himself strong
in their defence. If an earthly father watches over his
children with unceasing love and care, how much more does our
heavenly Father? Abba, Father! He who can say this, hath
uttered better music than cherubim or seraphim can reach. There
is heaven in the depth of that word--Father! There is all I can
ask; all my necessities can demand; all my wishes can desire. I
have all in all to all eternity when I can say, "Father."

* 01/27/AM

"And of his fulness have all we received."
                                                     --John 1:16

   These words tell us that there is a fulness in Christ. There
is a fulness of essential Deity, for "in Him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead." There is a fulness of perfect manhood,
for in Him, bodily, that Godhead was revealed. There is a
fulness of atoning efficacy in His blood, for "the blood of
Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." There is a
fulness of justifying righteousness in His life, for "there is
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus." There is a fulness of divine prevalence in His plea,
for "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto
God by Him; seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for
them." There is a fulness of victory in His death, for through
death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the
devil. There is a fulness of efficacy in His resurrection from
the dead, for by it "we are begotten again unto a lively hope."
There is a fuIness of triumph in His ascension, for "when He
ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received
gifts for men." There is a fulness of blessings of every sort
and shape; a fulness of grace to pardon, of grace to
regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of
grace to perfect. There is a fulness at all times; a fulness of
comfort in affliction; a fulness of guidance in prosperity. A
fulness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of
love; a fulness which it were impossible to survey, much less
to explore. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all
fulness dwell." Oh, what a fulness must this be of which all
receive! Fulness, indeed, must there be when the stream is
always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich,
as full as ever. Come, believer, and get all thy need supplied;
ask largely, and thou shalt receive largely, for this "fulness"
is inexhaustible, and is treasured up where all the needy may
reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel--God with us.

* 01/28/AM

"Perfect in Christ Jesus."
                                              --Colossians 1:28

   Do you not feel in your own soul that perfection is not in
you? Does not every day teach you that? Every tear which
trickles from your eye, weeps "imperfection"; every harsh word
which proceeds from your lip, mutters "imperfection." You have
too frequently had a view of your own heart to dream for a
moment of any perfection in yourself. But amidst this sad
consciousness of imperfection, here is comfort for you--you are
"perfect in Christ Jesus."In God's sight, you are "complete
in Him;" even now you are "accepted in the Beloved." But
there is a second perfection, yet to be realized, which is sure
to all the seed. Is it not delightful to look forward to the
time when every stain of sin shall be removed from the
believer, and he shall be presented faultless before the
throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing? The Church
of Christ then will be so pure, that not even the eye of
Omniscience will see a spot or blemish in her; so holy and so
glorious, that Hart did not go beyond the truth when he said--

                 "With my Saviour's garments on,
                 Holy as the Holy One."

Then shall we know, and taste, and feel the happiness of this
vast but short sentence, "Complete in Christ." Not till then
shall we fully comprehend the heights and depths of the
salvation of Jesus. Doth not thy heart leap for joy at the
thought of it? Black as thou art, thou shalt be white one day;
filthy as thou art, thou shalt be clean. Oh, it is a marvellous
salvation this! Christ takes a worm and transforms it into an
angel; Christ takes a black and deformed thing and makes it
clean and matchless in His glory, peerless in His beauty, and
fit to be the companion of seraphs. O my soul, stand and admire
this blessed truth of perfection in Christ.

* 01/29/AM

"The things which are not seen."
                                           --2 Corinthians 4:18

   In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part,
to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown, and onward is
the goal. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or
for the inspiring of our love, the future must, after all, be
the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future
we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the
soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Looking further yet, the believer's
enlightened eye can see death's river passed, the gloomy stream
forded, and the hills of light attained on which standeth the
celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates,
hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ,
embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with Him, and made to
sit together with Him on His throne, even as He has overcome
and has sat down with the Father on His throne. The thought of
this future may well relieve the darkness of the past and the
gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will surely compensate
for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is but a
narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how
short--eternity, how long! Death, how brief--immortality, how
endless! Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol's clusters, and sip
of the well which is within the gate. The road is so, so short!
I shall soon be there.

           "When the world my heart is rending
           With its heaviest storm of care,
           My glad thoughts to heaven ascending,
           Find a refuge from despair.
           Faith's bright vision shall sustain me
           Till life's pilgrimage is past;
           Fears may vex and troubles pain me,
           I shall reach my home at last."

* 01/30/AM

"When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the
mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself."
                                                --2 Samuel 5:24

   The members of Christ's Church should be very prayerful,
always seeking the unction of the Holy One to rest upon their
hearts, that the kingdom of Christ may come, and that His "will
be done on earth, even as it is in heaven;" but there are times
when God seems especially to favour Zion, such seasons ought to
be to them like "the sound of a going in the tops of the
mulberry trees." We ought then to be doubly prayerful, doubly
earnest, wrestling more at the throne than we have been wont to
do. Action should then be prompt and vigorous. The tide is
flowing--now let us pull manfully for the shore. O for
Pentecostal outpourings and Pentecostal labours. Christian, in
yourself there are times "when thou hearest the sound of a
going in the tops of the mulberry trees." You have a peculiar
power in prayer; the Spirit of God gives you joy and gladness;
the Scripture is open to you; the promises are applied; you
walk in the light of God's countenance; you have peculiar
freedom and liberty in devotion, and more closeness of
communion with Christ than was your wont. Now, at such joyous
periods when you hear the "sound of a going in the tops of the
mulberry trees," is the time to bestir yourself; now is the
time to get rid of any evil habit, while God the Spirit helpeth
your infirmities. Spread your sail; but remember what you
sometimes sing--

        "I can only spread the sail;
        Thou! Thou! must breathe the auspicious gale."

Only be sure you have the sail up. Do not miss the gale for
want of preparation for it. Seek help of God, that you may be
more earnest in duty when made more strong in faith; that you
may be more constant in prayer when you have more liberty at
the throne; that you may be more holy in your conversation
whilst you live more closely with Christ.

* 01/31/AM

"The Lord our Righteousness."
                                                --Jeremiah 23:6

   It will always give a Christian the greatest calm, quiet,
ease, and peace, to think of the perfect righteousness of
Christ. How often are the saints of God downcast and sad! I do
not think they ought to be. I do not think they would if they
could always see their perfection in Christ. There are some who
are always talking about corruption, and the depravity of the
heart, and the innate evil of the soul. This is quite true, but
why not go a little further, and remember that we are "perfect
in Christ Jesus." It is no wonder that those who are dwelling
upon their own corruption should wear such downcast looks; but
surely if we call to mind that "Christ is made unto us
righteousness," we shall be of good cheer. What though
distresses afflict me, though Satan assault me, though there may
be many things to be experienced before I get to heaven, those
are done for me in the covenant of divine grace; there is
nothing wanting in my Lord, Christ hath done it all. On the
cross He said, "It is finished!" and if it be finished, then am
I complete in Him, and can rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, "Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith." You will not find on
this side heaven a holier people than those who receive into
their hearts the doctrine of Christ's righteousness. When the
believer says, "I live on Christ alone; I rest on Him solely for
salvation; and I believe that, however unworthy, I am still
saved in Jesus;" then there rises up as a motive of gratitude
this thought-- "Shall I not live to Christ? Shall I not love Him
and serve Him, seeing that I am saved by His merits?" "The love
of Christ constraineth us," "that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him which died for
them." If saved by imputed righteousness, we shall greatly value
imparted righteousness.
* 02/01/AM

"They shall sing in the ways of the Lord."
                                                   --Psalm 138:5

   The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the
Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the
Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the
first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the
forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He
says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave
three great leaps, and went on his way singing--

        "Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be
        The Man that there was put to shame for me!"

Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off?
Do you remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have
loved thee with an everlasting love; I have blotted out as a
cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins; they
shall not be mentioned against thee any more for ever." Oh! what
a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin.
When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I
could scarce refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home
from the house where I had been set at liberty, that I must tell
the stones in the street the story of my deliverance. So full
was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake that
was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had
blotted out the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is
not only at the commencement of the Christian life that
believers have reason for song; as long as they live they
discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their
experience of His constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I
will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually
be in my mouth." See to it, brother, that thou magnifiest the
Lord this day.

             "Long as we tread this desert land,
             New mercies shall new songs demand."

* 02/02/AM

"Without the shedding of blood is no remission."
                                                  --Hebrews 9:22

   This is the voice of unalterable truth. In none of the Jewish
ceremonies were sins, even typically, removed without blood-
shedding. In no case, by no means can sin be pardoned without
atonement. It is clear, then, that there is no hope for me out
of Christ; for there is no other blood-shedding which is worth a
thought as an atonement for sin. Am I, then, believing in Him?
Is the blood of His atonement truly applied to my soul? All men
are on a level as to their need of Him. If we be never so moral,
generous, amiable, or patriotic, the rule will not be altered to
make an exception for us. Sin will yield to nothing less potent
than the blood of Him whom God hath set forth as a propitiation.
What a blessing that there is the one way of pardon! Why should
we seek another?

   Persons of merely formal religion cannot understand how we
can rejoice that all our sins are forgiven us for Christ's sake.
Their works, and prayers, and ceremonies, give them very poor
comfort; and well may they be uneasy, for they are neglecting
the one great salvation, and endeavouring to get remission
without blood. My soul, sit down, and behold the justice of God
as bound to punish sin; see that punishment all executed upon
thy Lord Jesus, and fall down in humble joy, and kiss the dear
feet of Him whose blood has made atonement for thee. It is in
vain when conscience is aroused to fly to feelings and evidences
for comfort: this is a habit which we learned in the Egypt of
our legal bondage. The only restorative for a guilty conscience
is a sight of Jesus suffering on the cross. "The blood is the
life thereof," says the Levitical law, and let us rest assured
that it is the life of faith and joy and every other holy grace.

              "Oh! how sweet to view the flowing
              Of my Saviour's precious blood;
              With divine assurance knowing
              He has made my peace with God."

* 02/03/AM

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors."
                                                   --Romans 8:12

   As God's creatures, we are all debtors to Him: to obey Him
with all our body, and soul, and strength. Having broken His
commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to His justice, and
we owe to Him a vast amount which we are not able to pay. But of
the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God's
justice anything, for Christ has paid the debt His people
owed; for this reason the believer owes the more to love. I am
a debtor to God's grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no debtor
to His justice, for He will never accuse me of a debt already
paid. Christ said, "It is finished!" and by that He meant, that
whatever His people owed was wiped away for ever from the book
of remembrance. Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied divine
justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to
the cross; the receipt is given, and we are debtors to God's
justice no longer. But then, because we are not debtors to our
Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than
we should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and ponder for a
moment. What a debtor thou art to divine sovereignty! How
much thou owest to His disinterested love, for He gave His own
Son that He might die for thee. Consider how much you owe to His
forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts He loves you
as infinitely as ever. Consider what you owe to His power; how
He has raised you from your death in sin; how He has preserved
your spiritual life; how He has kept you from falling; and how,
though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been
able to hold on your way. Consider what you owe to His
immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, He
has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be
to every attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all
thou hast--yield thyself as a living sacrifice, it is but thy
reasonable service.

* 02/04/AM

"The love of the Lord."
                                                     --Hosea 3:1

   Believer, look back through all thine experience, and
think of the way whereby the Lord thy God has led thee in the
wilderness, and how He hath fed and clothed thee every day--how
He hath borne with thine ill manners--how He hath put up with
all thy murmurings, and all thy longings after the flesh-pots of
Egypt--how He has opened the rock to supply thee, and fed thee
with manna that came down from heaven. Think of how His grace
has been sufficient for thee in all thy troubles--how His blood
has been a pardon to thee in all thy sins--how His rod and His
staff have comforted thee. When thou hast thus looked back upon
the love of the Lord, then let faith survey His love in the
future, for remember that Christ's covenant and blood have
something more in them than the past. He who has loved thee
and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon. He is
Alpha, and He shall be Omega also: He is first, and He shall be
last. Therefore, bethink thee, when thou shalt pass through
the valley of the shadow of death, thou needest fear no evil,
for He is with thee. When thou shalt stand in the cold floods of
Jordan, thou needest not fear, for death cannot separate thee
from His love; and when thou shalt come into the mysteries of
eternity thou needest not tremble, "For I am persuaded, that
neither death; nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now, soul,
is not thy love refreshed? Does not this make thee love Jesus?
Doth not a flight through illimitable plains of the ether of
love inflame thy heart and compel thee to delight thyself in the
Lord thy God? Surely as we meditate on "the love of the Lord,"
our hearts burn within us, and we long to love Him more.

* 02/05/AM

"The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."
                                                   --1 John 4:14

   It is a sweet thought that Jesus Christ did not come forth
without His Father's permission, authority, consent, and
assistance. He was sent of the Father, that He might be the
Saviour of men. We are too apt to forget that, while there are
distinctions as to the persons in the Trinity, there are no
distinctions of honour. We too frequently ascribe the honour
of our salvation, or at least the depths of its benevolence,
more to Jesus Christ than we do the Father. This is a very great
mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not His Father send Him? If He
spake wondrously, did not His Father pour grace into His lips,
that He might be an able minister of the new covenant? He who
knoweth the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost as he should
know them, never setteth one before another in his love; he sees
them at Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally
engaged in the work of salvation. O Christian, hast thou put
thy confidence in the Man Christ Jesus? Hast thou placed thy
reliance solely on Him? And art thou united with Him? Then
believe that thou art united unto the God of heaven. Since to
the Man Christ Jesus thou art brother, and holdest closest
fellowship, thou art linked thereby with God the Eternal, and
"the Ancient of days" is thy Father and thy friend. Didst thou
ever consider the depth of love in the heart of Jehovah, when
God the Father equipped His Son for the great enterprise of
mercy? If not, be this thy day's meditation. The Father sent
Him! Contemplate that subject. Think how Jesus works what the
Father wills. In the wounds of the dying Saviour see the love
of the great I AM. Let every thought of Jesus be also connected
with the Eternal, ever-blessed God, for "It pleased the Lord to
bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief."

* 02/06/AM

"Praying always."
                                                --Ephesians 6:18

   What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first
moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer
for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and
blot out our sin. He heard us. But when He had blotted out our
sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We
have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and
restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh
assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the
promise, for deliverance in the hour of temptation, for help in
the time of duty, and for succour in the day of trial. We have
been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars
asking for everything. Bear witness, children of God, you have
never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere. All
the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all
the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living
rock--Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in
itself; it has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of
God; and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range
of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your wants were
innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely
great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have
been countless. Then have you not cause to say, "I love the
Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication"? For
as your prayers have been many, so also have been God's answers
to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has
strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured Him
by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this, and
let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus
graciously heard your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all His benefits."

* 02/07/AM

"Arise, and depart."
                                                    --Micah 2:10

   The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as
it comes to all--"Arise, and go forth from the home in which
thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou hast done thy
business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise, and take thy
last journey." And what know we of the journey? And what know we
of the country to which we are bound? A little we have read
thereof, and somewhat has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but
how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that
there is a black and stormy river called "Death." God bids us
cross it, promising to be with us. And, after death, what
cometh? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight?
What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveller
has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly
land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and
gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth
on it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through
the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall
be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall
be going to our Father's house--to our Father's home, where
Jesus is--to that royal "city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God." This shall be our last removal, to
dwell for ever with Him we love, in the midst of His people, in
the presence of God. Christian, meditate much on heaven, it will
help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This
vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this
world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

             "Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
             For Thy bright courts on high;
             Then bid our spirits rise, and join
             The chorus of the sky."

* 02/08/AM

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus."
                                                  --Matthew 1:21

   When a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes
dear for his sake. Thus, so precious is the person of the Lord
Jesus in the estimation of all true believers, that everything
about Him they consider to be inestimable beyond all price. "All
Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David,
as if the very vestments of the Saviour were so sweetened by His
person that he could not but love them. Certain it is, that
there is not a spot where that hallowed foot hath trodden--there
is not a word which those blessed lips have uttered--nor a
thought which His loving Word has revealed--which is not to us
precious beyond all price. And this is true of the names of
Christ--they are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether He be
called the Husband of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend;
whether He be styled the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world--the King, the Prophet, or the Priest--every title of our
Master--Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor--
every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and
luscious are the drops that distil from it. But if there be one
name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name
of Jesus. Jesus! it is the name which moves the harps of
heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there be
one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this
name. It is woven into the very warp and woof of our psalmody.
Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any, that are good
for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all
delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring; a
song in a word; an ocean for comprehension, although a drop for
brevity; a matchless oratorio in two syllables; a gathering up
of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters.

              "Jesus, I love Thy charming name,
              'Tis music to mine ear."

* 02/09/AM

"And David enquired of the Lord."
                                                 --2 Samuel 5:23

   When David made this enquiry he had just fought the
Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came
up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put
them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second
time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the
Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as
many have in other cases, "I shall be victorious again; I may
rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph
yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord's
hands?" Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength
of the Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had
ensured the same. He enquired, "Shall I go up against them?" He
waited until God's sign was given. Learn from David to take no
step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of
duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship
through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the
Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our
Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well
avoid, if we would leave to His sovereign will to choose and to
command. The Puritan said, "As sure as ever a Christian carves
for himself, he'll cut his own fingers;" this is a great truth.
Said another old divine, "He that goes before the cloud of God's
providence goes on a fool's errand;" and so he does. We must
mark God's providence leading us; and if providence tarries,
tarry till providence comes. He who goes before providence, will
be very glad to run back again. "I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go," is God's promise to His
people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to Him, and say,
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Leave not thy chamber this
morning without enquiring of the Lord.

* 02/10/AM

"I know how to abound."
                                              --Philippians 4:12

   There are many who know "how to be abased" who have not
learned "how to abound." When they are set upon the top of a
pinnacle their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The
Christian far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity
than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The
crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian
than the fining-pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and
neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the
very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of
necessity, for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound.
When he had much he knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled
him to bear abundant prosperity. When he had a full sail he was
loaded with much ballast, and so floated safely. It needs more
than human skill to carry the brimming cup of mortal joy with a
steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for he declares,
"In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
hungry." It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the
Israelites were full once, but while the flesh was yet in their
mouth, the wrath of God came upon them. Many have asked for
mercies that they might satisfy their own hearts' lust. Fulness
of bread has often made fulness of blood, and that has brought
on wantonness of spirit. When we have much of God's providential
mercies, it often happens that we have but little of God's
grace, and little gratitude for the bounties we have received.
We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are
content to do without heaven. Rest assured it is harder to know
how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry--so desperate
is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of
God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach
you "how to be full."

            " Let not the gifts Thy love bestows
            Estrange our hearts from Thee."

* 02/11/AM

"And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with
Jesus."
                                                     --Acts 4:13

   A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ.
You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently
written, but the best life of Christ is His living biography,
written out in the words and actions of His people. If we were
what we profess to be, and what we should be, we should be
pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of Him, that
the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and
say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness;" but they would,
when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus; he
has been taught of Him; he is like Him; he has caught the very
idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his
life and every-day actions." A Christian should be like Christ
in his boldness. Never blush to own your religion; your
profession will never disgrace you: take care you never disgrace
that. Be like Jesus, very valiant for your God. Imitate Him in
your loving spirit; think kindly, speak kindly, and do kindly,
that men may say of you, "He has been with Jesus." Imitate Jesus
in His holiness. Was He zealous for His Master? So be you;
ever go about doing good. Let not time be wasted: it is too
precious. Was He self-denying, never looking to His own
interest? Be the same. Was He devout? Be you fervent in your
prayers. Had He deference to His Father's will? So submit
yourselves to Him. Was He patient? So learn to endure. And best
of all, as the highest portraiture of Jesus, try to forgive your
enemies, as He did; and let those sublime words of your Master,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," always
ring in your ears. Forgive, as you hope to be forgiven. Heap
coals of fire on the head of your foe by your kindness to him.
Good for evil, recollect, is godlike. Be godlike, then; and in
all ways and by all means, so live that all may say of you, "He
has been with Jesus."

* 02/12/AM

"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also aboundeth by Christ."
                                             --2 Corinthians 1:5

   There is a blessed proportion. The Ruler of Providence bears
a pair of scales--in this side He puts His people's trials, and
in that He puts their consolations. When the scale of trial is
nearly empty, you will always find the scale of consolation in
nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials is full,
you will find the scale of consolation just as heavy. When the
black clouds gather most, the light is the more brightly
revealed to us. When the night lowers and the tempest is coming
on, the Heavenly Captain is always closest to His crew. It is a
blessed thing, that when we are most cast down, then it is that
we are most lifted up by the consolations of the Spirit. One
reason is, because trials make more room for consolation.
Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. The spade of
trouble digs the reservoir of comfort deeper, and makes more
room for consolation. God comes into our heart--He finds it
full--He begins to break our comforts and to make it empty; then
there is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more
comfort he will always have, because he will be more fitted to
receive it. Another reason why we are often most happy in our
troubles, is this--then we have the closest dealings with God.
When the barn is full, man can live without God: when the purse
is bursting with gold, we try to do without so much prayer. But
once take our gourds away, and we want our God; once cleanse
the idols out of the house, then we are compelled to honour
Jehovah. "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord."
There is no cry so good as that which comes from the bottom of
the mountains; no prayer half so hearty as that which comes up
from the depths of the soul, through deep trials and
afflictions. Hence they bring us to God, and we are happier; for
nearness to God is happiness. Come, troubled believer, fret not
over your heavy troubles, for they are the heralds of weighty
mercies.

* 02/13/AM

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the
sons of God."
                                                  --1 John 3:1,2

   "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us. Consider who we were, and what we feel ourselves to be even
now when corruption is powerful in us, and you will wonder at
our adoption. Yet we are called "the sons of God." What a high
relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it brings!
What care and tenderness the son expects from his father, and
what love the father feels towards the son! But all that, and
more than that, we now have through Christ. As for the temporary
drawback of suffering with the elder brother, this we accept as
an honour: "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew
Him not." We are content to be unknown with Him in His
humiliation, for we are to be exalted with Him. "Beloved, now
are we the sons of God." That is easy to read, but it is not so
easy to feel. How is it with your heart this morning? Are you in
the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your
spirit, and grace seem like a poor spark trampled under foot?
Does your faith almost fail you? Fear not, it is neither your
graces nor feelings on which you are to live: you must live
simply by faith on Christ. With all these things against us,
now--in the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we may be--
now, as much in the valley as on the mountain, "Beloved, now
are we the sons of God." "Ah, but," you say, "see how I am
arrayed! my graces are not bright; my righteousness does not
shine with apparent glory." But read the next: "It doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him." The Holy Spirit shall purify our minds,
and divine power shall refine our bodies, then shall we see Him
as He is.

* 02/14/AM

"And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the
king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life."
                                                 --2 Kings 25:30

   Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a
store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as
a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of
all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really
wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not
yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we
may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in
February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each
day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for
the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or
wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus
gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching
against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of
staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast,
but is all that the veriest glutton can truly enjoy. This is
all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is
ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be
content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we
have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a
gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely
ground for thankfulness.

   Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a
daily supply. You have no store of strength. Day by day must
you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a
daily portion is provided for you. In the word, through the
ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you
shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are
laid up for you. Then enjoy your continual allowance. Never go
hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.

* 02/15/AM

"To Him be glory both now and forever."
                                                  --2 Peter 3:18

   Heaven will be full of the ceaseless praises of Jesus.
Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting
course, but forever and for ever, "to Him be glory." Is He not a
"Priest I for ever after the order of Melchisedek"? "To Him be
glory." Is He not king for ever?--King of kings and Lord of
lords, the everlasting Father? "To Him be glory for ever."
Never shall His praises cease. That which was bought with blood
deserves to last while immortality endures. The glory of the
cross must never be eclipsed; the lustre of the grave and of the
resurrection must never be dimmed. O Jesus! thou shalt be
praised for ever. Long as immortal spirits live--long as the
Father's throne endures--for ever, for ever, unto Thee shall be
glory. Believer, you are anticipating the time when you shall
join the saints above in ascribing all glory to Jesus; but are
you glorifying Him now? The apostle's words are, "To Him be
glory both now and for ever." Will you not this day make it your
prayer? "Lord, help me to glorify Thee; I am poor, help me to
glorify Thee by contentment; I am sick, help me to give Thee
honour by patience; I have talents, help me to extol Thee by
spending them for Thee; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it,
that I may serve thee; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that
heart feel no love but Thine, and glow with no flame but
affection for Thee; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to
think of Thee and for Thee; Thou hast put me in this world
for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work
out my life-purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put in
her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my
time and eternity too into Thy treasury; I am all Thine; take
me, and enable me to glorify Thee now, in all that I say, in
all that I do, and with all that I have."

* 02/16/AM

"I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be
content."
                                              --Philippians 4:11

   These words show us that contentment is not a natural
propensity of man. "Ill weeds grow apace." Covetousness,
discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to
the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up
naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth: and so,
we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough
without any education. But the precious things of the earth must
be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow;
if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the
gardener's care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of
heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will
not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can
produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and
watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has
sown in us. Paul says, "I have learned . . . to be content;"
as much as to say, he did not know how at one time. It cost him
some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No
doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down.
And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, "I have
learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," he
was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave--a
poor prisoner shut up in Nero's dungeon at Rome. We might well
be willing to endure Paul's infirmities, and share the cold
dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his
good degree. Do not indulge the notion that you can be
contented with learning, or learn without discipline. It is
not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be
acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush
that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a diligent pupil
in the College of Content.

* 02/17/AM

"Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi."
                                                 --Genesis 25:11

   Hagar had once found deliverance there and Ishmael had drank
from the water so graciously revealed by the God who liveth and
seeth the sons of men; but this was a merely casual visit, such
as worldlings pay to the Lord in times of need, when it serves
their turn. They cry to Him in trouble, but forsake Him in
prosperity. Isaac dwelt there, and made the well of the living
and all-seeing God his constant source of supply. The usual
tenor of a man's life, the dwelling of his soul, is the true
test of his state. Perhaps the providential visitation
experienced by Hagar struck Isaac's mind, and led him to revere
the place; its mystical name endeared it to him; his frequent
musings by its brim at eventide made him familiar with the well;
his meeting Rebecca there had made his spirit feel at home near
the spot; but best of all, the fact that he there enjoyed
fellowship with the living God, had made him select that
hallowed ground for his dwelling. Let us learn to live in the
presence of the living God; let us pray the Holy Spirit that
this day, and every other day, we may feel, "Thou God seest me."
May the Lord Jehovah be as a well to us, delightful, comforting,
unfailing, springing up unto eternal life. The bottle of the
creature cracks and dries up, but the well of the Creator never
fails; happy is he who dwells at the well, and so has abundant
and constant supplies near at hand. The Lord has been a sure
helper to others: His name is Shaddai, God All-sufficient; our
hearts have often had most delightful intercourse with Him;
through Him our soul has found her glorious Husband, the Lord
Jesus; and in Him this day we live, and move, and have our
being; let us, then, dwell in closest fellowship with Him.
Glorious Lord, constrain us that we may never leave Thee, but
dwell by the well of the living God.

* 02/18/AM

"Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me."
                                                      --Job 10:2

   Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy
graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be
discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know
that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does
in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but
little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness.
Hope itself is like a star--not to be seen in the sunshine of
prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.
Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the
jewels of His children's graces, to make them shine the better.
It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast
saying, "Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have
faith." Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously,
praying for trials?--for how canst thou know that thou hast
faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often
sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we
may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely
discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified
trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in
order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not
in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using
them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford
through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains,
and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on
their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the
troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord
bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the
reason why He is contending with you?

               "Trials make the promise sweet;
               Trials give new life to prayer;
               Trials bring me to His feet,
               Lay me low, and keep me there."

* 02/19/AM

"Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by
the house of Israel, to do it for them."
                                                 --Ezekiel 36:37

   Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. Turn to sacred history,
and you will find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to
this world unheralded by supplication. You have found this true
in your own personal experience. God has given you many an
unsolicited favour, but still great prayer has always been the
prelude of great mercy with you. When you first found peace
through the blood of the cross, you had been praying much, and
earnestly interceding with God that He would remove your doubts,
and deliver you from your distresses. Your assurance was the
result of prayer. When at any time you have had high and
rapturous joys, you have been obliged to look upon them as
answers to your prayers. When you have had great deliverances
out of sore troubles, and mighty helps in great dangers, you
have been able to say, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears." Prayer is always the preface to
blessing. It goes before the blessing as the blessing's
shadow. When the sunlight of God's mercies rises upon our
necessities, it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the
plain. Or, to use another illustration, when God piles up a hill
of mercies, He Himself shines behind them, and He casts on our
spirits the shadow of prayer, so that we may rest certain, if we
are much in prayer, our pleadings are the shadows of mercy.
Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the value
of it. If we had the blessings without asking for them, we
should think them common things; but prayer makes our mercies
more precious than diamonds. The things we ask for are precious,
but we do not realize their preciousness until we have sought
for them earnestly.

          "Prayer makes the darken'd cloud withdraw;
          Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
          Gives exercise to faith and love;
          Brings every blessing from above."

* 02/20/AM

"God, that comforteth those that are cast down."
                                             --2 Corinthians 7:6

   And who comforteth like Him? Go to some poor, melancholy,
distressed child of God; tell him sweet promises, and whisper in
his ear choice words of comfort; he is like the deaf adder, he
listens not to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so
wisely. He is drinking gall and wormwood, and comfort him as you
may, it will be only a note or two of mournful resignation that
you will get from him; you will bring forth no psalms of praise,
no hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets. But let God come to His
child, let Him lift up his countenance, and the mourner's eyes
glisten with hope. Do you not hear him sing--

              "'Tis paradise, if thou art here;
              If thou depart, 'tis hell?"

You could not have cheered him: but the Lord has done it; "He is
the God of all comfort." There is no balm in Gilead, but there
is balm in God. There is no physician among the creatures, but
the Creator is Jehovah-rophi. It is marvellous how one sweet
word of God will make whole songs for Christians. One word of
God is like a piece of gold, and the Christian is the
goldbeater, and can hammer that promise out for whole weeks. So,
then, poor Christian, thou needest not sit down in despair. Go
to the Comforter, and ask Him to give thee consolation. Thou art
a poor dry well. You have heard it said, that when a pump is
dry, you must pour water down it first of all, and then you will
get water, and so, Christian, when thou art dry, go to God, ask
Him to shed abroad His joy in thy heart, and then thy joy shall
be full. Do not go to earthly acquaintances, for you will find
them Job's comforters after all; but go first and foremost to
thy "God, that comforteth those that are cast down," and you
will soon say, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy
comforts delight my soul."

* 02/21/AM

"He hath said."
                                                  --Hebrews 13:5

   If we can only grasp these words by faith, we have an
all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt will not be slain
by this two-edged sword? What fear is there which shall not fall
smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of
God's covenant? Will not the distresses of life and the pangs of
death; will not the corruptions within, and the snares without;
will not the trials from above, and the temptations from
beneath, all seem but light afflictions, when we can hide
ourselves beneath the bulwark of "He hath said"? Yes; whether
for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict,
"He hath said" must be our daily resort. And this may teach us
the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a
promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you
may not know of it, and therefore you miss its comfort. You are
like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the
bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if
you will not look for it, you may remain a prisoner still,
though liberty is so near at hand. There may be a potent
medicine in the great pharmacopoeia of Scripture, and you may
yet continue sick unless you will examine and search the
Scriptures to discover what "He hath said." Should you not,
besides reading the Bible, store your memories richly with the
promises of God? You can recollect the sayings of great men; you
treasure up the verses of renowned poets; ought you not to be
profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may
be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty,
or overthrow a doubt? Since "He hath said" is the source of all
wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you
richly, as "A well of water, springing up unto everlasting
life." So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy in the
divine life.

* 02/22/AM

"His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made
strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob."
                                                 --Genesis 49:24

   That strength which God gives to His Josephs is real
strength; it is not a boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of
which men talk, but which ends in smoke; it is true--divine
strength. Why does Joseph stand against temptation? Because God
gives him aid. There is nought that we can do without the power
of God. All true strength comes from "the mighty God of Jacob."
Notice in what a blessedly familiar way God gives this
strength to Joseph--"The arms of his hands were made strong by
the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." Thus God is represented
as putting His hands on Joseph's hands, placing His arms on
Joseph's arms. Like as a father teaches his children, so the
Lord teaches them that fear Him. He puts His arms upon them.
Marvellous condescension! God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent,
stoops from His throne and lays His hand upon the child's hand,
stretching His arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he may be made
strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is
ascribed to "the mighty God of Jacob." Now, wherever you read
of the God of Jacob in the Bible, you should remember the
covenant with Jacob. Christians love to think of God's
covenant. All the power, all the grace, all the blessings, all
the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, flow to
us from the well-head, through the covenant. If there were no
covenant, then we should fail indeed; for all grace proceeds
from it, as light and heat from the sun. No angels ascend or
descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at the top of
which stood a covenant God. Christian, it may be that the
archers have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded
you, but still your bow abides in strength; be sure, then, to
ascribe all the glory to Jacob's God.

* 02/23/AM

"I will never leave thee."
                                                  --Hebrews 13:5

   No promise is of private interpretation. Whatever God has
said to any one saint, He has said to all. When He opens a well
for one, it is that all may drink. When He openeth a granary-
door to give out food, there may be some one starving man who is
the occasion of its being opened, but all hungry saints may come
and feed too. Whether He gave the word to Abraham or to Moses,
matters not, O believer; He has given it to thee as one of the
covenanted seed. There is not a high blessing too lofty for
thee, nor a wide mercy too extensive for thee. Lift up now
thine eyes to the north and to the south, to the east and to the
west, for all this is thine. Climb to Pisgah's top, and view the
utmost limit of the divine promise, for the land is all thine
own. There is not a brook of living water of which thou mayst
not drink. If the land floweth with milk and honey, eat the
honey and drink the milk, for both are thine. Be thou bold to
believe, for He hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee."In this promise, God gives to His people
everything. "I will never leave thee." Then no attribute of
God can cease to be engaged for us. Is He mighty? He will show
Himself strong on the behalf of them that trust Him. Is He love?
Then with lovingkindness will He have mercy upon us. Whatever
attributes may compose the character of Deity, every one of them
to its fullest extent shall be engaged on our side. To put
everything in one, there is nothing you can want, there is
nothing you can ask for, there is nothing you can need in time
or in eternity, there is nothing living, nothing dying, there is
nothing in this world, nothing in the next world, there is
nothing now, nothing at the resurrection-morning, nothing in
heaven which is not contained in this text--"I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee."

* 02/24/AM

"I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall
be showers of blessing."
                                                 --Ezekiel 34:26

   Here is sovereign mercy--"I will give them the shower in
its season." Is it not sovereign, divine mercy?--for who can
say, "I will give them showers," except God? There is only one
voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the
rain. Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth
the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord? So grace is
the gift of God, and is not to be created by man. It is also
needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You
may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do
without the rain? As absolutely needful is the divine blessing.
In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and
sends salvation down. Then, it is plenteous grace. "I will
send them showers." It does not say, "I will send them drops,"
but "showers." So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He
usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough
to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous grace to
keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous
grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and
at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating
showers of grace. Again, it is seasonable grace. "I will cause
the shower to come down in his season." What is thy season
this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the
season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black
clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As thy days so
shall thy strength be." And here is a varied blessing. "I will
give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All
kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go
together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting
grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send
"showers of blessing." Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open
thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.

* 02/25/AM

"The wrath to come."
                                                   --Matthew 3:7

   It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent
itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has
passed away, and to note the drops while they glisten like
purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of a
Christian. He is going through a land where the storm has spent
itself upon His Saviour's head, and if there be a few drops of
sorrow falling, they distil from clouds of mercy, and Jesus
cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his
destruction. But how terrible is it to witness the approach of a
tempest: to note the forewarnings of the storm; to mark the
birds of heaven as they droop their wings; to see the cattle as
they lay their heads low in terror; to discern the face of the
sky as it groweth black, and look to the sun which shineth not,
and the heavens which are angry and frowning! How terrible to
await the dread advance of a hurricane--such as occurs,
sometimes, in the tropics--to wait in terrible apprehension till
the wind shall rush forth in fury, tearing up trees from their
roots, forcing rocks from their pedestals, and hurling down all
the dwelling-places of man! And yet, sinner, this is your
present position. No hot drops have as yet fallen, but a shower
of fire is coming. No terrible winds howl around you, but God's
tempest is gathering its dread artillery. As yet the
water-floods are dammed up by mercy, but the flood-gates shall
soon be opened: the thunderbolts of God are yet in His
storehouse, but lo! the tempest hastens, and how awful shall
that moment be when God, robed in vengeance, shall march forth
in fury! Where, where, where, O sinner, wilt thou hide thy head,
or whither wilt thou flee? O that the hand of mercy may now lead
you to Christ! He is freely set before you in the gospel: His
riven side is the rock of shelter. Thou knowest thy need of Him;
believe in Him, cast thyself upon Him, and then the fury shall
be overpast for ever.

* 02/26/AM

"Salvation is of the Lord."
                                                     --Jonah 2:9

   Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the
soul "dead in trespasses and sins," and it is He also who
maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and
Omega." "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes
me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I
hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with
His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation,
except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all
my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own;
but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and
completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's
strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life?
It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I
did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I
weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements
sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great
Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly
art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing
but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Do I
feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the
Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do
I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that
manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose
blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase
of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from
heaven's hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch
cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more
can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great
deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: "Salvation is of
the Lord."

* 02/27/AM

"Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most
High, thy habitation."
                                                    --Psalm 91:9

   The Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed to
change. Whenever the pillar stayed its motion, the tents were
pitched; but tomorrow, ere the morning sun had risen, the
trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy
pillar was leading the way through the narrow defiles of the
mountain, up the hillside, or along the arid waste of the
wilderness. They had scarcely time to rest a little before they
heard the sound of "Away! this is not your rest; you must still
be onward journeying towards Canaan!" They were never long in
one place. Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet
they had an abiding home in their God, His cloudy pillar was
their roof-tree, and its flame by night their household fire.
They must go onward from place to place, continually changing,
never having time to settle, and to say, "Now we are secure; in
this place we shall dwell." "Yet," says Moses, "though we are
always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place
throughout all generations." The Christian knows no change with
regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may
be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness
to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed--but there is no change
with regard to his relationship to God. If He loved me
yesterday, He loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my
blessed Lord. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted;
let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost
nothing of what I have in God. He is "my strong habitation
whereunto I can continually resort." I am a pilgrim in the
world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God
I dwell in a quiet habitation.

* 02/28/AM

"My expectation is from Him."
                                                    --Psalm 62:5

   It is the believer's privilege to use this language. If he is
looking for aught from the world, it is a poor "expectation"
indeed. But if he looks to God for the supply of his wants,
whether in temporal or spiritual blessings, his expectation"
will not be a vain one. Constantly he may draw from the bank of
faith, and get his need supplied out of the riches of God's
lovingkindness. This I know, I had rather have God for my
banker than all the Rothschilds. My Lord never fails to honour
His promises; and when we bring them to His throne, He never
sends them back unanswered. Therefore I will wait only at His
door, for He ever opens it with the hand of munificent grace. At
this hour I will try Him anew. But we have "expectations" beyond
this life. We shall die soon; and then our "expectation is from
Him." Do we not expect that when we lie upon the bed of sickness
He will send angels to carry us to His bosom? We believe that
when the pulse is faint, and the heart heaves heavily, some
angelic messenger shall stand and look with loving eyes upon us,
and whisper, "Sister spirit, come away!" As we approach the
heavenly gate, we expect to hear the welcome invitation, "Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world." We are expecting harps of
gold and crowns of glory; we are hoping soon to be amongst the
multitude of shining ones before the throne; we are looking
forward and longing for the time when we shall be like our
glorious Lord--for "We shall see Him as He is." Then if these be
thine "expectations," O my soul, live for God; live with the
desire and resolve to glorify Him from whom cometh all thy
supplies, and of whose grace in thy election, redemption, and
calling, it is that thou hast any "expectation" of coming glory.

* 02/29/AM

"With lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
                                                 --Jeremiah 31:3

   The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all
used to bring us to Christ; but the final victory is effected by
lovingkindness. The prodigal set out to his father's house from
a sense of need; but his father saw him a great way off, and ran
to meet him; so that the last steps he took towards his father's
house were with the kiss still warm upon his cheek, and the
welcome still musical in his ears.

               "Law and terrors do but harden
               All the while they work alone;
               But a sense of blood-bought pardon
               Will dissolve a heart of stone."

The Master came one night to the door, and knocked with the iron
hand of the law; the door shook and trembled upon its hinges;
but the man piled every piece of furniture which he could find
against the door, for he said, "I will not admit the man." The
Master turned away, but by-and-bye He came back, and with His
own soft hand, using most that part where the nail had
penetrated, He knocked again--oh, so softly and tenderly. This
time the door did not shake, but, strange to say, it opened, and
there upon his knees the once unwilling host was found rejoicing
to receive his guest. "Come in, come in; thou hast so knocked
that my bowels are moved for thee. I could not think of thy
pierced hand leaving its blood-mark on my door, and of thy going
away houseless, 'Thy head filled with dew, and thy locks with
the drops of the night.' I yield, I yield, Thy love has won my
heart." So in every case: lovingkindness wins the day. What
Moses with the tablets of stone could never do, Christ does with
His pierced hand. Such is the doctrine of effectual calling. Do
I understand it experimentally? Can I say, "He drew me, and I
followed on, glad to confess the voice divine?" If so, may He
continue to draw me, till at last I shall sit down at the
marriage supper of the Lamb.
* 03/01/AM

"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden,
that the spices thereof may flow out."
                                          --Song of Solomon 4:16

   Anything is better than the dead calm of indifference. Our
souls may wisely desire the north wind of trouble if that alone
can be sanctified to the drawing forth of the perfume of our
graces. So long as it cannot be said, "The Lord was not in the
wind," we will not shrink from the most wintry blast that ever
blew upon plants of grace. Did not the spouse in this verse
humbly submit herself to the reproofs of her Beloved; only
entreating Him to send forth His grace in some form, and making
no stipulation as to the peculiar manner in which it should
come? Did she not, like ourselves, become so utterly weary of
deadness and unholy calm that she sighed for any visitation
which would brace her to action? Yet she desires the warm south
wind of comfort, too, the smiles of divine love, the joy of the
Redeemer's presence; these are often mightily effectual to
arouse our sluggish life. She desires either one or the other,
or both; so that she may but be able to delight her Beloved with
the spices of her garden. She cannot endure to be unprofitable,
nor can we. How cheering a thought that Jesus can find comfort
in our poor feeble graces. Can it be? It seems far too good to
be true. Well may we court trial or even death itself if we
shall thereby be aided to make glad Immanuel's heart. O that our
heart were crushed to atoms if only by such bruising our sweet
Lord Jesus could be glorified. Graces unexercised are as sweet
perfumes slumbering in the cups of the flowers: the wisdom of
the great Husbandman overrules diverse and opposite causes to
produce the one desired result, and makes both affliction and
consolation draw forth the grateful odours of faith, love,
patience, hope, resignation, joy, and the other fair flowers of
the garden. May we know by sweet experience, what this means.

* 03/02/AM

"But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen
every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax, and his
mattock."
                                                --1 Samuel 13:20

   We are engaged in a great war with the Philistines of evil.
Every weapon within our reach must be used. Preaching,
teaching, praying, giving, all must be brought into action, and
talents which have been thought too mean for service, must now
be employed. Coulter, and axe, and mattock, may all be useful in
slaying Philistines; rough tools may deal hard blows, and
killing need not be elegantly done, so long as it is done
effectually. Each moment of time, in season or out of season;
each fragment of ability, educated or untutored; each
opportunity, favourable or unfavourable, must be used, for our
foes are many and our force but slender.

   Most of our tools want sharpening; we need quickness of
perception, tact, energy, promptness, in a word, complete
adaptation for the Lord's work. Practical common sense is a very
scarce thing among the conductors of Christian enterprises. We
might learn from our enemies if we would, and so make the
Philistines sharpen our weapons. This morning let us note
enough to sharpen our zeal during this day by the aid of the
Holy Spirit. See the energy of the Papists, how they compass sea
and land to make one proselyte, are they to monopolize all the
earnestness? Mark the heathen devotees, what tortures they
endure in the service of their idols! are they alone to exhibit
patience and self-sacrifice? Observe the prince of darkness,
how persevering in his endeavours, how unabashed in his
attempts, how daring in his plans, how thoughtful in his plots,
how energetic in all! The devils are united as one man in their
infamous rebellion, while we believers in Jesus are divided in
our service of God, and scarcely ever work with unanimity. O
that from Satan's infernal industry we may learn to go about
like good Samaritans, seeking whom we may bless!

* 03/03/AM

"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."
                                                  --Isaiah 48:10

   Comfort thyself, tried believer, with this thought: God
saith, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Does
not the word come like a soft shower, assuaging the fury of the
flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armour, against which the heat
hath no power? Let affliction come--God has chosen me. Poverty,
thou mayst stride in at my door, but God is in the house
already, and He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayst intrude, but
I have a balsam ready--God has chosen me. Whatever befalls me in
this vale of tears, I know that He has "chosen" me. If,
believer, thou requirest still greater comfort, remember that
you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent
chamber of yours, there sitteth by your side One whom thou hast
not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when thou knowest
it not, He makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smooths thy
pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty; but in that lovely house
of thine the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor. He
loves to come into these desolate places, that He may visit
thee. Thy friend sticks closely to thee. Thou canst not see Him,
but thou mayst feel the pressure of His hands. Dost thou not
hear His voice? Even in the valley of the shadow of death He
says, "Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy
God." Remember that noble speech of Caesar: "Fear not, thou
carriest Caesar and all his fortune." Fear not, Christian; Jesus
is with thee. In all thy fiery trials, His presence is both thy
comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom He has chosen
for His own. "Fear not, for I am with thee," is His sure word of
promise to His chosen ones in the "furnace of affliction." Wilt
thou not, then, take fast hold of Christ, and say--


          "Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead,
          I'll follow where He goes."

* 03/04/AM

"My grace is sufficient for thee."
                                            --2 Corinthians 12:9

   If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we should not
know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find
the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say,
"Still will I trust in the or, when we see the pauper starving
on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the
bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith
in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God's
grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of
believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing
that all things work together for their good, and that out of
apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring--that
their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or
most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as He is
pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves
the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it
is a calm night--I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the
tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it
will stand. So with the Spirit's work: if it were not on many
occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know
that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it,
we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works
of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties,
stedfast, unmoveable,--


                 "Calm mid the bewildering cry,
                 Confident of victory."

He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting
with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord
unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried
path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the
all-sufficient grace of God. As for His failing you, never dream
of it--hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until
now, should be trusted to the end.

* 03/05/AM

"Let us not sleep, as do others."
                                           --1 Thessalonians 5:6

   There are many ways of promoting Christian wakefulness. Among
the rest, let me strongly advise Christians to converse together
concerning the ways of the Lord. Christian and Hopeful, as they
journeyed towards the Celestial City, said to themselves, "To
prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good
discourse." Christian enquired, "Brother, where shall we begin?"
And Hopeful answered, "Where God began with us." Then Christian
sang this song--


       "When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither,
       And hear how these two pilgrims talk together;
       Yea, let them learn of them, in any wise,
       Thus to keep open their drowsy slumb'ring eyes.
       Saints' fellowship, if it be managed well,
       Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell."

Christians who isolate themselves and walk alone, are very
liable to grow drowsy. Hold Christian company, and you will be
kept wakeful by it, and refreshed and encouraged to make quicker
progress in the road to heaven. But as you thus take "sweet
counsel" with others in the ways of God, take care that the
theme of your converse is the Lord Jesus. Let the eye of faith
be constantly looking unto Him; let your heart be full of Him;
let your lips speak of His worth. Friend, live near to the
cross, and thou wilt not sleep. Labour to impress thyself with
a deep sense of the value of the place to which thou art
going. If thou rememberest that thou art going to heaven, thou
wilt not sleep on the road. If thou thinkest that hell is behind
thee, and the devil pursuing thee, thou wilt not loiter. Would
the manslayer sleep with the avenger of blood behind him, and
the city of refuge before him? Christian, wilt thou sleep whilst
the pearly gates are open--the songs of angels waiting for thee
to join them--a crown of gold ready for thy brow? Ah! no; in
holy fellowship continue to watch and pray that ye enter not
into temptation.

* 03/06/AM

"Ye must be born again."
                                                      --John 3:7

   Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of
salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we
really are "born again," for there are many who fancy they are,
who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the
nature of a Christian; and that being born in a Christian land,
and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of
no avail whatever, unless there be something more added to
it--the being "born again," is a matter so mysterious, that
human words cannot describe it. "The wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is
born of the Spirit." Nevertheless, it is a change which is
known and felt: known by works of holiness, and felt by a
gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is
not an operation which a man performs for himself: a new
principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul,
and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name, but a
renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but
a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far
different thing from making it alive: man can do the one, God
alone can do the other. If you have then, been "born again,"
your acknowledgment will be, "O Lord Jesus, the everlasting
Father, Thou art my spiritual Parent; unless Thy Spirit had
breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life,
I had been to this day 'dead in trespasses and sins.' My
heavenly life is wholly derived from Thee, to Thee I ascribe it.
'My life is hid with Christ in God.' It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who liveth in me." May the Lord enable us to be well
assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be
unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

* 03/07/AM

"Have faith in God."
                                                    --Mark 11:22

   Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the
road of the commandments. Love can make the feet move more
swiftly; but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is
the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest
piety to move well; and without faith the wheels are taken from
the chariot, and we drag heavily. With faith I can do all
things; without faith I shall neither have the inclination nor
the power to do anything in the service of God. If you would
find the men who serve God the best, you must look for the men
of the most faith. Little faith will save a man, but little
faith cannot do great things for God. Poor Little-faith could
not have fought "Apollyon;" it needed "Christian" to do that.
Poor Little-faith could not have slain "Giant Despair;" it
required "Great-heart's" arm to knock that monster down. Little
faith will go to heaven most certainly, but it often has to hide
itself in a nut-shell, and it frequently loses all but its
jewels. Little-faith says, "It is a rough road, beset with sharp
thorns, and full of dangers; I am afraid to go;" but Great-faith
remembers the promise, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; as
thy days, so shall thy strength be:" and so she boldly ventures.
Little-faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the
flood; but Great-faith sings, "When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee:" and she fords the stream at once. Would you
be comfortable and happy? Would you enjoy religion? Would you
have the religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom? Then
"have faith in God." If you love darkness, and are satisfied to
dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith;
but if you love the sunshine, and would sing songs of rejoicing,
covet earnestly this best gift, "great faith."

* 03/08/AM

"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of
God."
                                                    --Acts 14:22

   God's people have their trials. It was never designed by God,
when He chose His people, that they should be an untried people.
They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never
chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness
and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when
their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included
chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably
be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated
for us in Christ's last legacy. So surely as the stars are
fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely
are our trials allotted to us: He has ordained their season and
their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon
us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do,
they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have
been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham,
for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became
the "Father of the faithful." Note well the biographies of all
the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall
discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were
not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained
of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every
vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King's vessels of
honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the
path of God's children, they have the comfort of knowing that
their Master has traversed it before them; they have His
presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support them,
and His example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach
"the kingdom," it will more than make amends for the "much
tribulation" through which they passed to enter it.

* 03/09/AM

"Yea, He is altogether lovely."
                                          --Song of Solomon 5:16

   The superlative beauty of Jesus is all-attracting; it is not
so much to be admired as to be loved. He is more than pleasant
and fair, He is lovely. Surely the people of God can fully
justify the use of this golden word, for He is the object of
their warmest love, a love founded on the intrinsic excellence
of His person, the complete perfection of His charms. Look, O
disciples of Jesus, to your Master's lips, and say, "Are they
not most sweet?" Do not His words cause your hearts to burn
within you as He talks with you by the way? Ye worshippers of
Immanuel, look up to His head of much fine gold, and tell me,
are not His thoughts precious unto you? Is not your adoration
sweetened with affection as ye humbly bow before that
countenance which is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars? Is
there not a charm in His every feature, and is not His whole
person fragrant with such a savour of His good ointments, that
therefore the virgins love Him? Is there one member of His
glorious body which is not attractive?--one portion of His
person which is not a fresh loadstone to our souls?--one office
which is not a strong cord to bind your heart? Our love is not
as a seal set upon His heart of love alone; it is fastened upon
His arm of power also; nor is there a single part of Him upon
which it does not fix itself. We anoint His whole person with
the sweet spikenard of our fervent love. His whole life we would
imitate; His whole character we would transcribe. In all other
beings we see some lack, in Him there is all perfection. The
best even of His favoured saints have had blots upon their
garments and wrinkles upon their brows; He is nothing but
loveliness. All earthly suns have their spots: the fair world
itself hath its wilderness; we cannot love the whole of the most
lovely thing; but Christ Jesus is gold without alloy-light
without darkness--glory without cloud--"Yea, He is altogether
lovely."

* 03/10/AM

"In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved."
                                                    --Psalm 30:6

   "Moab settled on his lees, he hath not been emptied from
vessel to vessel." Give a man wealth; let his ships bring home
continually rich freights; let the winds and waves appear to be
his servants to bear his vessels across the bosom of the mighty
deep; let his lands yield abundantly: let the weather be
propitious to his crops; let uninterrupted success attend him;
let him stand among men as a successful merchant; let him enjoy
continued health; allow him with braced nerve and brilliant eye
to march through the world, and live happily; give him the
buoyant spirit; let him have the song perpetually on his lips;
let his eye be ever sparkling with joy--and the natural
consequence of such an easy state to any man, let him be the
best Christian who ever breathed, will be presumption; even
David said, "I shall never be moved;" and we are not better than
David, nor half so good. Brother, beware of the smooth places of
the way; if you are treading them, or if the way be rough, thank
God for it. If God should always rock us in the cradle of
prosperity; if we were always dandled on the knees of fortune;
if we had not some stain on the alabaster pillar; if there were
not a few clouds in the sky; if we had not some bitter drops in
the wine of this life, we should become intoxicated with
pleasure, we should dream "we stand;" and stand we should, but
it would be upon a pinnacle; like the man asleep upon the mast,
each moment we should be in jeopardy.

   We bless God, then, for our afflictions; we thank Him for our
changes; we extol His name for losses of property; for we feel
that had He not chastened us thus, we might have become too
secure. Continued worldly prosperity is a fiery trial.

             "Afflictions, though they seem severe,
             In mercy oft are sent."

* 03/11/AM

"Sin . . . exceeding sinful."
                                                   --Romans 7:13

   Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion,
the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest
sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they
should offend against God. But alas! very soon the fine bloom
upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of
the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns
into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding. It
is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so
callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him
in the least. By degrees men get familiar with sin. The ear in
which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds.
At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, "Is it not a
little one?" Then there comes another, larger, and then another,
until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill; and
then follows an unholy presumption: "We have not fallen into
open sin. True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the
main. We may have uttered one unholy word, but as for the most
of our conversation, it has been consistent." So we palliate
sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names.
Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed
lest thou fall by little and little. Sin, a little thing? Is
it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing?
Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny
coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little
strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away
stones? Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with
thorns, and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish,
bitterness, and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales
of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor
the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which
crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be "exceeding
sinful."

* 03/12/AM

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour."
                                                  --Matthew 5:43

   "Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he rolls in riches, and thou
art poor, and living in thy little cot side-by-side with his
lordly mansion; thou seest every day his estates, his fine
linen, and his sumptuous banquets; God has given him these
gifts, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts
concerning him. Be content with thine own lot, if thou canst not
better it, but do not look upon thy neighbour, and wish that he
were as thyself. Love him, and then thou wilt not envy him.

   Mayhap, on the other hand, thou art rich, and near thee
reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbour. Own that
thou art bound to love them. The world calls them thy inferiors.
In what are they inferior? They are far more thine equals than
thine inferiors, for "God hath made of one blood all people that
dwell upon the face of the earth." It is thy coat which is
better than theirs, but thou art by no means better than they.
They are men, and what art thou more than that? Take heed that
thou love thy neighbour even though he be in rags, or sunken in
the depths of poverty.

   But, perhaps, you say, "I cannot love my neighbours, because
for all I do they return ingratitude and contempt." So much the
more room for the heroism of love. Wouldst thou be a feather-bed
warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? He who
dares the most, shall win the most; and if rough be thy path of
love, tread it boldly, still loving thy neighbours through thick
and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads, and if they be hard
to please, seek not to please them, but to please thy
Master; and remember if they spurn thy love, thy Master hath
not spurned it, and thy deed is as acceptable to Him as if it
had been acceptable to them. Love thy neighbour, for in so doing
thou art following the footsteps of Christ.

* 03/13/AM

"Why sit we here until we die?"
                                                   --2 Kings 7:3

   Dear reader, this little book was mainly intended for the
edification of believers, but if you are yet unsaved, our heart
yearns over you: and we would fain say a word which may be
blessed to you. Open your Bible, and read the story of the
lepers, and mark their position, which was much the same as
yours. If you remain where you are you must perish; if you go to
Jesus you can but die. "Nothing venture, nothing win," is the
old proverb, and in your case the venture is no great one. If
you sit still in sullen despair, no one can pity you when your
ruin comes; but if you die with mercy sought, if such a thing
were possible, you would be the object of universal sympathy.
None escape who refuse to look to Jesus; but you know that, at
any rate, some are saved who believe in Him, for certain of your
own acquaintances have received mercy: then why not you? The
Ninevites said, "Who can tell?" Act upon the same hope, and try
the Lord's mercy. To perish is so awful, that if there were but
a straw to catch at, the instinct of self-preservation should
lead you to stretch out your hand. We have thus been talking to
you on your own unbelieving ground, we would now assure you, as
from the Lord, that if you seek Him He will be found of you.
Jesus casts out none who come unto Him. You shall not perish if
you trust Him; on the contrary, you shall find treasure far
richer than the poor lepers gathered in Syria's deserted camp.
May the Holy Spirit embolden you to go at once, and you shall
not believe in vain. When you are saved yourself, publish the
good news to others. Hold not your peace; tell the King's
household first, and unite with them in fellowship; let the
porter of the city, the minister, be informed of your discovery,
and then proclaim the good news in every place. The Lord save
thee ere the sun goes down this day.

* 03/14/AM

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
                                           --1 Corinthians 10:12

   It is a curious fact, that there is such a thing as being
proud of grace. A man says, "I have great faith, I shall not
fall; poor little faith may, but I never shall." "I have fervent
love," says another, "I can stand, there is no danger of my
going astray." He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast
of. Some who do this imagine that their graces can keep them,
knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the
fountain head, or else the brook will soon be dry. If a
continuous stream of oil comes not to the lamp, though it burn
brightly to-day, it will smoke to-morrow, and noxious will be
its scent. Take heed that thou gloriest not in thy graces, but
let all thy glorying and confidence be in Christ and His
strength, for only so canst thou be kept from falling. Be much
more in prayer. Spend longer time in holy adoration. Read the
Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more
carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your
pattern. Let your conversation be redolent of heaven. Let your
hearts be perfumed with affection for men's souls. So live that
men may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and
have learned of Him; and when that happy day shall come, when He
whom you love shall say, "Come up higher," may it be your
happiness to hear Him say, "Thou hast fought a good fight, thou
hast finished thy course, and henceforth there is laid up for
thee a crown of righteousness which fadeth not away." On,
Christian, with care and caution! On, with holy fear and
trembling!  On, with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and
let your constant petition be, "Uphold me according to Thy
word." He is able, and He alone, "To keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy."

* 03/15/AM

"Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
                                                 --2 Timothy 2:1

   Christ has grace without measure in Himself, but He hath not
retained it for Himself. As the reservoir empties itself into
the pipes, so hath Christ emptied out His grace for His people.
"Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." He
seems only to have in order to dispense to us. He stands like
the fountain, always flowing, but only running in order to
supply the empty pitchers and the thirsty lips which draw nigh
unto it. Like a tree, He bears sweet fruit, not to hang on
boughs, but to be gathered by those who need. Grace, whether its
work be to pardon, to cleanse, to preserve, to strengthen, to
enlighten, to quicken, or to restore, is ever to be had from Him
freely and without price; nor is there one form of the work of
grace which He has not bestowed upon His people. As the blood of
the body, though flowing from the heart, belongs equally to
every member, so the influences of grace are the inheritance of
every saint united to the Lamb; and herein there is a sweet
communion between Christ and His Church, inasmuch as they both
receive the same grace. Christ is the head upon which the oil is
first poured; but the same oil runs to the very skirts of the
garments, so that the meanest saint has an unction of the same
costly moisture as that which fell upon the head. This is true
communion when the sap of grace flows from the stem to the
branch, and when it is perceived that the stem itself is
sustained by the very nourishment which feeds the branch. As we
day by day receive grace from Jesus, and more constantly
recognize it as coming from Him, we shall behold Him in
communion with us, and enjoy the felicity of communion with Him.
Let us make daily use of our riches, and ever repair to Him as
to our own Lord in covenant, taking from Him the supply of all
we need with as much boldness as men take money from their own
purse.

* 03/16/AM

"I am a stranger with thee."
                                                   --Psalm 39:12

   Yes, O Lord, with Thee, but not to Thee. All my natural
alienation from Thee, Thy grace has effectually removed; and
now, in fellowship with Thyself, I walk through this sinful
world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger
in Thine own world. Man forgets Thee, dishonours Thee, sets up
new laws and alien customs, and knows Thee not. When Thy dear
Son came unto His own, His own received Him not. He was in the
world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not. Never was foreigner so speckled a bird among the denizens
of any land as Thy beloved Son among His mother's brethren. It
is no marvel, then, if I who live the life of Jesus, should be
unknown and a stranger here below. Lord, I would not be a
citizen where Jesus was an alien. His pierced hand has loosened
the cords which once bound my soul to earth, and now I find
myself a stranger in the land. My speech seems to these
Babylonians among whom I dwell an outlandish tongue, my manners
are singular, and my actions are strange. A Tartar would be more
at home in Cheapside than I could ever be in the haunts of
sinners. But here is the sweetness of my lot: I am a stranger
with Thee. Thou art my fellow-sufferer, my fellow-pilgrim. Oh,
what joy to wander in such blessed society!  My heart burns
within me by the way when thou dost speak to me, and though I be
a sojourner, I am far more blest than those who sit on thrones,
and far more at home than those who dwell in their ceiled
houses.

             "To me remains nor place, nor time:
             My country is in every clime;
             I can be calm and free from care
             On any shore, since God is there.

             While place we seek, or place we shun,
             The soul finds happiness in none:
             But with a God to guide our way,
             'Tis equal joy to go or stay."

* 03/17/AM

"Remember the poor."
                                                --Galatians 2:10

   Why does God allow so many of His children to be poor? He
could make them all rich if He pleased; He could lay bags of
gold at their doors; He could send them a large annual income;
or He could scatter round their houses abundance of provisions,
as once he made the quails lie in heaps round the camp of
Israel, and rained bread out of heaven to feed them. There is no
necessity that they should be poor, except that He sees it to be
best. "The cattle upon a thousand hills are His"--He could
supply them; He could make the richest, the greatest, and the
mightiest bring all their power and riches to the feet of His
children, for the hearts of all men are in His control. But He
does not choose to do so; He allows them to suffer want, He
allows them to pine in penury and obscurity. Why is this? There
are many reasons: one is, to give us, who are favoured with
enough, an opportunity of showing our love to Jesus. We show
our love to Christ when we sing of Him and when we pray to Him;
but if there were no sons of need in the world we should lose
the sweet privilege of evidencing our love, by ministering in
alms-giving to His poorer brethren; He has ordained that thus we
should prove that our love standeth not in word only, but in
deed and in truth. If we truly love Christ, we shall care for
those who are loved by Him. Those who are dear to Him will be
dear to us. Let us then look upon it not as a duty but as a
privilege to relieve the poor of the Lord's flock--remembering
the words of the Lord Jesus, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Surely this assurance is sweet enough, and this motive strong
enough to lead us to help others with a willing hand and a
loving heart--recollecting that all we do for His people is
graciously accepted by Christ as done to Himself.

* 03/18/AM

"Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
                                                --Galatians 3:26

   The fatherhood of God is common to all his children. Ah!
Little-faith, you have often said, "Oh that I had the courage of
Great-heart, that I could wield his sword and be as valiant as
he! But, alas, I stumble at every straw, and a shadow makes me
afraid." List thee, Little-faith. Great-heart is God's child,
and you are God's child too; and Great-heart is not one whit
more God's child than you are. Peter and Paul, the highly-
favoured apostles, were of the family of the Most High; and so
are you also; the weak Christian is as much a child of God as
the strong one.

             "This cov'nant stands secure,
             Though earth's old pillars bow;
             The strong, the feeble, and the weak,
             Are one in Jesus now."

All the names are in the same family register. One may have more
grace than another, but God our heavenly Father has the same
tender heart towards all. One may do more mighty works, and may
bring more glory to his Father, but he whose name is the least
in the kingdom of heaven is as much the child of God as he who
stands among the King's mighty men. Let this cheer and comfort
us, when we draw near to God and say, "Our Father."

   Yet, while we are comforted by knowing this, let us not rest
contented with weak faith, but ask, like the Apostles, to have
it increased. However feeble our faith may be, if it be real
faith in Christ, we shall reach heaven at last, but we shall not
honour our Master much on our pilgrimage, neither shall we
abound in joy and peace. If then you would live to Christ's
glory, and be happy in His service, seek to be filled with the
spirit of adoption more and more completely, till perfect love
shall cast out fear.

* 03/19/AM

"Strong in faith."
                                                   --Romans 4:20

   Christian, take good care of thy faith; for recollect faith
is the only way whereby thou canst obtain blessings. If we want
blessings from God, nothing can fetch them down but faith.
Prayer cannot draw down answers, from God's throne except it be
the earnest prayer of the man who believes. Faith is the angelic
messenger between the soul and the Lord Jesus in glory. Let that
angel be withdrawn, we can neither send up prayer, nor receive
the answers. Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth and
heaven--on which God's messages of love fly so fast, that before
we call He answers, and while we are yet speaking He hears us.
But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how can we
receive the promise? Am I in trouble?--I can obtain help for
trouble by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy?--my soul on
her dear Refuge leans by faith. But take faith away--in vain I
call to God. There is no road betwixt my soul and heaven. In
the deepest wintertime faith is a road on which the horses of
prayer may travel--ay, and all the better for the biting frost;
but blockade the road, and how can we communicate with the Great
King? Faith links me with divinity. Faith clothes me with the
power of God. Faith engages on my side the omnipotence of
Jehovah. Faith ensures every attribute of God in my defence. It
helps me to defy the hosts of hell. It makes me march triumphant
over the necks of my enemies. But without faith how can I
receive anything of the Lord? Let not him that wavereth--who is
like a wave of the Sea--expect that he will receive anything of
God! O, then, Christian, watch well thy faith; for with it thou
canst win all things, however poor thou art, but without it thou
canst obtain nothing. "If thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth."

* 03/20/AM

"My beloved."
                                           --Song of Solomon 2:8

   This was a golden name which the ancient Church in her most
joyous moments was wont to give to the Anointed of the Lord.
When the time of the singing of birds was come, and the voice of
the turtle was heard in her land, her love-note was sweeter
than either, as she sang, "My beloved is mine and I am His: He
feedeth among the lilies." Ever in her song of songs doth she
call Him by that delightful name, "My beloved!" Even in the long
winter, when idolatry had withered the garden of the Lord, her
prophets found space to lay aside the burden of the Lord for a
little season, and to say, as Esaias did, "Now will I sing to my
well-beloved a song of my beloved touching His vineyard." Though
the saints had never seen His face, though as yet He was not
made flesh, nor had dwelt among us, nor had man beheld His
glory, yet He was the consolation of Israel, the hope and joy of
all the chosen, the "beloved" of all those who were upright
before the Most High. We, in the summer days of the Church, are
also wont to speak of Christ as the best beloved of our soul,
and to feel that He is very precious, the "chiefest among ten
thousand, and the altogether lovely." So true is it that the
Church loves Jesus, and claims Him as her beloved, that the
apostle dares to defy the whole universe to separate her from
the love of Christ, and declares that neither persecutions,
distress, affliction, peril, or the sword have been able to do
it; nay, he joyously boasts, "In all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us."

   O that we knew more of Thee, Thou ever precious one!

              My sole possession is Thy love;
              In earth beneath, or heaven above,
              I have no other store;
              And though with fervent suit I pray,
              And importune Thee day by day,
              I ask Thee nothing more.

* 03/21/AM

"Ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me
alone."
                                                    --John 16:32

   Few had fellowship with the sorrows of Gethsemane. The
majority of the disciples were not sufficiently advanced in
grace to be admitted to behold the mysteries of "the agony."
Occupied with the passover feast at their own houses, they
represent the many who live upon the letter, but are mere babes
as to the spirit of the gospel. To twelve, nay, to eleven only
was the privilege given to enter Gethsemane and see "this great
sight." Out of the eleven, eight were left at a distance; they
had fellowship, but not of that intimate sort to which men
greatly beloved are admitted. Only three highly favoured ones
could approach the veil of our Lord's mysterious sorrow: within
that veil even these must not intrude; a stone's-cast distance
must be left between. He must tread the wine-press alone, and
of the people there must be none with Him. Peter and the two
sons of Zebedee, represent the few eminent, experienced saints,
who may be written down as "Fathers;" these having done business
on great waters, can in some degree measure the huge Atlantic
waves of their Redeemer's passion. To some selected spirits it
is given, for the good of others, and to strengthen them for
future, special, and tremendous conflict, to enter the inner
circle and hear the pleadings of the suffering High Priest; they
have fellowship with Him in his sufferings, and are made
conformable unto His death. Yet even these cannot penetrate the
secret places of the Saviour's woe. "Thine unknown sufferings"
is the remarkable expression of the Greek liturgy: there was an
inner chamber in our Master's grief, shut out from human
knowledge and fellowship. There Jesus is "left alone." Here
Jesus was more than ever an "Unspeakable gift!" Is not Watts
right when he sings--

               "And all the unknown joys he gives,
               Were bought with agonies unknown."

* 03/22/AM

"And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and
prayed."
                                                 --Matthew 26:39

   There are several instructive features in our Saviour's
prayer in His hour of trial. It was lonely prayer. He withdrew
even from His three favoured disciples. Believer, be much in
solitary prayer, especially in times of trial. Family prayer,
social prayer, prayer in the Church, will not suffice, these are
very precious, but the best beaten spice will smoke in your
censer in your private devotions, where no ear hears but God's.

   It was humble prayer. Luke says He knelt, but another
evangelist says He "fell on His face." Where, then, must be THY
place, thou humble servant of the great Master? What dust and
ashes should cover thy head! Humility gives us good foot-hold
in prayer. There is no hope of prevalence with God unless we
abase ourselves that He may exalt us in due time.

   It was filial prayer. "Abba, Father." You will find it a
stronghold in the day of trial to plead your adoption. You have
no rights as a subject, you have forfeited them by your treason;
but nothing can forfeit a child's right to a father's
protection. Be not afraid to say, "My Father, hear my cry."

   Observe that it was persevering prayer. He prayed three
times. Cease not until you prevail. Be as the importunate widow,
whose continual coming earned what her first supplication could
not win. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with
thanksgiving.

   Lastly, it was the prayer of resignation. "Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou wilt." Yield, and God yields. Let it
be as God wills, and God will determine for the best. Be thou
content to leave thy prayer in his hands, who knows when to
give, and how to give, and what to give, and what to withhold.
So pleading, earnestly, importunately, yet with humility and
resignation, thou shalt surely prevail.

* 03/23/AM

"His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground."
                                                    --Luke 22:44

   The mental pressure arising from our Lord's struggle with
temptation, so forced his frame to an unnatural excitement, that
his pores sent forth great drops of blood which fell down to the
ground. This proves how tremendous must have been the weight of
sin when it was able to crush the Saviour so that he distilled
great drops of blood! This demonstrates the mighty power of his
love. It is a very pretty observation of old Isaac Ambrose
that the gum which exudes from the tree without cutting is
always the best. This precious camphire-tree yielded most sweet
spices when it was wounded under the knotty whips, and when it
was pierced by the nails on the cross; but see, it giveth forth
its best spice when there is no whip, no nail, no wound. This
sets forth the voluntariness of Christ's sufferings, since
without a lance the blood flowed freely. No need to put on the
leech, or apply the knife; it flows spontaneously. No need for
the rulers to cry, "Spring up, O well;" of itself it flows in
crimson torrents. If men suffer great pain of mind apparently
the blood rushes to the heart. The cheeks are pale; a fainting
fit comes on; the blood has gone inward as if to nourish the
inner man while passing through its trial. But see our Saviour
in His agony; he is so utterly oblivious of self, that instead
of his agony driving his blood to the heart to nourish himself,
it drives it outward to bedew the earth. The agony of Christ,
inasmuch as it pours him out upon the ground, pictures the
fulness of the offering which he made for men.

   Do we not perceive how intense must have been the wrestling
through which he passed, and will we not hear its voice to us?
"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."
Behold the great Apostle and High Priest of our profession, and
sweat even to blood rather than yield to the great tempter of
your souls.

* 03/24/AM

"He was heard in that he feared."
                                                   --Hebrews 5:7

   Did this fear arise from the infernal suggestion that He was
utterly forsaken. There may be sterner trials than this, but
surely it is one of the worst to be utterly forsaken? "See,"
said Satan, "thou hast a friend nowhere! Thy Father hath shut up
the bowels of His compassion against thee. Not an angel in His
courts will stretch out his hand to help thee. All heaven is
alienated from Thee; Thou art left alone. See the companions
with whom Thou hast taken sweet counsel, what are they worth?
Son of Mary, see there Thy brother James, see there Thy loved
disciple John, and Thy bold apostle Peter, how the cowards sleep
when Thou art in Thy sufferings! Lo! Thou hast no friend left in
heaven or earth. All hell is against Thee. I have stirred up
mine infernal den. I have sent my missives throughout all
regions summoning every prince of darkness to set upon Thee this
night, and we will spare no arrows, we will use all our infernal
might to overwhelm Thee: and what wilt Thou do, Thou solitary
one?" It may be, this was the temptation; we think it was,
because the appearance of an angel unto Him strengthening Him
removed that fear. He was heard in that He feared; He was no
more alone, but heaven was with Him. It may be that this is the
reason of His coming three times to His disciples--as Hart puts
it--


           "Backwards and forwards thrice He ran,
           As if He sought some help from man."

He would see for Himself whether it were really true that all
men had forsaken Him; He found them all asleep; but perhaps He
gained some faint comfort from the thought that they were
sleeping, not from treachery, but from sorrow, the spirit indeed
was willing, but the flesh was weak. At any rate, He was heard
in that He feared. Jesus was heard in His deepest woe; my soul,
thou shalt be heard also.

* 03/25/AM

"Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?"
                                                    --Luke 22:48

   The kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Let me be on my guard
when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible,
betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever a man is
about to stab religion, he usually professes very great
reverence for it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy
which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the
deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent
to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man,
void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange
woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day,
that "the much fair speech" of the world may have no effect upon
me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be
betrayed with a kiss!

   But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as
Judas, that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name
of the Lord Jesus; I am a member of His visible Church; I sit at
the communion table: all these are so many kisses of my lips. Am
I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. Do I live in the
world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of
being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to
ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I
am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and
it were better for me that I had never been born. Dare I hope
that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O
Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false
way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love Thee, Jesus, and
though I often grieve Thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful
even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring
professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because
I betrayed my Master with a kiss.

* 03/26/AM

"Jesus said unto them, If ye seek Me, let these go their way."
                                                     --John 18:8

   Mark, my soul, the care which Jesus manifested even in His
hour of trial, towards the sheep of His hand! The ruling passion
is strong in death. He resigns Himself to the enemy, but He
interposes a word of power to set His disciples free. As to
Himself, like a sheep before her shearers He is dumb and opened
not His mouth, but for His disciples' sake He speaks with
Almighty energy. Herein is love, constant, self-forgetting,
faithful love. But is there not far more here than is to be
found upon the surface? Have we not the very soul and spirit of
the atonement in these words? The Good Shepherd lays down His
life for the sheep, and pleads that they must therefore go free.
The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom He
stands a substitute should go their way. In the midst of Egypt's
bondage, that voice rings as a word of power, "Let these go
their way." Out of slavery of sin and Satan the redeemed must
come. In every cell of the dungeons of Despair, the sound is
echoed, "Let these go their way," and forth come Despondency
and Much-afraid. Satan hears the well-known voice, and lifts his
foot from the neck of the fallen; and Death hears it, and the
grave opens her gates to let the dead arise. Their way is one
of progress, holiness, triumph, glory, and none shall dare to
stay them in it. No lion shall be on their way, neither shall
any ravenous beast go up thereon. "The hind of the morning" has
drawn the cruel hunters upon himself, and now the most timid
roes and hinds of the field may graze at perfect peace among the
lilies of his loves. The thunder-cloud has burst over the Cross
of Calvary, and the pilgrims of Zion shall never be smitten by
the bolts of vengeance. Come, my heart, rejoice in the immunity
which thy Redeemer has secured thee, and bless His name all the
day, and every day.

* 03/27/AM

"Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled."
                                                 --Matthew 26:56

   He never deserted them, but they in cowardly fear of their
lives, fled from Him in the very beginning of His sufferings.
This is but one instructive instance of the frailty of all
believers if left to themselves; they are but sheep at the best,
and they flee when the wolf cometh. They had all been warned of
the danger, and had promised to die rather than leave their
Master; and yet they were seized with sudden panic, and took to
their heels. It may be, that I, at the opening of this day, have
braced up my mind to bear a trial for the Lord's sake, and I
imagine myself to be certain to exhibit perfect fidelity; but
let me be very jealous of myself, lest having the same evil
heart of unbelief, I should depart from my Lord as the apostles
did. It is one thing to promise, and quite another to perform.
It would have been to their eternal honour to have stood at
Jesus' side right manfully; they fled from honour; may I be kept
from imitating them! Where else could they have been so safe as
near their Master, who could presently call for twelve legions
of angels? They fled from their true safety. O God, let me not
play the fool also. Divine grace can make the coward brave. The
smoking flax can flame forth like fire on the altar when the
Lord wills it. These very apostles who were timid as hares, grew
to be bold as lions after the Spirit had descended upon them,
and even so the Holy Spirit can make my recreant spirit brave to
confess my Lord and witness for His truth.

   What anguish must have filled the Saviour as He saw His
friends so faithless! This was one bitter ingredient in His cup;
but that cup is drained dry; let me not put another drop in it.
If I forsake my Lord, I shall crucify Him afresh, and put Him to
an open shame. Keep me, O blessed Spirit, from an end so
shameful.

* 03/28/AM

"The love of Christ which passeth knowledge."
                                                --Ephesians 3:19

   The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its
greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension.
Where shall language be found which shall describe His
matchless, His unparalleled love towards the children of men? It
is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the
water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words
but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath.
Well might the poet say,

               "O love, thou fathomless abyss!"

for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless;
none can attain unto it. Before we can have any right idea of
the love of Jesus, we must understand His previous glory in its
height of majesty, and His incarnation upon the earth in all its
depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When
He was enthroned in the highest heavens He was very God of very
God; by Him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof.
His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim
and seraphim perpetually surrounded Him; the full chorus of the
hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of
his throne: He reigned supreme above all His creatures, God over
all, blessed for ever. Who can tell His height of glory then?
And who, on the other hand, can tell how low He descended? To be
a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to
bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for Him who was the
Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony--to endure a
death of shame and desertion by His Father, this is a depth of
condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly
fail to fathom. Herein is love! and truly it is love that
"passeth knowledge." O let this love fill our hearts with
adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of
its power.

* 03/29/AM

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things
which He suffered."
                                                   --Hebrews 5:8

   We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made
perfect through suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who
are far from being perfect, must not wonder if we are called to
pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with
thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon
the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of His own
blood to win the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in
silver slippers? No, our Master's experience teaches us that
suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of God must not,
would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very
comforting thought in the fact of Christ's "being made perfect
through suffering"--it is, that He can have complete sympathy
with us. "He is not an high priest that cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities." In this sympathy of Christ we
find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs said, "I can
bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and He suffers in me now; He
sympathizes with me, and this makes me strong." Believer, lay
hold of this thought in all times of agony. Let the thought of
Jesus strengthen you as you follow in His steps. Find a sweet
support in His sympathy; and remember that, to suffer is an
honourable thing--to suffer for Christ is glory. The apostles
rejoiced that they were counted worthy to do this. Just so far
as the Lord shall give us grace to suffer for Christ, to
suffer with Christ, just so far does He honour us. The jewels
of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings
whom God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows, and
their griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured. Let us
not turn aside from being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and troubles
lift us up. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him."

* 03/30/AM

"He was numbered with the transgressors."
                                                  --Isaiah 53:12

   Why did Jesus suffer Himself to be enrolled amongst sinners?
This wonderful condescension was justified by many powerful
reasons. In such a character He could the better become their
advocate. In some trials there is an identification of the
counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon in the
eye of the law as apart from one another. Now, when the sinner
is brought to the bar, Jesus appears there Himself. He stands
to answer the accusation. He points to His side, His hands, His
feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the
sinners whom He represents; He pleads His blood, and pleads so
triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a part with
them, that the Judge proclaims, "Let them go their way; deliver
them from going down into the pit, for He hath found a ransom."
Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors in order that
they might feel their hearts drawn towards Him. Who can be
afraid of one who is written in the same list with us? Surely we
may come boldly to Him, and confess our guilt. He who is
numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was He not put down in the
transgressor's list that we might be written in the red roll of
the saints? He was holy, and written among the holy; we were
guilty, and numbered among the guilty; He transfers His name
from yonder list to this black indictment, and our names are
taken from the indictment and written in the roll of acceptance,
for there is a complete transfer made between Jesus and His
people. All our estate of misery and sin Jesus has taken; and
all that Jesus has comes to us. His righteousness, His blood,
and everything that He hath He gives us as our dowry. Rejoice,
believer, in your union to Him who was numbered among the
transgressors; and prove that you are truly saved by being
manifestly numbered with those who are new creatures in Him.

* 03/31/AM

"With His stripes we are healed."
                                                   --Isaiah 53:5

   Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The
Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was
made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted
every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the
lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful
laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour
was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been
beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the
most severe of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep
over His poor stricken body.

   Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears, as He
stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once
fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the
crimson of His own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed
healing which His stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart
melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord
Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our
bosoms.

            "See how the patient Jesus stands,
            Insulted in His lowest case!
            Sinners have bound the Almighty's hands,
            And spit in their Creator's face.

            With thorns His temples gor'd and gash'd
            Send streams of blood from every part;
            His back's with knotted scourges lash'd.
            But sharper scourges tear His heart."

We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our
business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print
the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts
all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with
Him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dear.
* 04/01/AM

"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth."
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:2

   For several days we have been dwelling upon the Saviour's
passion, and for some little time to come we shall linger there.
In beginning a new month, let us seek the same desires after our
Lord as those which glowed in the heart of the elect spouse. See
how she leaps at once to Him; there are no prefatory words;
she does not even mention His name; she is in the heart of her
theme at once, for she speaks of Him who was the only Him in
the world to her. How bold is her love! it was much
condescension which permitted the weeping penitent to anoint His
feet with spikenard--it was rich love which allowed the gentle
Mary to sit at His feet and learn of Him--but here, love,
strong, fervent love, aspires to higher tokens of regard, and
closer signs of fellowship. Esther trembled in the presence of
Ahasuerus, but the spouse in joyful liberty of perfect love
knows no fear. If we have received the same free spirit, we also
may ask the like. By kisses we suppose to be intended those
varied manifestations of affection by which the believer is made
to enjoy the love of Jesus. The kiss of reconciliation we
enjoyed at our conversion, and it was sweet as honey dropping
from the comb. The kiss of acceptance is still warm on our
brow, as we know that He hath accepted our persons and our works
through rich grace. The kiss of daily, present communion, is
that which we pant after to be repeated day after day, till it
is changed into the kiss of reception, which removes the soul
from earth, and the kiss of consummation which fills it with
the joy of heaven. Faith is our walk, but fellowship sensibly
felt is our rest. Faith is the road, but communion with Jesus is
the well from which the pilgrim drinks. O lover of our souls, be
not strange to us; let the lips of Thy blessing meet the lips of
our asking; let the lips of Thy fulness touch the lips of our
need, and straightway the kiss will be effected.

* 04/02/AM

"He answered him to never a word."
                                                 --Matthew 27:14

   He had never been slow of speech when He could bless the sons
of men, but He would not say a single word for Himself. "Never
man spake like this Man," and never man was silent like Him. Was
this singular silence the index of His perfect self-sacrifice?
Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the slaughter
of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for
us? Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not
interfere in His own behalf, even in the minutest degree, but
be bound and slain an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was
this silence a type of the defenselessness of sin? Nothing
can be said in palliation or excuse of human guilt; and,
therefore, He who bore its whole weight stood speechless before
His judge. Is not patient silence the best reply to a
gainsaying world? Calm endurance answers some questions
infinitely more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence. The
best apologists for Christianity in the early days were its
martyrs. The anvil breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing
their blows. Did not the silent Lamb of God furnish us with a
grand example of wisdom? Where every word was occasion for new
blasphemy, it was the line of duty to afford no fuel for the
flame of sin. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and
mean, will ere long overthrow and confute themselves, and
therefore the true can afford to be quiet, and finds silence to
be its wisdom. Evidently our Lord, by His silence, furnished a
remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defence of Himself
would have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction. "He is led as a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." By His quiet He conclusively
proved Himself to be the true Lamb of God. As such we salute Him
this morning. Be with us, Jesus, and in the silence of our
heart, let us hear the voice of Thy love.

* 04/03/AM

"They took Jesus, and led Him away."
                                                    --John 19:16

   He had been all night in agony, He had spent the early
morning at the hall of Caiaphas, He had been hurried from
Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back
again to Pilate; He had, therefore, but little strength left,
and yet neither refreshment nor rest were permitted Him. They
were eager for His blood, and therefore led Him out to die,
loaded with the cross. O dolorous procession! Well may Salem's
daughters weep. My soul, do thou weep also.

   What learn we here as we see our blessed Lord led forth? Do
we not perceive that truth which was set forth in shadow by the
scapegoat? Did not the high-priest bring the scapegoat, and put
both his hands upon its head, confessing the sins of the people,
that thus those sins might be laid upon the goat, and cease from
the people? Then the goat was led away by a fit man into the
wilderness, and it carried away the sins of the people, so that
if they were sought for they could not be found. Now we see
Jesus brought before the priests and rulers, who pronounce Him
guilty; God Himself imputes our sins to Him, "the Lord hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all;" "He was made sin for us;"
and, as the substitute for our guilt, bearing our sin upon His
shoulders, represented by the cross; we see the great Scapegoat
led away by the appointed officers of justice. Beloved, can you
feel assured that He carried your sin? As you look at the
cross upon His shoulders, does it represent your sin? There is
one way by which you can tell whether He carried your sin or
not. Have you laid your hand upon His head, confessed your sin,
and trusted in Him? Then your sin lies not on you; it has all
been transferred by blessed imputation to Christ, and He bears
it on His shoulder as a load heavier than the cross.

   Let not the picture vanish till you have rejoiced in your own
deliverance, and adored the loving Redeemer upon whom your
iniquities were laid.

* 04/04/AM

"For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
                                            --2 Corinthians 5:21

   Mourning Christian! why weepest thou? Art thou mourning over
thine own corruptions? Look to thy perfect Lord, and remember,
thou art complete in Him; thou art in God's sight as perfect as
if thou hadst never sinned; nay, more than that, the Lord our
Righteousness hath put a divine garment upon thee, so that thou
hast more than the righteousness of man--thou hast the
righteousness of God. O Thou who art mourning by reason of
inbred sin and depravity, remember, none of thy sins can condemn
thee. Thou hast learned to hate sin; but thou hast learned also
to know that sin is not thine--it was laid upon Christ's head.
Thy standing is not in thyself--it is in Christ; thine
acceptance is not in thyself, but in thy Lord; thou art as much
accepted of God to-day, with all thy sinfulness, as thou wilt be
when thou standest before His throne, free from all corruption.
O, I beseech thee, lay hold on this precious thought,
perfection in Christ! For thou art "complete in Him." With thy
Saviour's garment on, thou art holy as the Holy one. "Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us." Christian, let thy heart rejoice,
for thou art "accepted in the beloved"--what hast thou to fear?
Let thy face ever wear a smile; live near thy Master; live in
the suburbs of the Celestial City; for soon, when thy time has
come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and reign at His
right hand; and all this because the divine Lord "was made to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him."

* 04/05/AM

"On Him they laid the cross, that He might bear it after Jesus."
                                                    --Luke 23:26

   We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of
the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer
after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as
to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may
escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from
sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.

   But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our
case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross
which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your
religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then
remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how
delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!

   You carry the cross after Him. You have blessed company;
your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark
of His blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. 'Tis His
cross, and He goes before you as a shepherd goes before his
sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow Him.

   Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in
partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried
one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very
possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the
transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end.
Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of
the cross, Christ bore the heavier end.

   And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very
little while, it gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we
carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall
receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross,
and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it
works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory."

* 04/06/AM

"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp."
                                                 --Hebrews 13:13

   Jesus, bearing His cross, went forth to suffer without the
gate. The Christian's reason for leaving the camp of the world's
sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular, but
because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master.
Christ was "not of the world:" His life and His testimony were a
constant protest against conformity with the world. Never was
such overflowing affection for men as you find in Him; but still
He was separate from sinners. In like manner Christ's people
must "go forth unto Him." They must take their position "without
the camp," as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be
prepared to tread the straight and narrow path. They must have
bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and
His truth next, and Christ and His truth beyond all the world.
Jesus would have His people "go forth without the camp" for
their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high
degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of
separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of
safety; and though the separated life may cost you many pangs,
and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life after all.
No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals
Himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that
the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than
others in their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is the
highway of communion. It is thus we shall hope to win the
crown if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow
Christ "without the camp." The crown of glory will follow the
cross of separation. A moment's shame will be well recompensed
by eternal honour; a little while of witness-bearing will seem
nothing when we are "for ever with the Lord."

* 04/07/AM

"O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?"
                                                     --Psalm 4:2

   An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours
which the blinded people of Israel awarded to their
long-expected King. (1.) They gave Him a procession of
honour, in which Roman legionaries, Jewish priests, men and
women, took a part, He Himself bearing His cross. This is the
triumph which the world awards to Him who comes to overthrow
man's direst foes. Derisive shouts are His only acclamations,
and cruel taunts His only paeans of praise. (2.) They presented
Him with the wine of honour. Instead of a golden cup of
generous wine they offered Him the criminal's stupefying
death-draught, which He refused because He would preserve an
uninjured taste wherewith to taste of death; and afterwards when
He cried, "I thirst," they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall,
thrust to His mouth upon a sponge. Oh! wretched, detestable
inhospitality to the King's Son. (3.) He was provided with a
guard of honour, who showed their esteem of Him by gambling
over His garments, which they had seized as their booty. Such
was the body-guard of the adored of heaven; a quaternion of
brutal gamblers. (4.) A throne of honour was found for Him
upon the bloody tree; no easier place of rest would rebel men
yield to their liege Lord. The cross was, in fact, the full
expression of the world's feeling towards Him; "There," they
seemed to say, "Thou Son of God, this is the manner in which God
Himself should be treated, could we reach Him." (5.) The title
of honour was nominally "King of the Jews," but that the
blinded nation distinctly repudiated, and really called Him
"King of thieves," by preferring Barabbas, and by placing Jesus
in the place of highest shame between two thieves. His glory was
thus in all things turned into shame by the sons of men, but it
shall yet gladden the eyes of saints and angels, world without
end.

* 04/08/AM

"If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in
the dry?"
                                                    --Luke 23:31

   Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the
following is full of teaching: "If the innocent substitute for
sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself
--the dry tree--shall fall into the hands of an angry God?" When
God saw Jesus in the sinner's place, He did not spare Him; and
when He finds the unregenerate without Christ, He will not spare
them. O sinner, Jesus was led away by His enemies: so shall you
be dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for you. Jesus
was deserted of God; and if He, who was only imputedly a sinner,
was deserted, how much more shall you be? "Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?" what an awful shriek! But what shall be your cry
when you shall say, "O God! O God! why hast Thou forsaken me?"
and the answer shall come back, "Because ye have set at nought
all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh
at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." If God
spared not His own Son, how much less will He spare you! What
whips of burning wire will be yours when conscience shall smite
you with all its terrors. Ye richest, ye merriest, ye most
self-righteous sinners--who would stand in your place when God
shall say, "Awake, O sword, against the man that rejected Me;
smite him, and let him feel the smart for ever"? Jesus was spit
upon: sinner, what shame will be yours! We cannot sum up in one
word all the mass of sorrows which met upon the head of Jesus
who died for us, therefore it is impossible for us to tell you
what streams, what oceans of grief must roll over your spirit
if you die as you now are. You may die so, you may die now. By
the agonies of Christ, by His wounds and by His blood, do not
bring upon yourselves the wrath to come! Trust in the Son of
God, and you shall never die.

* 04/09/AM

"And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women,
which also bewailed and lamented Him."
                                                    --Luke 23:27

   Amid the rabble rout which hounded the Redeemer to His doom,
there were some gracious souls whose bitter anguish sought vent
in wailing and lamentations--fit music to accompany that march
of woe. When my soul can, in imagination, see the Saviour
bearing His cross to Calvary, she joins the godly women and
weeps with them; for, indeed, there is true cause for grief--
cause lying deeper than those mourning women thought. They
bewailed innocence maltreated, goodness persecuted, love
bleeding, meekness about to die; but my heart has a deeper and
more bitter cause to mourn. My sins were the scourges which
lacerated those blessed shoulders, and crowned with thorn those
bleeding brows: my sins cried "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" and
laid the cross upon His gracious shoulders. His being led forth
to die is sorrow enough for one eternity: but my having been His
murderer, is more, infinitely more, grief than one poor fountain
of tears can express.

   Why those women loved and wept it were not hard to guess: but
they could not have had greater reasons for love and grief than
my heart has. Nain's widow saw her son restored--but I myself
have been raised to newness of life. Peter's wife's mother was
cured of the fever--but I of the greater plague of sin. Out of
Magdalene seven devils were cast--but a whole legion out of me.
Mary and Martha were favoured with visits--but He dwells with
me. His mother bare His body--but He is formed in me the hope of
glory. In nothing behind the holy women in debt, let me not be
behind them in gratitude or sorrow.

               "Love and grief my heart dividing,
               With my tears His feet I'll lave--
               Constant still in heart abiding,
               Weep for Him who died to save."

* 04/10/AM

"The place which is called Calvary."
                                                    --Luke 23:33

   The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of
consolation is built with the wood of the cross; the temple of
heavenly blessing is founded upon the riven rock--riven by the
spear which pierced His side. No scene in sacred history ever
gladdens the soul like Calvary's tragedy.

        "Is it not strange, the darkest hour
        That ever dawned on sinful earth,
        Should touch the heart with softer power,
        For comfort, than an angel's mirth?
        That to the Cross the mourner's eye should turn,
        Sooner than where the stars of Bethlehem burn?"

Light springs from the midday-midnight of Golgotha, and every
herb of the field blooms sweetly beneath the shadow of the once
accursed tree. In that place of thirst, grace hath dug a
fountain which ever gusheth with waters pure as crystal, each
drop capable of alleviating the woes of mankind. You who have
had your seasons of conflict, will confess that it was not at
Olivet that you ever found comfort, not on the hill of Sinai,
nor on Tabor; but Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha have been a
means of comfort to you. The bitter herbs of Gethsemane have
often taken away the bitters of your life; the scourge of
Gabbatha has often scourged away your cares, and the groans of
Calvary yields us comfort rare and rich. We never should have
known Christ's love in all its heights and depths if He had not
died; nor could we guess the Father's deep affection if He had
not given His Son to die. The common mercies we enjoy all sing
of love, just as the sea-shell, when we put it to our ears,
whispers of the deep sea whence it came; but if we desire to
hear the ocean itself, we must not look at every-day blessings,
but at the transactions of the crucifixion. He who would know
love, let him retire to Calvary and see the Man of sorrows die.

* 04/11/AM

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint."
                                                   --Psalm 22:14

   Did earth or heaven ever behold a sadder spectacle of woe! In
soul and body, our Lord felt Himself to be weak as water poured
upon the ground. The placing of the cross in its socket had
shaken Him with great violence, had strained all the ligaments,
pained every nerve, and more or less dislocated all His bones.
Burdened with His own weight, the august sufferer felt the
strain increasing every moment of those six long hours. His
sense of faintness and general weakness were overpowering; while
to His own consciousness He became nothing but a mass of misery
and swooning sickness. When Daniel saw the great vision, he thus
describes his sensations, "There remained no strength in me, for
my vigour was turned into corruption, and I retained no
strength:" how much more faint must have been our greater
Prophet when He saw the dread vision of the wrath of God, and
felt it in His own soul! To us, sensations such as our Lord
endured would have been insupportable, and kind unconsciousness
would have come to our rescue; but in His case, He was wounded,
and felt the sword; He drained the cup and tasted every
drop.

         "O King of Grief! (a title strange, yet true
         To Thee of all kings only due)
         O King of Wounds! how shall I grieve for Thee,
         Who in all grief preventest me!"

As we kneel before our now ascended Saviour's throne, let us
remember well the way by which He prepared it as a throne of
grace for us; let us in spirit drink of His cup, that we may be
strengthened for our hour of heaviness whenever it may come. In
His natural body every member suffered, and so must it be in the
spiritual; but as out of all His griefs and woes His body came
forth uninjured to glory and power, even so shall His mystical
body come through the furnace with not so much as the smell of
fire upon it.

* 04/12/AM

"My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."
                                                   --Psalm 22:14

   Our blessed Lord experienced a terrible sinking and melting
of soul. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a
wounded spirit who can bear?" Deep depression of spirit is the
most grievous of all trials; all besides is as nothing. Well
might the suffering Saviour cry to His God, "Be not far from
me," for above all other seasons a man needs his God when his
heart is melted within him because of heaviness. Believer, come
near the cross this morning, and humbly adore the King of glory
as having once been brought far lower, in mental distress and
inward anguish, than any one among us; and mark His fitness to
become a faithful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling
of our infirmities. Especially let those of us whose sadness
springs directly from the withdrawal of a present sense of our
Father's love, enter into near and intimate communion with
Jesus. Let us not give way to despair, since through this dark
room the Master has passed before us. Our souls may sometimes
long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light
of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves
with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest.
Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of His
griefs; but how high ought our love to rise! Come in, O strong
and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring
tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my
cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my
Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed
up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to
whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear
within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love
which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His
feet for ever.

* 04/13/AM

"A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me."
                                          --Song of Solomon 1:13

   Myrrh may well be chosen as the type of Jesus on account of
its preciousness, its perfume, its pleasantness, its
healing, preserving, disinfecting qualities, and its connection
with sacrifice. But why is He compared to "a bundle of
myrrh"? First, for plenty. He is not a drop of it, He is a
casket full. He is not a sprig or flower of it, but a whole
bundle. There is enough in Christ for all my necessities; let me
not be slow to avail myself of Him. Our well-beloved is compared
to a "bundle" again, for variety: for there is in Christ not
only the one thing needful, but in "Him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily," everything needful is in Him. Take Jesus
in His different characters, and you will see a marvellous
variety--Prophet, Priest, King, Husband, Friend, Shepherd.
Consider Him in His life, death, resurrection, ascension, second
advent; view Him in His virtue, gentleness, courage,
self-denial, love, faithfulness, truth, righteousness--
everywhere He is a bundle of preciousness. He is a "bundle of
myrrh" for preservation--not loose myrrh tied up, myrrh to be
stored in a casket. We must value Him as our best treasure; we
must prize His words and His ordinances; and we must keep our
thoughts of Him and knowledge of Him as under lock and key, lest
the devil should steal anything from us. Moreover, Jesus is a
"bundle of myrrh" for speciality. The emblem suggests the idea
of distinguishing, discriminating grace. From before the
foundation of the world, He was set apart for His people; and He
gives forth His perfume only to those who understand how to
enter into communion with Him, to have close dealings with Him.
Oh! blessed people whom the Lord hath admitted into His secrets,
and for whom He sets Himself apart. Oh! choice and happy who
are thus made to say, "A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto
me."

* 04/14/AM

"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip,
they shake the head."
                                                    --Psalm 22:7

   Mockery was a great ingredient in our Lord's woe. Judas
mocked Him in the garden; the chief priests and scribes laughed
Him to scorn; Herod set Him at nought; the servants and the
soldiers jeered at Him, and brutally insulted Him; Pilate and
his guards ridiculed His royalty; and on the tree all sorts of
horrid jests and hideous taunts were hurled at Him. Ridicule is
always hard to bear, but when we are in intense pain it is so
heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to the quick. Imagine the
Saviour crucified, racked with anguish far beyond all mortal
guess, and then picture that motley multitude, all wagging their
heads or thrusting out the lip in bitterest contempt of one poor
suffering victim! Surely there must have been something more in
the crucified One than they could see, or else such a great and
mingled crowd would not unanimously have honoured Him with such
contempt. Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its
greatest apparent triumph, that after all it could do no more
than mock at that victorious goodness which was then reigning on
the cross? O Jesus, "despised and rejected of men," how couldst
Thou die for men who treated Thee so ill? Herein is love
amazing, love divine, yea, love beyond degree. We, too, have
despised Thee in the days of our unregeneracy, and even since
our new birth we have set the world on high in our hearts, and
yet Thou bleedest to heal our wounds, and diest to give us life.
O that we could set Thee on a glorious high throne in all men's
hearts! We would ring out Thy praises over land and sea till men
should as universally adore as once they did unanimously reject.

       Thy creatures wrong Thee, O Thou sovereign Good!
       Thou art not loved, because not understood:
       This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile
       Ungrateful men, regardless of Thy smile.

* 04/15/AM

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
                                                    --Psalm 22:1

   We here behold the Saviour in the depth of His sorrows. No
other place so well shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary, and
no other moment at Calvary is so full of agony as that in which
His cry rends the air--"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me?" At this moment physical weakness was united with acute
mental torture from the shame and ignominy through which He had
to pass; and to make His grief culminate with emphasis, He
suffered spiritual agony surpassing all expression, resulting
from the departure of His Father's presence. This was the black
midnight of His horror; then it was that He descended the abyss
of suffering. No man can enter into the full meaning of these
words. Some of us think at times that we could cry, "My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" There are seasons when the
brightness of our Father's smile is eclipsed by clouds and
darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake
us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ's case
it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our
Father's love; but the real turning away of God's face from His
Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused Him?

   In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in His
case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had
really turned away from Him for a season. O thou poor,
distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God's face,
but art now in darkness, remember that He has not really
forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when He
shines forth in all the lustre of His grace; but since even the
thought that He has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the
woe of the Saviour have been when He exclaimed, "My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?"

* 04/16/AM

"The precious blood of Christ."
                                                  --1 Peter 1:19

   Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet,
and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It
is "precious" because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy.
By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are
redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made
one with Him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its
cleansing power; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Through
Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no
wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which
makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and
permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding
the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The
blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving
power. We are safe from the destroying angel under the
sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which
is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us
when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same.
The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying
influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin,
does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it
onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God.
There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams
from the veins of Jesus. And "precious," unspeakably precious,
is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is
written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How
could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood
of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The
blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be
death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall
march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its
power!

* 04/17/AM

"We are come to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that of Abel."
                                                 --Hebrews 12:24

   Reader, have you come to the blood of sprinkling? The
question is not whether you have come to a knowledge of
doctrine, or an observance of ceremonies, or to a certain form
of experience, but have you come to the blood of Jesus? The
blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness. If you have
truly come to Jesus, we know how you came--the Holy Spirit
sweetly brought you there. You came to the blood of sprinkling
with no merits of your own. Guilty, lost, and helpless, you came
to take that blood, and that blood alone, as your everlasting
hope. You came to the cross of Christ, with a trembling and an
aching heart; and oh! what a precious sound it was to you to
hear the voice of the blood of Jesus! The dropping of His blood
is as the music of heaven to the penitent sons of earth. We are
full of sin, but the Saviour bids us lift our eyes to Him, and
as we gaze upon His streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it
falls, cries, "It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have
brought in everlasting righteousness." Oh! sweet language of
the precious blood of Jesus! If you have come to that blood
once, you will come to it constantly. Your life will be "Looking
unto Jesus." Your whole conduct will be epitomized in this--"To
whom coming." Not to whom I have come, but to whom I am
always coming. If thou hast ever come to the blood of
sprinkling, thou wilt feel thy need of coming to it every day.
He who does not desire to wash in it every day, has never
washed in it at all. The believer ever feels it to be his joy
and privilege that there is still a fountain opened. Past
experiences are doubtful food for Christians; a present coming
to Christ alone can give us joy and comfort. This morning let us
sprinkle our door-post fresh with blood, and then feast upon the
Lamb, assured that the destroying angel must pass us by.

* 04/18/AM

"She bound the scarlet line in the window."
                                                   --Joshua 2:21

   Rahab depended for her preservation upon the promise of the
spies, whom she looked upon as the representatives of the God of
Israel. Her faith was simple and firm, but it was very obedient.
To tie the scarlet line in the window was a very trivial act in
itself, but she dared not run the risk of omitting it. Come, my
soul, is there not here a lesson for thee? Hast thou been
attentive to all thy Lord's will, even though some of His
commands should seem non-essential? Hast thou observed in his
own way the two ordinances of believers' baptism and the Lord's
Supper? These neglected, argue much unloving disobedience in thy
heart. Be henceforth in all things blameless, even to the tying
of a thread, if that be matter of command.

   This act of Rahab sets forth a yet more solemn lesson. Have
I implicitly trusted in the precious blood of Jesus? Have I
tied the scarlet cord, as with a Gordian knot in my window, so
that my trust can never be removed? Or can I look out towards
the Dead Sea of my sins, or the Jerusalem of my hopes, without
seeing the blood, and seeing all things in connection with its
blessed power? The passer-by can see a cord of so conspicuous a
colour, if it hangs from the window: it will be well for me if
my life makes the efficacy of the atonement conspicuous to all
onlookers. What is there to be ashamed of? Let men or devils
gaze if they will, the blood is my boast and my song. My soul,
there is One who will see that scarlet line, even when from
weakness of faith thou canst not see it thyself; Jehovah, the
Avenger, will see it and pass over thee. Jericho's walls fell
flat: Rahab's house was on the wall, and yet it stood unmoved;
my nature is built into the wall of humanity, and yet when
destruction smites the race, I shall be secure. My soul, tie the
scarlet thread in the window afresh, and rest in peace.

* 04/19/AM

"Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom."
                                                 --Matthew 27:51

   No mean miracle was wrought in the rending of so strong and
thick a veil; but it was not intended merely as a display of
power--many lessons were herein taught us. The old law of
ordinances was put away, and like a worn-out vesture, rent and
laid aside. When Jesus died, the sacrifices were all finished,
because all fulfilled in Him, and therefore the place of their
presentation was marked with an evident token of decay. That
rent also revealed all the hidden things of the old
dispensation: the mercy-seat could now be seen, and the glory
of God gleamed forth above it. By the death of our Lord Jesus we
have a clear revelation of God, for He was "not as Moses, who
put a veil over his face." Life and immortality are now brought
to light, and things which have been hidden since the foundation
of the world are manifest in Him. The annual ceremony of
atonement was thus abolished. The atoning blood which was once
every year sprinkled within the veil, was now offered once for
all by the great High Priest, and therefore the place of the
symbolical rite was broken up. No blood of bullocks or of lambs
is needed now, for Jesus has entered within the veil with his
own blood. Hence access to God is now permitted, and is the
privilege of every believer in Christ Jesus. There is no small
space laid open through which we may peer at the mercy-seat, but
the rent reaches from the top to the bottom. We may come with
boldness to the throne of the heavenly grace. Shall we err if we
say that the opening of the Holy of Holies in this marvellous
manner by our Lord's expiring cry was the type of the opening
of the gates of paradise to all the saints by virtue of the
Passion? Our bleeding Lord hath the key of heaven; He openeth
and no man shutteth; let us enter in with Him into the heavenly
places, and sit with Him there till our common enemies shall be
made His footstool.

* 04/20/AM

"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of
death."
                                                  --Hebrews 2:14

   O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the
devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying.
Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by an intimate knowledge
and a firm belief of thy Redeemer's death, thou mayst be
strengthened for that dread hour. Living near the cross of
Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and welcome it
when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the
Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no
longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to
the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. The
distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints
on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from
home--a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul
is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many
wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in
the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the
waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen
to the answer, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord."
Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It
did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old,
upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said,
"Peace, be still," and immediately it came to land. Think not
that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and
the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they open in
heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant on the road. Then,
O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing
that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are
destroyed? and now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in
the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.

* 04/21/AM

"I know that my Redeemer liveth."
                                                     --Job 19:25

   The marrow of Job's comfort lies in that little word
"My"--"My Redeemer," and in the fact that the Redeemer lives.
Oh! to get hold of a living Christ. We must get a property in
Him before we can enjoy Him. What is gold in the mine to me? Men
are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in California. It is
gold in my purse which will satisfy my necessities, by
purchasing the bread I need. So a Redeemer who does not redeem
me, an avenger who will never stand up for my blood, of what
avail were such? Rest not content until by faith you can say
"Yes, I cast myself upon my living Lord; and He is mine." It may
be you hold Him with a feeble hand; you half think it
presumption to say, "He lives as my Redeemer;" yet, remember
if you have but faith as a grain of mustard seed, that little
faith entitles you to say it. But there is also another word
here, expressive of Job's strong confidence, "I know." To say,
"I hope so, I trust so" is comfortable; and there are thousands
in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get much further. But to
reach the essence of consolation you must say, "I know." Ifs,
buts, and perhapses, are sure murderers of peace and comfort.
Doubts are dreary things in times of sorrow. Like wasps they
sting the soul! If I have any suspicion that Christ is not mine,
then there is vinegar mingled with the gall of death; but if I
know that Jesus lives for me, then darkness is not dark: even
the night is light about me. Surely if Job, in those ages before
the coming and advent of Christ, could say, "I know," we
should not speak less positively. God forbid that our
positiveness should be presumption. Let us see that our
evidences are right, lest we build upon an ungrounded hope; and
then let us not be satisfied with the mere foundation, for it is
from the upper rooms that we get the widest prospect. A living
Redeemer, truly mine, is joy unspeakable.

* 04/22/AM

"Him hath God exalted."
                                                     --Acts 5:31

   Jesus, our Lord, once crucified, dead and buried, now sits
upon the throne of glory. The highest place that heaven affords
is His by undisputed right. It is sweet to remember that the
exaltation of Christ in heaven is a representative exaltation.
He is exalted at the Father's right hand, and though as Jehovah
He had eminent glories, in which finite creatures cannot share,
yet as the Mediator, the honours which Jesus wears in heaven are
the heritage of all the saints. It is delightful to reflect how
close is Christ's union with His people. We are actually one
with Him; we are members of His body; and His exaltation is our
exaltation. He will give us to sit upon His throne, even as He
has overcome, and is set down with His Father on His throne; He
has a crown, and He gives us crowns too; He has a throne, but He
is not content with having a throne to Himself, on His right
hand there must be His queen, arrayed in "gold of Ophir." He
cannot be glorified without His bride. Look up, believer, to
Jesus now; let the eye of your faith behold Him with many crowns
upon His head; and remember that you will one day be like Him,
when you shall see Him as He is; you shall not be so great as He
is, you shall not be so divine, but still you shall, in a
measure, share the same honours, and enjoy the same happiness
and the same dignity which He possesses. Be content to live
unknown for a little while, and to walk your weary way through
the fields of poverty, or up the hills of affliction; for
by-and-by you shall reign with Christ, for He has "made us kings
and priests unto God, and we shall reign for ever and ever."
Oh!, wonderful thought for the children of God! We have Christ
for our glorious representative in heaven's courts now, and
soon He will come and receive us to Himself, to be with Him
there, to behold His glory, and to share His joy.

* 04/23/AM

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us."
                                                   --Romans 8:37

   We go to Christ for forgiveness, and then too often look to
the law for power to fight our sins. Paul thus rebukes us, "O
foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not
obey the truth? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? are
ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh?" Take your sins to Christ's cross, for the
old man can only be crucified there: we are crucified with
Him. The only weapon to fight sin with is the spear which
pierced the side of Jesus. To give an illustration--you want to
overcome an angry temper, how do you go to work? It is very
possible you have never tried the right way of going to Jesus
with it. How did I get salvation? I came to Jesus just as I was,
and I trusted Him to save me. I must kill my angry temper in the
same way? It is the only way in which I can ever kill it. I must
go to the cross with it, and say to Jesus, "Lord, I trust Thee
to deliver me from it." This is the only way to give it a
death-blow. Are you covetous? Do you feel the world entangle
you? You may struggle against this evil so long as you please,
but if it be your besetting sin, you will never be delivered
from it in any way but by the blood of Jesus. Take it to Christ.
Tell Him, "Lord, I have trusted Thee, and Thy name is Jesus, for
Thou dost save Thy people from their sins; Lord, this is one of
my sins; save me from it!" Ordinances are nothing without Christ
as a means of mortification. Your prayers, and your repentances,
and your tears--the whole of them put together--are worth
nothing apart from Him. "None but Jesus can do helpless sinners
good;" or helpless saints either. You must be conquerors through
Him who hath loved you, if conquerors at all. Our laurels must
grow among His olives in Gethsemane.

* 04/24/AM

"And because of all this we make a sure covenant."
                                                 --Nehemiah 9:38

   There are many occasions in our experience when we may very
rightly, and with benefit, renew our covenant with God. After
recovery from sickness when, like Hezekiah, we have had a new
term of years added to our life, we may fitly do it. After any
deliverance from trouble, when our joys bud forth anew, let us
again visit the foot of the cross, and renew our consecration.
Especially, let us do this after any sin which has grieved the
Holy Spirit, or brought dishonour upon the cause of God; let us
then look to that blood which can make us whiter than snow, and
again offer ourselves unto the Lord. We should not only let our
troubles confirm our dedication to God, but our prosperity
should do the same. If we ever meet with occasions which deserve
to be called "crowning mercies" then, surely, if He hath crowned
us, we ought also to crown our God; let us bring forth anew all
the jewels of the divine regalia which have been stored in the
jewel-closet of our heart, and let our God sit upon the throne
of our love, arrayed in royal apparel. If we would learn to
profit by our prosperity, we should not need so much adversity.
If we would gather from a kiss all the good it might confer upon
us, we should not so often smart under the rod. Have we lately
received some blessing which we little expected? Has the Lord
put our feet in a large room? Can we sing of mercies multiplied?
Then this is the day to put our hand upon the horns of the
altar, and say, "Bind me here, my God; bind me here with cords,
even for ever." Inasmuch as we need the fulfillment of new
promises from God, let us offer renewed prayers that our old
vows may not be dishonoured. Let us this morning make with Him
a sure covenant, because of the pains of Jesus which for the
last month we have been considering with gratitude.

* 04/25/AM

"Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away."
                                          --Song of Solomon 2:10

   Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair
weather is smiling upon the face of the earth, and He would not
have me spiritually asleep while nature is all around me awaking
from her winter's rest. He bids me "Rise up," and well He may,
for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness.
He is risen, I am risen in Him, why then should I cleave unto
the dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations,
I would rise towards Him. He calls me by the sweet title of "My
love," and counts me fair; this is a good argument for my
rising. If He has thus exalted me, and thinks me thus comely,
how can I linger in the tents of Kedar and find congenial
associates among the sons of men? He bids me "Come away."
Further and further from everything selfish, grovelling,
worldly, sinful, He calls me; yea, from the outwardly religious
world which knows Him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery
of the higher life, He calls me. "Come away" has no harsh sound
in it to my ear, for what is there to hold me in this wilderness
of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away, but
I am taken among the thorns, and cannot escape from them as I
would. I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor
ears, nor heart for sin. Thou callest me to Thyself by saying
"Come away," and this is a melodious call indeed. To come to
Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the
raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the
goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how
can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the
horrible pit? O raise me, draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send
forth Thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my
heart, and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time
behind me, and indeed come away.

* 04/26/AM

"This do in remembrance of Me."
                                           --1 Corinthians 11:24

   It seems then, that Christians may forget Christ! There could
be no need for this loving exhortation, if there were not a
fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous.
Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas! too well confirmed
in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable
fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been
redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an
everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should forget that
gracious Saviour; but, if startling to the ear, it is, alas! too
apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget Him
who never forgot us! Forget Him who poured His blood forth for
our sins! Forget Him who loved us even to the death! Can it be
possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses
that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we suffer Him
to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we
should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor
therein. The cross where one would think that memory would
linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, is
desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your
conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves
forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away your heart, and
you are unmindful of Him upon whom your affection ought to be
set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you
should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant
turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things
which takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well
preserves a poisonous weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to
wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind a heavenly forget-me-not
about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever else we
let slip, let us hold fast to Him.

* 04/27/AM

"God, even our own God."
                                                    --Psalm 67:6

   It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual
blessings which God gives us, but it is stranger still how
little use we make of God Himself. Though He is "our own God,"
we apply ourselves but little to Him, and ask but little of Him.
How seldom do we ask counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often
do we go about our business, without seeking His guidance! In
our troubles how constantly do we strive to bear our burdens
ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord, that He may
sustain us! This is not because we may not, for the Lord seems
to say, "I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt;
thou mayst freely come to my store, and the oftener the more
welcome." It is our own fault if we make not free with the
riches of our God. Then, since thou hast such a friend, and He
invites thee, draw from Him daily. Never want whilst thou hast a
God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to help
thee; go to thy treasure and take whatever thou needest--there
is all that thou canst want. Learn the divine skill of making
God all things to thee. He can supply thee with all, or, better
still, He can be to thee instead of all. Let me urge thee, then,
to make use of thy God. Make use of Him in prayer. Go to Him
often, because He is thy God. O, wilt thou fail to use so
great a privilege? Fly to Him, tell Him all thy wants. Use Him
constantly by faith at all times. If some dark providence has
beclouded thee, use thy God as a "sun;" if some strong enemy has
beset thee, find in Jehovah a "shield," for He is a sun and
shield to His people. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes of
life, use Him as a "guide," for He will direct thee. Whatever
thou art, and wherever thou art, remember God is just what
thou wantest, and just where thou wantest, and that He can do
all thou wantest.

* 04/28/AM

"Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused
me to hope."
                                                  --Psalm 119:49

   Whatever your especial need may be, you may readily find some
promise in the Bible suited to it. Are you faint and feeble
because your way is rough and you are weary? Here is the
promise--"He giveth power to the faint." When you read such a
promise, take it back to the great Promiser, and ask Him to
fulfil His own word. Are you seeking after Christ, and thirsting
for closer communion with Him? This promise shines like a star
upon you--"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled." Take that promise to
the throne continually; do not plead anything else, but go to
God over and over again with this--"Lord, Thou hast said it, do
as Thou hast said." Are you distressed because of sin, and
burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities? Listen to
these words--"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy
transgressions, and will no more remember thy sins." You have no
merit of your own to plead why He should pardon you, but plead
His written engagements and He will perform them. Are you afraid
lest you should not be able to hold on to the end, lest, after
having thought yourself a child of God, you should prove a
castaway? If that is your state, take this word of grace to the
throne and plead it: "The mountains may depart, and the hills
may be removed, but the covenant of My love shall not depart
from thee." If you have lost the sweet sense of the Saviour's
presence, and are seeking Him with a sorrowful heart, remember
the promises: "Return unto Me, and I will return unto you;" "For
a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will
I gather thee." Banquet your faith upon God's own word, and
whatever your fears or wants, repair to the Bank of Faith with
your Father's note of hand, saying, "Remember the word unto Thy
servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope."

* 04/29/AM

"Thou art my hope in the day of evil."
                                                --Jeremiah 17:17

   The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine;
he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written
in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her
paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is
calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above;
but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As
the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect
day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods
clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and
sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence
of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the
earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along
the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but
suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the
Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place
of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their
taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this
would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in
darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the
dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has
enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his
harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a
smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He
tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are
stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper
and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need
winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten
bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ.
The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.

* 04/30/AM

"And all the children of Israel murmured."
                                                  --Numbers 14:2

   There are murmurers amongst Christians now, as there were in
the camp of Israel of old. There are those who, when the rod
falls, cry out against the afflictive dispensation. They ask,
"Why am I thus afflicted? What have I done to be chastened in
this manner?" A word with thee, O murmurer! Why shouldst thou
murmur against the dispensations of thy heavenly Father? Can He
treat thee more hardly than thou deservest? Consider what a
rebel thou wast once, but He has pardoned thee! Surely, if He
in His wisdom sees fit now to chasten thee, thou shouldst not
complain. After all, art thou smitten as hardly as thy sins
deserve? Consider the corruption which is in thy breast, and
then wilt thou wonder that there needs so much of the rod to
fetch it out? Weigh thyself, and discern how much dross is
mingled with thy gold; and dost thou think the fire too hot to
purge away so much dross as thou hast? Does not that proud
rebellious spirit of thine prove that thy heart is not
thoroughly sanctified? Are not those murmuring words contrary to
the holy submissive nature of God's children? Is not the
correction needed? But if thou wilt murmur against the
chastening, take heed, for it will go hard with murmurers. God
always chastises His children twice, if they do not bear the
first stroke patiently. But know one thing--"He doth not
afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." All His
corrections are sent in love, to purify thee, and to draw thee
nearer to Himself. Surely it must help thee to bear the
chastening with resignation if thou art able to recognize thy
Father's hand. For "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons." "Murmur not as some of them
also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer."
* 05/01/AM

"His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers."
                                          --Song of Solomon 5:13

   Lo, the flowery month is come! March winds and April showers
have done their work, and the earth is all bedecked with beauty.
Come my soul, put on thine holiday attire and go forth to gather
garlands of heavenly thoughts. Thou knowest whither to betake
thyself, for to thee "the beds of spices" are well known, and
thou hast so often smelt the perfume of "the sweet flowers,"
that thou wilt go at once to thy well-beloved and find all
loveliness, all joy in Him. That cheek once so rudely smitten
with a rod, oft bedewed with tears of sympathy and then defiled
with spittle--that cheek as it smiles with mercy is as fragrant
aromatic to my heart. Thou didst not hide Thy face from shame
and spitting, O Lord Jesus, and therefore I will find my dearest
delight in praising Thee. Those cheeks were furrowed by the
plough of grief, and crimsoned with red lines of blood from Thy
thorn-crowned temples; such marks of love unbounded cannot but
charm my soul far more than "pillars of perfume." If I may not
see the whole of His face I would behold His cheeks, for the
least glimpse of Him is exceedingly refreshing to my spiritual
sense and yields a variety of delights. In Jesus I find not only
fragrance, but a bed of spices; not one flower, but all manner
of sweet flowers. He is to me my rose and my lily, my heart's-
ease and my cluster of camphire. When He is with me it is May
all the year round, and my soul goes forth to wash her happy
face in the morning-dew of His grace, and to solace herself with
the singing of the birds of His promises. Precious Lord Jesus,
let me in very deed know the blessedness which dwells in
abiding, unbroken fellowship with Thee. I am a poor worthless
one, whose cheek Thou hast deigned to kiss! O let me kiss Thee
in return with the kisses of my lips.

* 05/02/AM

"I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world."
                                                    --John 17:15

   It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all
believers in God's own time--the going home to be with Jesus.
In a few more years the Lord's soldiers, who are now fighting
"the good fight of faith" will have done with conflict, and have
entered into the joy of their Lord. But although Christ prays
that His people may eventually be with Him where He is, He does
not ask that they may be taken at once away from this world to
heaven. He wishes them to stay here. Yet how frequently does the
wearied pilgrim put up the prayer, "O that I had wings like a
dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest;" but Christ does
not pray like that, He leaves us in His Father's hands, until,
like shocks of corn fully ripe, we shall each be gathered into
our Master's garner. Jesus does not plead for our instant
removal by death, for to abide in the flesh is needful for
others if not profitable for ourselves. He asks that we may be
kept from evil, but He never asks for us to be admitted to the
inheritance in glory till we are of full age. Christians often
want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they
tell you, "Because we would be with the Lord." We fear it is not
so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because
they desire to get rid of their troubles; else they would feel
the same wish to die at other times when not under the pressure
of trial. They want to go home, not so much for the Saviour's
company, as to be at rest. Now it is quite right to desire to
depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because
to be with Christ is far better, but the wish to escape from
trouble is a selfish one. Rather let your care and wish be to
glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though
it be in the midst of toil, and conflict, and suffering, and
leave Him to say when "it is enough."

* 05/03/AM

"In the world ye shall have tribulation."
                                                    --John 16:33

   Art thou asking the reason of this, believer? Look upward to
thy heavenly Father, and behold Him pure and holy. Dost thou
know that thou art one day to be like Him? Wilt thou easily be
conformed to His image? Wilt thou not require much refining in
the furnace of affliction to purify thee? Will it be an easy
thing to get rid of thy corruptions, and make thee perfect even
as thy Father which is in heaven is perfect? Next, Christian,
turn thine eye downward. Dost thou know what foes thou hast
beneath thy feet? Thou wast once a servant of Satan, and no king
will willingly lose his subjects. Dost thou think that Satan
will let thee alone? No, he will be always at thee, for he
"goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
Expect trouble, therefore, Christian, when thou lookest beneath
thee. Then look around thee. Where art thou? Thou art in an
enemy's country, a stranger and a sojourner. The world is not
thy friend. If it be, then thou art not God's friend, for he who
is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be assured that
thou shalt find foe-men everywhere. When thou sleepest, think
that thou art resting on the battlefield; when thou walkest,
suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite
strangers more than natives, so will the trials of earth be
sharpest to you. Lastly, look within thee, into thine own
heart and observe what is there. Sin and self are still
within. Ah! if thou hadst no devil to tempt thee, no enemies to
fight thee, and no world to ensnare thee, thou wouldst still
find in thyself evil enough to be a sore trouble to thee, for
"the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked." Expect trouble then, but despond not on account of it,
for God is with thee to help and to strengthen thee. He hath
said, "I will be with thee in trouble; I will deliver thee and
honour thee."

* 05/04/AM

"Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods."
                                                --Jeremiah 16:20

   One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and
the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same
folly. Remphan's star shines no longer, and the women weep no
more for Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and
the shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms
struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion, and the
flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them.
Favourite children are often the cause of much sin in believers;
the Lord is grieved when He sees us doting upon them above
measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom
was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes
desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their
sleepless pillows, let them dote on their dear ones.

   It is truly said that "they are no gods," for the objects of
our foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace which
they yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give
us in the hour of trouble is little indeed. Why, then, are we so
bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who adore a
god of stone, and yet worship a god of gold. Where is the vast
superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood? The
principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only
that in ours the crime is more aggravated because we have more
light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false
deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils,
inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. May
the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!

              "The dearest idol I have known,
              Whate'er that idol be;
              Help me to tear it from thy throne,
              And worship only thee."

* 05/05/AM

"I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
                                            --2 Corinthians 6:16

   What a sweet title: "My people!" What a cheering revelation:
"Their God!" How much of meaning is couched in those two words,
"My people!" Here is speciality. The whole world is God's; the
heaven, even the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, and He
reigneth among the children of men; but of those whom He hath
chosen, whom He hath purchased to Himself, He saith what He
saith not of others--"My people" In this word there is the idea
of proprietorship. In a special manner the "Lord's portion is
His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." All the
nations upon earth are His; the whole world is in His power; yet
are His people, His chosen, more especially His possession; for
He has done more for them than others; He has bought them with
His blood; He has brought them nigh to Himself; He has set His
great heart upon them; He has loved them with an everlasting
love, a love which many waters cannot quench, and which the
revolutions of time shall never suffice in the least degree to
diminish. Dear friends, can you, by faith, see yourselves in
that number? Can you look up to heaven and say, "My Lord and my
God: mine by that sweet relationship which entitles me to call
Thee Father; mine by that hallowed fellowship which I delight
to hold with Thee when Thou art pleased to manifest Thyself unto
me as Thou dost not unto the world?" Canst thou read the Book of
Inspiration, and find there the indentures of thy salvation?
Canst thou read thy title writ in precious blood? Canst thou, by
humble faith, lay hold of Jesus' garments, and say, "My Christ"?
If thou canst, then God saith of thee, and of others like thee,
"My people;" for, if God be your God, and Christ your Christ,
the Lord has a special, peculiar favour to you; you are the
object of His choice, accepted in His beloved Son.

* 05/06/AM

"We dwell in Him."
                                                   --1 John 4:13

   Do you want a house for your soul? Do you ask, "What is the
purchase?" It is something less than proud human nature will
like to give. It is without money and without price. Ah! you
would like to pay a respectable rent! You would love to do
something to win Christ? Then you cannot have the house, for it
is "without price." Will you take my Master's house on a lease
for all eternity, with nothing to pay for it, nothing but the
ground-rent of loving and serving Him for ever? Will you take
Jesus and "dwell in Him?" See, this house is furnished with all
you want, it is filled with riches more than you will spend as
long as you live. Here you can have intimate communion with
Christ and feast on His love; here are tables well-stored with
food for you to live on for ever; in it, when weary, you can
find rest with Jesus; and from it you can look out and see
heaven itself. Will you have the house? Ah! if you are
houseless, you will say, "I should like to have the house; but
may I have it?" Yes; there is the key--the key is, "Come to
Jesus." "But," you say, "I am too shabby for such a house."
Never mind; there are garments inside. If you feel guilty and
condemned, come; and though the house is too good for you,
Christ will make you good enough for the house by-and-by. He
will wash you and cleanse you, and you will yet be able to sing,
"We dwell in Him." Believer: thrice happy art thou to have such
a dwelling-place! Greatly privileged thou art, for thou hast a
"strong habitation" in which thou art ever safe. And "dwelling
in Him," thou hast not only a perfect and secure house, but an
everlasting one. When this world shall have melted like a
dream, our house shall live, and stand more imperishable than
marble, more solid than granite, self-existent as God, for it is
God Himself--"We dwell in Him."

* 05/07/AM

"Great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all."
                                                 --Matthew 12:15

   What a mass of hideous sickness must have thrust itself under
the eye of Jesus! Yet we read not that He was disgusted, but
patiently waited on every case. What a singular variety of evils
must have met at His feet! What sickening ulcers and putrefying
sores! Yet He was ready for every new shape of the monster evil,
and was victor over it in every form. Let the arrow fly from
what quarter it might, He quenched its fiery power. The heat of
fever, or the cold of dropsy; the lethargy of palsy, or the rage
of madness; the filth of leprosy, or the darkness of
ophthalmia--all knew the power of His word, and fled at His
command. In every corner of the field He was triumphant over
evil, and received the homage of delivered captives. He came, He
saw, He conquered everywhere. It is even so this morning.
Whatever my own case may be, the beloved Physician can heal me;
and whatever may be the state of others whom I may remember at
this moment in prayer, I may have hope in Jesus that He will be
able to heal them of their sins. My child, my friend, my dearest
one, I can have hope for each, for all, when I remember the
healing power of my Lord; and on my own account, however severe
my struggle with sins and infirmities, I may yet be of good
cheer. He who on earth walked the hospitals, still dispenses His
grace, and works wonders among the sons of men: let me go to Him
at once in right earnest.

   Let me praise Him, this morning, as I remember how He wrought
His spiritual cures, which bring Him most renown. It was by
taking upon Himself our sicknesses. "By His stripes we are
healed." The Church on earth is full of souls healed by our
beloved Physician; and the inhabitants of heaven itself confess
that "He healed them all." Come, then, my soul, publish abroad
the virtue of His grace, and let it be "to the Lord for a name,
for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."

* 05/08/AM

"She that was healed wist not who it was."
                                                   --1 John 5:13

   Years are short to the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight
years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the
life of the poor impotent man. When Jesus, therefore, healed him
by a word, while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was
delightfully sensible of a change. Even so the sinner who has
for weeks and months been paralyzed with despair, and has
wearily sighed for salvation, is very conscious of the change
when the Lord Jesus speaks the word of power, and gives joy and
peace in believing. The evil removed is too great to be removed
without our discerning it; the life imparted is too remarkable
to be possessed and remain inoperative; and the change wrought
is too marvellous not to be perceived. Yet the poor man was
ignorant of the author of his cure; he knew not the sacredness
of His person, the offices which he sustained, or the errand
which brought Him among men. Much ignorance of Jesus may remain
in hearts which yet feel the power of His blood. We must not
hastily condemn men for lack of knowledge; but where we can see
the faith which saves the soul, we must believe that salvation
has been bestowed. The Holy Spirit makes men penitents long
before He makes them divines; and he who believes what he knows,
shall soon know more clearly what he believes. Ignorance is,
however, an evil; for this poor man was much tantalized by the
Pharisees, and was quite unable to cope with them. It is good
to be able to answer gainsayers; but we cannot do so if we know
not the Lord Jesus clearly and with understanding. The cure of
his ignorance, however, soon followed the cure of his infirmity,
for he was visited by the Lord in the temple; and after that
gracious manifestation, he was found testifying that "it was
Jesus who had made him whole." Lord, if Thou hast saved me, show
me Thyself, that I may declare Thee to the sons of men.

* 05/09/AM

"Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings."
                                                 --Ephesians 1:3

   All the goodness of the past, the present, and the future,
Christ bestows upon His people. In the mysterious ages of the
past the Lord Jesus was His Father's first elect, and in His
election He gave us an interest, for we were chosen in Him
from before the foundation of the world. He had from all
eternity the prerogatives of Sonship, as His Father's
only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and He has, in the riches of
His grace, by adoption and regeneration, elevated us to sonship
also, so that to us He has given "power to become the sons of
God." The eternal covenant, based upon suretiship and
confirmed by oath, is ours, for our strong consolation and
security. In the everlasting settlements of predestinating
wisdom and omnipotent decree, the eye of the Lord Jesus was
ever fixed on us; and we may rest assured that in the whole roll
of destiny there is not a line which militates against the
interests of His redeemed. The great betrothal of the Prince
of Glory is ours, for it is to us that He is affianced, as the
sacred nuptials shall ere long declare to an assembled universe.
The marvellous incarnation of the God of heaven, with all the
amazing condescension and humiliation which attended it, is
ours. The bloody sweat, the scourge, the cross, are ours for
ever. Whatever blissful consequences flow from perfect
obedience, finished atonement, resurrection, ascension, or
intercession, all are ours by His own gift. Upon His
breastplate he is now bearing our names; and in His
authoritative pleadings at the throne He remembers our persons
and pleads our cause. His dominion over principalities and
powers, and His absolute majesty in heaven, He employs for the
benefit of them who trust in Him. His high estate is as much at
our service as was His condition of abasement. He who gave
Himself for us in the depths of woe and death, doth not withdraw
the grant now that He is enthroned in the highest heavens.

* 05/10/AM

"But now is Christ risen from the dead."
                                           --1 Corinthians 15:20

   The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that
"Christ is risen from the dead;" for, "If Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are
yet in your sins." The divinity of Christ finds its surest
proof in His resurrection, since He was "Declared to be the Son
of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead." It would not be unreasonable to
doubt His Deity if He had not risen. Moreover, Christ's
sovereignty depends upon His resurrection, "For to this end
Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord
both of the dead and living." Again, our justification, that
choice blessing of the covenant, is linked with Christ's
triumphant victory over death and the grave; for "He was
delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification." Nay, more, our very regeneration is connected
with His resurrection, for we are "Begotten again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And
most certainly our ultimate resurrection rests here, for, "If
the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." If
Christ be not risen, then shall we not rise; but if He be risen
then they who are asleep in Christ have not perished, but in
their flesh shall surely behold their God. Thus, the silver
thread of resurrection runs through all the believer's
blessings, from his regeneration onwards to his eternal glory,
and binds them together. How important then will this glorious
fact be in his estimation, and how will he rejoice that beyond a
doubt it is established, that "now is Christ risen from the
dead."

                "The promise is fulfill'd,
                Redemption's work is done,
                Justice with mercy's reconciled,
                For God has raised His Son."

* 05/11/AM

"I am with you alway."
                                                 --Matthew 28:20

   It is well there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever
with us. It is well there is one stable rock amidst the billows
of the sea of life. O my soul, set not thine affections upon
rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart
upon Him who abides for ever faithful to thee. Build not thine
house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world, but found
thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and
roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure. My soul, I charge
thee, lay up thy treasure in the only secure cabinet; store thy
jewels where thou canst never lose them. Put thine all in
Christ; set all thine affections on His person, all thy hope in
His merit, all thy trust in His efficacious blood, all thy joy
in His presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy
destruction. Remember that all the flowers in the world's garden
fade by turns, and the day cometh when nothing will be left but
the black, cold earth. Death's black extinguisher must soon put
out thy candle. Oh! how sweet to have sunlight when the candle
is gone! The dark flood must soon roll between thee and all
thou hast; then wed thine heart to Him who will never leave
thee; trust thyself with Him who will go with thee through the
black and surging current of death's stream, and who will land
thee safely on the celestial shore, and make thee sit with Him
in heavenly places for ever. Go, sorrowing son of affliction,
tell thy secrets to the Friend who sticketh closer than a
brother. Trust all thy concerns with Him who never can be taken
from thee, who will never leave thee, and who will never let
thee leave Him, even "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and
to-day, and for ever." "Lo, I am with you alway," is enough for
my soul to live upon, let who will forsake me.

* 05/12/AM

"And will manifest myself to him."
                                                    --John 14:21

   The Lord Jesus gives special revelations of Himself to His
people. Even if Scripture did not declare this, there are many
of the children of God who could testify the truth of it from
their own experience. They have had manifestations of their Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ in a peculiar manner, such as no mere
reading or hearing could afford. In the biographies of eminent
saints, you will find many instances recorded in which Jesus has
been pleased, in a very special manner to speak to their souls,
and to unfold the wonders of His person; yea, so have their
souls been steeped in happiness that they have thought
themselves to be in heaven, whereas they were not there, though
they were well nigh on the threshold of it--for when Jesus
manifests Himself to His people, it is heaven on earth; it is
paradise in embryo; it is bliss begun. Especial manifestations
of Christ exercise a holy influence on the believer's heart. One
effect will be humility. If a man says, "I have had
such-and-such spiritual communications, I am a great man," he
has never had any communion with Jesus at all; for "God hath
respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knoweth afar off." He
does not need to come near them to know them, and will never
give them any visits of love. Another effect will be
happiness; for in God's presence there are pleasures for
evermore. Holiness will be sure to follow. A man who has no
holiness has never had this manifestation. Some men profess a
great deal; but we must not believe any one unless we see that
his deeds answer to what he says. "Be not deceived; God is not
mocked." He will not bestow His favours upon the wicked: for
while He will not cast away a perfect man, neither will He
respect an evil doer. Thus there will be three effects of
nearness to Jesus--humility, happiness, and holiness. May God
give them to thee, Christian!

* 05/13/AM

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
                                                    --Psalm 30:5

   Christian! If thou art in a night of trial, think of the
morrow; cheer up thy heart with the thought of the coming of thy
Lord. Be patient, for

            "Lo! He comes with clouds descending."

Be patient! The Husbandman waits until He reaps His harvest. Be
patient; for you know who has said, "Behold, I come quickly; and
my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work
shall be." If you are never so wretched now, remember

             "A few more rolling suns, at most,
             Will land thee on fair Canaan's coast."

Thy head may be crowned with thorny troubles now, but it shall
wear a starry crown ere long; thy hand may be filled with
cares--it shall sweep the strings of the harp of heaven soon.
Thy garments may be soiled with dust now; they shall be white
by-and-by. Wait a little longer. Ah! how despicable our troubles
and trials will seem when we look back upon them! Looking at
them here in the prospect, they seem immense; but when we get to
heaven we shall then

                 "With transporting joys recount,
                 The labours of our feet."

Our trials will then seem light and momentary afflictions. Let
us go on boldly; if the night be never so dark, the morning
cometh, which is more than they can say who are shut up in the
darkness of hell. Do you know what it is thus to live on the
future--to live on expectation--to antedate heaven? Happy
believer, to have so sure, so comforting a hope. It may be all
dark now, but it will soon be light; it may be all trial now,
but it will soon be all happiness. What matters it though
"weeping may endure for a night," when "joy cometh in the
morning?"

* 05/14/AM

"Joint heirs with Christ."
                                                   --Romans 8:17

   The boundless realms of His Father's universe are Christ's by
prescriptive right. As "heir of all things," He is the sole
proprietor of the vast creation of God, and He has admitted us
to claim the whole as ours, by virtue of that deed of
joint-heir-ship which the Lord hath ratified with His chosen
people. The golden streets of paradise, the pearly gates, the
river of life, the transcendent bliss, and the unutterable
glory, are, by our blessed Lord, made over to us for our
everlasting possession. All that He has He shares with His
people. The crown royal He has placed upon the head of His
Church, appointing her a kingdom, and calling her sons a royal
priesthood, a generation of priests and kings. He uncrowned
Himself that we might have a coronation of glory; He would not
sit upon His own throne until He had procured a place upon it
for all who overcome by His blood. Crown the head and the whole
body shares the honour. Behold here the reward of every
Christian conqueror! Christ's throne, crown, sceptre, palace,
treasure, robes, heritage, are yours. Far superior to the
jealousy, selfishness, and greed, which admit of no
participation of their advantages, Christ deems His happiness
completed by His people sharing it. "The glory which thou gavest
me have I given them." "These things have I spoken unto you,
that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be
full." The smiles of His Father are all the sweeter to Him,
because His people share them. The honours of His kingdom are
more pleasing, because His people appear with Him in glory. More
valuable to Him are His conquests, since they have taught His
people to overcome. He delights in His throne, because on it
there is a place for them. He rejoices in His royal robes, since
over them His skirts are spread. He delights the more in His
joy, because He calls them to enter into it.

* 05/15/AM

"All that believe are justified."
                                                    --Acts 13:39

   The believer in Christ receives a present justification.
Faith does not produce this fruit by-and-by, but now. So far
as justification is the result of faith, it is given to the soul
in the moment when it closes with Christ, and accepts Him as its
all in all. Are they who stand before the throne of God
justified now?--so are we, as truly and as clearly justified as
they who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial
harps. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment that he
turned the eye of faith to Jesus; and Paul, the aged, after
years of service, was not more justified than was the thief with
no service at all. We are to-day accepted in the Beloved,
to-day absolved from sin, to-day acquitted at the bar of
God. Oh! soul-transporting thought! There are some clusters of
Eshcol's vine which we shall not be able to gather till we enter
heaven; but this is a bough which runneth over the wall. This is
not as the corn of the land, which we can never eat till we
cross the Jordan; but this is part of the manna in the
wilderness, a portion of our daily nutriment with which God
supplies us in our journeying to and fro. We are now--even
now pardoned; even now are our sins put away; even now we
stand in the sight of God accepted, as though we had never been
guilty. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus." There is not a sin in the Book of God,
even now, against one of His people. Who dareth to lay anything
to their charge? There is neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle,
nor any such thing remaining upon any one believer in the matter
of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the earth. Let
present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, while life
lasts, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus.

* 05/16/AM

"Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."
                                                --1 Timothy 6:17

   Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary
instant withdraw His hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace
not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed. He is a
sun ever-shining; He is manna always falling round the camp; He
is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from
His smitten side; the rain of His grace is always dropping; the
river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the well-spring of His
love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so
His grace can never fail. Daily we pluck His fruit, and daily
His branches bend down to our hand with a fresh store of mercy.
There are seven feast-days in His weeks, and as many as are the
days, so many are the banquets in His years. Who has ever
returned from His door unblessed? Who has ever risen from His
table unsatisfied, or from His bosom un-emparadised? His mercies
are new every morning and fresh every evening. Who can know the
number of His benefits, or recount the list of His bounties?
Every sand which drops from the glass of time is but the tardy
follower of a myriad of mercies. The wings of our hours are
covered with the silver of His kindness, and with the yellow
gold of His affection. The river of time bears from the
mountains of eternity the golden sands of His favour. The
countless stars are but as the standard bearers of a more
innumerable host of blessings. Who can count the dust of the
benefits which He bestows on Jacob, or tell the number of the
fourth part of His mercies towards Israel? How shall my soul
extol Him who daily loadeth us with benefits, and who crowneth
us with loving-kindness? O that my praise could be as ceaseless
as His bounty! O miserable tongue, how canst thou be silent?
Wake up, I pray thee, lest I call thee no more my glory, but my
shame. "Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right
early."

* 05/17/AM

"So to walk even as He walked."
                                                    --1 John 2:6

   Why should Christians imitate Christ? They should do it for
their own sakes. If they desire to be in a healthy state of
soul--if they would escape the sickness of sin, and enjoy the
vigour of growing grace, let Jesus be their model. For their own
happiness' sake, if they would drink wine on the lees, well
refined; if they would enjoy holy and happy communion with
Jesus; if they would be lifted up above the cares and troubles
of this world, let them walk even as He walked. There is nothing
which can so assist you to walk towards heaven with good speed,
as wearing the image of Jesus on your heart to rule all its
motions. It is when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you are
enabled to walk with Jesus in His very footsteps, that you are
most happy, and most known to be the sons of God. Peter afar
off is both unsafe and uneasy. Next, for religion's sake,
strive to be like Jesus. Ah! poor religion, thou hast been
sorely shot at by cruel foes, but thou hast not been wounded
one-half so dangerously by thy foes as by thy friends. Who made
those wounds in the fair hand of Godliness? The professor who
used the dagger of hypocrisy. The man who with pretences,
enters the fold, being nought but a wolf in sheep's clothing,
worries the flock more than the lion outside. There is no weapon
half so deadly as a Judas-kiss. Inconsistent professors injure
the gospel more than the sneering critic or the infidel. But,
especially for Christ's own sake, imitate His example.
Christian, lovest thou thy Saviour? Is His name precious to
thee? Is His cause dear to thee? Wouldst thou see the kingdoms
of the world become His? Is it thy desire that He should be
glorified? Art thou longing that souls should be won to Him? If
so, imitate Jesus; be an "epistle of Christ, known and read of
all men."

* 05/18/AM

"In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye
are complete in Him."
                                            --Colossians 2:9, 10

   All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our
disposal. All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that
marvellous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete. He
cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but He has done
all that can be done, for He has made even His divine power and
Godhead subservient to our salvation. His omnipotence,
omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are
all combined for our defence. Arise, believer, and behold the
Lord Jesus yoking the whole of His divine Godhead to the chariot
of salvation! How vast His grace, how firm His faithfulness, how
unswerving His immutability, how infinite His power, how
limitless His knowledge! All these are by the Lord Jesus made
the pillars of the temple of salvation; and all, without
diminution of their infinity, are covenanted to us as our
perpetual inheritance. The fathomless love of the Saviour's
heart is every drop of it ours; every sinew in the arm of might,
every jewel in the crown of majesty, the immensity of divine
knowledge, and the sternness of divine justice, all are ours,
and shall be employed for us. The whole of Christ, in His
adorable character as the Son of God, is by Himself made over to
us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, His
knowledge our instruction, His power our protection, His justice
our surety, His love our comfort, His mercy our solace, and His
immutability our trust. He makes no reserve, but opens the
recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for
the hidden treasures. "All, all, all are yours," saith He, "be
ye satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord."
Oh! how sweet thus to behold Jesus, and to call upon Him with
the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of His
love or power, we are but asking for that which He has already
faithfully promised.

* 05/19/AM

"I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as
servants upon the earth."
                                             --Ecclesiastes 10:7

   Upstarts frequently usurp the highest places, while the truly
great pine in obscurity. This is a riddle in providence whose
solution will one day gladden the hearts of the upright; but it
is so common a fact, that none of us should murmur if it should
fall to our own lot. When our Lord was upon earth, although He
is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet He walked the
footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants:
what wonder is it if His followers, who are princes of the
blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and
contemptible persons? The world is upside down, and therefore,
the first are last and the last first. See how the servile sons
of Satan lord it in the earth! What a high horse they ride! How
they lift up their horn on high! Haman is in the court, while
Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while
Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while
Jezebel is boasting in the palace; yet who would wish to take
the places of the proud rebels? and who, on the other hand,
might not envy the despised saints? When the wheel turns, those
who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience, then,
believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.

   Let us not fall into the error of letting our passions and
carnal appetites ride in triumph, while our nobler powers walk
in the dust. Grace must reign as a prince, and make the members
of the body instruments of righteousness. The Holy Spirit loves
order, and He therefore sets our powers and faculties in due
rank and place, giving the highest room to those spiritual
faculties which link us with the great King; let us not disturb
the divine arrangement, but ask for grace that we may keep under
our body and bring it into subjection. We were not new created
to allow our passions to rule over us, but that we, as kings,
may reign in Christ Jesus over the triple kingdom of spirit,
soul, and body, to the glory of God the Father.

* 05/20/AM

"Marvellous lovingkindness."
                                                    --Psalm 17:7

   When we give our hearts with our alms, we give well, but we
must often plead to a failure in this respect. Not so our Master
and our Lord. His favours are always performed with the love of
His heart. He does not send to us the cold meat and the broken
pieces from the table of His luxury, but He dips our morsel in
His own dish, and seasons our provisions with the spices of His
fragrant affections. When He puts the golden tokens of His grace
into our palms, He accompanies the gift with such a warm
pressure of our hand, that the manner of His giving is as
precious as the boon itself. He will come into our houses upon
His errands of kindness, and He will not act as some austere
visitors do in the poor man's cottage, but He sits by our side,
not despising our poverty, nor blaming our weakness. Beloved,
with what smiles does He speak! What golden sentences drop from
His gracious lips! What embraces of affection does He bestow
upon us! If He had but given us farthings, the way of His giving
would have gilded them; but as it is, the costly alms are set in
a golden basket by His pleasant carriage. It is impossible to
doubt the sincerity of His charity, for there is a bleeding
heart stamped upon the face of all His benefactions. He giveth
liberally and upbraideth not. Not one hint that we are
burdensome to Him; not one cold look for His poor pensioners;
but He rejoices in His mercy, and presses us to His bosom while
He is pouring out His life for us. There is a fragrance in His
spikenard which nothing but His heart could produce; there is a
sweetness in His honey-comb which could not be in it unless the
very essence of His soul's affection had been mingled with it.
Oh! the rare communion which such singular heartiness effecteth!
May we continually taste and know the blessedness of it!

* 05/21/AM

"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
                                                   --1 Peter 2:3

   If:--then, this is not a matter to be taken for granted
concerning every one of the human race. "If:"--then there is a
possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. "If:"--then this is not a general but a
special mercy; and it is needful to enquire whether we know the
grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favour
which may not be a matter for heart-searching.

   But while this should be a matter of earnest and prayerful
inquiry, no one ought to be content whilst there is any such
thing as an "if" about his having tasted that the Lord is
gracious. A jealous and holy distrust of self may give rise to
the question even in the believer's heart, but the continuance
of such a doubt would be an evil indeed. We must not rest
without a desperate struggle to clasp the Saviour in the arms of
faith, and say, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him."
Do not rest, O believer, till thou hast a full assurance of
thine interest in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy thee till, by the
infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with thy
spirit, thou art certified that thou art a child of God. Oh,
trifle not here; let no "perhaps" and "peradventure" and "if"
and "maybe" satisfy thy soul. Build on eternal verities, and
verily build upon them. Get the sure mercies of David, and
surely get them. Let thine anchor be cast into that which is
within the veil, and see to it that thy soul be linked to the
anchor by a cable that will not break. Advance beyond these
dreary "ifs;" abide no more in the wilderness of doubts and
fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the Canaan of
peace, where the Canaanite still lingers, but where the land
ceaseth not to flow with milk and honey.

* 05/22/AM

"He led them forth by the right way."
                                                   --Psalm 107:7

   Changeful experience often leads the anxious believer to
enquire "Why is it thus with me?" I looked for light, but lo,
darkness came; for peace, but behold trouble. I said in my
heart, my mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved. Lord,
thou dost hide Thy face, and I am troubled. It was but yesterday
that I could read my title clear; to-day my evidences are
bedimmed, and my hopes are clouded. Yesterday I could climb to
Pisgah's top, and view the landscape o'er, and rejoice with
confidence in my future inheritance; to-day, my spirit has no
hopes, but many fears; no joys, but much distress. Is this part
of God's plan with me? Can this be the way in which God would
bring me to heaven? Yes, it is even so. The eclipse of your
faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope, all
these things are but parts of God's method of making you ripe
for the great inheritance upon which you shall soon enter. These
trials are for the testing and strengthening of your faith--they
are waves that wash you further upon the rock--they are winds
which waft your ship the more swiftly towards the desired haven.
According to David's words, so it might be said of you, "so He
bringeth them to their desired haven." By honour and dishonour,
by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by
joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace, by all these
things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of
these are you helped on your way. Oh, think not, believer, that
your sorrows are out of God's plan; they are necessary parts of
it. "We must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom."
Learn, then, even to "count it all joy when ye fall into divers
temptations."

             "O let my trembling soul be still,
             And wait Thy wise, Thy holy will!
             I cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see,
             Yet all is well since ruled by Thee."

* 05/23/AM

"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me."
                                                   --Psalm 138:8

  Most manifestly the confidence which the Psalmist here
expressed was a divine confidence. He did not say, "I have
grace enough to perfect that which concerneth me--my faith is so
steady that it will not stagger--my love is so warm that it will
never grow cold--my resolution is so firm that nothing can move
it; no, his dependence was on the Lord alone. If we indulge in
any confidence which is not grounded on the Rock of ages, our
confidence is worse than a dream, it will fall upon us, and
cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. All that
Nature spins time will unravel, to the eternal confusion of all
who are clothed therein. The Psalmist was wise, he rested upon
nothing short of the Lord's work. It is the Lord who has begun
the good work within us; it is He who has carried it on; and if
he does not finish it, it never will be complete. If there be
one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness which
we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost; but this is our
confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He has done it
all, must do it all, and will do it all. Our confidence must
not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do,
but entirely in what the Lord will do. Unbelief insinuates--
"You will never be able to stand. Look at the evil of your
heart, you can never conquer sin; remember the sinful pleasures
and temptations of the world that beset you, you will be
certainly allured by them and led astray." Ah! yes, we should
indeed perish if left to our own strength. If we had alone to
navigate our frail vessels over so rough a sea, we might well
give up the voyage in despair; but, thanks be to God, He will
perfect that which concerneth us, and bring us to the desired
haven. We can never be too confident when we confide in Him
alone, and never too much concerned to have such a trust.

* 05/24/AM

"Blessed be God, which hath nor turned away my prayer."
                                                   --Psalm 66:20

   In looking back upon the character of our prayers, if we do
it honestly, we shall be filled with wonder that God has ever
answered them. There may be some who think their I prayers
worthy of acceptance--as the Pharisee did; but the true
Christian, in a more enlightened retrospect, weeps over his
prayers, and if he could retrace his steps he would desire to
pray more earnestly. Remember, Christian, how cold thy
prayers have been. When in thy closet thou shouldst have
wrestled as Jacob did; but instead thereof, thy petitions have
been faint and few--far removed from that humble, believing,
persevering faith, which cries, "I will not let Thee go except
Thou bless me." Yet, wonderful to say, God has heard these cold
prayers of thine, and not only heard, but answered them.
Reflect also, how infrequent have been thy prayers, unless
thou hast been in trouble, and then thou hast gone often to the
mercy-seat: but when deliverance has come, where has been thy
constant supplication? Yet, notwithstanding thou hast ceased to
pray as once thou didst, God has not ceased to bless. When thou
hast neglected the mercy-seat, God has not deserted it, but the
bright light of the Shekinah has always been visible between the
wings of the cherubim. Oh! it is marvellous that the Lord should
regard those intermittent spasms of importunity which come and
go with our necessities. What a God is He thus to hear the
prayers of those who come to Him when they have pressing wants,
but neglect Him when they have received a mercy; who approach
Him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to
address Him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few. Let
His gracious kindness in hearing such prayers touch our hearts,
so that we may henceforth be found "Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit."

* 05/25/AM

"Forsake me not, O Lord."
                                                   --Psalm 38:21

   Frequently we pray that God would not forsake us in the hour
of trial and temptation, but we too much forget that we have
need to use this prayer at all times. There is no moment of
our life, however holy, in which we can do without His constant
upholding. Whether in light or in darkness, in communion or in
temptation, we alike need the prayer, "Forsake me not, O Lord."
"Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe." A little child, while
learning to walk, always needs the nurse's aid. The ship left by
the pilot drifts at once from her course. We cannot do without
continued aid from above; let it then be your prayer to-day,
"Forsake me not. Father, forsake not Thy child, lest he fall by
the hand of the enemy. Shepherd, forsake not Thy lamb, lest he
wander from the safety of the fold. Great Husbandman, forsake
not Thy plant, lest it wither and die. 'Forsake me not, O Lord,'
now; and forsake me not at any moment of my life. Forsake me not
in my joys, lest they absorb my heart. Forsake me not in my
sorrows, lest I murmur against Thee. Forsake me not in the day
of my repentance, lest I lose the hope of pardon, and fall into
despair; and forsake me not in the day of my strongest faith,
lest faith degenerate into presumption. Forsake me not, for
without Thee I am weak, but with Thee I am strong. Forsake me
not, for my path is dangerous, and full of snares, and I cannot
do without Thy guidance. The hen forsakes not her brood, do
Thou then evermore cover me with Thy feathers, and permit me
under Thy wings to find my refuge. 'Be not far from me, O Lord,
for trouble is near, for there is none to help.' 'Leave me not,
neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!'"

              "O ever in our cleansed breast,
              Bid Thine Eternal Spirit rest;
              And make our secret soul to be
              A temple pure and worthy Thee."

* 05/26/AM

"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee."
                                                   --Psalm 55:22

   Care, even though exercised upon legitimate objects, if
carried to excess, has in it the nature of sin. The precept to
avoid anxious care is earnestly inculcated by our Saviour, again
and again; it is reiterated by the apostles; and it is one which
cannot be neglected without involving transgression: for the
very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser
than God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for
Him that which He has undertaken to do for us. We attempt to
think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labour to take
upon ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or
unwilling to take it for us. Now this disobedience to His plain
precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in
intruding upon His province, is all sinful. Yet more than this,
anxious care often leads to acts of sin. He who cannot calmly
leave his affairs in God's hand, but will carry his own burden,
is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help himself.
This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our counsellor, and
resorting instead to human wisdom. This is going to the "broken
cistern" instead of to the "fountain;" a sin which was laid
against Israel of old. Anxiety makes us doubt God's
lovingkindness, and thus our love to Him grows cold; we feel
mistrust, and thus grieve the Spirit of God, so that our prayers
become hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one
of self-seeking. Thus want of confidence in God leads us to
wander far from Him; but if through simple faith in His promise,
we cast each burden as it comes upon Him, and are "careful for
nothing" because He undertakes to care for us, it will keep us
close to Him, and strengthen us against much temptation. "Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee,
because he trusteth in Thee."

* 05/27/AM

"So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually
at the king's table; and was lame on both his feet."
                                                 --2 Samuel 9:13

   Mephibosheth was no great ornament to a royal table, yet he
had a continual place at David's board, because the king could
see in his face the features of the beloved Jonathan. Like
Mephibosheth, we may cry unto the King of Glory, "What is Thy
servant, that Thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?"
but still the Lord indulges us with most familiar intercourse
with Himself, because He sees in our countenances the
remembrance of His dearly-beloved Jesus. The Lord's people are
dear for another's sake. Such is the love which the Father
bears to His only begotten, that for His sake He raises His
lowly brethren from poverty and banishment, to courtly
companionship, noble rank, and royal provision. Their deformity
shall not rob them of their privileges. Lameness is no bar to
sonship; the cripple is as much the heir as if he could run like
Asahel. Our right does not limp, though our might may. A king's
table is a noble hiding-place for lame legs, and at the gospel
feast we learn to glory in infirmities, because the power of
Christ resteth upon us. Yet grievous disability may mar the
persons of the best-loved saints. Here is one feasted by David,
and yet so lame in both his feet that he could not go up with
the king when he fled from the city, and was therefore maligned
and injured by his servant Ziba. Saints whose faith is weak, and
whose knowledge is slender, are great losers; they are exposed
to many enemies, and cannot follow the king whithersoever he
goeth. This disease frequently arises from falls. Bad nursing
in their spiritual infancy often causes converts to fall into a
despondency from which they never recover, and sin in other
cases brings broken bones. Lord, help the lame to leap like an
hart, and satisfy all Thy people with the bread of Thy table!

* 05/28/AM

"Whom He justified, them He also glorified."
                                                  --Romans 8:30

   Here is a precious truth for thee, believer. Thou mayest be
poor, or in suffering, or unknown, but for thine encouragement
take a review of thy "calling" and the consequences that flow
from it, and especially that blessed result here spoken of. As
surely as thou art God's child today, so surely shall all thy
trials soon be at an end, and thou shalt be rich to all the
intents of bliss. Wait awhile, and that weary head shall wear
the crown of glory, and that hand of labour shall grasp the
palm-branch of victory. Lament not thy troubles, but rather
rejoice that ere long thou wilt be where "there shall be neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." The
chariots of fire are at thy door, and a moment will suffice to
bear thee to the glorified. The everlasting song is almost on
thy lip. The portals of heaven stand open for thee. Think not
that thou canst fail of entering into rest. If He hath called
thee, nothing can divide thee from His love. Distress cannot
sever the bond; the fire of persecution cannot burn the link;
the hammer of hell cannot break the chain. Thou art secure; that
voice which called thee at first, shall call thee yet again from
earth to heaven, from death's dark gloom to immortality's
unuttered splendours. Rest assured, the heart of Him who has
justified thee beats with infinite love towards thee. Thou shalt
soon be with the glorified, where thy portion is; thou art only
waiting here to be made meet for the inheritance, and that done,
the wings of angels shall waft thee far away, to the mount of
peace, and joy, and blessedness, where,

              "Far from a world of grief and sin,
              With God eternally shut in,"

thou shalt rest for ever and ever.

* 05/29/AM

"Thou hatest wickedness."
                                                   --Psalm 45:7

   "Be ye angry, and sin not." There can hardly be goodness in a
man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate
every false way. How our Lord Jesus hated it when the temptation
came! Thrice it assailed Him in different forms, but ever He met
it with, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He hated it in others;
none the less fervently because He showed His hate oftener in
tears of pity than in words of rebuke; yet what language could
be more stern, more Elijah-like, than the words, "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses,
and for a pretence make long prayer." He hated wickedness, so
much that He bled to wound it to the heart; He died that it
might die; He was buried that He might bury it in His tomb; and
He rose that He might for ever trample it beneath His feet.
Christ is in the Gospel, and that Gospel is opposed to
wickedness in every shape. Wickedness arrays itself in fair
garments, and imitates the language of holiness; but the
precepts of Jesus, like His famous scourge of small cords, chase
it out of the temple, and will not tolerate it in the Church.
So, too, in the heart where Jesus reigns, what war there is
between Christ and Belial! And when our Redeemer shall come to
be our Judge, those thundering words, "Depart, ye cursed" which
are, indeed, but a prolongation of His life-teaching concerning
sin, shall manifest His abhorrence of iniquity. As warm as is
His love to sinners, so hot is His hatred of sin; as perfect as
is His righteousness, so complete shall be the destruction of
every form of wickedness. O thou glorious champion of right, and
destroyer of wrong, for this cause hath God, even Thy God,
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.

* 05/30/AM

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines."
                                         --Song of Solomon 2:15

   A little thorn may cause much suffering. A little cloud may
hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins do
mischief to the tender heart. These little sins burrow in the
soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ,
that He will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with
us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can
make him miserable. Jesus will not walk with His people unless
they drive out every known sin. He says, "If ye keep My
commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My
Father's commandments and abide in His love." Some Christians
very seldom enjoy their Saviour's presence. How is this? Surely
it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from
his father. Art thou a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on
without seeing thy Father's face? What! thou the spouse of
Christ, and yet content without His company! Surely, thou hast
fallen into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns
like a dove without her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then,
the question, what has driven Christ from thee? He hides His
face behind the wall of thy sins. That wall may be built up of
little pebbles, as easily as of great stones. The sea is made
of drops; the rocks are made of grains: and the sea which
divides thee from Christ may be filled with the drops of thy
little sins; and the rock which has well nigh wrecked thy
barque, may have been made by the daily working of the coral
insects of thy little sins. If thou wouldst live with Christ,
and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with
Christ, take heed of "the little foxes that spoil the vines, for
our vines have tender grapes." Jesus invites you to go with
Him and take them. He will surely, like Samson, take the foxes
at once and easily. Go with Him to the hunting.

* 05/31/AM

"The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron."
                                               --2 Samuel 15:23

   David passed that gloomy brook when flying with his mourning
company from his traitor son. The man after God's own heart was
not exempt from trouble, nay, his life was full of it. He was
both the Lord's Anointed, and the Lord's Afflicted. Why then
should we expect to escape? At sorrow's gates the noblest of our
race have waited with ashes on their heads, wherefore then
should we complain as though some strange thing had happened
unto us?

   The KING of kings himself was not favoured with a more
cheerful or royal road. He passed over the filthy ditch of
Kidron, through which the filth of Jerusalem flowed. God had
one Son without sin, but not a single child without the rod. It
is a great joy to believe that Jesus has been tempted in all
points like as we are. What is our Kidron this morning? Is it a
faithless friend, a sad bereavement, a slanderous reproach, a
dark foreboding? The King has passed over all these. Is it
bodily pain, poverty, persecution, or contempt? Over each of
these Kidrons the King has gone before us. "In all our
afflictions He was afflicted." The idea of strangeness in our
trials must be banished at once and for ever, for He who is the
Head of all saints, knows by experience the grief which we think
so peculiar. All the citizens of Zion must be free of the
Honourable Company of Mourners, of which the Prince Immanuel is
Head and Captain.

   Notwithstanding the abasement of David, he yet returned in
triumph to his city, and David's Lord arose victorious from the
grave; let us then be of good courage, for we also shall win the
day. We shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of
salvation, though now for a season we have to pass by the
noxious streams of sin and sorrow. Courage, soldiers of the
Cross, the King himself triumphed after going over Kidron, and
so shall you.
* 06/01/AM

"The evening and the morning were the first day."
                                                   --Genesis 1:5

   Was it so even in the beginning? Did light and darkness
divide the realm of time in the first day? Then little wonder is
it if I have also changes in my circumstances from the sunshine
of prosperity to the midnight of adversity. It will not always
be the blaze of noon even in my soul concerns, I must expect at
seasons to mourn the absence of my former joys, and seek my
Beloved in the night. Nor am I alone in this, for all the Lord's
beloved ones have had to sing the mingled song of judgment and
of mercy, of trial and deliverance, of mourning and of delight.
It is one of the arrangements of Divine providence that day and
night shall not cease either in the spiritual or natural
creation till we reach the land of which it is written, "there
is no night there." What our heavenly Father ordains is wise and
good.

   What, then, my soul, is it best for thee to do? Learn first
to be content with this divine order, and be willing, with
Job, to receive evil from the hand of the Lord as well as good.
Study next, to make the outgoings of the morning and the
evening to rejoice. Praise the Lord for the sun of joy when it
rises, and for the gloom of evening as it falls. There is
beauty both in sunrise and sunset, sing of it, and glorify the
Lord. Like the nightingale, pour forth thy notes at all hours.
Believe that the night is as useful as the day. The dews of
grace fall heavily in the night of sorrow. The stars of promise
shine forth gloriously amid the darkness of grief. Continue thy
service under all changes. If in the day thy watchword be
labour, at night exchange it for watch. Every hour has its
duty, do thou continue in thy calling as the Lord's servant
until He shall suddenly appear in His glory. My soul, thine
evening of old age and death is drawing near, dread it not, for
it is part of the day; and the Lord has said, "I will cover him
all the day long."

* 06/02/AM

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh."

                                                --Galatians 5:17

   In every believer's heart there is a constant struggle
between the old nature and the new. The old nature is very
active, and loses no opportunity of plying all the weapons of
its deadly armoury against newborn grace; while on the other
hand, the new nature is ever on the watch to resist and destroy
its enemy. Grace within us will employ prayer, and faith, and
hope, and love, to cast out the evil; it takes unto it the
"whole armour of God," and wrestles earnestly. These two
opposing natures will never cease to struggle so long as we are
in this world. The battle of "Christian" with "Apollyon" lasted
three hours, but the battle of Christian with himself lasted all
the way from the Wicket Gate in the river Jordan. The enemy is
so securely entrenched within us that he can never be driven out
while we are in this body: but although we are closely beset,
and often in sore conflict, we have an Almighty helper, even
Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who is ever with us, and
who assures us that we shall eventually come off more than
conquerors through Him. With such assistance the new-born nature
is more than a match for its foes. Are you fighting with the
adversary to-day? Are Satan, the world, and the flesh, all
against you? Be not discouraged nor dismayed. Fight on! For God
Himself is with you; Jehovah Nissi is your banner, and
Jehovah Rophi is the healer of your wounds. Fear not, you
shall overcome, for who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on,
"looking unto Jesus"; and though long and stern be the conflict,
sweet will be the victory, and glorious the promised reward.

             "From strength to strength go on;
             Wrestle, and fight, and pray,
             Tread all the powers of darkness down,
             And win the well-fought day."

* 06/03/AM

"These were potters, and those that dwelt among plants and
hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work."
                                             --1 Chronicles 4:23

   Potters were the very highest grade of workers, but "the
king" needed potters, and therefore they were in royal service,
although the material upon which they worked was nothing but
clay. We, too, may be engaged in the most menial part of the
Lord's work, but it is a great privilege to do anything for "the
king"; and therefore we will abide in our calling, hoping that,
"although we have lien among the pots, yet shall we be as the
wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with
yellow gold." The text tells us of those who dwelt among plants
and hedges, having rough, rustic, hedging and ditching work to
do. They may have desired to live in the city, amid its life,
society, and refinement, but they kept their appointed places,
for they also were doing the king's work. The place of our
habitation is fixed, and we are not to remove from it out of
whim and caprice, but seek to serve the Lord in it, by being a
blessing to those among whom we reside. These potters and
gardeners had royal company, for they dwelt "with the king"
and although among hedges and plants, they dwelt with the king
there. No lawful place, or gracious occupation, however mean,
can debar us from communion with our divine Lord. In visiting
hovels, swarming lodging-houses, workhouses, or gaols, we may go
with the king. In all works of faith we may count upon Jesu's
fellowship. It is when we are in His work that we may reckon
upon His smile. Ye unknown workers who are occupied for your
Lord amid the dirt and wretchedness of the lowest of the low, be
of good cheer, for jewels have been found upon dunghills ere
now, earthen pots have been filled with heavenly treasure, and
ill weeds have been transformed into precious flowers. Dwell ye
with the King for His work, and when He writes His chronicles
your name shall be recorded.

* 06/04/AM

"The kindness and love of God our Saviour."
                                                     --Titus 3:4

   How sweet it is to behold the Saviour communing with His own
beloved people! There can be nothing more delightful than, by
the Divine Spirit, to be led into this fertile field of delight.
Let the mind for an instant consider the history of the
Redeemer's love, and a thousand enchanting acts of affection
will suggest themselves, all of which have had for their design
the weaving of the heart into Christ, and the intertwisting of
the thoughts and emotions of the renewed soul with the mind of
Jesus. When we meditate upon this amazing love, and behold the
all-glorious Kinsman of the Church endowing her with all His
ancient wealth, our souls may well faint for joy. Who is he that
can endure such a weight of love? That partial sense of it
which the Holy Spirit is sometimes pleased to afford, is more
than the soul can contain; how transporting must be a complete
view of it! When the soul shall have understanding to discern
all the Saviour's gifts, wisdom wherewith to estimate them, and
time in which to meditate upon them, such as the world to come
will afford us, we shall then commune with Jesus in a nearer
manner than at present. But who can imagine the sweetness of
such fellowship? It must be one of the things which have not
entered into the heart of man, but which God hath prepared for
them that love Him. Oh, to burst open the door of our Joseph's
granaries, and see the plenty which He hath stored up for us!
This will overwhelm us with love. By faith we see, as in a
glass darkly, the reflected image of His unbounded treasures,
but when we shall actually see the heavenly things themselves,
with our own eyes, how deep will be the stream of fellowship in
which our soul shall bathe itself! Till then our loudest sonnets
shall be reserved for our loving benefactor, Jesus Christ our
Lord, whose love to us is wonderful, passing the love of women.

* 06/05/AM

"The Lord shut him in."
                                                  --Genesis 7:16

   Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of
divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us
and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the
world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin,
the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we
cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of
darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in. Noah was shut
in with his God. "Come thou into the ark," was the Lord's
invitation, by which He clearly showed that He Himself intended
to dwell in the ark with His servant and his family. Thus all
the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be
enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of
His persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us never be
inattentive to that gracious call, "Come, my people, enter thou
into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide
thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be
overpast." Noah was so shut in that no evil could reach him.
Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him
on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was
rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus
there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that he could not
even desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are
in Him for ever. They shall go no more out for ever, for eternal
faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice cannot drag
them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth and no man
openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of the house
He shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain for mere
professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us, for that
same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the
foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by Thy grace.

* 06/06/AM

"Behold, I am vile."
                                                      --Job 40:4

   One cheering word, poor lost sinner, for thee! You think you
must not come to God because YOU are vile. Now, there is not a
saint living on earth but has been made to feel that he is vile.
If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were all obliged to say "I am
vile," oh, poor sinner, wilt thou be ashamed to join in the same
confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the
believer, how dost thou hope to do it thyself? and if God loves
His people while they are yet vile, dost thou think thy vileness
will prevent His loving thee? Believe on Jesus, thou outcast of
the world's society! Jesus calls thee, and such as thou art.

            "Not the righteous, not the righteous;
            Sinners, Jesus came to call."

Even now say, "Thou hast died for sinners; I am a sinner, Lord
Jesus, sprinkle Thy blood on me"; if thou wilt confess thy sin
thou shalt find pardon. If, now, with all thy heart, thou wilt
say, "I am vile, wash me," thou shalt be washed now. If the Holy
Spirit shall enable thee from thy heart to cry

            Just as I am, without one plea
            But that Thy blood was shed for me,
            And that thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
            O Lamb of God, I come!"

thou shalt rise from reading this morning's portion with all thy
sins pardoned; and though thou didst wake this morning with
every sin that man hath ever committed on thy head, thou shalt
rest to-night accepted in the Beloved; though once degraded with
the rags of sin, thou shalt be adorned with a robe of
righteousness, and appear white as the angels are. For "now,"
mark it, "Now is the accepted time." If thou "believest on Him
who justifieth the ungodly thou art saved." Oh! may the Holy
Spirit give thee saving faith in Him who receives the vilest.

* 06/07/AM

"Ye that love the Lord hate evil."
                                                   --Psalm 97:10

   Thou hast good reason to "hate evil," for only consider what
harm it has already wrought thee. Oh, what a world of mischief
sin has brought into thy heart! Sin blinded thee so that thou
couldst not see the beauty of the Saviour; it made thee deaf so
that thou couldst not hear the Redeemer's tender invitations.
Sin turned thy feet into the way of death, and poured poison
into the very fountain of thy being; it tainted thy heart, and
made it "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."
Oh, what a creature thou wast when evil had done its utmost with
thee, before divine grace interposed! Thou wast an heir of wrath
even as others; thou didst "run with the multitude to do evil."
Such were all of us; but Paul reminds us, "but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." We have good reason,
indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly
workings. Such mischief did evil do us, that our souls would
have been lost had not omnipotent love interfered to redeem us.
Even now it is an active enemy, ever watching to do us hurt, and
to drag us to perdition. Therefore "hate evil," O Christians,
unless you desire trouble. If you would strew your path with
thorns, and plant nettles in your death-pillow, then neglect to
"hate evil"; but if you would live a happy life, and die a
peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating
evil, even unto the end. If you truly love your Saviour, and
would honour Him, then "hate evil." We know of no cure for the
love of evil in a Christian like abundant intercourse with the
Lord Jesus. Dwell much with Him, and it is impossible for you to
be at peace with sin.

               "Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
               And make my heart sincere;
               Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
               But keep my conscience clear."

* 06/08/AM

"There fell down many slain, because the war was of God."
                                             --1 Chronicles 5:22

   Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe
this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is
it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure. The sons of
Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could
barely muster five and forty thousand fighting men, and yet in
their war with the Hagarites, they slew "men, an hundred
thousand," "for they cried to God in the battle, and He was
entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him." The
Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in
Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of
Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler,
and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these
weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must
rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of
His people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay
in the fact that "the war was of God." Beloved, in fighting with
sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with
spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils
and the devil's allies, you are waging Jehovah's war, and unless
He himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat. Quail not
before superior numbers, shrink not from difficulties or
impossibilities, flinch not at wounds or death, smite with the
two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps.
The battle is the Lord's and He will deliver His enemies into
our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart,
and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil
shall fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!      To him that overcometh,
The strife will not be long;       A crown of life shall be;
This day the noise of battle,      He with the King of glory
The next the victor's song:        Shall reign eternally.

* 06/09/AM

"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
                                                   --Psalm 126:3

   Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side
of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone
through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their
impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their
continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad
adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with
scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has
vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy
state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not
about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up
out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and He hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath
done great things for me, whereof I am glad." Such an abstract
of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can
present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as
true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have
our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite
as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes
these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In
looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the
Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of
Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we
have been through them safely and profitably; we have not
remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who
has brought us "out into a wealthy place." The deeper our
troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through
all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the
melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our
life's song, "He hath done great things for us, whereof we are
glad."

* 06/10/AM

"We live unto the Lord."
                                                   --Romans 14:8

   If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at
the moment of conversion. It was not absolutely necessary for
our preparation for immortality that we should tarry here. It is
possible for a man to be taken to heaven, and to be found meet
to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light,
though he has but just believed in Jesus. It is true that our
sanctification is a long and continued process, and we shall not
be perfected till we lay aside our bodies and enter within the
veil; but nevertheless, had the Lord so willed it, He might have
changed us from imperfection to perfection, and have taken us to
heaven at once. Why then are we here? Would God keep His
children out of paradise a single moment longer than was
necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the
battle-field when one charge might give them the victory? Why
are His children still wandering hither and thither through a
maze, when a solitary word from His lips would bring them into
the centre of their hopes in heaven? The answer is--they are
here that they may "live unto the Lord," and may bring others
to know His love. We remain on earth as sowers to scatter good
seed; as ploughmen to break up the fallow ground; as heralds
publishing salvation. We are here as the "salt of the earth," to
be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our
daily life. We are here as workers for Him, and as "workers
together with Him." Let us see that our life answereth its end.
Let us live earnest, useful, holy lives, to "the praise of the
glory of His grace." Meanwhile we long to be with Him, and daily
sing--

              "My heart is with Him on His throne,
              And ill can brook delay;
              Each moment listening for the voice,
              'Rise up, and come away.'"

* 06/11/AM

"We love Him because He first loved us."
                                                   --1 John 4:19

   There is no light in the planet but that which proceedeth
from the sun; and there is no true love to Jesus in the heart
but that which cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. From this
overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love
to God must spring. This must ever be a great and certain truth,
that we love Him for no other reason than because He first loved
us. Our love to Him is the fair offspring of His love to us.
Cold admiration, when studying the works of God, anyone may
have, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by
God's Spirit. How great the wonder that such as we should ever
have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvellous that when
we had rebelled against Him, He should, by a display of such
amazing love, seek to draw us back. No! never should we have had
a grain of love towards God unless it had been sown in us by the
sweet seed of His love to us. Love, then, has for its parent the
love of God shed abroad in the heart: but after it is thus
divinely born, it must be divinely nourished. Love is an
exotic; it is not a plant which will flourish naturally in human
soil, it must be watered from above. Love to Jesus is a flower
of a delicate nature, and if it received no nourishment but that
which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts it would soon
wither. As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly
bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by
manna from on high. Love must feed on love. The very soul and
life of our love to God is His love to us.

          "I love thee, Lord, but with no love of mine,
          For I have none to give;
          I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine,
          For by thy love I live.
          I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
          Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in thee."

* 06/12/AM

"Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting."
                                                   --Daniel 5:27

   It is well frequently to weigh ourselves in the scale of
God's Word. You will find it a holy exercise to read some psalm
of David, and, as you meditate upon each verse, to ask yourself,
"Can I say this? Have I felt as David felt? Has my heart ever
been broken on account of sin, as his was when he penned his
penitential psalms? Has my soul been full of true confidence in
the hour of difficulty as his was when he sang of God's mercies
in the cave of Adullam, or in the holds of Engedi? Do I take the
cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord?" Then turn
to the life of Christ, and as you read, ask yourselves how far
you are conformed to His likeness. Endeavour to discover whether
you have the meekness, the humility, the lovely spirit which He
constantly inculcated and displayed. Take, then, the epistles,
and see whether you can go with the apostle in what he said of
his experience. Have you ever cried out as he did--"O wretched
man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death"? Have you ever felt his self-abasement? Have you seemed
to yourself the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all
saints? Have you known anything of his devotion? Could you join
with him and say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain"? If we thus read God's Word as a test of our spiritual
condition, we shall have good reason to stop many a time and
say, "Lord, I feel I have never yet been here, O bring me here!
give me true penitence, such as this I read of. Give me real
faith; give me warmer zeal; inflame me with more fervent love;
grant me the grace of meekness; make me more like Jesus. Let me
no longer be 'found wanting,' when weighed in the balances of
the sanctuary, lest I be found wanting in the scales of
judgment." "Judge yourselves that ye be not judged."

* 06/13/AM

"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
                                              --Revelation 22:17

   Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or
preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous
emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing,
you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no
repentance,--come to Him, and He will give them to you. Come
just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without
price. He gives Himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at
the corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can
hardly imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when
he stands before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink
because I have not five pounds in my pocket." However poor the
man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of
it. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed
in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look for any warrant for
drinking; its being there is their warrant for taking its water
freely. The liberality of some good friends has put the
refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions.
Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street
where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and
gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but
cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would
demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain:
so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who
are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to
Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same way as the
harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way as a
chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which
led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud
boasters must remain without the living water; but, "WHOSOEVER
WILL, LET HIM TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY."

* 06/14/AM

"Delight thyself also in the Lord."
                                                    --Psalm 37:4

   The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to
those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere
believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The
life of the believer is here described as a delight in God,
and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion
overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere
professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them
it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or
delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that
they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do
otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to
most men, that no two words in their language stand further
apart than "holiness" and "delight." But believers who know
Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly
united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them.
They who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are
ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. Such joys,
such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the
saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving Him from
custom, they would follow Him though all the world cast out His
name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our
faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not
dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our
pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.

   Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower;
as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two
precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold.

                  "'Tis when we taste Thy love,
                  Our joys divinely grow,
                  Unspeakable like those above,
                  And heaven begins below."

* 06/15/AM

"And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that
hear will laugh with me."
                                                  --Genesis 21:6

   It was far above the power of nature, and even contrary to
its laws, that the aged Sarah should be honoured with a son; and
even so it is beyond all ordinary rules that I, a poor,
helpless, undone sinner, should find grace to bear about in my
soul the indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus. I, who once
despaired, as well I might, for my nature was as dry, and
withered, and barren, and accursed as a howling wilderness, even
I have been made to bring forth fruit unto holiness. Well may my
mouth be filled with joyous laughter, because of the singular,
surprising grace which I have received of the Lord, for I have
found Jesus, the promised seed, and He is mine for ever. This
day will I lift up psalms of triumph unto the Lord who has
remembered my low estate, for "my heart rejoiceth in the Lord;
mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies, because I rejoice in Thy salvation."

   I would have all those that hear of my great deliverance from
hell, and my most blessed visitation from on high, laugh for joy
with me. I would surprise my family with my abundant peace; I
would delight my friends with my ever-increasing happiness; I
would edify the Church with my grateful confessions; and even
impress the world with the cheerfulness of my daily
conversation. Bunyan tells us that Mercy laughed in her sleep,
and no wonder when she dreamed of Jesus; my joy shall not stop
short of hers while my Beloved is the theme of my daily
thoughts. The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: my soul shall
dive therein, shall be swallowed up in the delights of His
society. Sarah looked on her Isaac, and laughed with excess of
rapture, and all her friends laughed with her; and thou, my
soul, look on thy Jesus, and bid heaven and earth unite in thy
joy unspeakable.

* 06/16/AM

"And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never
perish."
                                                    --John 10:28

   The Christian should never think or speak lightly of
unbelief. For a child of God to mistrust His love, His truth,
His faithfulness, must be greatly displeasing to Him. How can we
ever grieve Him by doubting His upholding grace? Christian! it
is contrary to every promise of God's precious Word that thou
shouldst ever be forgotten or left to perish. If it could be so,
how could He be true who has said, "Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of
her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I never forget thee."
What were the value of that promise--"The mountains shall
depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not
depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Where were the
truth of Christ's words--"I give unto My sheep eternal life; and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and
no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Where
were the doctrines of grace? They would be all disproved if one
child of God should perish. Where were the veracity of God, His
honour, His power, His grace, His covenant, His oath, if any of
those for whom Christ has died, and who have put their trust in
Him, should nevertheless be cast away? Banish those unbelieving
fears which so dishonour God. Arise, shake thyself from the
dust, and put on thy beautiful garments. Remember it is sinful
to doubt His Word wherein He has promised thee that thou shalt
never perish. Let the eternal life within thee express itself in
confident rejoicing.

              "The gospel bears my spirit up:
              A faithful and unchanging God
              Lays the foundation for my hope,
              In oaths, and promises, and blood."

* 06/17/AM

"Help, Lord."
                                                    --Psalm 12:1

   The prayer itself is remarkable, for it is short, but
seasonable, sententious, and suggestive. David mourned the
fewness of faithful men, and therefore lifted up his heart in
supplication--when the creature failed, he flew to the Creator.
He evidently felt his own weakness, or he would not have cried
for help; but at the same time he intended honestly to exert
himself for the cause of truth, for the word "help" is
inapplicable where we ourselves do nothing. There is much of
directness, clearness of perception, and distinctness of
utterance in this petition of two words; much more, indeed,
than in the long rambling outpourings of certain professors. The
Psalmist runs straight-forward to his God, with a
well-considered prayer; he knows what he is seeking, and where
to seek it. Lord, teach us to pray in the same blessed manner.

   The occasions for the use of this prayer are frequent. In
providential afflictions how suitable it is for tried believers
who find all helpers failing them. Students, in doctrinal
difficulties, may often obtain aid by lifting up this cry of
"Help, Lord," to the Holy Spirit, the great Teacher. Spiritual
warriors in inward conflicts may send to the throne for
reinforcements, and this will be a model for their request.
Workers in heavenly labour may thus obtain grace in time of
need. Seeking sinners, in doubts and alarms, may offer up the
same weighty supplication; in fact, in all these cases, times,
and places, this will serve the turn of needy souls. "Help,
Lord," will suit us living and dying, suffering or labouring,
rejoicing or sorrowing. In Him our help is found, let us not be
slack to cry to Him.

   The answer to the prayer is certain, if it be sincerely
offered through Jesus. The Lord's character assures us that He
will not leave His people; His relationship as Father and
Husband guarantee us His aid; His gift of Jesus is a pledge of
every good thing; and His sure promise stands, "Fear not, I WILL
HELP THEE."

* 06/18/AM

"Thy Redeemer."
                                                   --Isaiah 54:5

   Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours for ever.
All the offices of Christ are held on our behalf. He is king
for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a
new title of the Redeemer, let us appropriate Him as ours under
that name as much as under any other. The shepherd's staff, the
father's rod, the captain's sword, the priest's mitre, the
prince's sceptre, the prophet's mantle, all are ours. Jesus hath
no dignity which He will not employ for our exaltation, and no
prerogative which He will not exercise for our defence. His
fulness of Godhead is our unfailing, inexhaustible
treasure-house.

   His manhood also, which he took upon him for us, is ours in
all its perfection. To us our gracious Lord communicates the
spotless virtue of a stainless character; to us he gives the
meritorious efficacy of a devoted life; on us he bestows the
reward procured by obedient submission and incessant service. He
makes the unsullied garment of his life our covering beauty; the
glittering virtues of his character our ornaments and jewels;
and the superhuman meekness of his death our boast and glory. He
bequeaths us his manger, from which to learn how God came down
to man; and his Cross to teach us how man may go up to God. All
His thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and
intercessions, were for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our
behalf, and hath made over to us as his heavenly legacy the full
results of all the labours of his life. He is now as much ours
as heretofore; and he blushes not to acknowledge himself "our
Lord Jesus Christ," though he is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Christ everywhere and
every way is our Christ, for ever and ever most richly to enjoy.
O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit! call him this
morning, "thy Redeemer."

* 06/19/AM

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."
                                                      --Acts 2:4

   Rich were the blessings of this day if all of us were filled
with the Holy Ghost. The consequences of this sacred filling of
the soul it would be impossible to overestimate. Life, comfort,
light, purity, power, peace; and many other precious blessings
are inseparable from the Spirit's benign presence. As sacred
oil, He anoints the head of the believer, sets him apart to
the priesthood of saints, and gives him grace to execute his
office aright. As the only truly purifying water He cleanses
us from the power of sin and sanctifies us unto holiness,
working in us to will and to do of the Lord's good pleasure. As
the light, He manifested to us at first our lost estate, and
now He reveals the Lord Jesus to us and in us, and guides us in
the way of righteousness. Enlightened by His pure celestial ray,
we are no more darkness but light in the Lord. As fire, He
both purges us from dross, and sets our consecrated nature on a
blaze. He is the sacrificial flame by which we are enabled to
offer our whole souls as a living sacrifice unto God. As
heavenly dew, He removes our barrenness and fertilizes our
lives. O that He would drop from above upon us at this early
hour! Such morning dew would be a sweet commencement for the
day. As the dove, with wings of peaceful love He broods over
His Church and over the souls of believers, and as a Comforter
He dispels the cares and doubts which mar the peace of His
beloved. He descends upon the chosen as upon the Lord in Jordan,
and bears witness to their sonship by working in them a filial
spirit by which they cry Abba, Father. As the wind, He brings
the breath of life to men; blowing where He listeth He performs
the quickening operations by which the spiritual creation is
animated and sustained. Would to God, that we might feel His
presence this day and every day.

* 06/20/AM

"For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel
among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall
not the least grain fall upon the earth."
                                                      --Amos 9:9

   Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan
must ask leave before he can lay a finger upon Job. Nay, more,
in some sense our siftings are directly the work of heaven,
for the text says, "I will sift the house of Israel." Satan,
like a drudge, may hold the sieve, hoping to destroy the corn;
but the overruling hand of the Master is accomplishing the
purity of the grain by the very process which the enemy intended
to be destructive. Precious, but much sifted corn of the Lord's
floor, be comforted by the blessed fact that the Lord directeth
both flail and sieve to His own glory, and to thine eternal
profit.

   The Lord Jesus will surely use the fan which is in His hand,
and will divide the precious from the vile. All are not Israel
that are of Israel; the heap on the barn floor is not clean
provender, and hence the winnowing process must be performed. In
the sieve true weight alone has power. Husks and chaff being
devoid of substance must fly before the wind, and only solid
corn will remain.

   Observe the complete safety of the Lord's wheat; even the
least grain has a promise of preservation. God Himself sifts,
and therefore it is stern and terrible work; He sifts them in
all places, "among all nations"; He sifts them in the most
effectual manner, "like as corn is sifted in a sieve"; and yet
for all this, not the smallest, lightest, or most shrivelled
grain, is permitted to fall to the ground. Every individual
believer is precious in the sight of the Lord, a shepherd would
not lose one sheep, nor a jeweller one diamond, nor a mother one
child, nor a man one limb of his body, nor will the Lord lose
one of His redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are
the Lord's, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ
Jesus.

* 06/21/AM

"Thou art fairer than the children of men."
                                                    --Psalm 45:2

   The entire person of Jesus is but as one gem, and His life is
all along but one impression of the seal. He is altogether
complete; not only in His several parts, but as a gracious
all-glorious whole. His character is not a mass of fair colours
mixed confusedly, nor a heap of precious stones laid carelessly
one upon another; He is a picture of beauty and a breastplate of
glory. In Him, all the "things of good repute" are in their
proper places, and assist in adorning each other. Not one
feature in His glorious person attracts attention at the expense
of others; but He is perfectly and altogether lovely.

   Oh, Jesus! Thy power, Thy grace, Thy justice, Thy tenderness,
Thy truth, Thy majesty, and Thine immutability make up such a
man, or rather such a God-man, as neither heaven nor earth hath
seen elsewhere. Thy infancy, Thy eternity, Thy sufferings, Thy
triumphs, Thy death, and Thine immortality, are all woven in one
gorgeous tapestry, without seam or rent. Thou art music without
discord; Thou art many, and yet not divided; Thou art all
things, and yet not diverse. As all the colours blend into one
resplendent rainbow, so all the glories of heaven and earth meet
in Thee, and unite so wondrously, that there is none like Thee
in all things; nay, if all the virtues of the most excellent
were bound in one bundle, they could not rival Thee, Thou mirror
of all perfection. Thou hast been anointed with the holy oil of
myrrh and cassia, which Thy God hath reserved for Thee alone;
and as for Thy fragrance, it is as the holy perfume, the like of
which none other can ever mingle, even with the art of the
apothecary; each spice is fragrant, but the compound is divine.

        "Oh, sacred symmetry! oh, rare connection
        Of many perfects, to make one perfection!
        Oh, heavenly music, where all parts do meet
        In one sweet strain, to make one perfect sweet!"

* 06/22/AM

"He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the
glory."
                                                --Zechariah 6:13

   Christ Himself is the builder of His spiritual temple, and He
has built it on the mountains of His unchangeable affection, His
omnipotent grace, and His infallible truthfulness. But as it was
in Solomon's temple, so in this; the materials need making
ready. There are the "Cedars of Lebanon," but they are not
framed for the building; they are not cut down, and shaped, and
made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty shall
make glad the courts of the Lord's house in Paradise. There are
also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must be hewn
thence, and squared. All this is Christ's own work. Each
individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made
ready for his place in the temple; but Christ's own hand
performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify,
excepting as they are used by Him to this end. Our prayers and
efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of
Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright.

   As in the building of Solomon's temple, "there was neither
hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house,"
because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it
was to occupy--so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the
making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there
will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction,
no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet
here--all that Christ will do beforehand; and when He has done
it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of
death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as
eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.

                   "Beneath His eye and care,
                   The edifice shall rise,
                   Majestic, strong, and fair,
                   And shine above the skies."

* 06/23/AM

"Ephraim is a cake not turned."
                                                     --Hosea 7:8

   A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim
was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there
was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left.
My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou
thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very
centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in
all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be
sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and
prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee
anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action;
there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and
reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not
turned.

   A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the
fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are
some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of
truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with
a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious
performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of
superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all
vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He
deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which is
burned on one side, is dough on the other.

   If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified
nature to the fire of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow,
and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own
weakness and want of heat when I am removed from Thy heavenly
flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely
under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know
if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the
subject of Thy grace, I must be consumed for ever amid
everlasting burnings.

* 06/24/AM

"A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said
unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which
thou hast sucked. But He said, Yea rather, blessed are they that
hear the word of God, and keep it."
                                                --Luke 11:27, 28

   It is fondly imagined by some that it must have involved very
special privileges to have been the mother of our Lord, because
they supposed that she had the benefit of looking into His very
heart in a way in which we cannot hope to do. There may be an
appearance of plausibility in the supposition, but not much. We
do not know that Mary knew more than others; what she did know
she did well to lay up in her heart; but she does not appear
from anything we read in the Evangelists to have been a
better-instructed believer than any other of Christ's disciples.
All that she knew we also may discover. Do you wonder that we
should say so? Here is a text to prove it: "The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His
covenant." Remember the Master's words--"Henceforth I call you
not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth:
but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you." So blessedly does this
Divine Revealer of secrets tell us His heart, that He keepeth
back nothing which is profitable to us; His own assurance is,
"If it were not so, I would have told you." Doth He not this day
manifest Himself unto us as He doth not unto the world? It is
even so; and therefore we will not ignorantly cry out, "Blessed
is the womb that bare thee," but we will intelligently bless God
that, having heard the Word and kept it, we have first of all as
true a communion with the Saviour as the Virgin had, and in the
second place as true an acquaintance with the secrets of His
heart as she can be supposed to have obtained. Happy soul to be
thus privileged!

* 06/25/AM

"Get thee up into the high mountain."
                                                   --Isaiah 40:9

   Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our
Welsh mountains. When you are at the base you see but little:
the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it
really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely
anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream
at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and
the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher,
and you see the country for four or five miles round, and you
are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the
scene enlarges; till at last, when you are on the summit, and
look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all England
lying before you. Yonder is a forest in some distant county,
perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a
shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town,
or the masts of the ships in a busy port. All these things
please and delight you, and you say, "I could not have imagined
that so much could be seen at this elevation." Now, the
Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in
Christ we see but little of Him. The higher we climb the more we
discover of His beauties. But who has ever gained the summit?
Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ
which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting
grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with
greater emphasis than we can, "I know whom I have believed," for
each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial
had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed
like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see
the whole of the faithfulness and the love of Him to whom he had
committed his soul. Get thee up, dear friend, into the high
mountain.

* 06/26/AM

"Art thou become like unto us?"
                                                  --Isaiah 14:10

   What must be the apostate professor's doom when his naked
soul appears before God? How will he bear that voice, "Depart,
ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast
played the harlot, and departed from Me: I also have banished
thee for ever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon
thee." What will be this wretch's shame at the last great day
when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be
unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who never professed
religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point
at him. "There he is," says one, "will he preach the gospel in
hell?" "There he is," says another, "he rebuked me for cursing,
and was a hypocrite himself!" "Aha!" says another, "here comes a
psalm-singing Methodist--one who was always at his meeting; he
is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life;
and here he is!" No greater eagerness will ever be seen among
Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the
hypocrite's soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with
massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the
back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords,
and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had
professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into
hell. Mind that back-way to hell, professors! "Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." Look well to your
state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest
thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to
be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be
rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you
build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it.
O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and
in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

* 06/27/AM

"Only ye shall not go very far away."
                                                   --Exodus 8:28

   This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant
Pharaoh. If the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of
Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far
away; not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms, and
the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world
loves not the non-conformity of nonconformity, or the dissidence
of dissent, it would have us be more charitable and not carry
matters with too severe a hand. Death to the world, and burial
with Christ, are experiences which carnal minds treat with
ridicule, and hence the ordinance which sets them forth is
almost universally neglected, and even contemned. Worldly wisdom
recommends the path of compromise, and talks of "moderation."
According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very
desirable, but we are warned against being too precise; truth is
of course to be followed, but error is not to be severely
denounced. "Yes," says the world, "be spiritually minded by all
means, but do not deny yourself a little gay society, an
occasional ball, and a Christmas visit to a theatre. What's the
good of crying down a thing when it is so fashionable, and
everybody does it?" Multitudes of professors yield to this
cunning advice, to their own eternal ruin. If we would follow
the Lord wholly, we must go right away into the wilderness of
separation, and leave the Egypt of the carnal world behind us.
We must leave its maxims, its pleasures, and its religion too,
and go far away to the place where the Lord calls His sanctified
ones. When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from
the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be too far
from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and the
further from worldly conformity the better. To all true
believers let the trumpet-call be sounded, "Come ye out from
among them, be ye separate."

* 06/28/AM

"Looking unto Jesus."
                                                  --Hebrews 12:2

   It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from
self to Jesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this,
for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead
of Christ. He insinuates, "Your sins are too great for pardon;
you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be
able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of His
children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus." All these are
thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or
assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes
entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but
that "Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy
hold of Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not thy
joy in Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not even
faith in Christ, though that be the instrument--it is Christ's
blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with
which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy
hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy
faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We
shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our
doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are,
that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan
and have peace with God, it must be by "looking unto Jesus."
Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His
merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind;
when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest
down at night look to Him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come
between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never
fail thee.

              "My hope is built on nothing less
              Than Jesu's blood and righteousness:
              I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
              But wholly lean on Jesu's name."

* 06/29/AM

"Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."
                                          --1 Thessalonians 4:14

   Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility.
"Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," is the whisper of
Christ to every dying saint. They "sleep in Jesus," but their
souls are before the throne of God, praising Him day and night
in His temple, singing hallelujahs to Him who washed them from
their sins in His blood. The body sleeps in its lonely bed of
earth, beneath the coverlet of grass. But what is this sleep?
The idea connected with sleep is "rest," and that is the
thought which the Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes
each night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts fast the door of
the soul, and bids all intruders tarry for a while, that the
life within may enter its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn
believer quietly sleeps, as does the weary child when it
slumbers on its mother's breast. Oh! happy they who die in the
Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow
them. Their quiet repose shall never be broken until God shall
rouse them to give them their full reward. Guarded by angel
watchers, curtained by eternal mysteries, they sleep on, the
heritors of glory, till the fulness of time shall bring the
fulness of redemption. What an awaking shall be theirs! They
were laid in their last resting place, weary and worn, but such
they shall not rise. They went to their rest with the furrowed
brow, and the wasted features, but they wake up in beauty and
glory. The shrivelled seed, so destitute of form and comeliness,
rises from the dust a beauteous flower. The winter of the grave
gives way to the spring of redemption and the summer of glory.
Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power, disrobes
us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding
garment of incorruption. Blessed are those who "sleep in Jesus."

* 06/30/AM

"And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them."
                                                    --John 17:22

   Behold the superlative liberality of the Lord Jesus, for He
hath given us His all. Although a tithe of His possessions would
have made a universe of angels rich beyond all thought, yet was
He not content until He had given us all that He had. It would
have been surprising grace if He had allowed us to eat the
crumbs of His bounty beneath the table of His mercy; but He will
do nothing by halves, He makes us sit with Him and share the
feast. Had He given us some small pension from His royal
coffers, we should have had cause to love Him eternally; but no,
He will have His bride as rich as Himself, and He will not have
a glory or a grace in which she shall not share. He has not been
content with less than making us joint-heirs with Himself, so
that we might have equal possessions. He has emptied all His
estate into the coffers of the Church, and hath all things
common with His redeemed. There is not one room in His house the
key of which He will withhold from His people. He gives them
full liberty to take all that He hath to be their own; He loves
them to make free with His treasure, and appropriate as much as
they can possibly carry. The boundless fulness of His
all-sufficiency is as free to the believer as the air he
breathes. Christ hath put the flagon of His love and grace to
the believer's lip, and bidden him drink on for ever; for could
he drain it, he is welcome to do so, and as he cannot exhaust
it, he is bidden to drink abundantly, for it is all his own.
What truer proof of fellowship can heaven or earth afford?

                "When I stand before the throne
                Dressed in beauty not my own;
                When I see Thee as Thou art,
                Love Thee with unsinning heart;
                Then, Lord, shall I fully know--
                Not till then--how much I owe."
* 07/01/AM

"In summer and in winter shall it be."
                                                --Zechariah 14:8

   The streams of living water which flow from Jerusalem are not
dried up by the parching heats of sultry midsummer any more than
they were frozen by the cold winds of blustering winter.
Rejoice, O my soul, that thou art spared to testify of the
faithfulness of the Lord. The seasons change and thou changest,
but thy Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of His
love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever. The heats of
business cares and scorching trials make me need the cooling
influences of the river of His grace; I may go at once and drink
to the full from the inexhaustible fountain, for in summer and
in winter it pours forth its flood. The upper springs are never
scanty, and blessed be the name of the Lord, the nether springs
cannot fail either. Elijah found Cherith dry up, but Jehovah was
still the same God of providence. Job said his brethren were
like deceitful brooks, but he found his God an overflowing river
of consolation. The Nile is the great confidence of Egypt, but
its floods are variable; our Lord is evermore the same. By
turning the course of the Euphrates, Cyrus took the city of
Babylon, but no power, human or infernal, can divert the current
of divine grace. The tracks of ancient rivers have been found
all dry and desolate, but the streams which take their rise on
the mountains of divine sovereignty and infinite love shall ever
be full to the brim. Generations melt away, but the course of
grace is unaltered. The river of God may sing with greater truth
than the brook in the poem---

               "Men may come, and men may go,
               But I go on for ever."

How happy art thou, my soul, to be led beside such still waters!
never wander to other streams, lest thou hear the Lord's rebuke,
"What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink of the muddy
river?"

* 07/02/AM

"Our heart shall rejoice in Him."
                                                   --Psalm 33:21

   Blessed is the fact that Christians can rejoice even in the
deepest distress; although trouble may surround them, they still
sing; and, like many birds, they sing best in their cages. The
waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the
surface and see the light of God's countenance; they have a
buoyancy about them which keeps their head always above the
water, and helps them to sing amid the tempest, "God is with me
still." To whom shall the glory be given? Oh! to Jesus--it is
all by Jesus. Trouble does not necessarily bring consolation
with it to the believer, but the presence of the Son of God in
the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy. He is sick
and suffering, but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him.
He is dying, and the cold chilly waters of Jordan are gathering
about him up to the neck, but Jesus puts His arms around him,
and cries, "Fear not, beloved; to die is to be blessed; the
waters of death have their fountain-head in heaven; they are not
bitter, they are sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne
of God." As the departing saint wades through the stream, and
the billows gather around him, and heart and flesh fail him, the
same voice sounds in his ears, "Fear not; I am with thee; be not
dismayed; I am thy God." As he nears the borders of the infinite
unknown, and is almost affrighted to enter the realm of shades,
Jesus says, "Fear not, it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom." Thus strengthened and consoled, the believer
is not afraid to die; nay, he is even willing to depart, for
since he has seen Jesus as the morning star, he longs to gaze
upon Him as the sun in his strength. Truly, the presence of
Jesus is all the heaven we desire. He is at once

               "The glory of our brightest days;
               The comfort of our nights."

* 07/03/AM

"The illfavoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven
wellfavoured and fat kine."
                                                  --Genesis 41:4

   Pharaoh's dream has too often been my waking experience. My
days of sloth have ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved
in times of zealous industry; my seasons of coldness have frozen
all the genial glow of my periods of fervency and enthusiasm;
and my fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my advances
in the divine life. I had need to beware of lean prayers, lean
praises, lean duties, and lean experiences, for these will eat
up the fat of my comfort and peace. If I neglect prayer for
never so short a time, I lose all the spirituality to which I
had attained; if I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old
corn in my granary is soon consumed by the famine which rages in
my soul. When the caterpillars of indifference, the cankerworms
of worldliness, and the palmerworms of self-indulgence, lay my
heart completely desolate, and make my soul to languish, all my
former fruitfulness and growth in grace avails me nothing
whatever. How anxious should I be to have no lean-fleshed days,
no ill-favoured hours! If every day I journeyed towards the goal
of my desires I should soon reach it, but backsliding leaves me
still far off from the prize of my high calling, and robs me of
the advances which I had so laboriously made. The only way in
which all my days can be as the "fat kine," is to feed them in
the right meadow, to spend them with the Lord, in His service,
in His company, in His fear, and in His way. Why should not
every year be richer than the past, in love, and usefulness, and
joy?--I am nearer the celestial hills, I have had more
experience of my Lord, and should be more like Him. O Lord, keep
far from me the curse of leanness of soul; let me not have to
cry, "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!" but may I be
well-fed and nourished in Thy house, that I may praise Thy name.

* 07/04/AM

"Sanctify them through Thy truth."
                                                    --John 17:17

   Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God
infuses into man that new living principle by which he becomes
"a new creature" in Christ Jesus. This work, which begins in the
new birth, is carried on in two ways--mortification, whereby the
lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under; and vivification,
by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a
well of water springing up unto everlasting life. This is
carried on every day in what is called "perseverance," by which
the Christian is preserved and continued in a gracious state,
and is made to abound in good works unto the praise and glory of
God; and it culminates or comes to perfection, in "glory," when
the soul, being thoroughly purged, is caught up to dwell with
holy beings at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But while
the Spirit of God is thus the author of sanctification, yet
there is a visible agency employed which must not be forgotten.
"Sanctify them," said Jesus, "through thy truth: thy word is
truth." The passages of Scripture which prove that the
instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God are very
many. The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and
doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. These are heard
in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to
will and to do of God's good pleasure. The truth is the
sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall
not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as
we progress in sound understanding. "Thy word is a lamp unto my
feet and a light unto my path." Do not say of any error, "It is
a mere matter of opinion." No man indulges an error of judgment,
without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold
fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be
sanctified by the Spirit of God.

* 07/05/AM

"Called to be saints."
                                                    --Romans 1:7

   We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they
were "saints" in a more especial manner than the other children
of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace, and
sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the
apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same
weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are
forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the
more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the
more his Master honours him in His service, the more also doth
the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is,
if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him
remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had
talked with him, we should have said, "We find that his
experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more
holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the
selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more
sorely tried than ourselves." Do not, then, look upon the
ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins;
and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will
almost make us idolators. Their holiness is attainable even by
us. We are "called to be saints" by that same voice which
constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian's
duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if
these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they
certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour
and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same
grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied
until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived
with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like
Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, "looking unto
Jesus," and our saintship will soon be apparent.

* 07/06/AM

"Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil."
                                                 --Proverbs 1:33

   Divine love is rendered conspicuous when it I shines in the
midst of judgments. Fair is that lone star which smiles through
the rifts of the thunder clouds; bright is the oasis which
blooms in the wilderness of sand; so fair and so bright is love
in the midst of wrath. When the Israelites provoked the Most
High by their continued idolatry, He punished them by
withholding both dew and rain, so that their land was visited by
a sore famine; but while He did this, He took care that His own
chosen ones should be secure. If all other brooks are dry, yet
shall there be one reserved for Elijah; and when that fails, God
shall still preserve for him a place of sustenance; nay, not
only so, the Lord had not simply one "Elijah," but He had a
remnant according to the election of grace, who were hidden by
fifties in a cave, and though the whole land was subject to
famine, yet these fifties in the cave were fed, and fed from
Ahab's table too by His faithful, God-fearing steward, Obadiah.
Let us from this draw the inference, that come what may, God's
people are safe. Let convulsions shake the solid earth, let the
skies themselves be rent in twain, yet amid the wreck of worlds
the believer shall be as secure as in the calmest hour of rest.
If God cannot save His people under heaven, He will save them
in heaven. If the world becomes too hot to hold them, then
heaven shall be the place of their reception and their safety.
Be ye then confident, when ye hear of wars, and rumours of wars.
Let no agitation distress you, but be quiet from fear of evil.
Whatsoever cometh upon the earth, you, beneath the broad wings
of Jehovah, shall be secure. Stay yourself upon His promise;
rest in His faithfulness, and bid defiance to the blackest
future, for there is nothing in it direful for you. Your sole
concern should be to show forth to the world the blessedness of
hearkening to the voice of wisdom.

* 07/07/AM

"Brethren, pray for us."
                                          --1 Thessalonians 5:25

   This one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the
reader's memory upon the subject of prayer for ministers, and we
do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the
fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now
repeated by us. Brethren, our work is Solemnly momentous,
involving weal or woe to thousands; we treat with souls for God
on eternal business, and our word is either a savour of life
unto life, or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility
rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we
be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christ's
army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils;
they watch for our halting, and labour to take us by the heels.
Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are
exempt, above all it too often draws us away from our personal
enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration
of it. We meet with many knotty cases, and our wits are at a non
plus; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are
wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We
wish to profit you by our preaching; we desire to be blest to
your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners;
therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God.
Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but
happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look
to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how
many times has He given those blessings through His ministers;
ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels
into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel. We, the
whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and
students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you

                    "BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US."

* 07/08/AM

"Tell me I pray thee wherein thy great strength lieth."
                                                   --Judges 16:6

   Where lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food
it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is--an emanation
of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God; and
faith says, "My God could not have given this promise, except
from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain His Word will
be fulfilled." Then faith thinketh, "Who gave this promise?"
It considereth not so much its greatness, as, "Who is the author
of it?" She remembers that it is God who cannot lie--God
omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the
promise must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm
conviction. She remembereth, why the promise was given,--
namely, for God's glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God's
glory is safe, that He will never stain His own escutcheon, nor
mar the lustre of His own crown; and therefore the promise must
and will stand. Then faith also considereth the amazing work of
Christ as being a clear proof of the Father's intention to
fulfil His word. "He that spared not His own Son, but freely
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things?" Moreover faith looks back upon the
past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories
have given her courage. She remembers that God never has failed
her; nay, that He never did once fail any of His children. She
recollecteth times of great peril, when deliverance came; hours
of awful need, when as her day her strength was found, and she
cries, "No, I never will be led to think that He can change and
leave His servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and He
will help me still." Thus faith views each promise in its
connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does so, can
with assurance say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life!"

* 07/09/AM

"Forget not all His benefits."
                                                   --Psalm 103:2

   It is a delightful and profitable occupation to mark the hand
of God in the lives of ancient saints, and to observe His
goodness in delivering them, His mercy in pardoning them, and
His faithfulness in keeping His covenant with them. But would it
not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the
hand of God in our own lives? Ought we not to look upon our own
history as being at least as full of God, as full of His
goodness and of His truth, as much a proof of His faithfulness
and veracity, as the lives of any of the saints who have gone
before? We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that He
wrought all His mighty acts, and showed Himself strong for those
in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare His
arm for the saints who are now upon the earth. Let us review our
own lives. Surely in these we may discover some happy incidents,
refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our God. Have you had
no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers, supported
by the divine presence? Have you walked through no fires
unharmed? Have you had no manifestations? Have you had no
choice favours? The God who gave Solomon the desire of his
heart, hath He never listened to you and answered your requests?
That God of lavish bounty of whom David sang, "Who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things," hath He never satiated you with
fatness? Have you never been made to lie down in green pastures?
Have you never been led by the still waters? Surely the goodness
of God has been the same to us as to the saints of old. Let us,
then, weave His mercies into a song. Let us take the pure gold
of thankfulness, and the jewels of praise and make them into
another crown for the head of Jesus. Let our souls give forth
music as sweet and as exhilarating as came from David's harp,
while we praise the Lord whose mercy endureth for ever.

* 07/10/AM

"Fellow citizens with the saints."
                                                --Ephesians 2:19

   What is meant by our being citizens in heaven? It means that
we are under heaven's government. Christ the king of heaven
reigns in our hearts; our daily prayer is, "Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven." The proclamations issued from the
throne of glory are freely received by us: the decrees of the
Great King we cheerfully obey. Then as citizens of the New
Jerusalem, we share heaven's honours. The glory which belongs
to beatified saints belongs to us, for we are already sons of
God, already princes of the blood imperial; already we wear the
spotless robe of Jesu's righteousness; already we have angels
for our servitors, saints for our companions, Christ for our
Brother, God for our Father, and a crown of immortality for our
reward. We share the honours of citizenship, for we have come to
the general assembly and Church of the first-born whose names
are written in heaven. As citizens, we have common rights to
all the property of heaven. Ours are its gates of pearl and
walls of chrysolite; ours the azure light of the city that needs
no candle nor light of the sun; ours the river of the water of
life, and the twelve manner of fruits which grow on the trees
planted on the banks thereof; there is nought in heaven that
belongeth not to us. "Things present, or things to come," all
are ours. Also as citizens of heaven we enjoy its delights. Do
they there rejoice over sinners that repent--prodigals that have
returned? So do we. Do they chant the glories of triumphant
grace? We do the same. Do they cast their crowns at Jesu's feet?
Such honours as we have we cast there too. Are they charmed with
His smile? It is not less sweet to us who dwell below. Do they
look forward, waiting for His second advent? We also look and
long for His appearing. If, then, we are thus citizens of
heaven, let our walk and actions be consistent with our high
dignity.

* 07/11/AM

"After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you."
                                                  --1 Peter 5:10

   You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain:
glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful,
but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours
give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer
brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How
can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and
passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the
Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its
transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished,
settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you
have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a
writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May
your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be
builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall
consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be
rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your
love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so
settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all
the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But
notice how this blessing of being "stablished in the faith" is
gained. The apostle's words point us to suffering as the means
employed--"After that ye have suffered awhile." It is of no
use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass
over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and
those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many
storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of
the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the
Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials
and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds
of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough
discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.

* 07/12/AM

"Sanctified by God the Father."
                                                        --Jude 1
"Sanctified in Christ Jesus."
                                             --1 Corinthians 1:2
"Through sanctification of the Spirit."
                                                   --1 Peter 1:2

   Mark the union of the Three Divine Persons in all their
gracious acts. How unwisely do those believers talk who make
preferences in the Persons of the Trinity; who think of Jesus as
if He were the embodiment of everything lovely and gracious,
while the Father they regard as severely just, but destitute of
kindness. Equally wrong are those who magnify the decree of the
Father, and the atonement of the Son, so as to depreciate the
work of the Spirit. In deeds of grace none of the Persons of the
Trinity act apart from the rest. They are as united in their
deeds as in their essence. In their love towards the chosen they
are one, and in the actions which flow from that great central
source they are still undivided. Specially notice this in the
matter of sanctification. While we may without mistake speak of
sanctification as the work of the Spirit, yet we must take heed
that we do not view it as if the Father and the Son had no part
therein. It is correct to speak of sanctification as the work of
the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit. Still doth Jehovah
say, "Let us make man in our own image after our likeness,"
and thus we are "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them." See the value which God sets upon real holiness, since
the Three Persons in the Trinity are represented as co-working
to produce a Church without "spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing." And you, believer, as the follower of Christ, must also
set a high value on holiness--upon purity of life and godliness
of conversation. Value the blood of Christ as the foundation of
your hope, but never speak disparagingly of the work of the
Spirit which is your meetness for the inheritance of the saints
in light. This day let us so live as to manifest the work of the
Triune God in us.

* 07/13/AM

"God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry?"
                                                     --Jonah 4:9

   Anger is not always or necessarily sinful, but it has such a
tendency to run wild that whenever it displays itself, we should
be quick to question its character, with this enquiry, "Doest
thou well to be angry?" It may be that we can answer, "YES."
Very frequently anger is the madman's firebrand, but sometimes
it is Elijah's fire from heaven. We do well when we are angry
with sin, because of the wrong which it commits against our good
and gracious God; or with ourselves because we remain so foolish
after so much divine instruction; or with others when the sole
cause of anger is the evil which they do. He who is not angry at
transgression becomes a partaker in it. Sin is a loathsome and
hateful thing, and no renewed heart can patiently endure it. God
himself is angry with the wicked every day, and it is written in
His Word, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Far more
frequently it is to be feared that our anger in not commendable
or even justifiable, and then we must answer, "NO." Why should
we be fretful with children, passionate with servants, and
wrathful with companions? Is such anger honourable to our
Christian profession, or glorifying to God? Is it not the old
evil heart seeking to gain dominion, and should we not resist it
with all the might of our newborn nature. Many professors give
way to temper as though it were useless to attempt resistance;
but let the believer remember that he must be a conqueror in
every point, or else he cannot be crowned. If we cannot control
our tempers, what has grace done for us? Some one told Mr. Jay
that grace was often grafted on a crab-stump. "Yes," said he,
"but the fruit will not be crabs." We must not make natural
infirmity an excuse for sin, but we must fly to the cross and
pray the Lord to crucify our tempers, and renew us in gentleness
and meekness after His own image.

* 07/14/AM

"If thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it."
                                                  --Exodus 20:25

   God'S altar was to be built of unhewn stones, that no trace
of human skill or labour might be seen upon it. Human wisdom
delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a
system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved
tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the
gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another
gospel, and not the truth of God at all. All alterations and
amendments of the Lord's own Word are defilements and
pollutions. The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a
hand in the justification of the soul before God; preparations
for Christ are dreamed of, humblings and repentings are trusted
in, good works are cried up, natural ability is much vaunted,
and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human tools upon
the divine altar. It were well if sinners would remember that so
far from perfecting the Saviour's work, their carnal confidences
only pollute and dishonour it. The Lord alone must be exalted in
the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man's chisel or
hammer will be endured. There is an inherent blasphemy in
seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments
declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord
Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with
thy tools, and fall upon thy knees in humble supplication; and
accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of thine atonement, and
rest in Him alone.

   Many professors may take warning from this morning's text as
to the doctrines which they believe. There is among Christians
far too much inclination to square and reconcile the truths of
revelation; this is a form of irreverence and unbelief, let us
strive against it, and receive truth as we find it; rejoicing
that the doctrines of the Word are unhewn stones, and so are all
the more fit to build an altar for the Lord.

* 07/15/AM

"The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never
go out."
                                                --Leviticus 6:13

   Keep the altar of private prayer burning. This is the very
life of all piety. The sanctuary and family altars borrow their
fires here, there- fore let this burn well. Secret devotion is
the very essence, evidence, and barometer, of vital and
experimental religion.

   Burn here the fat of your sacrifices. Let your closet seasons
be, if possible, regular, frequent, and undisturbed. Effectual
prayer availeth much. Have you nothing to pray for? Let us
suggest the Church, the ministry, your own soul, your children,
your relations, your neighbours, your country, and the cause of
God and truth throughout the world. Let us examine ourselves on
this important matter. Do we engage with lukewarmness in private
devotion? Is the fire of devotion burning dimly in our hearts?
Do the chariot wheels drag heavily? If so, let us be alarmed at
this sign of decay. Let us go with weeping, and ask for the
Spirit of grace and of supplications. Let us set apart special
seasons for extraordinary prayer. For if this fire should be
smothered beneath the ashes of a worldly conformity, it will dim
the fire on the family altar, and lessen our influence both in
the Church and in the world.

   The text will also apply to the altar of the heart. This is
a golden altar indeed. God loves to see the hearts of His people
glowing towards Himself. Let us give to God our hearts, all
blazing with love, and seek His grace, that the fire may never
be quenched; for it will not burn if the Lord does not keep it
burning. Many foes will attempt to extinguish it; but if the
unseen hand behind the wall pour thereon the sacred oil, it will
blaze higher and higher. Let us use texts of Scripture as fuel
for our heart's fire, they are live coals; let us attend
sermons, but above all, let us be much alone with Jesus.

* 07/16/AM

"They gathered manna every morning."
                                                  --Exodus 16:21

   Labour to maintain a sense of thine entire dependence upon
the Lord's good will and pleasure for the continuance of thy
richest enjoyments. Never try to live on the old manna, nor
seek to find help in Egypt. All must come from Jesus, or thou
art undone for ever. Old anointings will not suffice to impart
unction to thy spirit; thine head must have fresh oil poured
upon it from the golden horn of the sanctuary, or it will cease
from its glory. To-day thou mayest be upon the summit of the
mount of God, but He who has put thee there must keep thee
there, or thou wilt sink far more speedily than thou dreamest.
Thy mountain only stands firm when He settles it in its place;
if He hide His face, thou wilt soon be troubled. If the Saviour
should see fit, there is not a window through which thou seest
the light of heaven which He could not darken in an instant.
Joshua bade the sun stand still, but Jesus can shroud it in
total darkness. He can withdraw the joy of thine heart, the
light of thine eyes, and the strength of thy life; in His hand
thy comforts lie, and at His will they can depart from thee.
This hourly dependence our Lord is determined that we shall feel
and recognize, for He only permits us to pray for "daily bread,"
and only promises that "as our days our strength shall be." Is
it not best for us that it should be so, that we may often
repair to His throne, and constantly be reminded of His love?
Oh! how rich the grace which supplies us so continually, and
doth not refrain itself because of our ingratitude! The golden
shower never ceases, the cloud of blessing tarries evermore
above our habitation. O Lord Jesus, we would bow at Thy feet,
conscious of our utter inability to do anything without Thee,
and in every favour which we are privileged to receive, we would
adore Thy blessed name and acknowledge Thine unexhausted love.

* 07/17/AM

"Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God."
                                           --1 Thessalonians 1:4

   Many persons want to know their election before they look to
Christ, but they cannot learn it thus, it is only to be
discovered by "looking unto Jesus." If you desire to ascertain
your own election;--after the following manner, shall you assure
your heart before God. Do you feel yourself to be a lost, guilty
sinner? go straightway to the cross of Christ, and tell Jesus
so, and tell Him that you have read in the Bible, "Him that
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." Tell Him that He
has said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners." Look to Jesus and believe on Him, and you shall make
proof of your election directly, for so surely as thou
believest, thou art elect. If you will give yourself wholly up
to Christ and trust Him, then you are one of God's chosen ones;
but if you stop and say, "I want to know first whether I am
elect," you ask you know not what. Go to Jesus, be you never so
guilty, just as you are. Leave all curious inquiry about
election alone. Go straight to Christ and hide in His wounds,
and you shall know your election. The assurance of the Holy
Spirit shall be given to you, so that you shall be able to say,
"I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed to Him." Christ was at the
everlasting council: He can tell you whether you were chosen or
not; but you cannot find it out in any other way. Go and put
your trust in Him, and His answer will be--"I have loved thee
with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee." There will be no doubt about His having chosen
you, when you have chosen Him.

             "Sons we are through God's election,
             Who in Jesus Christ believe."

* 07/18/AM

"They shall go hindmost with their standards."
                                                  --Numbers 2:31

   The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel
were on the march. The Danites occupied the hindmost place,
but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of
the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same
fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the
same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance.
Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy
privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead
the van. Some one must be hindmost in honour and esteem, some
one must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a
poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street,
among degraded sinners, I will work on, and "go hindmost with my
standard."

   The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have
to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be
gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over
untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to
Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well
engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and
restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and
the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state
one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.

   The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind
us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We
read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost
of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his
weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering,
souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must
not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of
well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost.
My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day.

* 07/19/AM

"The Lord our God hath shewed us His glory."
                                              --Deuteronomy 5:24

   God's great design in all His works is the manifestation of
His own glory. Any aim less than this were unworthy of Himself.
But how shall the glory of God be manifested to such fallen
creatures as we are? Man's eye is not single, he has ever a side
glance towards his own honour, has too high an estimate of his
own powers, and so is not qualified to behold the glory of the
Lord. It is clear, then, that self must stand out of the way,
that there may be room for God to be exalted; and this is the
reason why He bringeth His people ofttimes into straits and
difficulties, that, being made conscious of their own folly and
weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when
He comes forth to work their deliverance. He whose life is one
even and smooth path, will see but little of the glory of the
Lord, for he has few occasions of self-emptying, and hence, but
little fitness for being filled with the revelation of God. They
who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little
of the God of tempests; but they who "do business in great
waters," these see His "wonders in the deep." Among the huge
Atlantic-waves of bereavement, poverty, temptation, and
reproach, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the
littleness of man. Thank God, then, if you have been led by a
rough road: it is this which has given you your experience of
God's greatness and lovingkindness. Your troubles have enriched
you with a wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means:
your trials have been the cleft of the rock in which Jehovah has
set you, as He did His servant Moses, that you might behold His
glory as it passed by. Praise God that you have not been left to
the darkness and ignorance which continued prosperity might have
involved, but that in the great fight of affliction, you have
been capacitated for the outshinings of His glory in His
wonderful dealings with you.

* 07/20/AM

"The earnest of our inheritance."
                                                --Ephesians 1:14

   Oh! what enlightenment, what joys, what consolation, what
delight of heart is experienced by that man who has learned to
feed on Jesus, and on Jesus alone. Yet the realization which we
have of Christ's preciousness is, in this life, imperfect at the
best. As an old writer says, "'Tis but a taste!" We have tasted
"that the Lord is gracious," but we do not yet know how good
and gracious He is, although what we know of His sweetness makes
us long for more. We have enjoyed the firstfruits of the Spirit,
and they have set us hungering and thirsting for the fulness of
the heavenly vintage. We groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption. Here we are like Israel in the wilderness, who had
but one cluster from Eshcol, there we shall be in the
vineyard. Here we see the manna falling small, like coriander
seed, but there shall we eat the bread of heaven and the old
corn of the kingdom. We are but beginners now in spiritual
education; for although we have learned the first letters of the
alphabet, we cannot read words yet, much less can we put
sentences together; but as one says, "He that has been in heaven
but five minutes, knows more than the general assembly of
divines on earth." We have many ungratified desires at present,
but soon every wish shall be satisfied; and all our powers shall
find the sweetest employment in that eternal world of joy. O
Christian, antedate heaven for a few years. Within a very little
time thou shalt be rid of all thy trials and thy troubles.
Thine eyes now suffused with tears shall weep no longer. Thou
shalt gaze in ineffable rapture upon the splendour of Him who
sits upon the throne. Nay, more, upon His throne shalt thou sit.
The triumph of His glory shall be shared by thee; His crown, His
joy, His paradise, these shall be thine, and thou shalt be
co-heir with Him who is the heir of all things.

* 07/21/AM

"The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee."
                                                  --Isaiah 37:22

   Reassured by the Word of the Lord, the poor trembling
citizens of Zion grew bold, and shook their heads at
Sennacherib's boastful threats. Strong faith enables the
servants of God to look with calm contempt upon their most
haughty foes. We know that our enemies are attempting
impossibilities. They seek to destroy the eternal life, which
cannot die while Jesus lives; to overthrow the citadel, against
which the gates of hell shall not prevail. They kick against
the pricks to their own wounding, and rush upon the bosses of
Jehovah's buckler to their own hurt.

   We know their weakness. What are they but men? And what is
man but a worm? They roar and swell like waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame. When the Lord ariseth, they shall
fly as chaff before the wind, and be consumed as crackling
thorns. Their utter powerlessness to do damage to the cause of
God and His truth, may make the weakest soldiers in Zion's ranks
laugh them to scorn.

   Above all, we know that the Most High is with us, and when
He dresses Himself in arms, where are His enemies? If He cometh
forth from His place, the potsherds of the earth will not long
contend with their Maker. His rod of iron shall dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel, and their very remembrance shall
perish from the earth. Away, then, all fears, the kingdom is
safe in the King's hands. Let us shout for joy, for the Lord
reigneth, and His foes shall be as straw for the dunghill.

           "As true as God's own word is true;
           Nor earth, nor hell, with all their crew,
           Against us shall prevail.
           A jest, and by-word, are they grown;
           God is with us, we are his own,
           Our victory cannot fail."

* 07/22/AM

"I am married unto you."
                                                 --Jeremiah 3:14

   Christ Jesus is joined unto His people in marriage-union. In
love He espoused His Church as a chaste virgin, long before she
fell under the yoke of bondage. Full of burning affection He
toiled, like Jacob for Rachel, until the whole of her
purchase-money had been paid, and now, having sought her by His
Spirit, and brought her to know and love Him, He awaits the
glorious hour when their mutual bliss shall be consummated at
the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Not yet hath the glorious
Bridegroom presented His betrothed, perfected and complete,
before the Majesty of heaven; not yet hath she actually entered
upon the enjoyment of her dignities as His wife and queen: she
is as yet a wanderer in a world of woe, a dweller in the tents
of Kedar; but she is even now the bride, the spouse of Jesus,
dear to His heart, precious in His sight, written on His hands,
and united with His person. On earth He exercises towards her
all the affectionate offices of Husband. He makes rich provision
for her wants, pays all her debts, allows her to assume His
name, and to share in all His wealth. Nor will He ever act
otherwise to her. The word divorce He will never mention, for
"He hateth putting away." Death must sever the conjugal tie
between the most loving mortals, but it cannot divide the links
of this immortal marriage. In heaven they marry not, but are as
the angels of God; yet there is this one marvellous exception to
the rule, for in Heaven Christ and His Church shall celebrate
their joyous nuptials. This affinity as it is more lasting, so
is it more near than earthly wedlock. Let the love of husband be
never so pure and fervent, it is but a faint picture of the
flame which burns in the heart of Jesus. Passing all human union
is that mystical cleaving unto the Church, for which Christ left
His Father, and became one flesh with her.

* 07/23/AM

"Even thou wast as one of them."
                                                  --Obadiah 1:11

   Brotherly kindness was due from Edom to Israel in the time of
need, but instead thereof, the men of Esau made common cause
with Israel's foes. Special stress in the sentence before us is
laid upon the word thou; as when Caesar cried to Brutus, "and
thou Brutus"; a bad action may be all the worse, because of
the person who has committed it. When we sin, who are the
chosen favorites of heaven, we sin with an emphasis; ours is a
crying offence, because we are so peculiarly indulged. If an
angel should lay his hand upon us when we are doing evil, he
need not use any other rebuke than the question, "What thou?
What dost thou here?" Much forgiven, much delivered, much
instructed, much enriched, much blessed, shall we dare to put
forth our hand unto evil? God forbid!

   A few minutes of confession may be beneficial to thee, gentle
reader, this morning. Hast thou never been as the wicked? At an
evening party certain men laughed at uncleanness, and the joke
was not altogether offensive to thine ear, even thou wast as
one of them. When hard things were spoken concerning the ways
of God, thou wast bashfully silent; and so, to on-lookers, thou
wast as one of them. When worldlings were bartering in the
market, and driving hard bargains, wast thou not as one of them?
When they were pursuing vanity with a hunter's foot, wert thou
not as greedy for gain as they were? Could any difference be
discerned between thee and them? Is there any difference? Here
we come to close quarters. Be honest with thine own soul, and
make sure that thou art a new creature in Christ Jesus; but when
this is sure, walk jealously, lest any should again be able to
say, "Even thou wast as one of them." Thou wouldst not desire to
share their eternal doom, why then be like them here? Come not
thou into their secret, lest thou come into their ruin. Side
with the afflicted people of God, and not with the world.

* 07/24/AM

"Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord."
                                                  --Exodus 14:13

   These words contain God's command to the believer when he is
reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary
difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is
shut up on the right hand and on the left; what is he now to do?
The Master's word to him is, "Stand still." It will be well for
him if at such times he listens only to his Master's word, for
other and evil advisers come with their suggestions. Despair
whispers, "Lie down and die; give it all up." But God would have
us put on a cheerful courage, and even in our worst times,
rejoice in His love and faithfulness. Cowardice says,
"Retreat; go back to the worldling's way of action; you cannot
play the Christian's part, it is too difficult. Relinquish your
principles." But, however much Satan may urge this course upon
you, you cannot follow it if you are a child of God. His divine
fiat has bid thee go from strength to strength, and so thou
shalt, and neither death nor hell shall turn thee from thy
course. What, if for a while thou art called to stand still, yet
this is but to renew thy strength for some greater advance in
due time. Precipitancy cries, "do something. Stir yourself; to
stand still and wait, is sheer idleness." We must be doing
something at once--we must do it so we think--instead of looking
to the Lord, who will not only do something but will do
everything. Presumption boasts, "If the sea be before you,
march into it and expect a miracle." But Faith listens neither
to Presumption, nor to Despair, nor to Cowardice, nor to
Precipitancy, but it hears God say, "Stand still," and immovable
as a rock it stands. "Stand still";--keep the posture of an
upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders,
cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it
will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as
Moses said it to the people of Israel, "Go forward."

* 07/25/AM

"He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out."
                                                 --Genesis 39:12

   In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of
victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of
basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them
easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn
danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away
from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not
even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only
need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant.
Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its
horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself
would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a
storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of
weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near
the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock
without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as
possible in the midst of a safe channel.

   This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the
serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a
dove may be of more use to me to-day than the jaws of a lion. It
is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company,
but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is
not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me
to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no
flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the
wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he
will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or
they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy
Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile
suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh,
and the devil, never overcome us!

* 07/26/AM

"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge, etc."
                                                --2 Peter 1:5, 6

   If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full
assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit's influence, and
assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, "Give
diligence." Take care that thy faith is of the right
kind--that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple
faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent
heed to thy courage. Plead with God that He would give thee
the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of
right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get
knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to
confirm faith. Try to understand God's Word; let it dwell in thy
heart richly.

   When thou hast done this, "Add to thy knowledge
temperance." Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take
heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance of lip,
life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God's Holy Spirit,
patience; ask Him to give thee that patience which endureth
affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold.
Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be
depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to
godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make
God's glory your object in life; live in His sight; dwell close
to Him; seek for fellowship with Him; and thou hast "godliness";
and to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the
saints: and add to that a charity, which openeth its arms to
all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these
jewels, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly
virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence "your
calling and election." "Give diligence," if you would get
assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand
in hand.

* 07/27/AM

"Exceeding great and precious promises."
                                                   --2 Peter 1:4

   If you would know experimentally the preciousness of the
promises, and enjoy them in your own heart, meditate much upon
them. There are promises which are like grapes in the
wine-press; if you will tread them the juice will flow. Thinking
over the hallowed words will often be the prelude to their
fulfillment. While you are musing upon them, the boon which you
are seeking will insensibly come to you. Many a Christian who
has thirsted for the promise has found the favour which it
ensured gently distilling into his soul even while he has been
considering the divine record; and he has rejoiced that ever he
was led to lay the promise near his heart.

   But besides meditating upon the promises, seek in thy soul
to receive them as being the very words of God. Speak to thy
soul thus, "If I were dealing with a man's promise, I should
carefully consider the ability and the character of the man who
had covenanted with me. So with the promise of God; my eye must
not be so much fixed upon the greatness of the mercy--that may
stagger me; as upon the greatness of the promiser--that will
cheer me. My soul, it is God, even thy God, God that cannot lie,
who speaks to thee. This word of His which thou art now
considering is as true as His own existence. He is a God
unchangeable. He has not altered the thing which has gone out of
His mouth, nor called back one single consolatory sentence. Nor
doth He lack any power; it is the God that made the heavens and
the earth who has spoken thus. Nor can He fail in wisdom as to
the time when He will bestow the favours, for He knoweth when it
is best to give and when better to withhold. Therefore, seeing
that it is the word of a God so true, so immutable, so powerful,
so wise, I will and must believe the promise." If we thus
meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall
experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfillment.

* 07/28/AM

"So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee."
                                                   --Psalm 73:22

   Remember this is the confession of the man after God's own
heart; and in telling us his inner life, he writes, "So foolish
was I, and ignorant." The word "foolish," here, means more
than it signifies in ordinary language. David, in a former
verse of the Psalm, writes, "I was envious at the foolish when
I saw the prosperity of the wicked," which shows that the folly
he intended had sin in it. He puts himself down as being thus
"foolish," and adds a word which is to give intensity to it; "so
foolish was I." How foolish he could not tell. It was a sinful
folly, a folly which was not to be excused by frailty, but to be
condemned because of its perverseness and wilful ignorance, for
he had been envious of the present prosperity of the ungodly,
forgetful of the dreadful end awaiting all such. And are we
better than David that we should call ourselves wise! Do we
profess that we have attained perfection, or to have been so
chastened that the rod has taken all our wilfulness out of us?
Ah, this were pride indeed! If David was foolish, how foolish
should we be in our own esteem if we could but see ourselves!
Look back, believer: think of your doubting God when He has been
so faithful to you--think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my
Father," when He crossed His hands in affliction to give you the
larger blessing; think of the many times when you have read His
providences in the dark, misinterpreted His dispensations, and
groaned out, "All these things are against me," when they are
all working together for your good! Think how often you have
chosen sin because of its pleasure, when indeed, that pleasure
was a root of bitterness to you! Surely if we know our own heart
we must plead guilty to the indictment of a sinful folly; and
conscious of this "foolishness," we must make David's consequent
resolve our own--"Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel."

* 07/29/AM

"Nevertheless I am continually with Thee."
                                                   --Psalm 73:23

   "Nevertheless,"--As if, notwithstanding all the foolishness
and ignorance which David had just been confessing to God, not
one atom the less was it true and certain that David was saved
and accepted, and that the blessing of being constantly in God's
presence was undoubtedly his. Fully conscious of his own lost
estate, and of the deceitfulness and vileness of his nature,
yet, by a glorious outburst of faith, he sings "nevertheless I
am continually with Thee." Believer, you are forced to enter
into Asaph's confession and acknowledgment, endeavour in like
spirit to say "nevertheless, since I belong to Christ I am
continually with God!" By this is meant continually upon His
mind, He is always thinking of me for my good. Continually
before His eye;--the eye of the Lord never sleepeth, but is
perpetually watching over my welfare. Continually in His hand,
so that none shall be able to pluck me thence. Continually on
His heart, worn there as a memorial, even as the high priest
bore the names of the twelve tribes upon his heart for ever.
Thou always thinkest of me, O God. The bowels of Thy love
continually yearn towards me. Thou art always making providence
work for my good. Thou hast set me as a signet upon thine arm;
thy love is strong as death, many waters cannot quench it;
neither can the floods drown it. Surprising grace! Thou seest me
in Christ, and though in myself abhorred, Thou beholdest me as
wearing Christ's garments, and washed in His blood, and thus I
stand accepted in Thy presence. I am thus continually in Thy
favour--"continually with Thee." Here is comfort for the tried
and afflicted soul; vexed with the tempest within--look at the
calm without. "Nevertheless"--O say it in thy heart, and take
the peace it gives. "Nevertheless I am continually with Thee."

* 07/30/AM

"And when he thought thereon, he wept."
                                                    --Mark 14:72

   It has been thought by some that as long as Peter lived, the
fountain of his tears began to flow whenever he remembered his
denying his Lord. It is not unlikely that it was so, (for his
sin was very great, and grace in him had afterwards a perfect
work. This same experience is common to all the redeemed family
according to the degree in which the Spirit of God has removed
the natural heart of stone. We, like Peter, remember our
boastful promise: "Though all men shall forsake Thee, yet will
not I." We eat our own words with the bitter herbs of
repentance. When we think of what we vowed we would be, and of
what we have been, we may weep whole showers of grief. He
thought on his denying his Lord. The place in which he did it,
the little cause which led him into such heinous sin, the oaths
and blasphemies with which he sought to confirm his falsehood,
and the dreadful hardness of heart which drove him to do so
again and yet again. Can we, when we are reminded of our sins,
and their exceeding sinfulness, remain stolid and stubborn? Will
we not make our house a Bochim, and cry unto the Lord for
renewed assurances of pardoning love? May we never take a
dry-eyed look at sin, lest ere long we have a tongue parched in
the flames of hell. Peter also thought upon his Master's look
of love. The Lord followed up the cock's warning voice with an
admonitory look of sorrow, pity, and love. That glance was
never out of Peter's mind so long as he lived. It was far more
effectual than ten thousand sermons would have been without the
Spirit. The penitent apostle would be sure to weep when he
recollected the Saviour's full forgiveness, which restored him
to his former place. To think that we have offended so kind and
good a Lord is more than sufficient reason for being constant
weepers. Lord, smite our rocky hearts, and make the waters flow.

* 07/31/AM

"I in them."
                                                    --John 17:23

   If such be the union which subsists between our souls and the
person of our Lord, how deep and broad is the channel of our
communion! This is no narrow pipe through which a thread-like
stream may wind its way, it is a channel of amazing depth and
breadth, along whose glorious length a ponderous volume of
living water may roll its floods. Behold He hath set before us
an open door, let us not be slow to enter. This city of
communion hath many pearly gates, every several gate is of one
pearl, and each gate is thrown open to the uttermost that we may
enter, assured of welcome. If there were but one small loophole
through which to talk with Jesus, it would be a high privilege
to thrust a word of fellowship through the narrow door; how much
we are blessed in having so large an entrance! Had the Lord
Jesus been far away from us, with many a stormy sea between, we
should have longed to send a messenger to Him to carry Him our
loves, and bring us tidings from His Father's house; but see His
kindness, He has built His house next door to ours, nay, more,
He takes lodging with us, and tabernacles in poor humble hearts,
that so He may have perpetual intercourse with us. O how
foolish must we be, if we do not live in habitual communion with
Him. When the road is long, and dangerous, and difficult, we
need not wonder that friends seldom meet each other, but when
they live together, shall Jonathan forget his David? A wife may
when her husband is upon a journey, abide many days without
holding converse with him, but she could never endure to be
separated from him if she knew him to be in one of the chambers
of her own house. Why, believer, dost not thou sit at His
banquet of wine? Seek thy Lord, for He is near; embrace Him, for
He is thy Brother. Hold Him fast, for He is thine Husband; and
press Him to thine heart, for He is of thine own flesh.
* 08/01/AM

"Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn."
                                                      --Ruth 2:2

   Downcast and troubled Christian, come and glean to-day in the
broad field of promise.  Here are abundance of precious
promises, which exactly meet thy wants. Take this one: "He will
not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." Doth
not that suit thy case? A reed, helpless, insignificant, and
weak, a bruised reed, out of which no music can come; weaker
than weakness itself; a reed, and that reed bruised, yet, He
will not break thee; but on the contrary, will restore and
strengthen thee. Thou art like the smoking flax: no light, no
warmth, can come from thee; but He will not quench thee; He will
blow with His sweet breath of mercy till He fans thee to a
flame. Wouldst thou glean another ear?  "Come unto Me all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." What
soft words! Thy heart is tender, and the Master knows it, and
therefore He speaketh so gently to thee. Wilt thou not obey Him,
and come to Him even now? Take another ear of corn: "Fear not,
thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." How canst thou fear with such
a wonderful assurance as this? Thou mayest gather ten thousand
such golden ears as these! "I have blotted out thy sins like a
cloud, and like a thick cloud thy transgressions." Or this,
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Or
this, "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that is
athirst come, and whosoever will let him take the water of life
freely." Our Master's field is very rich; behold the handfuls.
See, there they lie before thee, poor timid believer! Gather
them up, make them thine own, for Jesus bids thee take them. Be
not afraid, only believe! Grasp these sweet promises, thresh
them out by meditation and feed on them with joy.

* 08/02/AM

"Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
                                                --Ephesians 1:11

   Our belief in God's wisdom supposes and necessitates that He
has a settled purpose and plan in the work of salvation. What
would creation have been without His design? Is there a fish
in the sea, or a fowl in the air, which was left to chance for
its formation?  Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew,
gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working
everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And shall
God be present in creation, ruling over all, and not in grace?
Shall the new creation have the fickle genius of free will to
preside over it when divine counsel rules the old creation? Look
at Providence! Who knoweth not that not a sparrow falleth to
the ground without your Father?  Even the hairs of your head are
all numbered. God weighs the mountains of our grief in scales,
and the hills of our tribulation in balances. And shall there be
a God in providence and not in grace? Shall the shell be
ordained by wisdom and the kernel be left to blind chance. No;
He knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed
place, not merely the corner-stone which He has laid in fair
colours, in the blood of His dear Son, but He beholds in their
ordained position each of the chosen stones taken out of the
quarry of nature, and polished by His grace; He sees the whole
from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to
pinnacle. He hath in His mind a clear knowledge of every stone
which shall be laid in its prepared space, and how vast the
edifice shall be, and when the top-stone shall be brought forth
with shoutings of "Grace! Grace!  unto it." At the last it shall
be clearly seen that in every chosen vessel of mercy, Jehovah
did as He willed with His own; and that in every part of the
work of grace He accomplished His purpose, and glorified His own
name.

* 08/03/AM

"The Lamb is the light thereof."
                                              --Revelation 21:23

   Quietly contemplate the Lamb as the light of heaven. Light in
Scripture is the emblem of joy. The joy of the saints in
heaven is comprised in this: Jesus chose us, loved us, bought
us, cleansed us, robed us, kept us, glorified us: we are here
entirely through the Lord Jesus. Each one of these thoughts
shall be to them like a cluster of the grapes of Eshcol. Light
is also the cause of beauty. Nought of beauty is left when
light is gone. Without light no radiance flashes from the
sapphire, no peaceful ray proceedeth from the pearl; and thus
all the beauty of the saints above comes from Jesus. As planets,
they reflect the light of the Sun of Righteousness; they live as
beams proceeding from the central orb. If He withdrew, they must
die; if His glory were veiled, their glory must expire. Light is
also the emblem of knowledge. In heaven our knowledge will be
perfect, but the Lord Jesus Himself will be the fountain of it.
Dark providences, never understood before, will then be clearly
seen, and all that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the
light of the Lamb. Oh! what unfoldings there will be and what
glorifying of the God of love! Light also means manifestation.
Light manifests. In this world it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. God's people are a hidden people, but when Christ
receives His people into heaven, He will touch them with the
wand of His own love, and change them into the image of His
manifested glory. They were poor and wretched, but what a
transformation! They were stained with sin, but one touch of His
finger, and they are bright as the sun, and clear as crystal.
Oh! what a manifestation!  All this proceeds from the exalted
Lamb. Whatever there may be of effulgent splendour, Jesus shall
be the centre and soul of it all. Oh! to be present and to see
Him in His own light, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!

* 08/04/AM

"The people that do know their God shall be strong."
                                                  --Daniel 11:32

   Every believer understands that to know God is the highest
and best form of knowledge; and this spiritual knowledge is a
source of strength to the Christian. It strengthens his faith.
Believers are constantly spoken of in the Scriptures as being
persons who are enlightened and taught of the Lord; they are
said to "have an unction from the Holy One," and it is the
Spirit's peculiar office to lead them into all truth, and all
this for the increase and the fostering of their faith.
Knowledge strengthens love, as well as faith. Knowledge opens
the door, and then through that door we see our Saviour. Or, to
use another similitude, knowledge paints the portrait of Jesus,
and when we see that portrait then we love Him, we cannot love a
Christ whom we do not know, at least, in some degree. If we know
but little of the excellences of Jesus, what He has done for us,
and what He is doing now, we cannot love Him much; but the more
we know Him, the more we shall love Him. Knowledge also
strengthens hope. How can we hope for a thing if we do not
know of its existence?  Hope may be the telescope, but till we
receive instruction, our ignorance stands in the front of the
glass, and we can see nothing whatever; knowledge removes the
interposing object, and when we look through the bright optic
glass we discern the glory to be revealed, and anticipate it
with joyous confidence. Knowledge supplies us reasons for
patience. How shall we have patience unless we know something
of the sympathy of Christ, and understand the good which is to
come out of the correction which our heavenly Father sends us?
Nor is there one single grace of the Christian which, under God,
will not be fostered and brought to perfection by holy
knowledge. How important, then, is it that we should grow not
only in grace, but in the "knowledge" of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.

* 08/05/AM

"We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God."
                                                   --Romans 8:28

   Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure. He knows, for
instance, that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel when
it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on
the world's tiller, and that wherever providence may drift,
Jehovah steers it. That re-assuring knowledge prepares him for
everything. He looks over the raging waters and sees the spirit
of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice saying, "It
is I, be not afraid." He knows too that God is always wise, and,
knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no
mistakes; that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He
can say, "If I should lose all I have, it is better that I
should lose than have, if God so wills: the worst calamity is
the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall to me if God
ordains it." "We know that all things work together for good to
them that love God." The Christian does not merely hold this as
a theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact. Everything
has worked for good as yet; the poisonous drugs mixed in fit
proportions have worked the cure; the sharp cuts of the lancet
have cleansed out the proud flesh and facilitated the healing.
Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed
results; and so, believing that God rules all, that He governs
wisely, that He brings good out of evil, the believer's heart is
assured, and he is enabled calmly to meet each trial as it
comes. The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray,
"Send me what thou wilt, my God, so long as it comes from Thee;
never came there an ill portion from Thy table to any of Thy
children."

     "Say not my soul, 'From whence can God relieve my care?
     Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.
     His method is sublime, His heart profoundly kind,
     God never is before His time, and never is behind.'"

* 08/06/AM

"Watchman, what of the night?"
                                                  --Isaiah 21:11

   What enemies are abroad? Errors are a numerous horde, and
new ones appear every hour: against what heresy am I to be on my
guard?  Sins creep from their lurking places when the darkness
reigns; I must myself mount the watch-tower, and watch unto
prayer. Our heavenly Protector foresees all the attacks which
are about to be made upon us, and when as yet the evil designed
us is but in the desire of Satan, He prays for us that our faith
fail not, when we are sifted as wheat. Continue O gracious
Watchman, to forewarn us of our foes, and for Zion's sake hold
not thy peace.

   "Watchman, what of the night?" What weather is coming for
the Church? Are the clouds lowering, or is it all clear and fair
overhead? We must care for the Church of God with anxious love;
and now that Popery and infidelity are both threatening, let us
observe the signs of the times and prepare for conflict.

   "Watchman, what of the night?" What stars are visible?
What precious promises suit our present case? You sound the
alarm, give us the consolation also. Christ, the polestar, is
ever fixed in His place, and all the stars are secure in the
right hand of their Lord.

   But watchman, when comes the morning? The Bridegroom
tarries. Are there no signs of His coming forth as the Sun of
Righteousness? Has not the morning star arisen as the pledge of
day? When will the day dawn, and the shadows flee away? O Jesus,
if Thou come not in person to Thy waiting Church this day, yet
come in Spirit to my sighing heart, and make it sing for joy.

          "Now all the earth is bright and glad
          With the fresh morn;
          But all my heart is cold, and dark and sad:
          Sun of the soul, let me behold Thy dawn!
          Come, Jesus, Lord,
          O quickly come, according to Thy word."

* 08/07/AM

"The upright love Thee"
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:4

   Believers love Jesus with a deeper affection then they dare
to give to any other being. They would sooner lose father and
mother then part with Christ. They hold all earthly comforts
with a loose hand, but they carry Him fast locked in their
bosoms. They voluntarily deny themselves for His sake, but they
are not to be driven to deny Him. It is scant love which the
fire of persecution can dry up; the true believer's love is a
deeper stream than this. Men have laboured to divide the
faithful from their Master, but their attempts have been
fruitless in every age. Neither crowns of honour, now frowns of
anger, have untied this more than Gordian knot. This is no
every-day attachment which the world's power may at length
dissolve. Neither man nor devil have found a key which opens
this lock. Never has the craft of Satan been more at fault than
when he has exercised it in seeking to rend in sunder this union
of two divinely welded hearts.  It is written, and nothing can
blot out the sentence, "The upright love Thee." The intensity
of the love of the upright, however, is not so much to be judged
by what it appears as by what the upright long for. It is our
daily lament that we cannot love enough. Would that our hearts
were capable of holding more, and reaching further. Like Samuel
Rutherford, we sigh and cry, "Oh, for as much love as would go
round about the earth, and over heaven--yea, the heaven of
heavens, and ten thousand worlds--that I might let all out upon
fair, fair, only fair Christ." Alas! our longest reach is but a
span of love, and our affection is but as a drop of a bucket
compared with His deserts. Measure our love by our intentions,
and it is high indeed; 'tis thus, we trust, our Lord doth judge
of it. Oh, that we could give all the love in all hearts in one
great mass, a gathering together of all loves to Him who is
altogether lovely!

* 08/08/AM

"They weave the spider's web."
                                                   --Isaiah 59:5

   See the spider's web, and behold in it a most suggestive
picture of the hypocrite's religion.  It is meant to catch his
prey: the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has
his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud
professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot
always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful
declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of
Peter. Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies,
are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets. A
spider's web is a marvel of skill: look at it and admire the
cunning hunter's wiles. Is not a deceiver's religion equally
wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a
truth? How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of
gold? A spider's web comes all from the creature's own bowels.
The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no
flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. Even
so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their
anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by
their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and hew out the
pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the
sovereign grace of God. But a spider's web is very frail. It
is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no
match for the servant's broom, or the traveller's staff. The
hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to
pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs
will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its
purifying work. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that
such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord's house: He
will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be
destroyed for ever. O my soul, be thou resting on something
better than a spider's web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal
hiding-place.

* 08/09/AM

"The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine
in it."
                                              --Revelation 21:23

   Yonder in the better world, the inhabitants are independent
of all creature comforts.  They have no need of raiment; their
white robes never wear out, neither shall they ever be defiled.
They need no medicine to heal diseases, "for the inhabitant
shall not say, I am sick." They need no sleep to recruit their
frames--they rest not day nor night, but unweariedly praise Him
in His temple. They need no social relationship to minister
comfort, and whatever happiness they may derive from association
with their fellows is not essential to their bliss, for their
Lord's society is enough for their largest desires. They need no
teachers there; they doubtless commune with one another
concerning the things of God, but they do not require this by
way of instruction; they shall all be taught of the Lord. Ours
are the alms at the king's gate, but they feast at the table
itself. Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they lean
upon their Beloved and upon Him alone. Here we must have the
help of our companions, but there they find all they want in
Christ Jesus. Here we look to the meat which perisheth, and to
the raiment which decays before the moth, but there they find
everything in God. We use the bucket to fetch us water from the
well, but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their
lips down to the living water. Here the angels bring us
blessings, but we shall want no messengers from heaven then.
They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from
God, for there they shall see Him face to face. Oh!  what a
blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above
every second cause and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What
a glorious hour when God, and not His creatures; the Lord, and
not His works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls shall then have
attained the perfection of bliss.

* 08/10/AM

"Christ, who is our life."
                                                --Colossians 3:4

   Paul's marvellously rich expression indicates, that Christ is
the source of our life. "You hath He quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins." That same voice which brought Lazarus
out of the tomb raised us to newness of life. He is now the
substance of our spiritual life. It is by His life that we
live; He is in us, the hope of glory, the spring of our actions,
the central thought which moves every other thought. Christ is
the sustenance of our life. What can the Christian feed upon
but Jesus' flesh and blood? "This is the bread which cometh down
from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." O wayworn
pilgrims in this wilderness of sin, you never get a morsel to
satisfy the hunger of your spirits, except ye find it in Him!
Christ is the solace of our life. All our true joys come from
Him; and in times of trouble, His presence is our consolation.
There is nothing worth living for but Him; and His
lovingkindness is better than life! Christ is the object of our
life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the
believer towards the haven of his Saviour's bosom. As flies the
arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting
of his fellowship with Christ Jesus.  As the soldier fights for
his captain, and is crowned in his captain's victory, so the
believer contends for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the
triumphs of his Master. "For him to live is Christ." Christ is
the exemplar of our life. Where there is the same life within,
there will, there must be, to a great extent, the same
developments without; and if we live in near fellowship with the
Lord Jesus we shall grow like Him. We shall set Him before us as
our Divine copy, and we shall seek to tread in His footsteps,
until He shall become the crown of our life in glory. Oh! how
safe, how honoured, how happy is the Christian, since Christ is
our life!

* 08/11/AM

"Oh that I were as in months past."
                                                      --Job 29:2

   Numbers of Christians can view the past with pleasure, but
regard the present with dissatisfaction; they look back upon the
days which they have passed in communing with the Lord as being
the sweetest and the best they have ever known, but as to the
present, it is clad in a sable garb of gloom and dreariness.
Once they lived near to Jesus, but now they feel that they have
wandered from Him, and they say, "O that I were as in months
past!" They complain that they have lost their evidences, or
that they have not present peace of mind, or that they have no
enjoyment in the means of grace, or that conscience is not so
tender, or that they have not so much zeal for God's glory. The
causes of this mournful state of things are manifold. It may
arise through a comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected
closet is the beginning of all spiritual decline. Or it may be
the result of idolatry. The heart has been occupied with
something else, more than with God; the affections have been set
on the things of earth, instead of the things of heaven. A
jealous God will not be content with a divided heart; He must be
loved first and best. He will withdraw the sunshine of His
presence from a cold, wandering heart. Or the cause may be found
in self-confidence and self-righteousness. Pride is busy in
the heart, and self is exalted instead of lying low at the foot
of the cross. Christian, if you are not now as you "were in
months past," do not rest satisfied with wishing for a return
of former happiness, but go at once to seek your Master, and
tell Him your sad state. Ask His grace and strength to help you
to walk more closely with Him; humble yourself before Him, and
He will lift you up, and give you yet again to enjoy the light
of His countenance. Do not sit down to sigh and lament; while
the beloved Physician lives there is hope, nay there is a
certainty of recovery for the worst cases.

* 08/12/AM

"The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice."
                                                    --Psalm 97:1

   Causes for disquietude there are none so long as this blessed
sentence is true. On earth the Lord's power as readily
controls the rage of the wicked as the rage of the sea; His love
as easily refreshes the poor with mercy as the earth with
showers. Majesty gleams in flashes of fire amid the tempest's
horrors, and the glory of the Lord is seen in its grandeur in
the fall of empires, and the crash of thrones. In all our
conflicts and tribulations, we may behold the hand of the divine
King.

                "God is God; He sees and hears
                All our troubles, all our tears.
                Soul, forget not, 'mid thy pains,
                God o'er all for ever reigns."

In hell, evil spirits own, with misery, His undoubted
supremacy. When permitted to roam abroad, it is with a chain at
their heel; the bit is in the mouth of behemoth, and the hook in
the jaws of leviathan. Death's darts are under the Lord's lock,
and the grave's prisons have divine power as their warder. The
terrible vengeance of the Judge of all the earth makes fiends
cower down and tremble, even as dogs in the kennel fear the
hunter's whip.

             "Fear not death, nor Satan's thrusts,
             God defends who in Him trusts;
             Soul, remember, in thy pains,
             God o'er all for ever reigns."

In heaven none doubt the sovereignty of the King Eternal, but
all fall on their faces to do Him homage. Angels are His
courtiers, the redeemed His favourites, and all delight to serve
Him day and night. May we soon reach the city of the great King!

             "For this life's long night of sadness
             He will give us peace and gladness.
             Soul, remember, in thy pains,
             God o'er all for ever reigns."

* 08/13/AM

"The cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted."
                                                  --Psalm 104:16

   Lebanon's cedars are emblematic of the Christian, in that
they owe their planting entirely to the Lord. This is quite
true of every child of God. He is not man-planted, nor
self-planted, but God-planted. The mysterious hand of the divine
Spirit dropped the living seed into a heart which He had Himself
prepared for its reception. Every true heir of heaven owns the
great Husbandman as his planter. Moreover, the cedars of Lebanon
are not dependent upon man for their watering; they stand on
the lofty rock, unmoistened by human irrigation; and yet our
heavenly Father supplieth them. Thus it is with the Christian
who has learned to live by faith. He is independent of man, even
in temporal things; for his continued maintenance he looks to
the Lord his God, and to Him alone. The dew of heaven is his
portion, and the God of heaven is his fountain. Again, the
cedars of Lebanon are not protected by any mortal power. They
owe nothing to man for their preservation from stormy wind and
tempest.  They are God's trees, kept and preserved by Him, and
by Him alone. It is precisely the same with the Christian. He is
not a hot-house plant, sheltered from temptation; he stands in
the most exposed position; he has no shelter, no protection,
except this, that the broad wings of the eternal God always
cover the cedars which He Himself has planted. Like cedars,
believers are full of sap having vitality enough to be ever
green, even amid winter's snows.  Lastly, the flourishing and
majestic condition of the cedar is to the praise of God only.
The Lord, even the Lord alone hath been everything unto the
cedars, and, therefore David very sweetly puts it in one of the
psalms, "Praise ye the Lord, fruitful trees and all cedars." In
the believer there is nothing that can magnify man; he is
planted, nourished, and protected by the Lord's own hand, and to
Him let all the glory be ascribed.

* 08/14/AM

"Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work."
                                                    --Psalm 92:4

   Do you believe that your sins are forgiven, and that Christ
has made a full atonement for them? Then what a joyful Christian
you ought to be! How you should live above the common trials
and troubles of the world! Since sin is forgiven, can it matter
what happens to you now? Luther said, "Smite, Lord, smite, for
my sin is forgiven; if Thou hast but forgiven me, smite as hard
as Thou wilt"; and in a similar spirit you may say, "Send
sickness, poverty, losses, crosses, persecution, what Thou wilt,
Thou hast forgiven me, and my soul is glad." Christian, if
thou art thus saved, whilst thou art glad, be grateful and
loving. Cling to that cross which took thy sin away; serve thou
Him who served thee. "I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Let not
your zeal evaporate in some little ebullition of song. Show your
love in expressive tokens. Love the brethren of Him who loved
you. If there be a Mephibosheth anywhere who is lame or halt,
help him for Jonathan's sake. If there be a poor tried believer,
weep with him, and bear his cross for the sake of Him who wept
for thee and carried thy sins. Since thou art thus forgiven
freely for Christ's sake, go and tell to others the joyful news
of pardoning mercy. Be not contented with this unspeakable
blessing for thyself alone, but publish abroad the story of the
cross. Holy gladness and holy boldness will make you a good
preacher, and all the world will be a pulpit for you to preach
in. Cheerful holiness is the most forcible of sermons, but the
Lord must give it you. Seek it this morning before you go into
the world. When it is the Lord's work in which we rejoice, we
need not be afraid of being too glad.

* 08/15/AM

"Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide."
                                                 --Genesis 24:63

   Very admirable was his occupation. If those who spend so
many hours in idle company, light reading, and useless pastimes,
could learn wisdom, they would find more profitable society and
more interesting engagements in meditation than in the vanities
which now have such charms for them. We should all know more,
live nearer to God, and grow in grace, if we were more alone.
Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutriment from
the mental food gathered elsewhere. When Jesus is the theme,
meditation is sweet indeed. Isaac found Rebecca while engaged in
private musings; many others have found their best beloved
there.

   Very admirable was the choice of place. In the field we
have a study hung round with texts for thought. From the cedar
to the hyssop, from the soaring eagle down to the chirping
grasshopper, from the blue expanse of heaven to a drop of dew,
all things are full of teaching, and when the eye is divinely
opened, that teaching flashes upon the mind far more vividly
than from written books. Our little rooms are neither so
healthy, so suggestive, so agreeable, or so inspiring as the
fields. Let us count nothing common or unclean, but feel that
all created things point to their Maker, and the field will at
once be hallowed.

   Very admirable was the season. The season of sunset as it
draws a veil over the day, befits that repose of the soul when
earthborn cares yield to the joys of heavenly communion. The
glory of the setting sun excites our wonder, and the solemnity
of approaching night awakens our awe. If the business of this
day will permit it, it will be well, dear reader, if you can
spare an hour to walk in the field at eventide, but if not, the
Lord is in the town too, and will meet with thee in thy chamber
or in the crowded street.  Let thy heart go forth to meet Him.

* 08/16/AM

"Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name."
                                                    --Psalm 29:2

   God's glory is the result of His nature and acts. He is
glorious in His character, for there is such a store of
everything that is holy, and good, and lovely in God, that He
must be glorious. The actions which flow from His character are
also glorious; but while He intends that they should manifest to
His creatures His goodness, and mercy, and justice, He is
equally concerned that the glory associated with them should be
given only to Himself. Nor is there aught in ourselves in which
we may glory; for who maketh us to differ from another? And what
have we that we did not receive from the God of all grace? Then
how careful ought we to be to walk humbly before the Lord!
The moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one
glory only in the universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the
Most High. Shall the insect of an hour glorify itself against
the sun which warmed it into life? Shall the potsherd exalt
itself above the man who fashioned it upon the wheel? Shall the
dust of the desert strive with the whirlwind? Or the drops of
the ocean struggle with the tempest?  Give unto the Lord, all ye
righteous, give unto the Lord glory and strength; give unto Him
the honour that is due unto His name. Yet it is, perhaps, one of
the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this
sentence--"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be
glory." It is a lesson which God is ever teaching us, and
teaching us sometimes by most painful discipline. Let a
Christian begin to boast, "I can do all things," without adding
"through Christ which strengtheneth me," and before long he will
have to groan, "I can do nothing," and bemoan himself in the
dust. When we do anything for the Lord, and He is pleased to
accept of our doings, let us lay our crown at His feet, and
exclaim, "Not I, but the grace of God which was with me!"

* 08/17/AM

"The mercy of God."
                                                    --Psalm 52:8

   Meditate a little on this mercy of the Lord.  It is tender
mercy. With gentle, loving touch, He healeth the broken in
heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He is as gracious in the
manner of His mercy as in the matter of it.  It is great
mercy. There is nothing little in God; His mercy is like
Himself--it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so
great that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great
lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great
privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great
heaven of the great God. It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all
true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for
justice. There was no right on the sinner's part to the kind
consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at
once to eternal fire he would have richly merited the doom, and
if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause,
for there was none in the sinner himself. It is rich mercy.
Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but
this mercy is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden
ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bandage to your
broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of
love for your trembling heart. It is manifold mercy. As Bunyan
says, "All the flowers in God's garden are double." There is no
single mercy. You may think you have but one mercy, but you
shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies. It is abounding
mercy. Millions have received it, yet far from its being
exhausted; it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever. It is
unfailing mercy. It will never leave thee. If mercy be thy
friend, mercy will be with thee in temptation to keep thee from
yielding; with thee in trouble to prevent thee from sinking;
with thee living to be the light and life of thy countenance;
and with thee dying to be the joy of thy soul when earthly
comfort is ebbing fast.

* 08/18/AM

"Strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house."
                                                --Jeremiah 51:51

   In this account the faces of the Lord's people were covered
with shame, for it was a terrible thing that men should intrude
into the Holy Place reserved for the priests alone. Everywhere
about us we see like cause for sorrow.  How many ungodly men are
now educating with the view of entering into the ministry! What
a crying sin is that solemn lie by which our whole population is
nominally comprehended in a National Church! How fearful it is
that ordinances should be pressed upon the unconverted, and that
among the more enlightened churches of our land there should be
such laxity of discipline. If the thousands who will read this
portion shall all take this matter before the Lord Jesus this
day, He will interfere and avert the evil which else will come
upon His Church. To adulterate the Church is to pollute a well,
to pour water upon fire, to sow a fertile field with stones. May
we all have grace to maintain in our own proper way the purity
of the Church, as being an assembly of believers, and not a
nation, an unsaved community of unconverted men.

   Our zeal must, however, begin at home. Let us examine
ourselves as to our right to eat at the Lord's table. Let us
see to it that we have on our wedding garment, lest we ourselves
be intruders in the Lord's sanctuaries. Many are called, but few
are chosen; the way is narrow, and the gate is strait. O for
grace to come to Jesus aright, with the faith of God's elect. He
who smote Uzzah for touching the ark is very jealous of His two
ordinances; as a true believer I may approach them freely, as an
alien I must not touch them lest I die. Heartsearching is the
duty of all who are baptized or come to the Lord's table.
"Search me, O God, and know my way, try me and know my heart."

* 08/19/AM

"He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord."
                                                     --Micah 5:4

   Christ's reign in His Church is that of a shepherd-king. He
has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender
shepherd over his needy and loving flock; He commands and
receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the
well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved
Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force
of love and the energy of goodness.

   His reign is practical in its character. It is said, "He
shall stand and feed." The great Head of the Church is
actively engaged in providing for His people. He does not sit
down upon the throne in empty state, or hold a sceptre without
wielding it in government. No, He stands and feeds. The
expression "feed," in the original, is like an analogous one in
the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected
of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to
tend, as well as to feed.

   His reign is continual in its duration. It is said, "He
shall stand and feed"; not "He shall feed now and then, and
leave His position"; not, "He shall one day grant a revival, and
then next day leave His Church to barrenness." His eyes never
slumber, and His hands never rest; His heart never ceases to
beat with love, and His shoulders are never weary of carrying
His people's burdens.

   His reign is effectually powerful in its action; "He shall
feed in the strength of Jehovah." Wherever Christ is, there is
God; and whatever Christ does is the act of the Most High. Oh!
it is a joyful truth to consider that He who stands to-day
representing the interests of His people is very God of very
God, to whom every knee shall bow. Happy are we who belong to
such a shepherd, whose humanity communes with us, and whose
divinity protects us. Let us worship and bow down before Him as
the people of His pasture.

* 08/20/AM

"The sweet psalmist of Israel."
                                                 --2 Samuel 23:1

   Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Writ,
David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and
instructive character. In his history we meet with trials and
temptations not to be discovered, as a whole, in other saints of
ancient times, and hence he is all the more suggestive a type of
our Lord.  David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of
men.  Kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown: the
peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd's crook: the
wanderer has many hardships, and David abode in the caves of
Engedi: the captain has his difficulties, and David found the
sons of Zeruiah too hard for him. The psalmist was also tried in
his friends, his counsellor Ahithophel forsook him, "He that
eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me." His
worst foes were they of his own household: his children were his
greatest affliction.  The temptations of poverty and wealth, of
honour and reproach, of health and weakness, all tried their
power upon him. He had temptations from without to disturb his
peace, and from within to mar his joy. David no sooner escaped
from one trial than he fell into another; no sooner emerged from
one season of despondency and alarm, than he was again brought
into the lowest depths, and all God's waves and billows rolled
over him. It is probably from this cause that David's psalms are
so universally the delight of experienced Christians. Whatever
our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has
exactly described our emotions. He was an able master of the
human heart, because he had been tutored in the best of all
schools--the school of heart-felt, personal experience. As we
are instructed in the same school, as we grow matured in grace
and in years, we increasingly appreciate David's psalms, and
find them to be "green pastures." My soul, let David's
experience cheer and counsel thee this day.

* 08/21/AM

"He that watereth shall be watered also himself."
                                                --Proverbs 11:25

   We are here taught the great lesson, that to get, we must
give; that to accumulate, we must scatter; that to make
ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and that in order to
become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of
others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our
efforts to be useful, bring out our powers for usefulness. We
have latent talents and dormant faculties, which are brought to
light by exercise. Our strength for labour is hidden even from
ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord's battles,
or to climb the mountains of difficulty. We do not know what
tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow's
tears, and soothe the orphan's grief. We often find in
attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for
ourselves. Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at
sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures, we came away
blushing that we knew so little of them. In our converse with
poor saints, we are taught the way of God more perfectly for
ourselves and get a deeper insight into divine truth. So that
watering others makes us humble. We discover how much grace
there is where we had not looked for it; and how much the poor
saint may outstrip us in knowledge. Our own comfort is also
increased by our working for others. We endeavour to cheer
them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. Like the two
men in the snow; one chafed the other's limbs to keep him from
dying, and in so doing kept his own blood in circulation, and
saved his own life. The poor widow of Sarepta gave from her
scanty store a supply for the prophet's wants, and from that day
she never again knew what want was. Give then, and it shall be
given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and running over.

* 08/22/AM

"I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved,
that ye tell him, that I am sick of love."
                                           --Song of Solomon 5:8

   Such is the language of the believer panting after present
fellowship with Jesus, he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls
are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of
nearness to Christ; for when they are away from Him they lose
their peace. The nearer to Him, the nearer to the perfect calm
of heaven; the nearer to Him, the fuller the heart is, not only
of peace, but of life, and vigour, and joy, for these all depend
on constant intercourse with Jesus. What the sun is to the day,
what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower,
such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry,
clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the
traveller in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us; and,
therefore, if we are not consciously one with Him, little marvel
if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, "I charge you, O
ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell Him that
I am sick of love." This earnest longing after Jesus has a
blessing attending it: "Blessed are they that do hunger and
thirst after righteousness"; and therefore, supremely blessed
are they who thirst after the Righteous One. Blessed is that
hunger, since it comes from God: if I may not have the
full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same
blessedness in its sweet bud-pining in emptiness and eagerness
till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it
shall be next door to heaven to hunger and thirst after Him.
There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since it sparkles
among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a
promise. Such hungry ones "shall be filled" with what they
are desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after Himself, He
will certainly satisfy those longings; and when He does come to
us, as come He will, oh, how sweet it will be!

* 08/23/AM

"The voice of weeping shall be no more heard."
                                                  --Isaiah 65:19

   The glorified weep no more, for all outward a causes of
grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor blighted
prospects in heaven.  Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and
slander, are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of
death or bereavement saddens. They weep no more, for they are
perfectly sanctified. No "evil heart of unbelief" prompts them
to depart from the living God; they are without fault before His
thrown, and are fully conformed to His image. Well may they
cease to mourn who have ceased to sin. They weep no more,
because all fear of change is past. They know that they are
eternally secure. Sin is shut out, and they are shut in. They
dwell within a city which shall never be stormed; they bask in a
sun which shall never set; they drink of a river which shall
never dry; they pluck fruit from a tree which shall never
wither. Countless cycles may revolve, but eternity shall not be
exhausted, and while eternity endures, their immortality and
blessedness shall co-exist with it.  They are for ever with the
Lord. They weep no more, because every desire is fulfilled.
They cannot wish for anything which they have not in possession.
Eye and ear, heart and hand, judgment, imagination, hope,
desire, will, all the faculties, are completely satisfied; and
imperfect as our present ideas are of the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him, yet we know enough, by the
revelation of the Spirit, that the saints above are supremely
blessed. The joy of Christ, which is an infinite fulness of
delight, is in them. They bathe themselves in the bottomless,
shoreless sea of infinite beatitude. That same joyful rest
remains for us. It may not be far distant. Ere long the weeping
willow shall be exchanged for the palm-branch of victory, and
sorrow's dewdrops will be transformed into the pearls of
everlasting bliss. "Wherefore comfort one another with these
words."

* 08/24/AM

"The breaker is come up before them."
                                                    --Micah 2:13

   Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as
they would have been had He never passed that way. He has
conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou
faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road,
but He has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has
nailed it to His cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the
death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it
against the advent of any of His children; they shall never see
the gulf of perdition. Whatever foes may be before the
Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their
teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are
extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable;
there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which
renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged
against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the
enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken
away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can
have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and
you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are
conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the
prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do
is to divide the spoil.  You shall, it is true, often engage in
combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head
is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall
not be sufficient for his malicious design. Your victory shall
be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.

         "Proclaim aloud the Saviour's fame,
         Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name;
         Sweet name; and it becomes him well,
         Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell."

* 08/25/AM

"His fruit was sweet to my taste."
                                           --Song of Solomon 2:3

   Faith, in the Scripture, is spoken of under the emblem of all
the senses. It is sight: "Look unto me and be ye saved." It is
hearing: "Hear, and your soul shall live." Faith is
smelling: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and
cassia"; "thy name is as ointment poured forth." Faith is
spiritual touch. By this faith the woman came behind and
touched the hem of Christ's garment, and by this we handle the
things of the good word of life. Faith is equally the spirit's
taste. "How sweet are Thy words to my taste! yea, sweeter than
honey to my lips." "Except a man eat my flesh," saith Christ,
"and drink my blood, there is no life in him."

   This "taste" is faith in one of its highest operations.
One of the first performances of faith is hearing. We hear the
voice of God, not with the outward ear alone, but with the
inward ear; we hear it as God's Word, and we believe it to be
so; that is the "hearing" of faith. Then our mind looketh upon
the truth as it is presented to us; that is to say, we
understand it, we perceive its meaning; that is the "seeing" of
faith. Next we discover its preciousness; we begin to admire it,
and find how fragrant it is; that is faith in its "smell."
Then we appropriate the mercies which are prepared for us in
Christ; that is faith in its "touch." Hence follow the
enjoyments, peace, delight, communion; which are faith in its
"taste." Any one of these acts of faith is saving. To hear
Christ's voice as the sure voice of God in the soul will save
us; but that which gives true enjoyment is the aspect of faith
wherein Christ, by holy taste, is received into us, and made, by
inward and spiritual apprehension of His sweetness and
preciousness, to be the food of our souls. It is then we sit
"under His shadow with great delight," and find His fruit sweet
to our taste.

* 08/26/AM

"He hath commanded His covenant for ever."
                                                  --Psalms 111:9

   The Lord's people delight in the covenant itself.  It is an
unfailing source of consolation to them so often as the Holy
Spirit leads them into its banqueting house and waves its banner
of love. They delight to contemplate the antiquity of that
covenant, remembering that before the day-star knew its place,
or planets ran their round, the interests of the saints were
made secure in Christ Jesus. It is peculiarly pleasing to them
to remember the sureness of the covenant, while meditating
upon "the sure mercies of David." They delight to celebrate it
as "signed, and sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered
well." It often makes their hearts dilate with joy to think of
its immutability, as a covenant which neither time nor
eternity, life nor death, shall ever be able to violate--a
covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of
ages. They rejoice also to feast upon the fulness of this
covenant, for they see in it all things provided for them. God
is their portion, Christ their companion, the Spirit their
Comforter, earth their lodge, and heaven their home. They see in
it an inheritance reserved and entailed to every soul possessing
an interest in its ancient and eternal deed of gift. Their eyes
sparkled when they saw it as a treasure-trove in the Bible; but
oh! how their souls were gladdened when they saw in the last
will and testament of their divine kinsman, that it was
bequeathed to them! More especially it is the pleasure of God's
people to contemplate the graciousness of this covenant. They
see that the law was made void because it was a covenant of
works and depended upon merit, but this they perceive to be
enduring because grace is the basis, grace the condition, grace
the strain, grace the bulwark, grace the foundation, grace the
topstone. The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of
food, a fountain of life, a store-house of salvation, a charter
of peace, and a haven of joy.

* 08/27/AM

"How long will it be ere they believe me?"
                                                 --Numbers 14:11

   Strive with all diligence to keep out that monster
unbelief. It so dishonours Christ, that He will withdraw His
visible presence if we insult Him by indulging it. It is true it
is a weed, the seeds of which we an never entirely extract from
the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and
perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be
abhorred. Its injurious nature is so venomous that he that
exerciseth it and he upon whom it is exercised are both hurt
thereby. In thy case, O believer!  it is most wicked, for the
mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in doubting
Him now. When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, He may well cry
out, "Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that
is full of sheaves." This is crowning His head with thorns of
the sharpest kind. It is very cruel for a well-beloved wife to
mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is needless,
foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest
ground for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to
whom our conduct is uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is
the Son of the Highest, and has unbounded wealth; it is shameful
to doubt Omnipotence and distrust all-sufficiency. The cattle on
a thousand hills will suffice for our most hungry feeding, and
the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our
eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust His
fulness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have
drawn their supplies from Him, and not one of them has murmured
at the scantiness of His resources. Away, then, with this lying
traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bonds of
communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour.  Bunyan tells us
that unbelief has "as many lives as a cat:" if so, let us kill
one life now, and continue the work till the whole nine are
gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors thee.

* 08/28/AM

"Oil for the light."
                                                   --Exodus 25:6

   My soul, how much thou needest this, for thy lamp will not
long continue to burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and
become an offence if light be gone, and gone it will be if oil
be absent. Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy human
nature, and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for
thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, "My
lamp is gone out." Even the consecrated lamps could not give
light without oil; though they shone in the tabernacle they
needed to be fed, though no rough winds blew upon them they
required to be trimmed, and thy need is equally as great.  Under
the most happy circumstances thou canst not give light for
another hour unless fresh oil of grace be given thee.

   It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord's
service; neither the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from
the earth, nor the produce of fishes, nor that extracted from
nuts would be accepted; one oil only was selected, and that the
best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied
grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward
ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that
the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes
to the olive-press of Gethsemane, and draws his supplies from
Him who was crushed therein. The oil of gospel grace is pure and
free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed
thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour's
golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark
world, they must have much holy oil. Let us pray for ourselves,
our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil
for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love, these are
all beams of the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth
unless in private we receive oil from God the Holy Ghost.

* 08/29/AM

"Have mercy upon me, O God."
                                                    --Psalm 51:1

   When Dr. Carey was suffering from a dangerous illness, the
enquiry was made, "If this sickness should prove fatal, what
passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?"
He replied, "Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is
unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral
sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, 'Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto
the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.'"
In the same spirit of humility he directed in his will that the
following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his
gravestone:--

             WILLIAM CAREY, BORN AUGUST 17th, 1761:
                            DIED - -

              "A wretched, poor, and helpless worm
              On Thy kind arms I fall."

Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and
most honoured of the saints approach their God. The best of men
are conscious above all others that they are men at the best.
Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the
water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry
for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We have need that the
Lord should have mercy upon our good works, our prayers, our
preachings, our alms-givings, and our holiest things. The blood
was not only sprinkled upon the doorposts of Israel's dwelling
houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar,
because as sin intrudes into our holiest things, the blood of
Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement.  If mercy be
needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of
our sins? How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is
waiting to be gracious to us, to restore our backslidings, and
make our broken bones rejoice!

* 08/30/AM

"Wait on the Lord."
                                                   --Psalm 27:14

   It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the
postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of
teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God's
warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when
the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord,
knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself
by despair?  Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in
fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait
in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before
Him; tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise of aid. In
dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble
as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It
is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly,
and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But
wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in Him;
for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the
Lord. Believe that if He keep you tarrying even till midnight,
yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come and
shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because
you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it.
Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel
did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world
again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands,
simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into
the hand of your covenant God, saying, "Now, Lord, not my will,
but Thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to
extremities, but I will wait until Thou shalt cleave the floods,
or drive back my foes. I will wait, if Thou keep me many a day,
for my heart is fixed upon Thee alone, O God, and my spirit
waiteth for Thee in the full conviction that Thou wilt yet be my
joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower."

* 08/31/AM

"On mine arm shall they trust."
                                                   --Isaiah 51:5

   In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on
earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast
himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends,
and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely
trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm
that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane
that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting
at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends;
but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he
has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and
is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles
so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but
his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of
his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed
believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father!
Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou
puttest thy full confidence in Him. Dishonour not thy Lord and
Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith,
giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten
thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy
poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how
strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the
everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant
exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God
shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the
earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in
the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven
would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible
column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on
anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give
you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.
* 09/01/AM

"Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me
to glory."
                                                   --Psalm 73:24

   The Psalmist felt his need of divine guidance. He had just
been discovering the foolishness of his own heart, and lest he
should be constantly led astray by it, he resolved that God's
counsel should henceforth guide him. A sense of our own folly is
a great step towards being wise, when it leads us to rely on the
wisdom of the Lord. The blind man leans on his friend's arm and
reaches home in safety, and so would we give ourselves up
implicitly to divine guidance, nothing doubting; assured that
though we cannot see, it is always safe to trust the All-seeing
God. "Thou shalt," is a blessed expression of confidence. He
was sure that the Lord would not decline the condescending task.
There is a word for thee, O believer; rest thou in it. Be
assured that thy God will be thy counsellor and friend; He shall
guide thee; He will direct all thy ways. In His written Word
thou hast this assurance in part fulfilled, for holy Scripture
is His counsel to thee. Happy are we to have God's Word always
to guide us! What were the mariner without his compass? And what
were the Christian without the Bible? This is the unerring
chart, the map in which every shoal is described, and all the
channels from the quicksands of destruction to the haven of
salvation mapped and marked by one who knows all the way.
Blessed be Thou, O God, that we may trust Thee to guide us now,
and guide us even to the end! After this guidance through life,
the Psalmist anticipates a divine reception at last--"and
afterward receive me to glory." What a thought for thee,
believer! God Himself will receive thee to glory--thee!
Wandering, erring, straying, yet He will bring thee safe at last
to glory! This is thy portion; live on it this day, and if
perplexities should surround thee, go in the strength of this
text straight to the throne.

* 09/02/AM

"But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they
tell Him of her."
                                                     --Mark 1:30

   Very interesting is this little peep into the house of the
Apostolic Fisherman. We see at once that household joys and
cares are no hindrance to the full exercise of ministry, nay,
that since they furnish an opportunity for personally witnessing
the Lord's gracious work upon one's own flesh and blood, they
may even instruct the teacher better than any other earthly
discipline. Papists and other sectaries may decry marriage, but
true Christianity and household life agree well together.
Peter's house was probably a poor fisherman's hut, but the Lord
of Glory entered it, lodged in it, and wrought a miracle in it.
Should our little book be read this morning in some very humble
cottage, let this fact encourage the inmates to seek the company
of King Jesus. God is oftener in little huts than in rich
palaces. Jesus is looking round your room now, and is waiting to
be gracious to you. Into Simon's house sickness had entered,
fever in a deadly form had prostrated his mother-in-law, and as
soon as Jesus came they told Him of the sad affliction, and He
hastened to the patient's bed. Have you any sickness in the
house this morning? You will find Jesus by far the best
physician, go to Him at once and tell Him all about the matter.
Immediately lay the case before Him. It concerns one of His
people, and therefore will not be trivial to Him. Observe, that
at once the Saviour restored the sick woman; none can heal as He
does. We may not make sure that the Lord will at once remove
all disease from those we love, but we may know that believing
prayer for the sick is far more likely to be followed by
restoration than anything else in the world; and where this
avails not, we must meekly bow to His will by whom life and
death are determined. The tender heart of Jesus waits to hear
our griefs, let us pour them into His patient ear.

* 09/03/AM

"Thou whom my soul loveth."
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:7

   It is well to be able, without any "if" or "but," to say of
the Lord Jesus--"Thou whom my soul loveth." Many can only say
of Jesus that they hope they love Him; they trust they love
Him; but only a poor and shallow experience will be content to
stay here. No one ought to give any rest to his spirit till he
feels quite sure about a matter of such vital importance. We
ought not to be satisfied with a superficial hope that Jesus
loves us, and with a bare trust that we love Him. The old saints
did not generally speak with "buts," and "ifs," and "hopes," and
"trusts," but they spoke positively and plainly. "I know whom I
have believed," saith Paul. "I know that my Redeemer liveth,"
saith Job. Get positive knowledge of your love of Jesus, and be
not satisfied till you can speak of your interest in Him as a
reality, which you have made sure by having received the witness
of the Holy Spirit, and His seal upon your soul by faith.

   True love to Christ is in every case the Holy Spirit's work,
and must be wrought in the heart by Him. He is the efficient
cause of it; but the logical reason why we love Jesus lies in
Himself. Why do we love Jesus? Because He first loved us.
Why do we love Jesus? Because He "gave Himself for us." We
have life through His death; we have peace through His blood.
Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. Why do
we love Jesus? Because of the excellency of His person. We are
filled with a sense of His beauty! an admiration of His charms!
a consciousness of His infinite perfection! His greatness,
goodness, and loveliness, in one resplendent ray, combine to
enchant the soul till it is so ravished that it exclaims, "Yea,
He is altogether lovely." Blessed love this--a love which binds
the heart with chains more soft than silk, and yet more firm
than adamant!

* 09/04/AM

"I will; be thou clean."
                                                     --Mark 1:41

   Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and
straightway light was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal
in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption like
Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it is done.
Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the
Lord's "I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or
tokens of recovery, nature contributed nothing to its own
healing, but the unaided word effected the entire work on the
spot and for ever. The sinner is in a plight more miserable than
the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus,
"beseeching Him and kneeling down to Him." Let him exercise what
little faith he has, even though it should go no further than
"Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean"; and there need
be no doubt as to the result of the application. Jesus heals all
who come, and casts out none. In reading the narrative in which
our morning's text occurs, it is worthy of devout notice that
Jesus touched the leper. This unclean person had broken through
the regulations of the ceremonial law and pressed into the
house, but Jesus so far from chiding him broke through the law
Himself in order to meet him. He made an interchange with the
leper, for while He cleansed him, He contracted by that touch a
Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us,
although in Himself He knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. O that poor sinners would go to
Jesus, believing in the power of His blessed substitutionary
work, and they would soon learn the power of His gracious touch.
That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking
Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers,
that same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment
make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source of salvation. He
loves, He looks, He touches us, WE LIVE.

* 09/05/AM

"Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents
of Kedar."
                                                   --Psalm 120:5

   As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly
world, and it is of little use for you to cry "Woe is me." Jesus
did not pray O that you should be taken out of the world, and
what He did not pray for you need not desire. Better far in the
Lord's strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify Him in it.
The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your
conduct; be therefore very holy. Remember that the eyes of all
are upon you, and that more is expected from you than from other
men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be
the only fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel
them to say of you, "We shall not find any occasion against this
Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his
God." Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you
think, "If I were in a more favourable position I might serve
the Lord's cause, but I cannot do any good where I am"; but the
worse the people are among whom you live, the more need have
they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity
that you should set them straight; and if they be perverse, the
more need have you to turn their proud hearts to the truth.
Where should the physician be but where there are many sick?
Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire
of the battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets
you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the
same trial. They were not carried on beds of down to heaven, and
you must not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to
hazard their lives unto the death in the high places of the
field, and you will not be crowned till you also have endured
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, "stand
fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."

* 09/06/AM

"In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye
shine as lights in the world."
                                              --Philippians 2:15

   We use lights to make manifest. A Christian man should so
shine in his life, that a person could not live with him a week
without knowing the gospel. His conversation should be such that
all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is, and
whom he serves; and should see the image of Jesus reflected in
his daily actions. Lights are intended for guidance. We are to
help those around us who are in the dark. We are to hold forth
to them the Word of life. We are to point sinners to the
Saviour, and the weary to a divine resting-place. Men sometimes
read their Bibles, and fail to understand them; we should be
ready, like Philip, to instruct the inquirer in the meaning of
God's Word, the way of salvation, and the life of godliness.
Lights are also used for warning. On our rocks and shoals a
light-house is sure to be erected. Christian men should know
that there are many false lights shown everywhere in the world,
and therefore the right light is needed. The wreckers of Satan
are always abroad, tempting the ungodly to sin under the name of
pleasure; they hoist the wrong light, be it ours to put up the
true light upon every dangerous rock, to point out every sin,
and tell what it leads to, that so we may be clear of the blood
of all men, shining as lights in the world. Lights also have a
very cheering influence, and so have Christians. A Christian
ought to be a comforter, with kind words on his lips, and
sympathy in his heart; he should carry sunshine wherever he
goes, and diffuse happiness around him.

              Gracious Spirit dwell with me;
              I myself would gracious be,
              And with words that help and heal
              Would thy life in mine reveal,
              And with actions bold and meek
              Would for Christ my Saviour speak.

* 09/07/AM

"And when they could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they
uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay."
                                                      --Mark 2:4

   Faith is full of inventions. The house was full, a crowd
blocked up the door, but faith found a way of getting at the
Lord and placing the palsied man before Him. If we cannot get
sinners where Jesus is by ordinary methods we must use
extraordinary ones. It seems, according to Luke 5:19, that a
tiling had to be removed, which would make dust and cause a
measure of danger to those below, but where the case is very
urgent we must not mind running some risks and shocking some
proprieties. Jesus was there to heal, and therefore fall what
might, faith ventured all so that her poor paralyzed charge
might have his sins forgiven. O that we had more daring faith
among us! Cannot we, dear reader, seek it this morning for
ourselves and for our fellow-workers, and will we not try to-day
to perform some gallant act for the love of souls and the glory
of the Lord.

   The world is constantly inventing; genius serves all the
purposes of human desire: cannot faith invent too, and reach by
some new means the outcasts who lie perishing around us? It was
the presence of Jesus which excited victorious courage in the
four bearers of the palsied man: is not the Lord among us now?
Have we seen His face for ourselves this morning? Have we felt
His healing power in our own souls? If so, then through door,
through window, or through roof, let us, breaking through all
impediments, labour to bring poor souls to Jesus. All means are
good and decorous when faith and love are truly set on winning
souls. If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely
hunger for souls is not to be hindered in its efforts. O Lord,
make us quick to suggest methods of reaching Thy poor sin-sick
ones, and bold to carry them out at all hazards.

* 09/08/AM

"From Me is thy fruit found."
                                                    --Hosea 14:8

   Our fruit is found from our God as to union. The fruit of
the branch is directly traceable to the root. Sever the
connection, the branch dies, and no fruit is produced. By virtue
of our union with Christ we bring forth fruit. Every bunch of
grapes have been first in the root, it has passed through the
stem, and flowed through the sap vessels, and fashioned itself
externally into fruit, but it was first in the stem; so also
every good work was first in Christ, and then is brought forth
in us. O Christian, prize this precious union to Christ; for it
must be the source of all the fruitfulness which thou canst hope
to know. If thou wert not joined to Jesus Christ, thou wouldst
be a barren bough indeed.

   Our fruit comes from God as to spiritual providence. When
the dew-drops fall from heaven, when the cloud looks down from
on high, and is about to distil its liquid treasure, when the
bright sun swells the berries of the cluster, each heavenly boon
may whisper to the tree and say, "From me is thy fruit found."
The fruit owes much to the root--that is essential to
fruitfulness--but it owes very much also to external influences.
How much we owe to God's grace-providence! in which He provides
us constantly with quickening, teaching, consolation, strength,
or whatever else we want. To this we owe our all of usefulness
or virtue.

   Our fruit comes from God as to wise husbandry. The
gardener's sharp-edged knife promotes the fruitfulness of
the tree, by thinning the clusters, and by cutting off
superfluous shoots. So is it, Christian, with that pruning which
the Lord gives to thee. "My Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away;
and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it
may bring forth more fruit." Since our God is the author
of our spiritual graces, let us give to Him all the glory of
our salvation.

* 09/09/AM

"I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which
thou knowest not."
                                                 --Jeremiah 33:3

   There are different translations of these words. One version
renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things."
Another, "Great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved
and special things in Christian experience: all the developments
of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are
the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and
joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there
is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union
with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place
of believers. We have not all the high privilege of John, to
lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the
third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the
things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic
thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the
chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which
that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing
prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he
had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and
prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto Him: he found Him
in Beth-el, and there He spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes
the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with
clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing
prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the
inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures
us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as He is, so are we also
in this world. If you would reach to something higher than
ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher
than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of
importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it
will not be bolted on the other.

* 09/10/AM

"And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he
would: and they came unto him."
                                                     --Mark 3:13

   Here was sovereignty. Impatient spirits may fret and fume,
because they are not called to the highest places in the
ministry; but reader be it thine to rejoice that Jesus calleth
whom He wills. If He shall leave me to be a doorkeeper in His
house, I will cheerfully bless Him for His grace in permitting
me to do anything in His service. The call of Christ's servants
comes from above. Jesus stands on the mountain, evermore above
the world in holiness, earnestness, love and power. Those whom
He calls must go up the mountain to Him, they must seek to rise
to His level by living in constant communion with Him. They may
not be able to mount to classic honours, or attain scholastic
eminence, but they must like Moses go up into the mount of God
and have familiar intercourse with the unseen God, or they will
never be fitted to proclaim the gospel of peace. Jesus went
apart to hold high fellowship with the Father, and we must enter
into the same divine companionship if we would bless our
fellowmen. No wonder that the apostles were clothed with power
when they came down fresh from the mountain where Jesus was.
This morning we must endeavour to ascend the mount of communion,
that there we may be ordained to the lifework for which we are
set apart. Let us not see the face of man to-day till we have
seen Jesus. Time spent with Him is laid out at blessed interest.
We too shall cast out devils and work wonders if we go down into
the world girded with that divine energy which Christ alone can
give. It is of no use going to the Lord's battle till we are
armed with heavenly weapons. We must see Jesus, this is
essential. At the mercy-seat we will linger till He shall
manifest Himself unto us as He doth not unto the world, and
until we can truthfully say, "We were with Him in the Holy
Mount."

* 09/11/AM

"Be ye separate."
                                            --2 Corinthians 6:17

   The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world.
He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his
life. To him, "to live," should be "Christ." Whether he eats,
or drinks, or whatever he does, he should do all to God's glory.
You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves break not through nor
steal. You may strive to be rich; but be it your ambition to be
"rich in faith," and good works. You may have pleasure; but when
you are merry, sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the
Lord. In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should
differ from the world. Waiting humbly before God, always
conscious of His presence, delighting in communion with Him, and
seeking to know His will, you will prove that you are of
heavenly race. And you should be separate from the world in your
actions. If a thing be right, though you lose by it, it must
be done; if it be wrong, though you would gain by it, you must
scorn the sin for your Master's sake. You must have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity.
Remember, O Christian, that thou art a son of the King of kings.
Therefore, keep thyself unspotted from the world. Soil not the
fingers which are soon to sweep celestial strings; let not these
eyes become the windows of lust which are soon to see the King
in His beauty--let not those feet be defiled in miry places,
which are soon to walk the golden streets--let not those hearts
be filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be
filled with heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy.

             Then rise my soul! and soar away,
             Above the thoughtless crowd;
             Above the pleasures of the gay,
             And splendours of the proud;
             Up where eternal beauties bloom,
             And pleasures all divine;
             Where wealth, that never can consume,
             And endless glories shine.

* 09/12/AM

"God is jealous."
                                                     --Nahum 1:2

   Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did He
choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did
He buy you with His own blood? He cannot endure that you should
think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world.
He loved you with such a love that He would not stop in heaven
without you; He would sooner die than you should perish, and He
cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart's
love and Himself. He is very jealous of your trust. He will
not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot bear that
you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing
fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him, He is
glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we
rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend--worst of
all, when we trust in any works of our own, He is displeased,
and will chasten us that He may bring us to Himself. He is also
very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom
we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in Him only, this is
true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient
solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our
fellow Christians to secret intercourse with Him, this is
grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in
Him, and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself; and many of the
trials which He sends us are for the purpose of weaning our
hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon
Himself. Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ
be also a comfort to us, for if He loves us so much as to care
thus about our love we may be sure that He will suffer nothing
to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies. Oh that we
may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity
for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to
all the fascinations of the world!

* 09/13/AM

"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain
also filleth the pools."
                                                    --Psalm 84:6

   This teaches us that the comfort obtained by a one may
often prove serviceable to another; just as wells would be used
by the company who came after. We read some book full of
consolation, which is like Jonathan's rod, dropping with honey.
Ah! we think our brother has been here before us, and digged
this well for us as well as for himself. Many a "Night of
Weeping," "Midnight Harmonies," an "Eternal Day," "A Crook in
the Lot," a "Comfort for Mourners," has been a well digged by a
pilgrim for himself, but has proved quite as useful to others.
Specially we notice this in the Psalms, such as that beginning,
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" Travellers have been
delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we
love to see the waymarks of pilgrims while passing through the
vale of tears.

   The pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from
the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the
blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but
heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared against the day
of battle, but safety is of the Lord. The means are connected
with the end, but they do not of themselves produce it. See here
the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become useful as
reservoirs for the water; labour is not lost, but yet it does
not supersede divine help.

   Grace may well be compared to rain for its purity, for its
refreshing and vivifying influence, for its coming alone from
above, and for the sovereignty with which it is given or
withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the
wells they have digged be filled with water! Oh, what are means
and ordinances without the smile of heaven! They are as clouds
without rain, and pools without water. O God of love, open the
windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing!

* 09/14/AM

"There were also with Him other little ships."
                                                     --Mark 4:36

   Jesus was the Lord High Admiral of the sea that night, and
His presence preserved the whole convoy. It is well to sail with
Jesus, even though it be in a little ship. When we sail in
Christ's company, we may not make sure of fair weather, for
great storms may toss the vessel which carries the Lord Himself,
and we must not expect to find the sea less boisterous around
our little boat. If we go with Jesus we must be content to fare
as He fares; and when the waves are rough to Him, they will be
rough to us. It is by tempest and tossing that we shall come to
land, as He did before us. When the storm swept over Galilee's
dark lake all faces gathered blackness, and all hearts dreaded
shipwreck.

   When all creature help was useless, the slumbering Saviour
arose, and with a word, transformed the riot of the tempest into
the deep quiet of a calm; then were the little vessels at rest
as well as that which carried the Lord. Jesus is the star of the
sea; and though there be sorrow upon the sea, when Jesus is on
it there is joy too. May our hearts make Jesus their anchor,
their rudder, their lighthouse, their life-boat, and their
harbour. His Church is the Admiral's flagship, let us attend her
movements, and cheer her officers with our presence. He Himself
is the great attraction; let us follow ever in His wake, mark
His signals, steer by His chart, and never fear while He is
within hail. Not one ship in the convoy shall suffer wreck; the
great Commodore will steer every barque in safety to the desired
haven. By faith we will slip our cable for another day's cruise,
and sail forth with Jesus into a sea of tribulation. Winds and
waves will not spare us, but they all obey Him; and, therefore,
whatever squalls may occur without, faith shall feel a blessed
calm within. He is ever in the centre of the weather-beaten
company: let us rejoice in Him. His vessel has reached the
haven, and so shall ours.

* 09/15/AM

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings."
                                                   --Psalm 112:7

   Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil
tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you
more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to;
they have never proved His faithfulness as you have done, and it
is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with
fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been
begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in
heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be
distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which
you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new
nature which you claim to possess?

   Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are,
you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others
under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are
overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and
think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that
same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?

   Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order
to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same
if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord,
and wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses
did at the Red Sea, "Stand still and see the salvation of God."
For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you
will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure
which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you
glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God's
high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and
desponding, as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most
High? Then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the
faithfulness of your covenant God, "let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid."

* 09/16/AM

"Partakers of the divine nature."
                                                   --2 Peter 1:4

   To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to
become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be
participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the
Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect of essence;
but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God, so we,
by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense
made in the image of the Most High, and are partakers of the
divine nature. We are, by grace, made like God. "God is love";
we become love--"He that loveth is born of God." God is truth;
we become true, and we love that which is true: God is good, and
He makes us good by His grace, so that we become the pure in
heart who shall see God. Moreover, we become partakers of the
divine nature in even a higher sense than this--in fact, in as
lofty a sense as can be conceived, short of our being absolutely
divine. Do we not become members of the body of the divine
person of Christ? Yes, the same blood which flows in the head
flows in the hand: and the same life which quickens Christ
quickens His people, for "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God." Nay, as if this were not enough, we are married
unto Christ. He hath betrothed us unto Himself in righteousness
and in faithfulness, and he who is joined unto the Lord is one
spirit. Oh! marvellous mystery! we look into it, but who shall
understand it? One with Jesus--so one with Him that the branch
is not more one with the vine than we are a part of the Lord,
our Saviour, and our Redeemer! While we rejoice in this, let us
remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature
will manifest their high and holy relationship in their
intercourse with others, and make it evident by their daily walk
and conversation that they have escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. O for more divine holiness of life!

* 09/17/AM

"Bring him unto me."
                                                     --Mark 9:19

   Despairingly the poor disappointed father turned away from
the disciples to their Master. His son was in the worst possible
condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable child was
soon delivered from the evil one when the parent in faith obeyed
the Lord Jesus' word, "Bring him unto me." Children are a
precious gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them. They
may be a great joy or a great bitterness to their parents; they
may be filled with the Spirit of God, or possessed with the
spirit of evil. In all cases, the Word of God gives us one
receipt for the curing of all their ills, "Bring him unto me." O
for more agonizing prayer on their behalf while they are yet
babes! Sin is there, let our prayers begin to attack it. Our
cries for our offspring should precede those cries which betoken
their actual advent into a world of sin. In the days of their
youth we shall see sad tokens of that dumb and deaf spirit which
will neither pray aright, nor hear the voice of God in the soul,
but Jesus still commands, "Bring them unto me." When they are
grown up they may wallow in sin and foam with enmity against
God; then when our hearts are breaking we should remember the
great Physician's words, "Bring them unto me." Never must we
cease to pray until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless
while Jesus lives.

   The Lord sometimes suffers His people to be driven into a
corner that they may experimentally know how necessary He is to
them. Ungodly children, when they show us our own powerlessness
against the depravity of their hearts, drive us to flee to the
strong for strength, and this is a great blessing to us.
Whatever our morning's need may be, let it like a strong current
bear us to the ocean of divine love. Jesus can soon remove our
sorrow, He delights to comfort us. Let us hasten to Him while He
waits to meet us.

* 09/18/AM

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
                                                --Galatians 5:25

   The two most important things in our holy religion are the
life of faith and the walk of faith. He who shall rightly
understand these is not far from being a master in experimental
theology, for they are vital points to a Christian. You will
never find true faith unattended by true godliness; on the other
hand, you will never discover a truly holy life which has not
for its root a living faith upon the righteousness of Christ.
Woe unto those who seek after the one without the other! There
are some who cultivate faith and forget holiness; these may be
very high in orthodoxy, but they shall be very deep in
condemnation, for they hold the truth in unrighteousness; and
there are others who have strained after holiness of life, but
have denied the faith, like the Pharisees of old, of whom the
Master said, they were "whitewashed sepulchres." We must have
faith, for this is the foundation; we must have holiness of
life, for this is the superstructure. Of what service is the
mere foundation of a building to a man in the day of tempest?
Can he hide himself therein? He wants a house to cover him, as
well as a foundation for that house. Even so we need the
superstructure of spiritual life if we would have comfort in the
day of doubt. But seek not a holy life without faith, for that
would be to erect a house which can afford no permanent shelter,
because it has no foundation on a rock. Let faith and life be
put together, and, like the two abutments of an arch, they will
make our piety enduring. Like light and heat streaming from the
same sun, they are alike full of blessing. Like the two pillars
of the temple, they are for glory and for beauty. They are two
streams from the fountain of grace; two lamps lit with holy
fire; two olive trees watered by heavenly care. O Lord, give us
this day life within, and it will reveal itself without to Thy
glory.

* 09/19/AM

"The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free."
                                                 --Galatians 5:1

   This "liberty" makes us free to heaven's charter--the
Bible. Here is a choice passage, believer, "When thou passest
through the rivers, I will be with thee." You are free to that.
Here is another: "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be
removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee"; you are
free to that. You are a welcome guest at the table of the
promises. Scripture is a never-failing treasury filled with
boundless stores of grace. It is the bank of heaven; you may
draw from it as much as you please, without let or hindrance.
Come in faith and you are welcome to all covenant blessings.
There is not a promise in the Word which shall be withheld. In
the depths of tribulations let this freedom comfort you; amidst
waves of distress let it cheer you; when sorrows surround thee
let it be thy solace. This is thy Father's love-token; thou art
free to it at all times. Thou art also free to the throne of
grace. It is the believer's privilege to have access at all
times to His heavenly Father. Whatever our desires, our
difficulties, our wants, we are at liberty to spread all before
Him. It matters not how much we may have sinned, we may ask and
expect pardon. It signifies nothing how poor we are, we may
plead His promise that He will provide all things needful. We
have permission to approach His throne at all times--in
midnight's darkest hour, or in noontide's most burning heat.
Exercise thy right, O believer, and live up to thy privilege.
Thou art free to all that is treasured up in Christ--wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It matters not
what thy need is, for there is fulness of supply in Christ, and
it is there for thee. O what a "freedom" is thine! freedom
from condemnation, freedom to the promises, freedom to the
throne of grace, and at last freedom to enter heaven!

* 09/20/AM

"The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon."
                                                   --Judges 7:20

   Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch
in an earthen pitcher, he bade them, at an appointed signal,
break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with
the trumpet, crying, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! the
sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" This is precisely what all
Christians must do. First, you must shine; break the pitcher
which conceals your light; throw aside the bushel which has been
hiding your candle, and shine. Let your light shine before men;
let your good works be such, that when men look upon you, they
shall know that you have been with Jesus. Then there must be
the sound, the blowing of the trumpet. There must be active
exertions for the ingathering of sinners by proclaiming Christ
crucified. Take the gospel to them; carry it to their door; put
it in their way; do not suffer them to escape it; blow the
trumpet right against their ears. Remember that the true war-cry
of the Church is Gideon's watchword, "The sword of the Lord,
and of Gideon!" God must do it, it is His own work. But we are
not to be idle; instrumentality is to be used--"The sword of the
Lord, and of Gideon!" If we only cry, "The sword of the Lord!"
we shall be guilty of an idle presumption; and if we shout, "The
sword of Gideon!" alone, we shall manifest idolatrous reliance
on an arm of flesh: we must blend the two in practical harmony,
"The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" We can do nothing of
ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let
us, therefore, in His name determine to go out personally and
serve with our flaming torch of holy example, and with our
trumpet tones of earnest declaration and testimony, and God
shall be with us, and Midian shall be put to confusion, and the
Lord of hosts shall reign for ever and ever.

* 09/21/AM

"I will rejoice over them to do them good."
                                                --Jeremiah 32:41

   How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God
has in His saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the
Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in
ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious
of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and we fear
that God's people cannot take much delight in us, for they must
perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they
may rather lament our infirmities than admire our graces. But we
love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious
mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so
does the Lord rejoice over us. We do not read anywhere that God
delighteth in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling
stars, but we do read that He delighteth in the habitable parts
of the earth, and that His delights are with the sons of men. We
do not find it written that even angels give His soul delight;
nor doth He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, "Thou shalt
be called Hephzibah, for the Lord delighteth in thee"; but He
does say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves,
debased and depraved by sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified
by His grace. In what strong language He expresses His delight
in His people! Who could have conceived of the eternal One as
bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, "He will rejoice
over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over
thee with singing." As He looked upon the world He had made, He
said, "It is very good"; but when He beheld those who are the
purchase of Jesus' blood, His own chosen ones, it seemed as if
the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer,
but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy. Should not we
utter our grateful response to such a marvellous declaration of
His love, and sing, "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in
the God of my salvation?"

* 09/22/AM

"Let Israel rejoice in him."
                                                   --Psalm 149:2

   Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that thy gladness
has its spring in the Lord. Thou hast much cause for gladness
in thy God, for thou canst sing with David, "God, my exceeding
joy." Be glad that the Lord reigneth, that Jehovah is King!
Rejoice that He sits upon the throne, and ruleth all things!
Every attribute of God should become a fresh ray in the sunlight
of our gladness. That He is wise should make us glad, knowing as
we do our own foolishness. That He is mighty, should cause us
to rejoice who tremble at our weakness. That he is everlasting,
should always be a theme of joy when we know that we wither as
the grass. That He is unchanging, should perpetually yield us
a song, since we change every hour. That He is full of grace,
that He is overflowing with it, and that this grace in covenant
He has given to us; that it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep
us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to
glory--all this should tend to make us glad in Him. This
gladness in God is as a deep river; we have only as yet touched
its brink, we know a little of its clear sweet, heavenly
streams, but onward the depth is greater, and the current more
impetuous in its joy. The Christian feels that he may delight
himself not only in what God is, but also in all that God has
done in the past. The Psalms show us that God's people in olden
times were wont to think much of God's actions, and to have a
song concerning each of them. So let God's people now rehearse
the deeds of the Lord! Let them tell of His mighty acts, and
"sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously." Nor let
them ever cease to sing, for as new mercies flow to them day by
day, so should their gladness in the Lord's loving acts in
providence and in grace show itself in continued thanksgiving.
Be glad ye children of Zion and rejoice in the Lord your God.

* 09/23/AM

"Accepted in the beloved."
                                                 --Ephesians 1:6

   What a state of privilege! It includes our justification
before God, but the term acceptance" in the Greek means more
than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine
complacence, nay, even of divine delight. How marvellous
that we, worms, mortals, sinners, should be the objects of
divine love! But it is only "in the beloved." Some Christians
seem to be accepted in their own experience, at least, that is
their apprehension. When their spirit is lively, and their
hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so
high, so heavenly-minded, so drawn above the earth! But when
their souls cleave to the dust, they are the victims of the fear
that they are no longer accepted. If they could but see that all
their high joys do not exalt them, and all their low
despondencies do not really depress them in their Father's
sight, but that they stand accepted in One who never alters, in
One who is always the beloved of God, always perfect, always
without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, how much happier
they would be, and how much more they would honour the Saviour!
Rejoice then, believer, in this: thou art accepted "in the
beloved." Thou lookest within, and thou sayest, "There is
nothing acceptable here!" But look at Christ, and see if there
is not everything acceptable there. Thy sins trouble thee; but
God has cast thy sins behind His back, and thou art accepted in
the Righteous One. Thou hast to fight with corruption, and to
wrestle with temptation, but thou art already accepted in Him
who has overcome the powers of evil. The devil tempts thee; be
of good cheer, he cannot destroy thee, for thou art accepted in
Him who has broken Satan's head. Know by full assurance thy
glorious standing. Even glorified souls are not more accepted
than thou art. They are only accepted in heaven "in the
beloved," and thou art even now accepted in Christ after the
same manner.

* 09/24/AM

"For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and
horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had
spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all
them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is
against all them that forsake Him."
                                                     --Ezra 8:22

   A convoy on many accounts would have been desirable for the
pilgrim band, but a holy shame-facedness would not allow Ezra to
seek one. He feared lest the heathen king should think his
professions of faith in God to be mere hypocrisy, or imagine
that the God of Israel was not able to preserve His own
worshippers. He could not bring his mind to lean on an arm of
flesh in a matter so evidently of the Lord, and therefore the
caravan set out with no visible protection, guarded by Him who
is the sword and shield of His people. It is to be feared that
few believers feel this holy jealousy for God; even those who in
a measure walk by faith, occasionally mar the lustre of their
life by craving aid from man. It is a most blessed thing to have
no props and no buttresses, but to stand upright on the Rock of
Ages, upheld by the Lord alone. Would any believers seek state
endowments for their Church, if they remembered that the Lord is
dishonoured by their asking Caesar's aid? as if the Lord could
not supply the needs of His own cause! Should we run so hastily
to friends and relations for assistance, if we remembered that
the Lord is magnified by our implicit reliance upon His solitary
arm? My soul, wait thou only upon God. "But," says one, "are not
means to be used?" Assuredly they are; but our fault seldom lies
in their neglect: far more frequently it springs out of
foolishly believing in them instead of believing in God. Few run
too far in neglecting the creature's arm; but very many sin
greatly in making too much of it. Learn, dear reader, to glorify
the Lord by leaving means untried, if by using them thou wouldst
dishonour the name of the Lord.

* 09/25/AM

"Just, and the justifier of him which believeth."
                                                   --Romans 3:26

   Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience
accuses no longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead
of against him. Memory looks back upon past sins, with deep
sorrow for the sin, but yet with no dread of any penalty to
come; for Christ has paid the debt of His people to the last jot
and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless God can
be so unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul
for whom Jesus died as a substitute can ever be cast into hell.
It seems to be one of the very principles of our enlightened
nature to believe that God is just; we feel that it must be so,
and this gives us our terror at first; but is it not marvellous
that this very same belief that God is just, becomes afterwards
the pillar of our confidence and peace! If God be just, I, a
sinner, alone and without a substitute, must be punished; but
Jesus stands in my stead and is punished for me; and now, if God
be just, I, a sinner, standing in Christ, can never be punished.
God must change His nature before one soul, for whom Jesus was a
substitute, can ever by any possibility suffer the lash of the
law. Therefore, Jesus having taken the place of the believer--
having rendered a full equivalent to divine wrath for all that
His people ought to have suffered as the result of sin, the
believer can shout with glorious triumph, "Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect?" Not God, for He hath
justified; not Christ, for He hath died, "yea rather hath risen
again." My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because
I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am
holy, but that being unholy, He is my righteousness. My faith
rests not upon what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in
what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing
for me. On the lion of justice the fair maid of hope rides like
a queen.

* 09/26/AM

"The myrtle trees that were in the bottom."
                                                 --Zechariah 1:8

   The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel
in Zechariah's day; but being interpreted in its aspect towards
us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the
world. The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a
valley. It is hidden, unobserved, secreted; courting no honour
and attracting no observation from the careless gazer. The
Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from
carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her
splendour is not yet come. The idea of tranquil security is
also suggested to us: for the myrtle grove in the valley is
still and calm, while the storm sweeps over the mountain
summits. Tempests spend their force upon the craggy peaks of the
Alps, but down yonder where flows the stream which maketh glad
the city of our God, the myrtles flourish by the still waters,
all unshaken by the impetuous wind. How great is the inward
tranquility of God's Church! Even when opposed and persecuted,
she has a peace which the world gives not, and which, therefore,
it cannot take away: the peace of God which passeth all
understanding keeps the hearts and minds of God's people. Does
not the metaphor forcibly picture the peaceful, perpetual
growth of the saints? The myrtle sheds not her leaves, she is
always green; and the Church in her worst time still hath a
blessed verdure of grace about her; nay, she has sometimes
exhibited most verdure when her winter has been sharpest. She
has prospered most when her adversities have been most severe.
Hence the text hints at victory. The myrtle is the emblem of
peace, and a significant token of triumph. The brows of
conquerors were bound with myrtle and with laurel; and is not
the Church ever victorious? Is not every Christian more than a
conqueror through Him that loved him? Living in peace, do not
the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?

* 09/27/AM

"Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved
by the Lord!"
                                             --Deuteronomy 33:29

   He who affirms that Christianity makes men miserable, is
himself an utter stranger to it. It were strange indeed, if it
made us wretched, for see to what a position it exalts us! It
makes us sons of God. Suppose you that God will give all the
happiness to His enemies, and reserve all the mourning for His
own family? Shall His foes have mirth and joy, and shall His
home-born children inherit sorrow and wretchedness? Shall the
sinner, who has no part in Christ, call himself rich in
happiness, and shall we go mourning as if we were penniless
beggars? No, we will rejoice in the Lord always, and glory in
our inheritance, for we "have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but we have received the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father." The rod of chastisement must rest
upon us in our measure, but it worketh for us the comfortable
fruits of righteousness; and therefore by the aid of the divine
Comforter, we, the "people saved of the Lord," will joy in the
God of our salvation. We are married unto Christ; and shall our
great Bridegroom permit His spouse to linger in constant grief?
Our hearts are knit unto Him: we are His members, and though for
awhile we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even
now blessed with heavenly blessings in Him. We have the earnest
of our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit, which are
neither few nor small. Heritors of joy for ever, we have
foretastes of our portion. There are streaks of the light of joy
to herald our eternal sunrising. Our riches are beyond the sea;
our city with firm foundations lies on the other side the river;
gleams of glory from the spirit-world cheer our hearts, and urge
us onward. Truly is it said of us, "Happy art thou, O Israel;
who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?"

* 09/28/AM

"The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of
men."
                                                   --Psalm 33:13

Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious
light than when He is spoken of as stooping from His throne, and
coming down from heaven to attend to the wants and to behold the
woes of mankind. We love Him, who, when Sodom and Gomorrah were
full of iniquity, would not destroy those cities until He had
made a personal visitation of them. We cannot help pouring out
our heart in affection for our Lord who inclines His ear from
the highest glory, and puts it to the lip of the dying sinner,
whose failing heart longs after reconciliation. How can we but
love Him when we know that He numbers the very hairs of our
heads, marks our path, and orders our ways? Specially is this
great truth brought near to our heart, when we recollect how
attentive He is, not merely to the temporal interests of His
creatures, but to their spiritual concerns. Though leagues of
distance lie between the finite creature and the infinite
Creator, yet there are links uniting both. When a tear is wept
by thee, think not that God doth not behold; for, "Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear
Him." Thy sigh is able to move the heart of Jehovah; thy whisper
can incline His ear unto thee; thy prayer can stay His hand; thy
faith can move His arm. Think not that God sits on high taking
no account of thee. Remember that however poor and needy thou
art, yet the Lord thinketh upon thee. For the eyes of the Lord
run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him.

          Oh! then repeat the truth that never tires;
          No God is like the God my soul desires;
          He at whose voice heaven trembles, even He,
          Great as He is, knows how to stoop to me.

* 09/29/AM

"Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall
pronounce him clean that hath the plague."
                                               --Leviticus 13:13

   Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom
in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the
constitution was sound. This morning it may be well for us to
see the typical teaching of so singular a rule. We, too, are
lepers, and may read the law of leper as applicable to
ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and
ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and no part
free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of his
own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then is he clean through
the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden, unfelt,
unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy, but when sin is seen
and felt it has received its death blow, and the Lord looks with
eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it. Nothing is more
deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful than contrition.
We must confess that we are "nothing else but sin," for no
confession short of this will be the whole truth, and if the
Holy Spirit be at work with us, convincing us of sin, there will
be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment--it will
spring spontaneously from our lips. What comfort does the text
afford to those under a deep sense of sin! Sin mourned and
confessed, however black and foul, shall never shut a man out
from the Lord Jesus. Whosoever cometh unto Him, He will in no
wise cast out. Though dishonest as the thief, though unchaste as
the woman who was a sinner, though fierce as Saul of Tarsus,
though cruel as Manasseh, though rebellious as the prodigal, the
great heart of love will look upon the man who feels himself to
have no soundness in him, and will pronounce him clean, when he
trusts in Jesus crucified. Come to Him, then, poor heavy-laden
sinner,

       Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare;
       You can't come too filthy--come just as you are.

* 09/30/AM

"Sing forth the honour of His name, make His praise glorious."
                                                    --Psalm 66:2

   It is not left to our own option whether we shall praise God
or not. Praise is God's most righteous due, and every Christian,
as the recipient of His grace, is bound to praise God from day
to day. It is true we have no authoritative rubric for daily
praise; we have no commandment prescribing certain hours of song
and thanksgiving: but the law written upon the heart teaches us
that it is right to praise God; and the unwritten mandate comes
to us with as much force as if it had been recorded on the
tables of stone, or handed to us from the top of thundering
Sinai. Yes, it is the Christian's duty to praise God. It is
not only a pleasurable exercise, but it is the absolute
obligation of his life. Think not ye who are always mourning,
that ye are guiltless in this respect, or imagine that ye can
discharge your duty to your God without songs of praise. You
are bound by the bonds of His love to bless His name so long as
you live, and His praise should continually be in your mouth,
for you are blessed, in order that you may bless Him; "this
people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my
praise"; and if you do not praise God, you are not bringing
forth the fruit which He, as the Divine Husbandman, has a right
to expect at your hands. Let not your harp then hang upon the
willows, but take it down, and strive, with a grateful heart, to
bring forth its loudest music. Arise and chant His praise. With
every morning's dawn, lift up your notes of thanksgiving, and
let every setting sun be followed with your song. Girdle the
earth with your praises; surround it with an atmosphere of
melody, and God Himself will hearken from heaven and accept your
music.

              "E'en so I love Thee, and will love,
              And in Thy praise will sing,
              Because Thou art my loving God,
              And my redeeming King."
* 10/01/AM

"Pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O
my beloved."
                                          --Song of Solomon 7:13

   The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces.
Our heart has "all manner of pleasant fruits," both "old and
new," and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich
autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have
new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new
gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by
new labours; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul
is pledging herself to new efforts. But we have some old
fruits too. There is our first love: a choice fruit that! and
Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith: that simple
faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all
things. There is our joy when first we knew the Lord: let us
revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How
faithful has God been! In sickness, how softly did He make our
bed! In deep waters, how placidly did He buoy us up! In the
flaming furnace, how graciously did He deliver us. Old fruits,
indeed! We have many of them, for His mercies have been more
than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we
have had repentances which He has given us, by which we have
wept our way to the cross, and learned the merit of His blood.
We have fruits, this morning, both new and old; but here is the
point--they are all laid up for Jesus. Truly, those are the
best and most acceptable services in which Jesus is the solitary
aim of the soul, and His glory, without any admixture whatever,
the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only
for our Beloved; let us display them when He is with us, and not
hold them up before the gaze of men. Jesus, we will turn the key
in our garden door, and none shall enter to rob Thee of one good
fruit from the soil which Thou hast watered with Thy bloody
sweat. Our all shall be Thine, Thine only, O Jesus, our Beloved!

* 10/02/AM

"The hope which is laid up for you in heaven."
                                                --Colossians 1:5

   Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the
mainstay of our joy here. It will animate our hearts to think
often of heaven, for all that we can desire is promised there.
Here we are weary and toilworn, but yonder is the land of rest
where the sweat of labour shall no more bedew the worker's brow,
and fatigue shall be for ever banished. To those who are weary
and spent, the word "rest" is full of heaven. We are always in
the field of battle; we are so tempted within, and so molested
by foes without, that we have little or no peace; but in heaven
we shall enjoy the victory, when the banner shall be waved
aloft in triumph, and the sword shall be sheathed, and we shall
hear our Captain say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." We
have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going to
the land of the immortal where graves are unknown things. Here
sin is a constant grief to us, but there we shall be perfectly
holy, for there shall by no means enter into that kingdom
anything which defileth. Hemlock springs not up in the furrows
of celestial fields. Oh! is it not joy, that you are not to be
in banishment for ever, that you are not to dwell eternally in
this wilderness, but shall soon inherit Canaan? Nevertheless let
it never be said of us, that we are dreaming about the future
and forgetting the present, let the future sanctify the
present to highest uses. Through the Spirit of God the hope of
heaven is the most potent force for the product of virtue; it is
a fountain of joyous effort, it is the corner stone of cheerful
holiness. The man who has this hope in him goes about his work
with vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength. He fights
against temptation with ardour, for the hope of the next world
repels the fiery darts of the adversary. He can labour without
present reward, for he looks for a reward in the world to come.

* 10/03/AM

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
                                                  --Hebrews 1:14

   Angels are the unseen attendants of the saints of God; they
bear us up in their hands, lest we dash our foot against a
stone. Loyalty to their Lord leads them to take a deep interest
in the children of His love; they rejoice over the return of the
prodigal to his father's house below, and they welcome the
advent of the believer to the King's palace above. In olden
times the sons of God were favoured with their visible
appearance, and at this day, although unseen by us, heaven is
still opened, and the angels of God ascend and descend upon the
Son of man, that they may visit the heirs of salvation. Seraphim
still fly with live coals from off the altar to touch the lips
of men greatly beloved. If our eyes could be opened, we should
see horses of fire and chariots of fire about the servants of
the Lord; for we have come to an innumerable company of angels,
who are all watchers and protectors of the seed-royal. Spenser's
line is no poetic fiction, where he sings--

          "How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
          The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant
          Against foul fiends to aid us militant!"

To what dignity are the chosen elevated when the brilliant
courtiers of heaven become their willing servitors! Into what
communion are we raised since we have intercourse with spotless
celestials! How well are we defended since all the twenty-
thousand chariots of God are armed for our deliverance! To whom
do we owe all this? Let the Lord Jesus Christ be for ever
endeared to us, for through Him we are made to sit in heavenly
places far above principalities and powers. He it is whose camp
is round about them that fear Him; He is the true Michael whose
foot is upon the dragon. All hail, Jesus! thou Angel of
Jehovah's presence, to Thee this family offers its morning vows.

* 10/04/AM

"At evening time it shall be light."
                                                --Zechariah 14:7

   Oftentimes we look forward with forebodings to the time of
old age, forgetful that at eventide it shall be light. To many
saints, old age is the choicest season in their lives. A balmier
air fans the mariner's cheek as he nears the shore of
immortality, fewer waves ruffle his sea, quiet reigns, deep,
still and solemn. From the altar of age the flashes of the fire
of youth are gone, but the more real flame of earnest feeling
remains. The pilgrims have reached the land Beulah, that happy
country, whose days are as the days of heaven upon earth. Angels
visit it, celestial gales blow over it, flowers of paradise grow
in it, and the air is filled with seraphic music. Some dwell
here for years, and others come to it but a few hours before
their departure, but it is an Eden on earth. We may well long
for the time when we shall recline in its shady groves and be
satisfied with hope until the time of fruition comes. The
setting sun seems larger than when aloft in the sky, and a
splendour of glory tinges all the clouds which surround his
going down. Pain breaks not the calm of the sweet twilight of
age, for strength made perfect in weakness bears up with
patience under it all. Ripe fruits of choice experience are
gathered as the rare repast of life's evening, and the soul
prepares itself for rest.

   The Lord's people shall also enjoy light in the hour of
death. Unbelief laments; the shadows fall, the night is coming,
existence is ending. Ah no, crieth faith, the night is far
spent, the true day is at hand. Light is come, the light of
immortality, the light of a Father's countenance. Gather up thy
feet in the bed, see the waiting bands of spirits! Angels waft
thee away. Farewell, beloved one, thou art gone, thou wavest
thine hand. Ah, now it is light. The pearly gates are open, the
golden streets shine in the jasper light. We cover our eyes,
but thou beholdest the unseen; adieu, brother, thou hast light
at even-tide, such as we have not yet.

* 10/05/AM

"He arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of
that meat forty days and forty nights."
                                                  --1 Kings 19:8

   All the strength supplied to us by our gracious God is meant
for service, not for wantonness or boasting. When the prophet
Elijah found the cake baked on the coals, and the cruse of water
placed at his head, as he lay under the juniper tree, he was no
gentleman to be gratified with dainty fare that he might stretch
himself at his ease; far otherwise, he was commissioned to go
forty days and forty nights in the strength of it, journeying
towards Horeb, the mount of God. When the Master invited the
disciples to "Come and dine" with Him, after the feast was
concluded He said to Peter, "Feed my sheep"; further adding,
"Follow me." Even thus it is with us; we eat the bread of
heaven, that we may expend our strength in the Master's service.
We come to the passover, and eat of the paschal lamb with loins
girt, and staff in hand, so as to start off at once when we have
satisfied our hunger. Some Christians are for living on Christ,
but are not so anxious to live for Christ. Earth should be a
preparation for heaven; and heaven is the place where saints
feast most and work most. They sit down at the table of our
Lord, and they serve Him day and night in His temple. They eat
of heavenly food and render perfect service. Believer, in the
strength you daily gain from Christ labour for Him. Some of us
have yet to learn much concerning the design of our Lord in
giving us His grace. We are not to retain the precious grains of
truth as the Egyptian mummy held the wheat for ages, without
giving it an opportunity to grow: we must sow it and water it.
Why does the Lord send down the rain upon the thirsty earth, and
give the genial sunshine? Is it not that these may all help the
fruits of the earth to yield food for man? Even so the Lord
feeds and refreshes our souls that we may afterwards use our
renewed strength in the promotion of His glory.

* 10/06/AM

"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst."
                                                     --John 4:14

   He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to
satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore. The believer
is not the man whose days are weary for want of comfort, and
whose nights are long from absence of heart-cheering thought,
for he finds in religion such a spring of joy, such a fountain
of consolation, that he is content and happy. Put him in a
dungeon and he will find good company; place him in a barren
wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from
friendship, he will meet the "friend that sticketh closer than a
brother." Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow beneath
the Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but
his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord. The heart
is as insatiable as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it
is a cup full to overflowing. There is such a fulness in Christ
that He alone is the believer's all. The true saint is so
completely satisfied with the all-sufficiency of Jesus that he
thirsts no more--except it be for deeper draughts of the living
fountain. In that sweet manner, believer, shalt thou thirst; it
shall not be a thirst of pain, but of loving desire; thou wilt
find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller enjoyment of
Jesus' love. One in days of yore said, "I have been sinking my
bucket down into the well full often, but now my thirst after
Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well
itself to my lips, and drink right on." Is this the feeling of
thine heart now, believer? Dost thou feel that all thy desires
are satisfied in Jesus, and that thou hast no want now, but to
know more of Him;, and to have closer fellowship with Him? Then
come continually to the fountain, and take of the water of life
freely. Jesus will never think you take too much, but will ever
welcome you, saying, "Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved."

* 10/07/AM

"Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?"
                                                 --Numbers 11:11

   Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to try our
faith. If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test.
Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads
to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test.
It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are
true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but
that is true faith which holds by the Lord's faithfulness when
friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are
depressed, and the light of our Father's countenance is hidden.
A faith which can say, in the direst trouble, "Though He slay
me, yet will I trust in Him," is heaven-born faith. The Lord
afflicts His servants to glorify Himself, for He is greatly
glorified in the graces of His people, which are His own
handiwork. When "tribulation worketh patience; and patience,
experience; and experience, hope," the Lord is honoured by these
growing virtues. We should never know the music of the harp if
the strings were left untouched; nor enjoy the juice of the
grape if it were not trodden in the winepress; nor discover the
sweet perfume of cinnamon if it were not pressed and beaten; nor
feel the warmth of fire if the coals were not utterly consumed.
The wisdom and power of the great Workman are discovered by the
trials through which His vessels of mercy are permitted to pass.
Present afflictions tend also to heighten future joy. There
must be shades in the picture to bring out the beauty of the
lights. Could we be so supremely blessed in heaven, if we had
not known the curse of sin and the sorrow of earth? Will not
peace be sweeter after conflict, and rest more welcome after
toil? Will not the recollection of past sufferings enhance the
bliss of the glorified? There are many other comfortable answers
to the question with which we opened our brief meditation, let
us muse upon it all day long.

* 10/08/AM

"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a
draught."
                                                      --Luke 5:4

   We learn from this narrative, the necessity of human
agency. The draught of fishes was miraculous, yet neither the
fisherman nor his boat, nor his fishing tackle were ignored; but
all were used to take the fishes. So in the saving of souls, God
worketh by means; and while the present economy of grace shall
stand, God will be pleased by the foolishness of preaching to
save them that believe. When God worketh without instruments,
doubtless He is glorified; but He hath Himself selected the plan
of instrumentality as being that by which He is most magnified
in the earth. Means of themselves are utterly unavailing.
"Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing."
What was the reason of this? Were they not fishermen plying
their special calling? Verily, they were no raw hands; they
understood the work. Had they gone about the toil unskillfully?
No. Had they lacked industry? No, they had toiled. Had they
lacked perseverance? No, they had toiled all the night. Was
there a deficiency of fish in the sea? Certainly not, for as
soon as the Master came, they swam to the net in shoals. What,
then, is the reason? Is it because there is no power in the
means of themselves apart from the presence of Jesus? "Without
Him we can do nothing." But with Christ we can do all things.
Christ's presence confers success. Jesus sat in Peter's boat,
and His will, by a mysterious influence, drew the fish to the
net. When Jesus is lifted up in His Church, His presence is the
Church's power--the shout of a king is in the midst of her. "I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." Let us go out
this morning on our work of soul fishing, looking up in faith,
and around us in solemn anxiety. Let us toil till night comes,
and we shall not labour in vain, for He who bids us let down the
net, will fill it with fishes.

* 10/09/AM

"Able to keep you from falling."
                                                       --Jude 24

   In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other
respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with
difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if
grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery path is that
which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to
exclaim with the Psalmist, "My feet were almost gone, my steps
had well nigh slipped." If we were strong, sure-footed
mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but in ourselves,
how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter, in the
smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of ours
can scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw us,
and a pebble can wound us; we are mere children tremblingly
taking our first steps in the walk of faith, our heavenly Father
holds us by the arms or we should soon be down. Oh, if we are
kept from falling, how must we bless the patient power which
watches over us day by day! Think, how prone we are to sin, how
apt to choose danger, how strong our tendency to cast ourselves
down, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than
we have ever done, "Glory be to Him, who is able to keep us from
falling." We have many foes who try to push us down. The road
is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk
in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and labour to
trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest precipice. Only an
Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are
seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged for our defence.
He is faithful that hath promised, and He is able to keep us
from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness,
we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say,
with joyful confidence,

              "Against me earth and hell combine,
              But on my side is power divine;
              Jesus is all, and He is mine!"

* 10/10/AM

"Faultless before the presence of His glory."
                                                       --Jude 24

   Revolve in your mind that wondrous word, faultless!" We are
far off from it now; but as our Lord never stops short of
perfection in His work of love, we shall reach it one day. The
Saviour who will keep His people to the Lend, will also present
them at last to Himself, as "a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish."
All the jewels in the Saviour's crown are of the first water and
without a single flaw. All the maids of honour who attend the
Lamb's wife are pure virgins without spot or stain. But how will
Jesus make us faultless? He will wash us from our sins in His
own blood until we are white and fair as God's purest angel; and
we shall be clothed in His righteousness, that righteousness
which makes the saint who wears it positively faultless; yea,
perfect in the sight of God. We shall be unblameable and
unreproveable even in His eyes. His law will not only have no
charge against us, but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the
work of the Holy Spirit within us will be altogether complete.
He will make us so perfectly holy, that we shall have no
lingering tendency to sin. Judgment, memory, will--every power
and passion shall be emancipated from the thraldom of evil. We
shall be holy even as God is holy, and in His presence we shall
dwell for ever. Saints will not be out of place in heaven, their
beauty will be as great as that of the place prepared for them.
Oh the rapture of that hour when the everlasting doors shall be
lifted up, and we, being made meet for the inheritance, shall
dwell with the saints in light. Sin gone, Satan shut out,
temptation past for ever, and ourselves "faultless" before God,
this will be heaven indeed! Let us be joyful now as we rehearse
the song of eternal praise so soon to roll forth in full chorus
from all the blood-washed host; let us copy David's exultings
before the ark as a prelude to our ecstasies before the throne.

* 10/11/AM

"Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the
heavens."
                                             --Lamentations 3:41

   The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a
very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God
gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them we
should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an
inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of
hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it
is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a
Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending
upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich
in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do
great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it
adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very
dust. Prayer is in itself, apart from the answer which it
brings, a great benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains
strength for the race by daily exercise, so for the great race
of life we acquire energy by the hallowed labour of prayer.
Prayer plumes the wings of God's young eaglets, that they may
learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer girds the loins of God's
warriors, and sends them forth to combat with their sinews
braced and their muscles firm. An earnest pleader cometh out of
his closet, even as the sun ariseth from the chambers of the
east, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. Prayer is
that uplifted hand of Moses which routs the Amalekites more than
the sword of Joshua; it is the arrow shot from the chamber of
the prophet foreboding defeat to the Syrians. Prayer girds
human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into
heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God.
We know not what prayer cannot do! We thank thee, great God, for
the mercy-seat, a choice proof of thy marvellous lovingkindness.
Help us to use it aright throughout this day!

* 10/12/AM

"I will meditate in Thy precepts."
                                                  --Psalm 119:15

   There are times when solitude is better than society, and
silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if
we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through
meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His
service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we
thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something
like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we
must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The
bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else
the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or
else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by
meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the
wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by
merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really
supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone,
is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward
food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not
nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that,
and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading,
marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to
complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth
lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that
some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow
advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets,
and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the
wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but
they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit
hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows
at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such
folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning,
"I will meditate in Thy precepts."

* 10/13/AM

"Godly sorrow worketh repentance."
                                            --2 Corinthians 7:10

   Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the
Spirit of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in
nature's garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence
never shows itself in sinners except divine grace works it in
them. If thou hast one particle of real hatred for sin, God must
have given it thee, for human nature's thorns never produced a
single fig. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."

   True repentance has a distinct reference to the Saviour.
When we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another
upon the cross, or it will be better still if we fix both our
eyes upon Christ and see our transgressions only, in the light
of His love.

   True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say
he hates sin, if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the
evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but experimentally--as a
burnt child dreads fire. We shall be as much afraid of it, as a
man who has lately been stopped and robbed is afraid of the
thief upon the highway; and we shall shun it--shun it in
everything--not in great things only, but in little things, as
men shun little vipers as well as great snakes. True mourning
for sin will make us very jealous over our tongue, lest it
should say a wrong word; we shall be very watchful over our
daily actions, lest in anything we offend, and each night we
shall close the day with painful confessions of shortcoming, and
each morning awaken with anxious prayers, that this day God
would hold us up that we may not sin against Him.

   Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until
their dying day. This dropping well is not intermittent. Every
other sorrow yields to time, but this dear sorrow grows with our
growth, and it is so sweet a bitter, that we thank God we are
permitted to enjoy and to suffer it until we enter our eternal
rest.

* 10/14/AM

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord."
                                               --Philippians 3:8

   Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge.
I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with
Him. No, I must know Him myself; I must know Him on my own
account. It will be an intelligent knowledge--I must know
Him, not as the visionary dreams of Him, but as the Word
reveals Him. I must know His natures, divine and human. I must
know His offices--His attributes--His works--His shame--His
glory. I must meditate upon Him until I "comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." It will
be an affectionate knowledge of Him; indeed, if I know Him at
all, I must love Him. An ounce of heart knowledge is worth a ton
of head learning. Our knowledge of Him will be a satisfying
knowledge. When I know my Saviour, my mind will be full to the
brim--I shall feel that I have that which my spirit panted
after. "This is that bread whereof if a man eat he shall never
hunger." At the same time it will be an exciting knowledge;
the more I know of my Beloved, the more I shall want to know.
The higher I climb the loftier will be the summits which invite
my eager footsteps. I shall want the more as I get the more.
Like the miser's treasure, my gold will make me covet more. To
conclude; this knowledge of Christ Jesus will be a most happy
one; in fact, so elevating, that sometimes it will completely
bear me up above all trials, and doubts, and sorrows; and it
will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than "Man that is
born of woman, who is of few days, and full of trouble"; for it
will fling about me the immortality of the everliving Saviour,
and gird me with the golden girdle of His eternal joy. Come, my
soul, sit at Jesus's feet and learn of Him all this day.

* 10/15/AM

"But who may abide the day of his coming?"
                                                   --Malachi 3:2

   His first coming was without external pomp or show of power,
and yet in truth there were few who could abide its testing
might. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news
of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be
waiting for Him, showed the fallacy of their professions by
rejecting Him when He came. His life on earth was a winnowing
fan, which tried the great heap of religious profession, and few
enough could abide the process. But what will His second advent
be? What sinner can endure to think of it? "He shall smite the
earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips
shall He slay the wicked." When in His humiliation He did but
say to the soldiers, "I am He," they fell backward; what will be
the terror of His enemies when He shall more fully reveal
Himself as the "I am?" His death shook earth and darkened
heaven, what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in
which as the living Saviour, He shall summon the quick and dead
before Him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men
to forsake their sins and kiss the Son lest He be angry! Though
a lamb, He is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the
prey in pieces; and though He breaks not the bruised reed, yet
will He break His enemies with a rod of iron, and dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel. None of His foes shall bear up
before the tempest of His wrath, or hide themselves from the
sweeping hail of His indignation; but His beloved bloodwashed
people look for His appearing with joy, and hope to abide it
without fear: to them He sits as a refiner even now, and when He
has tried them they shall come forth as gold. Let us search
ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure,
so that the coming of the Lord may cause no dark forebodings in
our mind. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy, and to be
found of Him sincere and without rebuke in the day of His
appearing.

* 10/16/AM

"Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine."
                                                    --John 21:12

   In these words the believer is invited to a holy nearness to
Jesus. "Come and dine," implies the same table, the same meat;
ay, and sometimes it means to sit side by side, and lean our
head upon the Saviour's bosom. It is being brought into the
banqueting-house, where waves the banner of redeeming love.
"Come and dine," gives us a vision of union with Jesus,
because the only food that we can feast upon when we dine with
Jesus is Himself. Oh, what union is this! It is a depth which
reason cannot fathom, that we thus feed upon Jesus. "He that
eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in
him." It is also an invitation to enjoy fellowship with the
saints. Christians may differ on a variety of points, but they
have all one spiritual appetite; and if we cannot all feel
alike, we can all feed alike on the bread of life sent down
from heaven. At the table of fellowship with Jesus we are one
bread and one cup. As the loving cup goes round we pledge one
another heartily therein. Get nearer to Jesus, and you will find
yourself linked more and more in spirit to all who are like
yourself, supported by the same heavenly manna. If we were more
near to Jesus we should be more near to one another. We likewise
see in these words the source of strength for every Christian.
To look at Christ is to live, but for strength to serve Him you
must "come and dine." We labour under much unnecessary weakness
on account of neglecting this percept of the Master. We none of
us need to put ourselves on low diet; on the contrary, we should
fatten on the marrow and fatness of the gospel that we may
accumulate strength therein, and urge every power to its full
tension in the Master's service. Thus, then, if you would
realize nearness to Jesus, union with Jesus, love to His
people and strength from Jesus, "come and dine" with Him by
faith.

* 10/17/AM

"And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the
hand of Saul."
                                                 --1 Samuel 27:1

   The thought of David's heart at this time was a false
thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that
God's anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an
empty unmeaning act. On no one occasion had the Lord deserted
His servant; he had been placed in perilous positions very
often, but not one instance had occurred in which divine
interposition had not delivered him. The trials to which he had
been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form
only, but many--yet in every case He who sent the trial had also
graciously ordained a way of escape. David could not put his
finger upon any entry in his diary, and say of it, "Here is
evidence that the Lord will forsake me," for the entire tenor of
his past life proved the very reverse. He should have argued
from what God had done for him, that God would be his defender
still. But is it not just in the same way that we doubt God's
help? Is it not mistrust without a cause? Have we ever had the
shadow of a reason to doubt our Father's goodness? Have not His
lovingkindnesses been marvellous? Has He once failed to
justify our trust? Ah, no! our God has not left us at any time.
We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone forth
amid the blackness; we have been in stern conflicts, but over
our head He has held aloft the shield of our defence. We have
gone through many trials, but never to our detriment, always to
our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is,
that He who has been with us in six troubles, will not forsake
us in the seventh. What we have known of our faithful God,
proves that He will keep us to the end. Let us not, then,
reason contrary to evidence. How can we ever be so ungenerous as
to doubt our God? Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our
unbelief, and let the dogs devour it.

* 10/18/AM

"Thy paths drop fatness."
                                                   --Psalm 65:11

   Many are "the paths of the Lord" which "drop fatness," but an
especial one is the path of prayer. No believer, who is much
in the closet, will have need to cry, "My leanness, my leanness;
woe unto me." Starving souls live at a distance from the mercy-
seat, and become like the parched fields in times of drought.
Prevalence with God in wrestling prayer is sure to make the
believer strong--if not happy. The nearest place to the gate of
heaven is the throne of the heavenly grace. Much alone, and you
will have much assurance; little alone with Jesus, your religion
will be shallow, polluted with many doubts and fears, and not
sparkling with the joy of the Lord. Since the soul-enriching
path of prayer is open to the very weakest saint; since no high
attainments are required; since you are not bidden to come
because you are an advanced saint, but freely invited if you be
a saint at all; see to it, dear reader, that you are often in
the way of private devotion. Be much on your knees, for so
Elijah drew the rain upon famished Israel's fields.

   There is another especial path dropping with fatness to those
who walk therein, it is the secret walk of communion. Oh! the
delights of fellowship with Jesus! Earth hath no words which can
set forth the holy calm of a soul leaning on Jesus' bosom. Few
Christians understand it, they live in the lowlands and seldom
climb to the top of Nebo: they live in the outer court, they
enter not the holy place, they take not up the privilege of
priesthood. At a distance they see the sacrifice, but they sit
not down with the priest to eat thereof, and to enjoy the fat of
the burnt offering. But, reader, sit thou ever under the shadow
of Jesus; come up to that palm tree, and take hold of the
branches thereof; let thy beloved be unto thee as the apple-tree
among the trees of the wood, and thou shalt be satisfied as with
marrow and fatness. O Jesus, visit us with Thy salvation!

* 10/19/AM

"Babes in Christ."
                                             --1 Corinthians 3:1

   Are you mourning, believer, because you are so weak in the
divine life: because your faith is so little, your love so
feeble? Cheer up, for you have cause for gratitude. Remember
that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most
full-grown Christian. You are as much bought with blood as he
is. You are as much an adopted child of God as any other
believer. An infant is as truly a child of its parents as is the
full-grown man. You are as completely justified, for your
justification is not a thing of degrees: your little faith has
made you clean every whit. You have as much right to the
precious things of the covenant as the most advanced believers,
for your right to covenant mercies lies not in your growth, but
in the covenant itself; and your faith in Jesus is not the
measure, but the token of your inheritance in Him. You are as
rich as the richest, if not in enjoyment, yet in real
possession. The smallest star that gleams is set in heaven; the
faintest ray of light has affinity with the great orb of day. In
the family register of glory the small and the great are written
with the same pen. You are as dear to your Father's heart as the
greatest in the family. Jesus is very tender over you. You are
like the smoking flax; a rougher spirit would say, "put out that
smoking flax, it fills the room with an offensive odour!" but
the smoking flax He will not quench. You are like a bruised
reed; and any less tender hand than that of the Chief Musician
would tread upon you or throw you away, but He will never break
the bruised reed. Instead of being downcast by reason of what
you are, you should triumph in Christ. Am I but little in
Israel? Yet in Christ I am made to sit in heavenly places. Am I
poor in faith? Still in Jesus I am heir of all things. Though
"less than nothing I can boast, and vanity confess." yet, if the
root of the matter be in me I will rejoice in the Lord, and
glory in the God of my salvation.

* 10/20/AM

"Grow up into Him in all things."
                                                --Ephesians 4:15

   Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual
things, so as to present the same appearance year after year. No
up-springing of advanced and refined feeling is manifest in
them. They exist but do not "grow up into Him in all things."
But should we rest content with being in the "green blade," when
we might advance to "the ear," and eventually ripen into the
"full corn in the ear?" Should we be satisfied to believe in
Christ, and to say, "I am safe," without wishing to know in our
own experience more of the fulness which is to be found in Him.
It should not be so; we should, as good traders in heaven's
market, covet to be enriched in the knowledge of Jesus. It is
all very well to keep other men's vineyards, but we must not
neglect our own spiritual growth and ripening. Why should it
always be winter time in our hearts? We must have our seed
time, it is true, but O for a spring time--yea, a summer season,
which shall give promise of an early harvest. If we would ripen
in grace, we must live near to Jesus--in His presence--ripened
by the sunshine of His smiles. We must hold sweet communion with
Him. We must leave the distant view of His face and come near,
as John did, and pillow our head on His breast; then shall we
find ourselves advancing in holiness, in love, in faith, in
hope--yea, in every precious gift. As the sun rises first on
mountain-tops and gilds them with his light, and presents one of
the most charming sights to the eye of the traveller; so is it
one of the most delightful contemplations in the world to mark
the glow of the Spirit's light on the head of some saint, who
has risen up in spiritual stature, like Saul, above his fellows,
till, like a mighty Alp, snow-capped, he reflects first among
the chosen, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and bears the
sheen of His effulgence high aloft for all to see, and seeing
it, to glorify His Father which is in heaven.

* 10/21/AM

"The love of Christ constraineth us."
                                            --2 Corinthians 5:14

   How much owest thou unto my Lord? Has He ever done anything
for thee? Has He forgiven thy sins? Has He covered thee with a
robe of righteousness? Has He set thy feet upon a rock? Has He
established thy goings? Has He prepared heaven for thee? Has He
prepared thee for heaven? Has He written thy name in His book of
life? Has He given thee countless blessings? Has He laid up for
thee a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard?
Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love. Give not a mere
wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your
Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for
Him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither
flowing forth to His poor or to His work. Out on such love as
that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in
action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than secret
love." Who will accept a love so weak that it does not actuate
you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism,
or zeal! Think how He has loved you, and given Himself for
you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a
rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your
worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. "For Christ's
sake" be this the tongue of fire that shall sit upon you: "for
Christ's sake" be this the divine rapture, the heavenly afflatus
to bear you aloft from earth, the divine spirit that shall make
you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service.
Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to
the arms of labour. Fixed on God with a constancy that is not
to be shaken, resolute to honour Him with a determination that
is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardour never
to be wearied, let us manifest the constraints of love to Jesus.
May the divine loadstone draw us heavenward towards itself.

* 10/22/AM

"I will love them freely."
                                                    --Hosea 14:4

   This sentence is a body of divinity in miniature. He who
understands its meaning is a theologian, and he who can dive
into its fulness is a true master in Israel. It is a
condensation of the glorious message of salvation which was
delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer. The sense hinges
upon the word "freely." This is the glorious, the suitable, the
divine way by which love streams from heaven to earth, a
spontaneous love flowing forth to those who neither deserved it,
purchased it, nor sought after it. It is, indeed, the only way
in which God can love such as we are. The text is a death-blow
to all sorts of fitness: "I will love them freely." Now, if
there were any fitness necessary in us, then He would not love
us freely, at least, this would be a mitigation and a drawback
to the freeness of it. But it stands, "I will love you
freely."We complain, "Lord, my heart is so hard." "I will love
you freely." "But I do not feel my need of Christ as I could
wish." "I will not love you because you feel your need; I will
love you freely." "But I do not feel that softening of spirit
which I could desire." Remember, the softening of spirit is not
a condition, for there are no conditions; the covenant of grace
has no conditionality whatever; so that we without any fitness
may venture upon the promise of God which was made to us in
Christ Jesus, when He said, "He that believeth on Him is not
condemned." It is blessed to know that the grace of God is free
to us at all times, without preparation, without fitness,
without money, and without price! "I will love them freely."
These words invite backsliders to return: indeed, the text was
specially written for such--"I will heal their backsliding; I
will love them freely." Backslider! surely the generosity of the
promise will at once break your heart, and you will return, and
seek your injured Father's face.

* 10/23/AM

"Will ye also go away?"
                                                     --John 6:67

   Many have forsaken Christ, and have walked no more with Him;
but what reason have YOU to make a change? Has there been any
reason for it in the past? Has not Jesus proved Himself
all-sufficient? He appeals to you this morning--"Have I been a
wilderness unto you?" When your soul has simply trusted Jesus,
have you ever been confounded? Have you not up till now found
your Lord to be a compassionate and generous friend to you, and
has not simple faith in Him given you all the peace your spirit
could desire? Can you so much as dream of a better friend than
He has been to you? Then change not the old and tried for new
and false. As for the present, can that compel you to leave
Christ? When we are hard beset with this world, or with the
severer trials within the Church, we find it a most blessed
thing to pillow our head upon the bosom of our Saviour. This is
the joy we have to-day that we are saved in Him; and if this joy
be satisfying, wherefore should we think of changing? Who
barters gold for dross? We will not forswear the sun till we
find a better light, nor leave our Lord until a brighter lover
shall appear; and, since this can never be, we will hold Him
with a grasp immortal, and bind His name as a seal upon our arm.
As for the future, can you suggest anything which can arise
that shall render it necessary for you to mutiny, or desert the
old flag to serve under another captain? We think not. If life
be long--He changes not. If we are poor, what better than to
have Christ who can make us rich? When we are sick, what more do
we want than Jesus to make our bed in our sickness? When we die,
is it not written that "neither death, nor life, nor things
present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" We say with
Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"

* 10/24/AM

"The trees of the Lord are full of sap."
                                                  --Psalm 104:16

   Without sap the tree cannot flourish or even exist.
Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life--a
vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we
cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian
is but a dead thing, we must be filled with the spirit of divine
life. This life is mysterious. We do not understand the
circulation of the sap, by what force it rises, and by what
power it descends again. So the life within us is a sacred
mystery. Regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost entering into
man and becoming man's life; and this divine life in a believer
afterwards feeds upon the flesh and blood of Christ and is thus
sustained by divine food, but whence it cometh and whither it
goeth who shall explain to us? What a secret thing the sap is!
The roots go searching through the soil with their little
spongioles, but we cannot see them suck out the various gases,
or transmute the mineral into the vegetable; this work is done
down in the dark. Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hid
in Him; this is the secret of the Lord. The radix of the
Christian life is as secret as the life itself. How permanently
active is the sap in the cedar! In the Christian the divine
life is always full of energy--not always in fruit-bearing, but
in inward operations. The believer's graces, are not every one
of them in constant motion? but his life never ceases to
palpitate within. He is not always working for God, but his
heart is always living upon Him. As the sap manifests itself in
producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a truly
healthy Christian, his grace is externally manifested in his
walk and conversation. If you talk with him, he cannot help
speaking about Jesus. If you notice his actions you will see
that he has been with Jesus. He has so much sap within, that it
must fill his conduct and conversation with life.

* 10/25/AM

"For the truths sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us
for ever."
                                                      --2 John 2

   Once let the truth of God obtain an entrance into the human
heart and subdue the whole man unto itself, no power human or
infernal can dislodge it. We entertain it not as a guest but as
the master of the house--this is a Christian necessity, he is
no Christian who doth not thus believe. Those who feel the vital
power of the gospel, and know the might of the Holy Ghost as He
opens, applies, and seals the Lord's Word, would sooner be torn
to pieces than be rent away from the gospel of their salvation.
What a thousand mercies are wrapt up in the assurance that the
truth will be with us for ever; will be our living support, our
dying comfort, our rising song, our eternal glory; this is
Christian privilege, without it our faith were little worth.
Some truths we outgrow and leave behind, for they are but
rudiments and lessons for beginners, but we cannot thus deal
with Divine truth, for though it is sweet food for babes, it is
in the highest sense strong meat for men. The truth that we are
sinners is painfully with us to humble and make us watchful; the
more blessed truth that whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus
shall be saved, abides with us as our hope and joy. Experience,
so far from loosening our hold of the doctrines of grace, has
knit us to them more and more firmly; our grounds and motives
for believing are now more strong, more numerous than ever, and
we have reason to expect that it will be so till in death we
clasp the Saviour in our arms.

   Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered, we are
bound to exercise our love. No narrow circle can contain our
gracious sympathies, wide as the election of grace must be our
communion of heart. Much of error may be mingled with truth
received, let us war with the error but still love the brother
for the measure of truth which we see in Him; above all let us
love and spread the truth ourselves.

* 10/26/AM

"Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye
brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of
hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man
unto his own house."
                                                    --Haggai 1:9

   Churlish souls stint their contributions to the ministry and
missionary operations, and call such saving good economy; little
do they dream that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their
excuse is that they must care for their own families, and they
forget that to neglect the house of God is the sure way to bring
ruin upon their own houses. Our God has a method in providence
by which He can succeed our endeavours beyond our expectation,
or can defeat our plans to our confusion and dismay; by a turn
of His hand He can steer our vessel in a profitable channel, or
run it aground in poverty and bankruptcy. It is the teaching of
Scripture that the Lord enriches the liberal and leaves the
miserly to find out that withholding tendeth to poverty. In a
very wide sphere of observation, I have noticed that the most
generous Christians of my acquaintance have been always the most
happy, and almost invariably the most prosperous. I have seen
the liberal giver rise to wealth of which he never dreamed; and
I have as often seen the mean, ungenerous churl descend to
poverty by the very parsimony by which he thought to rise. Men
trust good stewards with larger and larger sums, and so it
frequently is with the Lord; He gives by cartloads to those who
give by bushels. Where wealth is not bestowed the Lord makes the
little much by the contentment which the sanctified heart feels
in a portion of which the tithe has been dedicated to the Lord.
Selfishness looks first at home, but godliness seeks first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, yet in the long run
selfishness is loss, and godliness is great gain. It needs faith
to act towards our God with an open hand, but surely He deserves
it of us; and all that we can do is a very poor acknowledgment
of our amazing indebtedness to His goodness.

* 10/27/AM

"It is a faithful saying."
                                                --2 Timothy 2:11

   Paul has four of these "faithful sayings." The first occurs
in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners." The next is in 1 Timothy 4:6, "Godliness is profitable
unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation." The third is in 2 Timothy 2:12, "It is a
faithful saying--If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with
Him"; and the fourth is in Titus 3:3, "This is a faithful
saying, that they which have believed in God might be careful to
maintain good works." We may trace a connection between these
faithful sayings. The first one lays the foundation of our
eternal salvation in the free grace of God, as shown to us in
the mission of the great Redeemer. The next affirms the double
blessedness which we obtain through this salvation--the
blessings of the upper and nether springs--of time and of
eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen
people are called; we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the
promise that "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." The
last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us
diligently to maintain good works. Thus we have the root of
salvation in free grace; next, the privileges of that salvation
in the life which now is, and in that which is to come; and we
have also the two great branches of suffering with Christ and
serving with Christ, loaded with the fruits of the Spirit.
Treasure up these faithful sayings. Let them be the guides of
our life, our comfort, and our instruction. The apostle of the
Gentiles proved them to be faithful, they are faithful still,
not one word shall fall to the ground; they are worthy of all
acceptation, let us accept them now, and prove their
faithfulness. Let these four faithful sayings be written on the
four corners of My house.

* 10/28/AM

"I have chosen you out of the world."
                                                    --John 15:19

   Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for
some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be
afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your
mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a
bottle of richest cordial. Those who doubt the doctrines of
grace, or who cast them into the shade, miss the richest
clusters of Eshcol; they lose the wines on the lees well
refined, the fat things full of marrow. There is no balm in
Gilead comparable to it. If the honey in Jonathan's wood when
but touched enlightened the eyes, this is honey which will
enlighten your heart to love and learn the mysteries of the
kingdom of God. Eat, and fear not a surfeit; live upon this
choice dainty, and fear not that it will be too delicate a diet.
Meat from the King's table will hurt none of His courtiers.
Desire to have your mind enlarged, that you may comprehend more
and more the eternal, everlasting, discriminating love of God.
When you have mounted as high as election, tarry on its sister
mount, the covenant of grace. Covenant engagements are the
munitions of stupendous rock behind which we lie entrenched;
covenant engagements with the surety, Christ Jesus, are the
quiet resting-places of trembling spirits.

             "His oath, His covenant, His blood,
             Support me in the raging flood;
             When every earthly prop gives way,
             This still is all my strength and stay."

If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father
promised that He would give me to the Son to be a part of the
infinite reward of the travail of His soul; then, my soul, till
God Himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be
the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he
told Michal that election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult
before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart.

* 10/29/AM

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven, etc."
                                                   --Matthew 6:9

   This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with
the spirit of adoption, "Our Father." There is no acceptable
prayer until we can say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father."
This child-like spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father
"in heaven," and ascends to devout adoration, "Hallowed be Thy
name." The child lisping, "Abba, Father," grows into the cherub
crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." There is but a step from rapturous
worship to the glowing missionary spirit, which is a sure
outgrowth of filial love and reverent adoration--"Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Next
follows the heartfelt expression of dependence upon God--"Give
us this day our daily bread." Being further illuminated by the
Spirit, he discovers that he is not only dependent, but sinful,
hence he entreats for mercy, "Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors:" and being pardoned, having the
righteousness of Christ imputed, and knowing his acceptance with
God, he humbly supplicates for holy perseverance, "Lead us not
into temptation." The man who is really forgiven, is anxious not
to offend again; the possession of justification leads to an
anxious desire for sanctification. "Forgive us our debts," that
is justification; "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil," that is sanctification in its negative and positive
forms. As the result of all this, there follows a triumphant
ascription of praise, "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the
glory, for ever and ever, Amen." We rejoice that our King
reigns in providence and shall reign in grace, from the river
even to the ends of the earth, and of His dominion there shall
be no end. Thus from a sense of adoption, up to fellowship with
our reigning Lord, this short model of prayer conducts the soul.
Lord, teach us thus to pray.

* 10/30/AM

"I will praise Thee, O Lord."
                                                     --Psalm 9:1

   Praise should always follow answered prayer; as the mist of
earth's gratitude rises when the sun of heaven's love warms the
ground. Hath the Lord been gracious to thee, and inclined His
ear to the voice of thy supplication? Then praise Him as long as
thou livest. Let the ripe fruit drop upon the fertile soil from
which it drew its life. Deny not a song to Him who hath answered
thy prayer and given thee the desire of thy heart. To be silent
over God's mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is
to act as basely as the nine lepers, who after they had been
cured of their leprosy, returned not to give thanks unto the
healing Lord. To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit
ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of
promoting the growth of the spiritual life. It helps to remove
our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith. It is a
healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse of
the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his
Master's service. To bless God for mercies received is also the
way to benefit our fellow-men; "the humble shall hear thereof
and be glad." Others who have been in like circumstances shall
take comfort if we can say, "Oh! magnify the Lord with me, and
let us exalt His name together; this poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him." Weak hearts will be strengthened, and drooping
saints will be revived as they listen to our "songs of
deliverance." Their doubts and fears will be rebuked, as we
teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. They too shall "sing in the ways of the Lord," when they
hear us magnify His holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of
Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to
praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white
robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of
singing the new song, "Worthy is the Lamb."

* 10/31/AM

"Renew a right spirit within me."
                                                   --Psalm 51:10

   A backslider, if there be a spark of life left in him will
groan after restoration. In this renewal the same exercise of
grace is required as at our conversion. We needed repentance
then; we certainly need it now. We wanted faith that we might
come to Christ at first; only the like grace can bring us to
Jesus now. We wanted a word from the Most High, a word from the
lip of the loving One, to end our fears then; we shall soon
discover, when under a sense of present sin, that we need it
now. No man can be renewed without as real and true a
manifestation of the Holy Spirit's energy as he felt at first,
because the work is as great, and flesh and blood are as much in
the way now as ever they were. Let thy personal weakness, O
Christian, be an argument to make thee pray earnestly to thy God
for help. Remember, David when he felt himself to be powerless,
did not fold his arms or close his lips, but he hastened to the
mercy-seat with "renew a right spirit within me." Let not the
doctrine that you, unaided, can do nothing, make you sleep; but
let it be a goad in your side to drive you with an awful
earnestness to Israel's strong Helper. O that you may have grace
to plead with God, as though you pleaded for your very
life--"Lord, renew a right spirit within me." He who sincerely
prays to God to do this, will prove his honesty by using the
means through which God works. Be much in prayer; live much upon
the Word of God; kill the lusts which have driven your Lord from
you; be careful to watch over the future uprisings of sin. The
Lord has His own appointed ways; sit by the wayside and you will
be ready when He passes by. Continue in all those blessed
ordinances which will foster and nourish your dying graces; and,
knowing that all the power must proceed from Him, cease not to
cry, "Renew a right spirit within me."
* 11/01/AM

"The Church in thy house."
                                                    --Philemon 2

   Is there a Church in this house? Are parents, children,
friends, servants, all members of it? or are some still
unconverted? Let us pause here and let the question go
round--Am I a member of the Church in this house? How would
father's heart leap for joy, and mother's eyes fill with holy
tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved! Let us
pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us.
Probably it had been the dearest object of Philemon's desires to
have all his household saved; but it was not at first granted
him in its fulness. He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who,
having wronged him, ran away from his service. His master's
prayers followed him, and at last, as God would have it,
Onesimus was led to hear Paul preach; his heart was touched, and
he returned to Philemon, not only to be a faithful servant, but
a brother beloved, adding another member to the Church in
Philemon's house. Is there an unconverted servant or child
absent this morning? Make special supplication that such may, on
their return to their home, gladden all hearts with good news of
what grace has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in
the same earnest entreaty.

   If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well,
and let all act as in the sight of God. Let us move in the
common affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence,
kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a Church than of an
ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more
devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken,
and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christlike. We
need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out
of the list of Churches, for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a
family-church in the inspired book of remembrance. As a Church
let us now draw nigh to the great head of the one Church
universal, and let us beseech Him to give us grace to shine
before men to the glory of His name.

* 11/02/AM

"I am the Lord, I change not."
                                                   --Malachi 3:6

   It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of
life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart
can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no
furrows. All things else have changed--all things are changing.
The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the
folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens
and earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax
old as doth a garment; but there is One who only hath
immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person
there is no change. The delight which the mariner feels, when,
after having been tossed about for many a day, he steps again
upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when,
amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot
of his faith upon this truth--"I am the Lord, I change not."

   The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at
last obtained a hold-fast, is like that which the Christian's
hope affords him when it fixes itself upon this glorious truth.
With God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." What
ever His attributes were of old, they are now; His power, His
wisdom, His justice, His truth, are alike unchanged. He has ever
been the refuge of His people, their stronghold in the day of
trouble, and He is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in
His love. He has loved His people with "an everlasting love";
He loves them now as much as ever He did, and when all earthly
things shall have melted in the last conflagration, His love
will still wear the dew of its youth. Precious is the assurance
that He changes not! The wheel of providence revolves, but its
axle is eternal love.

                 "Death and change are busy ever,
                 Man decays, and ages move;
                 But His mercy waneth never;
                 God is wisdom, God is love."

* 11/03/AM

"Behold, he prayeth."
                                                     --Acts 9:11

   Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul
began to pray the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the
distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted
one bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the
language of sighs and tears; yet that groan has made all the
harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by
God and treasured in the lachrymatory of heaven. "Thou puttest
my tears into thy bottle," implies that they are caught as they
flow. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be
well understood by the Most High. He may only look up with misty
eye; but "prayer is the falling of a tear." Tears are the
diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's
court, and are numbered with "the sublimest strains that reach
the majesty on high." Think not that your prayer, however weak
or trembling, will be unregarded. Jacob's ladder is lofty, but
our prayers shall lean upon the Angel of the covenant and so
climb its starry rounds. Our God not only hears prayer but
also loves to hear it. "He forgetteth not the cry of the
humble." True, He regards not high looks and lofty words; He
cares not for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He listens not to
the swell of martial music; He regards not the triumph and pride
of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip
quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh,
the heart of Jehovah is open; He marks it down in the registry
of His memory; He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between
the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is
opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up
therefrom.

            "Faith asks no signal from the skies,
            To show that prayers accepted rise,
            Our Priest is in His holy place,
            And answers from the throne of grace."

* 11/04/AM

"For my strength is made perfect in weakness."
                                            --2 Corinthians 12:9

   A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of
success, and for doing God's work well and triumphantly, is a
sense of our own weakness. When God's warrior marches forth to
battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I
shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall
get unto me the victory," defeat is not far distant. God will
not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He
who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for "it is
not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts." They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess,
shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and
their armour stained with disgrace. Those who serve God must
serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never
accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine
strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He
casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was
sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of
divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before He
will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy
granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat.
The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows
from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His
battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you
mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be
a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee
victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being
filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your
lifting up.

            "When I am weak then am I strong,
            Grace is my shield and Christ my song."

* 11/05/AM

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper."
                                                  --Isaiah 54:17

   This day is notable in English history for two great
deliverances wrought by God for us. On this day the plot of the
Papists to destroy our Houses of Parliament was discovered,
1605.

            "While for our princes they prepare
            In caverns deep a burning snare,
            He shot from heaven a piercing ray,
            And the dark treachery brought to day."

And secondly--to-day is the anniversary of the landing of King
William III, at Torbay, by which the hope of Popish ascendancy
was quashed, and religious liberty was secured, 1688.

   This day ought to be celebrated, not by the saturnalia of
striplings, but by the songs of saints. Our Puritan forefathers
most devoutly made it a special time of thanksgiving. There is
extant a record of the annual sermons preached by Matthew Henry
on this day. Our Protestant feeling, and our love of liberty,
should make us regard its anniversary with holy gratitude. Let
our hearts and lips exclaim, "We have heard with our ears, and
our fathers have told us the wondrous things which Thou didst in
their day, and in the old time before them." Thou hast made this
nation the home of the gospel; and when the foe has risen
against her, Thou hast shielded her. Help us to offer repeated
songs for repeated deliverances. Grant us more and more a hatred
of Antichrist, and hasten on the day of her entire extinction.
Till then and ever, we believe the promise, "No weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper." Should it not be laid upon
the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus on this day to
plead for the overturning of false doctrines and the extension
of divine truth? Would it not be well to search our own hearts,
and turn out any of the Popish lumber of self-righteousness
which may lie concealed therein?

* 11/06/AM

"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty."
                                                   --Isaiah 44:3

   When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling,
he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself
with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from
the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle's wing
to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is
not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at
first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which
can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear
brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of
love allure him to Jesus' bosom. Are you this morning thirsting
for the living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to
the delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of religion,
and is this your prayer, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy
salvation"? Are you conscious also that you are barren, like the
dry ground; that you are not bringing forth the fruit unto God
which He has a right to expect of you; that you are not so
useful in the Church, or in the world, as your heart desires to
be? Then here is exactly the promise which you need, "I will
pour water upon him that is thirsty." You shall receive the
grace you so much require, and you shall have it to the utmost
reach of your needs. Water refreshes the thirsty: you shall be
refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens
sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh
grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripen; you
shall have fructifying grace: you shall be made fruitful in the
ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you
shall enjoy it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you
shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with
it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting
rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you
be--the thirsty land shall be springs of water.

* 11/07/AM

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands."
                                                  --Isaiah 49:16

   No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the
word "Behold," is excited by the unbelieving lamentation of
the preceding sentence. Zion said, "The Lord hath forsaken me,
and my God hath forgotten me." How amazed the divine mind seems
to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than
the unfounded doubts and fears of God's favoured people? The
Lord's loving word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries,
"How can I have forgotten thee, when I have graven thee upon the
palms of my hands? How darest thou doubt my constant
remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?" O
unbelief, how strange a marvel thou art! We know not which most
to wonder at, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of His
people. He keeps His promise a thousand times, and yet the next
trial makes us doubt Him. He never faileth; He is never a dry
well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a
melting vapour; and yet we are as continually vexed with
anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears,
as if our God were the mirage of the desert. "Behold," is a
word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a
theme for marvelling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished
that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of
infinite love as to be written upon the palms of His hands. "I
have graven thee."It does not say, "Thy name." The name is
there, but that is not all: "I have graven thee." See the
fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy
case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy
weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven thee, everything
about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether
there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee
when He has graven thee upon His own palms?

* 11/08/AM

"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord."
                                                --Colossians 2:6

   The life of faith is represented as receiving-- an act which
implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply
the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the rain, as
the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the
stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of
God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are
but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty
vessels into which God pours His salvation. The idea of
receiving implies a sense of realization, making the matter a
reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive
that which is substantial: so is it in the life of faith, Christ
becomes real to us. While we are without faith, Jesus is a mere
name to us--a person who lived a long while ago, so long ago
that His life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith
Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart.
But receiving also means grasping or getting possession of.
The thing which I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to
myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, He becomes my
Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to
rob me of Him. All this is to receive Christ--to take Him as
God's free gift; to realize Him in my heart, and to appropriate
Him as mine.

   Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the
deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not
only received these blessings, we have received CHRIST JESUS
Himself. It is true that He gave us life from the dead. He gave
us pardon of sin; He gave us imputed righteousness. These are
all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have
received Christ Himself. The Son of God has been poured into
us, and we have received Him, and appropriated Him. What a
heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain Him!

* 11/09/AM

"So walk ye in Him."
                                                --Colossians 2:6

   If we have received Christ Himself in our inmost hearts, our
new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with Him by a
walk of faith in Him. Walking implies action. Our religion is
not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out into
practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in
Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in
him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of
the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, "He is like his
Master; he lives like Jesus Christ." Walking signifies
progress. "So walk ye in Him"; proceed from grace to grace,
run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge
that a man can attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies
continuance. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ. How
many Christians think that in the morning and evening they ought
to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their
hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we
should always be with Him, treading in His steps and doing His
will. Walking also implies habit. When we speak of a man's
walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenour
of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget
Him; sometimes call Him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is
not a habit; we do not walk in Him. We must keep to Him, cling
to Him, never let Him go, but live and have our being in Him.
"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him";
persevere in the same way in which ye have begun, and, as at the
first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of
your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your
spirit, so let Him be the same till life's end; the same when
you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and enter
into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God. O
Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

* 11/10/AM

"The eternal God is thy refuge."
                                             --Deuteronomy 33:27

   The word refuge may be translated "mansion," or "abiding-
place," which gives the thought that God is our abode, our
home. There is a fulness and sweetness in the metaphor, for
dear to our hearts is our home, although it be the humblest
cottage, or the scantiest garret; and dearer far is our blessed
God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. It is at
home that we feel safe: we shut the world out and dwell in
quiet security. So when we are with our God we "fear no evil."
He is our shelter and retreat, our abiding refuge. At home, we
take our rest; it is there we find repose after the fatigue and
toil of the day. And so our hearts find rest in God, when,
wearied with life's conflict, we turn to Him, and our soul
dwells at ease. At home, also, we let our hearts loose; we are
not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being
misconstrued. So when we are with God we can commune freely with
Him, laying open all our hidden desires; for if the "secret of
the Lord is with them that fear Him," the secrets of them that
fear Him ought to be, and must be, with their Lord. Home, too,
is the place of our truest and purest happiness: and it is in
God that our hearts find their deepest delight. We have joy in
Him which far surpasses all other joy. It is also for home that
we work and labour. The thought of it gives strength to bear
the daily burden, and quickens the fingers to perform the task;
and in this sense we may also say that God is our home. Love to
Him strengthens us. We think of Him in the person of His dear
Son; and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer
constrains us to labour in His cause. We feel that we must work,
for we have brethren yet to be saved, and we have our Father's
heart to make glad by bringing home His wandering sons; we would
fill with holy mirth the sacred family among whom we dwell.
Happy are those who have thus the God of Jacob for their refuge!

* 11/11/AM

"Underneath are the everlasting arms."
                                             --Deuteronomy 33:27

   God--the eternal God--is Himself our support at all times,
and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are
seasons when the Christian sinks very low in humiliation.
Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before
God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in
his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that
when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet "underneath" thee
"are everlasting arms." Sin may drag thee ever so low, but
Christ's great atonement is still under all. You may have
descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as
"the uttermost"; and to the uttermost He saves. Again, the
Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from
without. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still
underneath him are "the everlasting arms." He cannot fall so
deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of
an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may
be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict,
but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the
reach of the "everlasting arms"--they are underneath him; and,
while thus sustained, all Satan's efforts to harm him avail
nothing.

   This assurance of support is a comfort to any weary but
earnest worker in the service of God. It implies a promise of
strength for each day, grace for each need, and power for each
duty. And, further, when death comes, the promise shall still
hold good. When we stand in the midst of Jordan, we shall be
able to say with David, "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with
me." We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower,
for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life,
and at its close, we shall be upheld by the "everlasting
arms"--arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for "the
everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary."

* 11/12/AM

"The trial of your faith."
                                                   --1 Peter 1:7

   Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little
faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is
without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things
are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are
her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the
sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a
slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling
forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the
vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her
mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail,
it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No
flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of
the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which
glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which
springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as
that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings
experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had
you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would
never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid
the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and
intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is
precious, and its trial is precious too.

   Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in
faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the
full portion will be measured out to you in due season.
Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long
experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise Him for
that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk
according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of
the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and
conquer impossibilities.

* 11/13/AM

"The branch cannot bear fruit of itself."
                                                     --John 15:4

   How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to
Jesus and cast yourselves on His great atonement, and rested on
His finished righteousness. Ah! what fruit you had then! Do you
remember those early days? Then indeed the vine flourished, the
tender grape appeared, the pomegranates budded forth, and the
beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined since
then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love,
and repent, and do thy first works. Be most in those
engagements which you have experimentally proved to draw you
nearest to Christ, because it is from Him that all your fruits
proceed. Any holy exercise which will bring you to Him will help
you to bear fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great worker in
fruit-creating among the trees of the orchard: and Jesus is
still more so among the trees of His garden of grace. When have
you been the most fruitless? Has not it been when you have
lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you have
slackened in prayer, when you have departed from the simplicity
of your faith, when your graces have engrossed your attention
instead of your Lord, when you have said, "My mountain standeth
firm, I shall never be moved"; and have forgotten where your
strength dwells--has not it been then that your fruit has
ceased? Some of us have been taught that we have nothing out of
Christ, by terrible abasements of heart before the Lord; and
when we have seen the utter barrenness and death of all creature
power, we have cried in anguish, "From Him all my fruit must be
found, for no fruit can ever come from me." We are taught, by
past experience, that the more simply we depend upon the grace
of God in Christ, and wait upon the Holy Spirit, the more we
shall bring forth fruit unto God. Oh! to trust Jesus for fruit
as well as for life.

* 11/14/AM

"I will cut off them that worship and that swear by the Lord,
and that swear by Malcham."
                                                 --Zephaniah 1:5

   Such persons thought themselves safe because they were with
both parties: they went with the followers of Jehovah, and bowed
at the same time to Malcham. But duplicity is abominable with
God, and hypocrisy His soul hateth. The idolater who distinctly
gives himself to his false god, has one sin less than he who
brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice unto the temple of
the Lord, while his heart is with the world and the sins
thereof. To hold with the hare and run with the hounds, is a
dastard's policy. In the common matters of daily life, a double-
minded man is despised, but in religion he is loathsome to the
last degree. The penalty pronounced in the verse before us is
terrible, but it is well deserved; for how should divine justice
spare the sinner, who knows the right, approves it, and
professes to follow it, and all the while loves the evil, and
gives it dominion in his heart?

   My soul, search thyself this morning, and see whether thou
art guilty of double-dealing. Thou professest to be a follower
of Jesus--dost thou truly love Him? Is thy heart right with God?
Art thou of the family of old Father Honest, or art thou a
relative of Mr. By-ends? A name to live is of little value if I
be indeed dead in trespasses and sins. To have one foot on the
land of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will involve
a terrible fall and a total ruin. Christ will be all or
nothing. God fills the whole universe, and hence there is no
room for another god; if, then, He reigns in my heart, there
will be no space for another reigning power. Do I rest alone on
Jesus crucified, and live alone for Him? Is it my desire to do
so? Is my heart set upon so doing? If so, blessed be the mighty
grace which has led me to salvation; and if not so, O Lord,
pardon my sad offence, and unite my heart to fear Thy name.

* 11/15/AM

"The Lord's portion is His people."
                                              --Deuteronomy 32:9

   How are they His? By His own sovereign choice. He chose
them, and set His love upon them. This He did altogether apart
from any goodness in them at the time, or any goodness which He
foresaw in them. He had mercy on whom He would have mercy, and
ordained a chosen company unto eternal life; thus, therefore,
are they His by His unconstrained election.

   They are not only His by choice, but by purchase. He has
bought and paid for them to the utmost farthing, hence about His
title there can be no dispute. Not with corruptible things, as
with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord's portion has been fully redeemed. There
is no mortgage on His estate; no suits can be raised by opposing
claimants, the price was paid in open court, and the Church is
the Lord's freehold for ever. See the blood-mark upon all the
chosen, invisible to human eye, but known to Christ, for "the
Lord knoweth them that are His"; He forgetteth none of those
whom He has redeemed from among men; He counts the sheep for
whom He laid down His life, and remembers well the Church for
which He gave Himself.

   They are also His by conquest. What a battle He had in us
before we would be won! How long He laid siege to our hearts!
How often He sent us terms of capitulation! but we barred our
gates, and fenced our walls against Him. Do we not remember
that glorious hour when He carried our hearts by storm? When He
placed His cross against the wall, and scaled our ramparts,
planting on our strongholds the blood-red flag of His omnipotent
mercy? Yes, we are, indeed, the conquered captives of His
omnipotent love. Thus chosen, purchased, and subdued, the rights
of our divine possessor are inalienable: we rejoice that we
never can be our own; and we desire, day by day, to do His
will, and to show forth His glory.

* 11/16/AM

"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul."
                                             --Lamentations 3:24

   It is not "The Lord is partly my portion," nor "The Lord is
in my portion"; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my
soul's inheritance. Within the circumference of that circle lies
all that we possess or desire. The Lord is my portion. Not His
grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant, but Jehovah
Himself. He has chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen
Him for ours. It is true that the Lord must first choose our
inheritance for us, or else we shall never choose it for
ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose
of electing love, we can sing--

                 "Lov'd of my God for Him again
                 With love intense I burn;
                 Chosen of Him ere time began,
                 I choose Him in return."

The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and
if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient
for us. It is not easy to satisfy man's desires. When he dreams
that he is satisfied, anon he wakes to the perception that there
is somewhat yet beyond, and straightway the horse-leech in his
heart cries, "Give, give." But all that we can wish for is to be
found in our divine portion, so that we ask, "Whom have I in
heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire
beside Thee." Well may we "delight ourselves in the Lord" who
makes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Our faith
stretches her wings and mounts like an eagle into the heaven of
divine love as to her proper dwelling-place. "The lines have
fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly
heritage." Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show to the
world that we are a happy and a blessed people, and thus induce
them to exclaim, "We will go with you, for we have heard that
God is with you."

* 11/17/AM

"To whom be glory for ever. Amen"
                                                  --Romans 11:36

  "To whom be glory for ever." This should be the single
desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient
and tributary to this one. The Christian may wish for prosperity
in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote
this--"To Him be glory for ever." He may desire to attain more
gifts and more graces, but it should only be that "To Him may be
glory for ever." You are not acting as you ought to do when you
are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord's
glory. As a Christian, you are "of God, and through God," then
live "to God." Let nothing ever set your heart beating so
mightily as love to Him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be
this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter,
and this your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow
chill; make God your only object. Depend upon it, where self
begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and only
object,

          "To me 'tis equal whether love ordain
          My life or death--appoint me ease or pain."

Let your desire for God's glory be a growing desire. You
blessed Him in your youth, do not be content with such praises
as you gave Him then. Has God prospered you in business? Give
Him more as He has given you more. Has God given you experience?
Praise Him by stronger faith than you exercised at first. Does
your knowledge grow? Then sing more sweetly. Do you enjoy
happier times than you once had? Have you been restored from
sickness, and has your sorrow been turned into peace and joy?
Then give Him more music; put more coals and more sweet
frankincense into the censer of your praise. Practically in your
life give Him honour, putting the "Amen" to this doxology to
your great and gracious Lord, by your own individual service and
increasing holiness.

* 11/18/AM

"A spring shut up, a fountain sealed."
                                          --Song of Solomon 4:12

   In this metaphor, which has reference to the inner life of a
believer, we have very plainly the idea of secrecy. It is a
spring shut up: just as there were springs in the East, over
which an edifice was built, so that none could reach them save
those who knew the secret entrance; so is the heart of a
believer when it is renewed by grace: there is a mysterious life
within which no human skill can touch. It is a secret which no
other man knoweth; nay, which the very man who is the possessor
of it cannot tell to his neighbour. The text includes not only
secrecy, but separation. It is not the common spring, of which
every passer-by may drink, it is one kept and preserved from all
others; it is a fountain bearing a particular mark--a king's
royal seal, so that all can perceive that it is not a common
fountain, but a fountain owned by a proprietor, and placed
specially by itself alone. So is it with the spiritual life. The
chosen of God were separated in the eternal decree; they were
separated by God in the day of redemption; and they are
separated by the possession of a life which others have not; and
it is impossible for them to feel at home with the world, or to
delight in its pleasures. There is also the idea of
sacredness. The spring shut up is preserved for the use of
some special person: and such is the Christian's heart. It is a
spring kept for Jesus. Every Christian should feel that he has
God's seal upon him--and he should be able to say with Paul,
"From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body
the marks of the Lord Jesus." Another idea is prominent--it is
that of security. Oh! how sure and safe is the inner life of
the believer! If all the powers of earth and hell could combine
against it, that immortal principle must still exist, for He who
gave it pledged His life for its preservation. And who "is He
that shall harm you," when God is your protector?

* 11/19/AM

"Avoid foolish questions."
                                                     --Titus 3:9

   Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good,
than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor
importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their
incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and
our Churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points
and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that
can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the
discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is
foolish to sow in so barren a field. Questions upon points
wherein Scripture is silent; upon mysteries which belong to God
alone; upon prophecies of doubtful interpretation; and upon mere
modes of observing human ceremonials, are all foolish, and wise
men avoid them. Our business is neither to ask nor answer
foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we
observe the apostle's precept (Titus 3:8) to be careful to
maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much
occupied with profitable business to take much interest in
unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings.

   There are, however, some questions which are the reverse of
foolish, which we must not avoid, but fairly and honestly meet,
such as these: Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I
renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit? Am I growing in grace? Does my
conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour? Am I looking
for the coming of the Lord, and watching as a servant should do
who expects his master? What more can I do for Jesus? Such
enquiries as these urgently demand our attention; and if we have
been at all given to cavilling, let us now turn our critical
abilities to a service so much more profitable. Let us be
peace-makers, and endeavour to lead others both by our precept
and example, to "avoid foolish questions."

* 11/20/AM

"0 Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul."
                                             --Lamentations 3:58

   Observe how positively the prophet speaks. He doth not say,
"I hope, I trust, I sometimes think, that God hath pleaded the
causes of my soul"; but he speaks of it as a matter of fact not
to be disputed. "Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul." Let
us, by the aid of the gracious Comforter, shake off those doubts
and fears which so much mar our peace and comfort. Be this our
prayer, that we may have done with the harsh croaking voice of
surmise and suspicion, and may be able to speak with the clear,
melodious voice of full assurance. Notice how gratefully the
prophet speaks, ascribing all the glory to God alone! You
perceive there is not a word concerning himself or his own
pleadings. He doth not ascribe his deliverance in any measure to
any man, much less to his own merit; but it is "thou"--"O
Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast
redeemed my life." A grateful spirit should ever be cultivated
by the Christian; and especially after deliverances we should
prepare a song for our God. Earth should be a temple filled with
the songs of grateful saints, and every day should be a censor
smoking with the sweet incense of thanksgiving. How joyful
Jeremiah seems to be while he records the Lord's mercy. How
triumphantly he lifts up the strain! He has been in the low
dungeon, and is even now no other than the weeping prophet; and
yet in the very book which is called "Lamentations," clear as
the song of Miriam when she dashed her fingers against the
tabor, shrill as the note of Deborah when she met Barak with
shouts of victory, we hear the voice of Jeremy going up to
heaven--"Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast
redeemed my life." O children of God, seek after a vital
experience of the Lord's lovingkindness, and when you have it,
speak positively of it; sing gratefully; shout triumphantly.

* 11/21/AM

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit."
                                                --Ephesians 4:30

   All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes
solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as
all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also
no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout
worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation
of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it
lies dormant except He worketh in you to will and to do of His
own good pleasure. Do you desire to speak for Jesus--how can you
unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue? Do you desire to pray?
Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession
for you! Do you desire to subdue sin? Would you be holy? Would
you imitate your Master? Do you desire to rise to superlative
heights of spirituality? Are you wanting to be made like the
angels of God, full of zeal and ardour for the Master's cause?
You cannot without the Spirit--"Without me ye can do nothing." O
branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap! O
child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life
which God gives thee through His Spirit! Then let us not grieve
Him or provoke Him to anger by our sin. Let us not quench Him
in one of His faintest motions in our soul; let us foster every
suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting. If the Holy
Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without Him;
let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and
conclude no transaction, without imploring His blessing. Let us
do Him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from
Him, and then depending alone upon Him, having this for our
prayer, "Open Thou my heart and my whole being to Thine
incoming, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit when I shall have
received that Spirit in my inward parts."

* 11/22/AM

"Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep."
                                                   --Hosea 12:12

   Jacob, while expostulating with Laban, thus
describes his own toil, "This twenty years
have I been with thee. That which was torn
of beasts I brought not unto thee: I bare the
loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it,
whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.
Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the
frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes." Even
more toilsome than this was the life of our Saviour here
below. He watched over all His sheep till He gave in as
His last account, "Of all those whom Thou hast given me
I have lost none." His hair was wet with dew, and His locks
with the drops of the night. Sleep departed from His eyes,
for all night He was in prayer wrestling for His people.
One night Peter must be pleaded for; anon, another claims
His tearful intercession. No shepherd sitting beneath the
cold skies, looking up to the stars, could ever utter such
complaints because of the hardness of his toil as Jesus Christ
might have brought, if He had chosen to do so, because
of the sternness of His service in order to procure His
spouse--

             "Cold mountains and the midnight air,
             Witnessed the fervour of His prayer;
             The desert His temptations knew,
             His conflict and His victory too."

It is sweet to dwell upon the spiritual parallel of Laban having
required all the sheep at Jacob's hand. If they were torn of
beasts, Jacob must make it good; if any of them died, he must
stand as surety for the whole. Was not the toil of Jesus for His
Church the toil of one who was under suretiship obligations to
bring every believing one safe to the hand of Him who had
committed them to His charge? Look upon toiling Jacob, and you
see a representation of Him of whom we read, "He shall feed His
flock like a shepherd."

* 11/23/AM

"Fellowship with Him."
                                                    --1 John 1:6

   When we were united by faith to Christ, we were brought into
such complete fellowship with Him, that we were made one with
Him, and His interests and ours became mutual and identical. We
have fellowship with Christ in His love. What He loves we
love. He loves the saints--so do we. He loves sinners--so do we.
He loves the poor perishing race of man, and pants to see
earth's deserts transformed into the garden of the Lord--so do
we. We have fellowship with Him in His desires. He desires
the glory of God--we also labour for the same. He desires that
the saints may be with Him where He is--we desire to be with Him
there too. He desires to drive out sin--behold we fight under
His banner. He desires that His Father's name may be loved and
adored by all His creatures--we pray daily, "Let Thy kingdom
come and Thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven." We
have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings. We are not
nailed to the cross, nor do we die a cruel death, but when He is
reproached, we are reproached; and a very sweet thing it is to
be blamed for His sake, to be despised for following the Master,
to have the world against us. The disciple should not be above
His Lord. In our measure we commune with Him in His labours,
ministering to men by the word of truth and by deeds of love.
Our meat and our drink, like His, is to do the will of Him who
hath sent us and to finish His work. We have also fellowship
with Christ in His joys. We are happy in His happiness, we
rejoice in His exaltation. Have you ever tasted that joy,
believer? There is no purer or more thrilling delight to be
known this side heaven than that of having Christ's joy
fulfilled in us, that our joy may be full. His glory awaits us
to complete our fellowship, for His Church shall sit with him
upon His throne, as His well-beloved bride and queen.

* 11/24/AM

"The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and
streams."
                                                  --Isaiah 33:21

   Broad rivers and streams produce fertility, and abundance in
the land. Places near broad rivers are remarkable for the
variety of their plants and their plentiful harvests. God is all
this to His Church. Having God she has abundance. What can she
ask for that He will not give her? What want can she mention
which He will not supply? "In this mountain shall the Lord of
Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things." Want ye the
bread of life? It drops like manna from the sky. Want ye
refreshing streams? The rock follows you, and that Rock is
Christ. If you suffer any want it is your own fault; if you are
straitened you are not straitened in Him, but in your own
bowels. Broad rivers and streams also point to commerce. Our
glorious Lord is to us a place of heavenly merchandize. Through
our Redeemer we have commerce with the past; the wealth of
Calvary, the treasures of the covenant, the riches of the
ancient days of election, the stores of eternity, all come to us
down the broad stream of our gracious Lord. We have commerce,
too, with the future. What galleys, laden to the water's edge,
come to us from the millennium! What visions we have of the days
of heaven upon earth! Through our glorious Lord we have commerce
with angels; communion with the bright spirits washed in blood,
who sing before the throne; nay, better still, we have
fellowship with the Infinite One. Broad rivers and streams are
specially intended to set forth the idea of security. Rivers
were of old a defence. Oh! beloved, what a defence is God to His
Church! The devil cannot cross this broad river of God. How he
wishes he could turn the current, but fear not, for God abideth
immutably the same. Satan may worry, but he cannot destroy us;
no galley with oars shall invade our river, neither shall
gallant ship pass thereby.

* 11/25/AM

"To preach deliverance to the captives."
                                                     --Luke 4.18

   None but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty
cometh from Him only. It is a liberty righteously bestowed;
for the Son, who is Heir of all things, has a right to make men
free. The saints honour the justice of God, which now secures
their salvation. It is a liberty which has been dearly
purchased. Christ speaks it by His power, but He bought it by
His blood. He makes thee free, but it is by His own bonds. Thou
goest clear, because He bare thy burden for thee: thou art set
at liberty, because He has suffered in thy stead. But, though
dearly purchased, He freely gives it. Jesus asks nothing of us
as a preparation for this liberty. He finds us sitting in
sackcloth and ashes, and bids us put on the beautiful array of
freedom; He saves us just as we are, and all without our help or
merit. When Jesus sets free, the liberty is perpetually
entailed; no chains can bind again. Let the Master say to me,
"Captive, I have delivered thee," and it is done for ever. Satan
may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord be on our side, whom
shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to
ensnare us, but mightier is He who is for us than all they who
be against us. The machinations of our own deceitful hearts may
harass and annoy us, but He who hath begun the good work in us
will carry it on and perfect it to the end. The foes of God and
the enemies of man may gather their hosts together, and come
with concentrated fury against us, but if God acquitteth, who is
he that condemneth? Not more free is the eagle which mounts to
his rocky eyrie, and afterwards outsoars the clouds, than the
soul which Christ hath delivered. If we are no more under the
law, but free from its curse, let our liberty be practically
exhibited in our serving God with gratitude and delight. "I am
Thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my
bonds." "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"

* 11/26/AM

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
                                             --Ecclesiastes 9:10

   "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," refers to works that are
possible. There are many things which our heart findeth to do
which we never shall do. It is well it is in our heart; but if
we would be eminently useful, we must not be content with
forming schemes in our heart, and talking of them; we must
practically carry out "whatsoever our hand findeth to do." One
good deed is more worth than a thousand brilliant theories. Let
us not wait for large opportunities, or for a different kind of
work, but do just the things we "find to do" day by day. We have
no other time in which to live. The past is gone; the future has
not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present. Then
do not wait until your experience has ripened into maturity
before you attempt to serve God. Endeavour now to bring forth
fruit. Serve God now, but be careful as to the way in which you
perform what you find to do--"do it with thy might." Do it
promptly; do not fritter away your life in thinking of what
you intend to do to-morrow as if that could recompense for the
idleness of to-day. No man ever served God by doing things
to-morrow. If we honour Christ and are blessed, it is by the
things which we do to-day. Whatever you do for Christ throw
your whole soul into it. Do not give Christ a little slurred
labour, done as a matter of course now and then; but when you do
serve Him, do it with heart, and soul, and strength.

   But where is the might of a Christian? It is not in himself,
for he is perfect weakness. His might lieth in the Lord of
Hosts. Then let us seek His help; let us proceed with prayer and
faith, and when we have done what our "hand findeth to do," let
us wait upon the Lord for His blessing. What we do thus will be
well done, and will not fail in its effect.

* 11/27/AM

"Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord."
                                                 --Zechariah 3:1

   In Joshua the high priest we see a picture of each and
every child of God, who has been made nigh by the blood of
Christ, and has been taught to minister in holy things, and
enter into that which is within the veil. Jesus has made us
priests and kings unto God, and even here upon earth we exercise
the priesthood of consecrated living and hallowed service. But
this high priest is said to be "standing before the angel of
the Lord," that is, standing to minister. This should be the
perpetual position of every true believer. Every place is now
God's temple, and His people can as truly serve Him in their
daily employments as in His house. They are to be always
"ministering," offering the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and
praise, and presenting themselves a "living sacrifice." But
notice where it is that Joshua stands to minister, it is before
the angel of Jehovah. It is only through a mediator that we
poor defiled ones can ever become priests unto God. I present
what I have before the messenger, the angel of the covenant, the
Lord Jesus; and through Him my prayers find acceptance wrapped
up in His prayers; my praises become sweet as they are bound up
with bundles of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia from Christ's own
garden. If I can bring Him nothing but my tears, He will put
them with His own tears in His own bottle for He once wept; if I
can bring Him nothing but my groans and sighs, He will accept
these as an acceptable sacrifice, for He once was broken in
heart, and sighed heavily in spirit. I myself, standing in Him,
am accepted in the Beloved; and all my polluted works, though in
themselves only objects of divine abhorrence, are so received,
that God smelleth a sweet savour. He is content and I am
blessed. See, then, the position of the Christian--"a priest--
standing--before the angel of the Lord."

* 11/28/AM

"For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of
the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth."
                                                      --3 John 3

   The truth was in Gaius, and Gaius walked in a the truth. If
the first had not been the case, the second could never have
occurred; and if the second could not be said of him the first
would have been a mere pretence. Truth must enter into the soul,
penetrate and saturate it, or else it is of no value. Doctrines
held as a matter of creed are like bread in the hand, which
ministers no nourishment to the frame; but doctrine accepted by
the heart, is as food digested, which, by assimilation, sustains
and builds up the body. In us truth must be a living force, an
active energy, an indwelling reality, a part of the woof and
warp of our being. If it be in us, we cannot henceforth part
with it. A man may lose his garments or his limbs, but his
inward parts are vital, and cannot be torn away without absolute
loss of life. A Christian can die, but he cannot deny the truth.
Now it is a rule of nature that the inward affects the outward,
as light shines from the centre of the lantern through the
glass: when, therefore, the truth is kindled within, its
brightness soon beams forth in the outward life and
conversation. It is said that the food of certain worms colours
the cocoons of silk which they spin: and just so the nutriment
upon which a man's inward nature lives gives a tinge to every
word and deed proceeding from him. To walk in the truth, imports
a life of integrity, holiness, faithfulness, and simplicity--the
natural product of those principles of truth which the gospel
teaches, and which the Spirit of God enables us to receive. We
may judge of the secrets of the soul by their manifestation in
the man's conversation. Be it ours to-day, O gracious Spirit, to
be ruled and governed by Thy divine authority, so that nothing
false or sinful may reign in our hearts, lest it extend its
malignant influence to our daily walk among men.

* 11/29/AM

"Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people
. . . Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not
suffer sin upon him."
                                           --Leviticus 19:16, 17

   Tale-bearing emits a threefold poison; for it injures the
teller, the hearer, and the person concerning whom the tale is
told. Whether the report be true or false, we are by this
precept of God's Word forbidden to spread it. The reputations of
the Lord's people should be very precious in our sight, and we
should count it shame to help the devil to dishonour the Church
and the name of the Lord. Some tongues need a bridle rather than
a spur. Many glory in pulling down their brethren, as if thereby
they raised themselves. Noah's wise sons cast a mantle over
their father, and he who exposed him earned a fearful curse. We
may ourselves one of these dark days need forbearance and
silence from our brethren, let us render it cheerfully to those
who require it now. Be this our family rule, and our personal
bond--SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN.

   The Holy Spirit, however, permits us to censure sin, and
prescribes the way in which we are to do it. It must be done by
rebuking our brother to his face, not by railing behind his
back. This course is manly, brotherly, Christlike, and under
God's blessing will be useful. Does the flesh shrink from it?
Then we must lay the greater stress upon our conscience, and
keep ourselves to the work, lest by suffering sin upon our
friend we become ourselves partakers of it. Hundreds have been
saved from gross sins by the timely, wise, affectionate warnings
of faithful ministers and brethren. Our Lord Jesus has set us a
gracious example of how to deal with erring friends in His
warning given to Peter, the prayer with which He preceded it,
and the gentle way in which He bore with Peter's boastful denial
that he needed such a caution.

* 11/30/AM

"And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for
the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?
And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much
more than this."
                                             --2 Chronicles 25:9

   A very important question this seemed to be to the king of
Judah, and possibly it is of even more weight with the tried and
tempted O Christian. To lose money is at no times pleasant, and
when principle involves it, the flesh is not always ready to
make the sacrifice. "Why lose that which may be so usefully
employed? May not the truth itself be bought too dear? What
shall we do without it? Remember the children, and our small
income!" All these things and a thousand more would tempt the
Christian to put forth his hand to unrighteous gain, or stay
himself from carrying out his conscientious convictions, when
they involve serious loss. All men cannot view these matters in
the light of faith; and even with the followers of Jesus, the
doctrine of "we must live" has quite sufficient weight.

   The Lord is able to give thee much more than this is a very
satisfactory answer to the anxious question. Our Father holds
the purse-strings, and what we lose for His sake He can repay a
thousand-fold. It is ours to obey His will, and we may rest
assured that He will provide for us. The Lord will be no man's
debtor at the last. Saints know that a grain of heart's-ease is
of more value than a ton of gold. He who wraps a threadbare coat
about a good conscience has gained a spiritual wealth far more
desirable than any he has lost. God's smile and a dungeon are
enough for a true heart; His frown and a palace would be hell to
a gracious spirit. Let the worst come to the worst, let all the
talents go, we have not lost our treasure, for that is above,
where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Meanwhile, even
now, the Lord maketh the meek to inherit the earth, and no good
thing doth He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
* 12/01/AM

"Thou hast made summer and winter."
                                                   --Psalm 74:17

   My soul begin this wintry month with thy God. The cold snows
and the piercing winds all remind thee that He keeps His
covenant with day and night, and tend to assure thee that He
will also keep that glorious covenant which He has made with
thee in the person of Christ Jesus. He who is true to His Word
in the revolutions of the seasons of this poor sin-polluted
world, will not prove unfaithful in His dealings with His own
well-beloved Son.

   Winter in the soul is by no means a comfortable season, and
if it be upon thee just now it will be very painful to thee: but
there is this comfort, namely, that the Lord makes it. He
sends the sharp blasts of adversity to nip the buds of
expectation: He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes over the
once verdant meadows of our joy: He casteth forth His ice like
morsels freezing the streams of our delight. He does it all, He
is the great Winter King, and rules in the realms of frost, and
therefore thou canst not murmur. Losses, crosses, heaviness,
sickness, poverty, and a thousand other ills, are of the Lord's
sending, and come to us with wise design. Frosts kill noxious
insects, and put a bound to raging diseases; they break up the
clods, and sweeten the soul. O that such good results would
always follow our winters of affliction!

   How we prize the fire just now! how pleasant is its cheerful
glow! Let us in the same manner prize our Lord, who is the
constant source of warmth and comfort in every time of trouble.
Let us draw nigh to Him, and in Him find joy and peace in
believing. Let us wrap ourselves in the warm garments of His
promises, and go forth to labours which befit the season, for it
were ill to be as the sluggard who will not plough by reason of
the cold; for he shall beg in summer and have nothing.

* 12/02/AM

"Thou art all fair, my love."
                                           --Song of Solomon 4:7

   The Lord's admiration of His Church is very a wonderful, and
His description of her beauty is very glowing. She is not merely
fair, but "all fair." He views her in Himself, washed in His
sin-atoning blood and clothed in His meritorious righteousness,
and He considers her to be full of comeliness and beauty. No
wonder that such is the case, since it is but His own perfect
excellency that He admires; for the holiness, glory, and
perfection of His Church are His own glorious garments on the
back of His own well-beloved spouse. She is not simply pure, or
well-proportioned; she is positively lovely and fair! She has
actual merit! Her deformities of sin are removed; but more, she
has through her Lord obtained a meritorious righteousness by
which an actual beauty is conferred upon her. Believers have a
positive righteousness given to them when they become "accepted
in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Nor is the Church barely lovely,
she is superlatively so. Her Lord styles her "Thou fairest
among women." She has a real worth and excellence which cannot
be rivalled by all the nobility and royalty of the world. If
Jesus could exchange His elect bride for all the queens and
empresses of earth, or even for the angels in heaven, He would
not, for He puts her first and foremost--"fairest among women."
Like the moon she far outshines the stars. Nor is this an
opinion which He is ashamed of, for He invites all men to hear
it. He sets a "behold" before it, a special note of exclamation,
inviting and arresting attention. "Behold, thou art fair, my
love; behold, thou art fair" (Song of Sol. 4:1). His opinion
He publishes abroad even now, and one day from the throne of His
glory He will avow the truth of it before the assembled
universe. "Come, ye blessed of my Father" (Matt. 25:34), will be
His solemn affirmation of the loveliness of His elect.

* 12/03/AM

"There is no spot in thee."
                                           --Song of Solomon 4:7

   Having pronounced His Church positively full of beauty, our
Lord confirms His praise by a precious negative, "There is no
spot in I thee." As if the thought occurred to the Bridegroom
that the carping world would insinuate that He had only
mentioned her comely parts, and had purposely omitted those
features which were deformed or defiled, He sums up all by
declaring her universally and entirely fair, and utterly devoid
of stain. A spot may soon be removed, and is the very least
thing that can disfigure beauty, but even from this little
blemish the believer is delivered in his Lord's sight. If He had
said there is no hideous scar, no horrible deformity, no deadly
ulcer, we might even then have marvelled; but when He testifies
that she is free from the slightest spot, all these other forms
of defilement are included, and the depth of wonder is
increased. If He had but promised to remove all spots by-and-by,
we should have had eternal reason for joy; but when He speaks of
it as already done, who can restrain the most intense emotions
of satisfaction and delight? O my soul, here is marrow and
fatness for thee; eat thy full, and be satisfied with royal
dainties.

   Christ Jesus has no quarrel with His spouse. She often
wanders from Him, and grieves His Holy Spirit, but He does not
allow her faults to affect His love. He sometimes chides, but it
is always in the tenderest manner, with the kindest intentions:
it is "my love" even then. There is no remembrance of our
follies, He does not cherish ill thoughts of us, but He pardons
and loves as well after the offence as before it. It is well for
us it is so, for if Jesus were as mindful of injuries as we are,
how could He commune with us? Many a time a believer will put
himself out of humour with the Lord for some slight turn in
providence, but our precious Husband knows our silly hearts too
well to take any offence at our ill manners.

* 12/04/AM

"I have much people in this city."
                                                    --Acts 18:10

   This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since
God has among the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, the
most debauched and drunken, an elect people who must be saved.
When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has
ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and
they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination
runs. They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before
the eternal throne. They are Christ's property, and yet perhaps
they are lovers of the ale-house, and haters of holiness; but if
Jesus Christ purchased them He will have them. God is not
unfaithful to forget the price which His Son has paid. He will
not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual,
dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not
regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our
comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word of
God.

   Nay, more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before
the throne. "Neither pray I for these alone," saith the great
Intercessor, "but for them also which shall believe on Me
through their word." Poor, ignorant souls, they know nothing
about prayer for themselves, but Jesus prays for them. Their
names are on His breastplate, and ere long they must bow their
stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh before the throne
of grace. "The time of figs is not yet." The predestinated
moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they shall obey,
for God will have His own; they must, for the Spirit is not to
be withstood when He cometh forth with fulness of power--they
must become the willing servants of the living God. "My people
shall be willing in the day of my power." "He shall justify
many." "He shall see of the travail of His soul." "I will divide
him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with
the strong."

* 12/05/AM

"Ask, and it shall be given you."
                                                   --Matthew 7:7

   We know of a place in England still existing, where a dole of
bread is served to every passerby who chooses to ask for it.
Whoever the traveller may be, he has but to knock at the door of
St. Cross Hospital, and there is the dole of bread for him.
Jesus Christ so loveth sinners that He has built a St. Cross
Hospital, so that whenever a sinner is hungry, he has but to
knock and have his wants supplied. Nay, He has done better; He
has attached to this Hospital of the Cross a bath; and whenever
a soul is black and filthy, it has but to go there and be
washed. The fountain is always full, always efficacious. No
sinner ever went into it and found that it could not wash away
his stains. Sins which were scarlet and crimson have all
disappeared, and the sinner has been whiter than snow. As if
this were not enough, there is attached to this Hospital of the
Cross a wardrobe, and a sinner making application simply as a
sinner, may be clothed from head to foot; and if he wishes to be
a soldier, he may not merely have a garment for ordinary wear,
but armour which shall cover him from the sole of his foot to
the crown of his head. If he asks for a sword, he shall have
that given to him, and a shield too. Nothing that is good for
him shall be denied him. He shall have spending-money so long as
he lives, and he shall have an eternal heritage of glorious
treasure when he enters into the joy of his Lord.

   If all these things are to be had by merely knocking at
mercy's door, O my soul, knock hard this morning, and ask large
things of thy generous Lord. Leave not the throne of grace till
all thy wants have been spread before the Lord, and until by
faith thou hast a comfortable prospect that they shall be all
supplied. No bashfulness need retard when Jesus invites. No
unbelief should hinder when Jesus promises. No cold-heartedness
should restrain when such blessings are to be obtained.

* 12/06/AM

"As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."
                                           --1 Corinthians 15:48

   The head and members are of one nature, and not like that
monstrous image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The head
was of fine gold, but the belly and thighs were of brass, the
legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay.
Christ's mystical body is no absurd combination of opposites;
the members were mortal, and therefore Jesus died; the glorified
head is immortal, and therefore the body is immortal too, for
thus the record stands, "Because I live, ye shall live also." As
is our loving Head, such is the body, and every member in
particular. A chosen Head and chosen members; an accepted Head,
and accepted members; a living Head, and living members. If the
head be pure gold, all the parts of the body are of pure gold
also. Thus is there a double union of nature as a basis for the
closest communion. Pause here, devout reader, and see if thou
canst without ecstatic amazement, contemplate the infinite
condescension of the Son of God in thus exalting thy
wretchedness into blessed union with His glory. Thou art so mean
that in remembrance of thy mortality, thou mayest say to
corruption, "Thou art my father," and to the worm, "Thou art my
sister"; and yet in Christ thou art so honoured that thou canst
say to the Almighty, "Abba, Father," and to the Incarnate God,
"Thou art my brother and my husband." Surely if relationships to
ancient and noble families make men think highly of themselves,
we have whereof to glory over the heads of them all. Let the
poorest and most despised believer lay hold upon this privilege;
let not a senseless indolence make him negligent to trace his
pedigree, and let him suffer no foolish attachment to present
vanities to occupy his thoughts to the exclusion of this
glorious, this heavenly honour of union with Christ.

* 12/07/AM

"Base things of the world hath God chosen."
                                            --1 Corinthians 1:28

   Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see
sinners then. Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is
howling, and the picklock is grating in the door, and you will
see sinners then. Go to yon jail, and walk through the wards,
and mark the men with heavy over-hanging brows, men whom you
would not like to meet at night, and there are sinners there. Go
to the Reformatories, and note those who have betrayed a rampant
juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there. Go across
the seas to the place where a man will gnaw a bone upon which is
reeking human flesh, and there is a sinner there. Go where you
will, you need not ransack earth to find sinners, for they are
common enough; you may find them in every lane and street of
every city, and town, and village, and hamlet. It is for such
that Jesus died. If you will select me the grossest specimen of
humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him
yet, because Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners.
Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the
best. Pebbles of the brook grace turns into jewels for the
crown-royal. Worthless dross He transforms into pure gold.
Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be
the reward of the Saviour's passion. Effectual grace calls forth
many of the vilest of the vile to sit at the table of mercy, and
therefore let none despair.

   Reader, by that love looking out of Jesus' tearful eyes, by
that love streaming from those bleeding wounds, by that faithful
love, that strong love, that pure, disinterested, and abiding
love; by the heart and by the bowels of the Saviour's
compassion, we conjure you turn not away as though it were
nothing to you; but believe on Him and you shall be saved. Trust
your soul with Him and He will bring you to His Father's right
hand in glory everlasting.

* 12/08/AM

"Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they
are worthy."
                                                --Revelation 3:4

   We may understand this to refer to justification. "They
shall walk in white"; that is, they shall enjoy a constant sense
of their own justification by faith; they shall understand that
the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them, that they have
all been washed and made whiter than the newly-fallen snow.

   Again, it refers to joy and gladness: for white robes were
holiday dresses among the Jews. They who have not defiled their
garments shall have their faces always bright; they shall
understand what Solomon meant when he said "Go thy way, eat thy
bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Let thy
garments be always white, for God hath accepted thy works." He
who is accepted of God shall wear white garments of joy and
gladness, while he walks in sweet communion with the Lord Jesus.
Whence so many doubts, so much misery, and mourning? It is
because so many believers defile their garments with sin and
error, and hence they lose the joy of their salvation, and the
comfortable fellowship of the Lord Jesus, they do not here below
walk in white.

   The promise also refers to walking in white before the
throne of God. Those who have not defiled their garments here
shall most certainly walk in white up yonder, where the
white-robed hosts sing perpetual hallelujahs to the Most High.
They shall possess joys inconceivable, happiness beyond a dream,
bliss which imagination knoweth not, blessedness which even the
stretch of desire hath not reached. The "undefiled in the way"
shall have all this--not of merit, nor of works, but of grace.
They shall walk with Christ in white, for He has made them
"worthy." In His sweet company they shall drink of the living
fountains of waters.

* 12/09/AM

"Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you."
                                                  --Isaiah 30:18

   God often DELAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER. We have several
instances of this in sacred Scripture. Jacob did not get the
blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day--he had to
wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophenicia was
answered not a word for a long while. Paul besought the Lord
thrice that "the thorn in the flesh" might be taken from him,
and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but
instead thereof a promise that God's grace should be sufficient
for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and
hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker
hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons
peculiar to Himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it
is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that
Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the
delay is for our profit. Thou art perhaps kept waiting in order
that thy desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will
quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps thee waiting
thou wilt see thy necessity more clearly, and wilt seek more
earnestly; and that thou wilt prize the mercy all the more for
its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in thee
which has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is
given. Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or
thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead
of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes
thee tarry awhile that He may the more fully display the riches
of His grace to thee at last. Thy prayers are all filed in
heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not
forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to thy
delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make thee silent, but
continue instant in earnest supplication.

* 12/10/AM

"So shall we ever be with the Lord."
                                          --1 Thessalonians 4:17

   Even the sweetest visits from Christ, how short they are--and
how transitory! One moment our eyes see Him, and we rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory, but again a little time and
we do not see Him, for our beloved withdraws Himself from us;
like a roe or a young hart He leaps over the mountains of
division; He is gone to the land of spices, and feeds no more
among the lilies.

                "If to-day He deigns to bless us
                With a sense of pardoned sin,
                He to-morrow may distress us,
                Make us feel the plague within."

Oh, how sweet the prospect of the time when we shall not behold
Him at a distance, but see Him face to face: when He shall not
be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night, but shall
eternally enfold us in the bosom of His glory. We shall not see
Him for a little season, but

            "Millions of years our wondering eyes,
            Shall o'er our Saviour's beauties rove;
            And myriad ages we'll adore,
            The wonders of His love."

In heaven there shall be no interruptions from care or sin; no
weeping shall dim our eyes; no earthly business shall distract
our happy thoughts; we shall have nothing to hinder us from
gazing for ever on the Sun of Righteousness with unwearied eyes.
Oh, if it be so sweet to see Him now and then, how sweet to gaze
on that blessed face for aye, and never have a cloud rolling
between, and never have to turn one's eyes away to look on a
world of weariness and woe! Blest day, when wilt thou dawn?
Rise, O unsetting sun! The joys of sense may leave us as soon as
they will, for this shall make glorious amends. If to die is but
to enter into uninterrupted communion with Jesus, then death is
indeed gain, and the black drop is swallowed up in a sea of
victory.

* 12/11/AM

"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."
                                          --1 Thessalonians 5:24

   Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall
cease our constant watch against an indefatigable enemy, because
there will be no tempter to ensnare our feet. There the wicked
cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Heaven is the
"undefiled inheritance"; it is the land of perfect holiness, and
therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on
earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The
doctrine of God's word is, that all who are in union with the
Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall hold on their way;
that those who have committed their souls to the keeping of
Christ shall find Him a faithful and immutable preserver.
Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on
earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free
from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the
sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in Him shall ever
perish, but shall be with Him where He is. Believer, let us
often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of
the saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy
confidence in Him.

   May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in
Christ Jesus! May He assure you that your name is graven on His
hand; and whisper in your ear the promise, "Fear not, I am with
thee." Look upon Him, the great Surety of the covenant, as
faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present
you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before
the throne of God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will
drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord's pomegranate,
and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an
antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect
saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that
"faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

* 12/12/AM

"His ways are everlasting."
                                                  --Habakkuk 3:6

   What He hath done at one time, He will do yet again. Man's
ways are variable, but God's ways are everlasting. There are
many reasons for this most comforting truth: among them are the
following--the Lord's ways are the result of wise
deliberation; He ordereth all things according to the counsel
of His own will. Human action is frequently the hasty result of
passion, or fear, and is followed by regret and alteration; but
nothing can take the Almighty by surprise, or happen otherwise
than He has foreseen. His ways are the outgrowth of an
immutable character, and in them the fixed and settled
attributes of God are clearly to be seen. Unless the Eternal One
Himself can undergo change, His ways, which are Himself in
action, must remain for ever the same. Is He eternally just,
gracious, faithful, wise, tender?--then His ways must ever be
distinguished for the same excellences. Beings act according to
their nature: when those natures change, their conduct varies
also; but since God cannot know the shadow of a turning, His
ways will abide everlastingly the same. Moreover there is no
reason from without which could reverse the divine ways, since
they are the embodiment of irresistible might. The earth is
said, by the prophet, to be cleft with rivers, mountains
tremble, the deep lifts up its hands, and sun and moon stand
still, when Jehovah marches forth for the salvation of His
people. Who can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?
But it is not might alone which gives stability; God's ways are
the manifestation of the eternal principles of right, and
therefore can never pass away. Wrong breeds decay and involves
ruin, but the true and the good have about them a vitality which
ages cannot diminish.

   This morning let us go to our heavenly Father with
confidence, remembering that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever, and in Him the Lord is ever gracious to
His people.

* 12/13/AM

"Salt without prescribing how much."
                                                     --Ezra 7:22

   Salt was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord,
and from its preserving and purifying properties it was the
grateful emblem of divine grace in the soul. It is worthy of our
attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave salt to Ezra the
priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite
certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among His
royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by Him. Often
are we straitened in ourselves, but never in the Lord. He who
chooses to gather much manna will find that he may have as much
as he desires. There is no such famine in Jerusalem that the
citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their water
by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured;
for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such
exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the
salt of grace no stint is made, "Ask what thou wilt and it shall
be given unto thee." Parents need to lock up the fruit cupboard,
and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box
under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from
that. A man may have too much money, or too much honour, but he
cannot have too much grace. When Jeshurun waxed fat in the
flesh, he kicked against God, but there is no fear of a man's
becoming too full of grace: a plethora of grace is impossible.
More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy.
Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the
Spirit is fulness of joy. Believer, go to the throne for a large
supply of heavenly salt. It will season thine afflictions,
which are unsavoury without salt; it will preserve thy heart
which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins even
as salt kills reptiles. Thou needest much; seek much, and have
much.

* 12/14/AM

"They go from strength to strength."
                                                    --Psalm 84:7

   They go from strength to strength. There are various
renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of
progress.

   Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough
for us this morning. "They go from strength to strength." That
is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking,
we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good
order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the
sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully
pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained
fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome
travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be
quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty
in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that
constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more
surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their
grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in
their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often
otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds,
but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which
still holds good: "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the
young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and
not faint." Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves
about the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to
affliction." Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou
goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a
bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it
sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood
with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders.

* 12/15/AM

"Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her."
                                                     --Ruth 1:14

   Both of them had an affection for Naomi, and therefore set
out with her upon her return to the land of Judah. But the hour
of test came; Naomi most unselfishly set before each of them the
trials which awaited them, and bade them if they cared for ease
and comfort to return to their Moabitish friends. At first both
of them declared that they would cast in their lot with the
Lord's people; but upon still further consideration Orpah with
much grief and a respectful kiss left her mother in law, and her
people, and her God, and went back to her idolatrous friends,
while Ruth with all her heart gave herself up to the God of her
mother in law. It is one thing to love the ways of the Lord when
all is fair, and quite another to cleave to them under all
discouragements and difficulties. The kiss of outward profession
is very cheap and easy, but the practical cleaving to the Lord,
which must show itself in holy decision for truth and holiness,
is not so small a matter. How stands the case with us, is our
heart fixed upon Jesus, is the sacrifice bound with cords to the
horns of the altar? Have we counted the cost, and are we
solemnly ready to suffer all worldly loss for the Master's sake?
The after gain will be an abundant recompense, for Egypt's
treasures are not to be compared with the glory to be revealed.
Orpah is heard of no more; in glorious ease and idolatrous
pleasure her life melts into the gloom of death; but Ruth lives
in history and in heaven, for grace has placed her in the noble
line whence sprung the King of kings. Blessed among women shall
those be who for Christ's sake can renounce all; but forgotten
and worse than forgotten shall those be who in the hour of
temptation do violence to conscience and turn back unto the
world. O that this morning we may not be content with the form
of devotion, which may be no better than Orpah's kiss, but may
the Holy Spirit work in us a cleaving of our whole heart to our
Lord Jesus.

* 12/16/AM

"Come unto me."
                                                 --Matthew 11:28

   The cry of the Christian religion is the gentle word, "Come."
The Jewish law harshly said, "Go, take heed unto thy steps as to
the path in which thou shalt walk. Break the commandments, and
thou shalt perish; keep them, and thou shalt live." The law was
a dispensation of terror, which drove men before it as with a
scourge; the gospel draws with bands of love. Jesus is the good
Shepherd going before His sheep, bidding them follow Him, and
ever leading them onwards with the sweet word, "Come." The law
repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the distance which
there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful
chasm, and brings the sinner across it.

   From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are
ushered into glory, the language of Christ to you will be,
"Come, come unto me." As a mother puts out her finger to her
little child and woos it to walk by saying, "Come," even so
does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you follow
Him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before
you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you shall hear
His animating voice calling you after Him all through life;
while in the solemn hour of death, His sweet words with which He
shall usher you into the heavenly world shall be--"Come, ye
blessed of my Father."

   Nay, further, this is not only Christ's cry to you, but, if
you be a believer, this is your cry to Christ--"Come! come!"
You will be longing for His second advent; you will be saying,
"Come quickly, even so come Lord Jesus." You will be panting for
nearer and closer communion with Him. As His voice to you is
"Come," your response to Him will be, "Come, Lord, and abide
with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my heart; reign
there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to Thy
service."

* 12/17/AM

"I remember thee."
                                                  --Jeremiah 2:2

   Let us note that Christ delights to think upon His Church,
and to look upon her beauty. As the bird returneth often to its
nest, and as the wayfarer hastens to his home, so doth the mind
continually pursue the object of its choice. We cannot look too
often upon that face which we love; we desire always to have our
precious things in our sight. It is even so with our Lord Jesus.
From all eternity "His delights were with the sons of men"; His
thoughts rolled onward to the time when His elect should be born
into the world; He viewed them in the mirror of His
foreknowledge. "In Thy book," He says, "all my members were
written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them" (Ps. 139:16). When the world was set upon its
pillars, He was there, and He set the bounds of the people
according to the number of the children of Israel. Many a time
before His incarnation, He descended to this lower earth in the
similitude of a man; on the plains of Mamre (Gen. 18), by the
brook of Jabbok (Gen. 32:24-30), beneath the walls of Jericho
(Josh. 5:13), and in the fiery furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3:19,
25), the Son of Man visited His people. Because His soul
delighted in them, He could not rest away from them, for His
heart longed after them. Never were they absent from His heart,
for He had written their names upon His hands, and graven them
upon His side. As the breastplate containing the names of the
tribes of Israel was the most brilliant ornament worn by the
high priest, so the names of Christ's elect were His most
precious jewels, and glittered on His heart. We may often
forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord, but He
never ceases to remember us. Let us chide ourselves for past
forgetfulness, and pray for grace ever to bear Him in fondest
remembrance. Lord, paint upon the eyeballs of my soul the image
of Thy Son.

* 12/18/AM

"Rend your heart, and not your garments."
                                                     --Joel 2:13

    Garment-rendering and other outward signs of religious
emotion, are easily manifested and are frequently
hypocritical; but to feel true repentance is far more
difficult, and consequently far less common. Men will attend to
the most multiplied and minute ceremonial regulations--for such
things are pleasing to the flesh--but true religion is too
humbling, too heart-searching, too thorough for the tastes of
the carnal men; they prefer something more ostentatious, flimsy,
and worldly. Outward observances are temporarily comfortable;
eye and ear are pleased; self-conceit is fed, and self-
righteousness is puffed up: but they are ultimately delusive,
for in the article of death, and at the day of judgment, the
soul needs something more substantial than ceremonies and
rituals to lean upon. Apart from vital godliness all religion is
utterly vain; offered without a sincere heart, every form of
worship is a solemn sham and an impudent mockery of the majesty
of heaven.

   HEART-RENDING is divinely wrought and solemnly felt. It is
a secret grief which is personally experienced, not in mere
form, but as a deep, soul-moving work of the Holy Spirit upon
the inmost heart of each believer. It is not a matter to be
merely talked of and believed in, but keenly and sensitively
felt in every living child of the living God. It is powerfully
humiliating, and completely sin-purging; but then it is
sweetly preparative for those gracious consolations which
proud unhumbled spirits are unable to receive; and it is
distinctly discriminating, for it belongs to the elect of God,
and to them alone.

   The text commands us to rend our hearts, but they are
naturally hard as marble: how, then, can this be done? We must
take them to Calvary: a dying Saviour's voice rent the rocks
once, and it is as powerful now. O blessed Spirit, let us hear
the death-cries of Jesus, and our hearts shall be rent even as
men rend their vestures in the day of lamentation.

* 12/19/AM

"The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord."
                                                --Proverbs 16:33

   If the disposal of the lot is the Lord's whose is the
arrangement of our whole life? If the a simple casting of a lot
is guided by Him, how much more the events of our entire
life--especially when we are told by our blessed Saviour: "The
very hairs of your head are all numbered: not a sparrow falleth
to the ground without your Father." It would bring a holy calm
over your mind, dear friend, if you were always to remember
this. It would so relieve your mind from anxiety, that you would
be the better able to walk in patience, quiet, and cheerfulness
as a Christian should. When a man is anxious he cannot pray with
faith; when he is troubled about the world, he cannot serve his
Master, his thoughts are serving himself. If you would "seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," all things
would then be added unto you. You are meddling with Christ's
business, and neglecting your own when you fret about your lot
and circumstances. You have been trying "providing" work and
forgetting that it is yours to obey. Be wise and attend to the
obeying, and let Christ manage the providing. Come and survey
your Father's storehouse, and ask whether He will let you starve
while He has laid up so great an abundance in His garner? Look
at His heart of mercy; see if that can ever prove unkind! Look
at His inscrutable wisdom; see if that will ever be at fault.
Above all, look up to Jesus Christ your Intercessor, and ask
yourself, while He pleads, can your Father deal ungraciously
with you? If He remembers even sparrows, will He forget one of
the least of His poor children? "Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
and He will sustain thee. He will never suffer the righteous to
be moved."

           My soul, rest happy in thy low estate,
           Nor hope nor wish to be esteem'd or great;
           To take the impress of the Will Divine,
           Be that thy glory, and those riches thine.

* 12/20/AM

"Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
                                                 --Jeremiah 31:3

   Sometimes the Lord Jesus tells His Church His love thoughts.
"He does not think it enough behind her back to tell it, but in
her very presence He says, 'Thou art all fair, my love.' It is
true, this is not His ordinary method; He is a wise lover, and
knows when to keep back the intimation of love and when to let
it out; but there are times when He will make no secret of it;
times when He will put it beyond all dispute in the souls of His
people" (R. Erskine's Sermons). The Holy Spirit is often
pleased, in a most gracious manner, to witness with our spirits
of the love of Jesus. He takes of the things of Christ and
reveals them unto us. No voice is heard from the clouds, and no
vision is seen in the night, but we have a testimony more sure
than either of these. If an angel should fly from heaven and
inform the saint personally of the Saviour's love to him, the
evidence would not be one whit more satisfactory than that which
is borne in the heart by the Holy Ghost. Ask those of the Lord's
people who have lived the nearest to the gates of heaven, and
they will tell you that they have had seasons when the love of
Christ towards them has been a fact so clear and sure, that they
could no more doubt it than they could question their own
existence. Yes, beloved believer, you and I have had times of
refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and then our faith has
mounted to the topmost heights of assurance. We have had
confidence to lean our heads upon the bosom of our Lord, and we
have no more questioned our Master's affection to us than John
did when in that blessed posture; nay, nor so much: for the dark
question, "Lord, is it I that shall betray thee?" has been put
far from us. He has kissed us with the kisses of His mouth, and
killed our doubts by the closeness of His embrace. His love has
been sweeter than wine to our souls.

* 12/21/AM

"Yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant."
                                                 --2 Samuel 23:5

   This covenant is divine in its origin. "HE hath made with
me an everlasting covenant." Oh that great word HE! Stop, my
soul. God, the everlasting Father, has positively made a
covenant with thee; yes, that God who spake the world into
existence by a word; He, stooping from His majesty, takes hold
of thy hand and makes a covenant with thee. Is it not a deed,
the stupendous condescension of which might ravish our hearts
for ever if we could really understand it? "HE hath made with me
a covenant." A king has not made a covenant with me--that were
somewhat; but the Prince of the kings of the earth, Shaddai, the
Lord All-sufficient, the Jehovah of ages, the everlasting
Elohim, "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant." But
notice, it is particular in its application. "Yet hath He made
with ME an everlasting covenant." Here lies the sweetness of it
to each believer. It is nought for me that He made peace for the
world; I want to know whether He made peace for me! It is
little that He hath made a covenant, I want to know whether He
has made a covenant with me. Blessed is the assurance that He
hath made a covenant with me! If God the Holy Ghost gives me
assurance of this, then His salvation is mine, His heart is
mine, He Himself is mine--He is my God.

   This covenant is everlasting in its duration. An
everlasting covenant means a covenant which had no beginning,
and which shall never, never end. How sweet amidst all the
uncertainties of life, to know that "the foundation of the Lord
standeth sure," and to have God's own promise, "My covenant will
I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."
Like dying David, I will sing of this, even though my house be
not so with God as my heart desireth.

* 12/22/AM

"I will strengthen thee."
                                                  --Isaiah 41:10

   God has a strong reserve with which to discharge this
engagement; for He is able to do all things. Believer, till thou
canst drain dry the ocean of omnipotence, till thou canst break
into pieces the towering mountains of almighty strength, thou
never needest to fear. Think not that the strength of man shall
ever be able to overcome the power of God. Whilst the earth's
huge pillars stand, thou hast enough reason to abide firm in thy
faith. The same God who directs the earth in its orbit, who
feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and trims the lamps of
heaven, has promised to supply thee with daily strength. While
He is able to uphold the universe, dream not that He will prove
unable to fulfil His own promises. Remember what He did in the
days of old, in the former generations. Remember how He spake
and it was done; how He commanded, and it stood fast. Shall He
that created the world grow weary? He hangeth the world upon
nothing; shall He who doth this be unable to support His
children? Shall He be unfaithful to His word for want of power?
Who is it that restrains the tempest? Doth not He ride upon the
wings of the wind, and make the clouds His chariots, and hold
the ocean in the hollow of His hand? How can He fail thee? When
He has put such a faithful promise as this on record, wilt thou
for a moment indulge the thought that He has outpromised
Himself, and gone beyond His power to fulfil? Ah, no! Thou canst
doubt no longer.

   O thou who art my God and my strength, I can believe that
this promise shall be fulfilled, for the boundless reservoir of
Thy grace can never be exhausted, and the overflowing storehouse
of Thy strength can never be emptied by Thy friends or rifled by
Thine enemies.

               "Now let the feeble all be strong,
               And make Jehovah's arm their song."

* 12/23/AM

"Friend, go up higher."
                                                    --Luke 14:10

   When first the life of grace begins in the soul, we do indeed
draw near to God, but it is with great fear and trembling. The
soul conscious of guilt, and humbled thereby, is overawed with
the solemnity of its position; it is cast to the earth by a
sense of the grandeur of Jehovah, in whose presence it stands.
With unfeigned bashfulness it takes the lowest room.

   But, in after life, as the Christian grows in grace, although
he will never forget the solemnity of his position, and will
never lose that holy awe which must encompass a gracious man
when he is in the presence of the God who can create or can
destroy; yet his fear has all its terror taken out of it; it
becomes a holy reverence, and no more an overshadowing dread. He
is called up higher, to greater access to God in Christ Jesus.
Then the man of God, walking amid the splendours of Deity, and
veiling his face like the glorious cherubim, with those twin
wings, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, will,
reverent and bowed in spirit, approach the throne; and seeing
there a God of love, of goodness, and of mercy, he will realize
rather the covenant character of God than His absolute Deity. He
will see in God rather His goodness than His greatness, and more
of His love than of His majesty. Then will the soul, bowing
still as humbly as aforetime, enjoy a more sacred liberty of
intercession; for while prostrate before the glory of the
Infinite God, it will be sustained by the refreshing
consciousness of being in the presence of boundless mercy and
infinite love, and by the realization of acceptance "in the
Beloved." Thus the believer is bidden to come up higher, and is
enabled to exercise the privilege of rejoicing in God, and
drawing near to Him in holy confidence, saying, "Abba, Father."

          "So may we go from strength to strength,
          And daily grow in grace,
          Till in Thine image raised at length,
          We see Thee face to face."

* 12/24/AM

"For your sakes he became poor."
                                             --2 Corinthians 8:9

   The Lord Jesus Christ was eternally rich, glorious, and
exalted; but "though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor." As the rich saint cannot be true in his communion with
his poor brethren unless of his substance he ministers to their
necessities, so (the same rule holding with the head as between
the members), it is impossible that our Divine Lord could have
had fellowship with us unless He had imparted to us of His own
abounding wealth, and had become poor to make us rich. Had He
remained upon His throne of glory, and had we continued in the
ruins of the fall without receiving His salvation, communion
would have been impossible on both sides. Our position by the
fall, apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible
for fallen man to communicate with God as it is for Belial to be
in concord with Christ. In order, therefore, that communion
might be compassed, it was necessary that the rich kinsman
should bestow his estate upon his poor relatives, that the
righteous Saviour should give to His sinning brethren of His own
perfection, and that we, the poor and guilty, should receive of
His fulness grace for grace; that thus in giving and receiving,
the One might descend from the heights, and the other ascend
from the depths, and so be able to embrace each other in true
and hearty fellowship. Poverty must be enriched by Him in whom
are infinite treasures before it can venture to commune; and
guilt must lose itself in imputed and imparted righteousness ere
the soul can walk in fellowship with purity. Jesus must clothe
His people in His own garments, or He cannot admit them into His
palace of glory; and He must wash them in His own blood, or else
they will be too defiled for the embrace of His fellowship.

   O believer, herein is love! For your sake the Lord Jesus
"became poor" that He might lift you up into communion with
Himself.

* 12/25/AM

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel."
                                                   --Isaiah 7:14

   Let us to-day go down to Bethlehem, and in company with
wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see Him who was
born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in
Him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and
yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us
notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It
was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a
virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran
thus, "The seed of the woman," not the offspring of the man.
Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth
Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of
Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to His human
nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the
holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient
glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of
glory. Fail not to note His humble parentage. His mother has
been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess, or
prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of
kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught
one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet
how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood
affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the
new-born King!

   Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our
lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or
rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and
Second Advent splendour.

* 12/26/AM

"The last Adam."
                                           --1 Corinthians 15:45

   Jesus is the federal head of His elect. As in Adam, every
heir of flesh and blood has a personal interest, because he is
the covenant head and representative of the race as considered
under the law of works; so under the law of grace, every
redeemed soul is one with the Lord from heaven, since He is the
Second Adam, the Sponsor and Substitute of the elect in the new
covenant of love. The apostle Paul declares that Levi was in
the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him: it is a certain
truth that the believer was in the loins of Jesus Christ, the
Mediator, when in old eternity the covenant settlements of grace
were decreed, ratified, and made sure for ever. Thus, whatever
Christ hath done, He hath wrought for the whole body of His
Church. We were crucified in Him and buried with Him (read Col.
2:10-13), and to make it still more wonderful, we are risen with
Him and even ascended with Him to the seats on high (Eph. 2:6).
It is thus that the Church has fulfilled the law, and is
"accepted in the beloved." It is thus that she is regarded
with complacency by the just Jehovah, for He views her in Jesus,
and does not look upon her as separate from her covenant head.
As the Anointed Redeemer of Israel, Christ Jesus has nothing
distinct from His Church, but all that He has He holds for her.
Adam's righteousness was ours so long as he maintained it, and
his sin was ours the moment that he committed it; and in the
same manner, all that the Second Adam is or does, is ours as
well as His, seeing that He is our representative. Here is the
foundation of the covenant of grace. This gracious system of
representation and substitution, which moved Justin Martyr to
cry out, "O blessed change, O sweet permutation!" this is the
very groundwork of the gospel of our salvation, and is to be
received with strong faith and rapturous joy.

* 12/27/AM

"Can the rush grow up without mire?"
                                                      --Job 8:11

   The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite;
there is no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and
fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence;
for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither
are hypocrites troubled with persecution. I would not willingly
be a deceiver or be deceived; perhaps the text for this day may
help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. The rush
by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the
mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become
dry, and the rush withers very quickly. Its greenness is
absolutely dependent upon circumstances, a present abundance of
water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. Is
this my case? Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or
when religion is profitable and respectable? Do I love the Lord
only when temporal comforts are received from His hands? If so I
am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish
when death deprives me of outward joys. But can I honestly
assert that when bodily comforts have been few, and my
surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all
helpful to it, I have still held fast my integrity? then have I
hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. The rush
cannot grow without mire, but plants of the Lord's right hand
planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. A
godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay.
He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas; they who follow
for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but they who
attend Him out of love to Himself are His own beloved ones.
Lord, let me find my life in Thee, and not in the mire of this
world's favour or gain.

* 12/28/AM

"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God."
                                                --Galatians 2:20

    When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, He
first of all said, "Live"; and this He did first, because life
is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters,
and until it be bestowed we are incapable of partaking in the
things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace confers upon the
saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the
life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us,
the branches, and establishes a living connection between our
souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union,
having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. It is the neck which
joins the body of the Church to its all-glorious Head.

         "Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord,
         Is not this office thine? and thy fit name,
         In the economy of gospel types,
         And symbols apposite--the Church's neck;
         Identifying her in will and work
         With Him ascended?"

Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined
grasp. She knows His excellence and worth, and no temptation can
induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so
delighted with this heavenly grace, that He never ceases to
strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and
all-sufficient support of His eternal arms. Here, then, is
established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts
forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and
joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When
the soul can evidently perceive this oneness between itself and
Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the one
blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as
near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the
enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.

* 12/29/AM

"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
                                                 --1 Samuel 7:12

   The word "hitherto" seems like a hand pointing in the
direction of the past. Twenty years or seventy, and yet,
"hitherto the Lord hath helped!" Through poverty, through
wealth, through sickness, through health, at home, abroad, on
the land, on the sea, in honour, in dishonour, in perplexity, in
joy, in trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation, "hitherto
hath the Lord helped us!" We delight to look down a long avenue
of trees. It is delightful to gaze from end to end of the long
vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and
its arches of leaves; even so look down the long aisles of your
years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong
pillars of lovingkindness and faithfulness which bear up your
joys. Are there no birds in yonder branches singing? Surely
there must be many, and they all sing of mercy received
"hitherto."

   But the word also points forward. For when a man gets up to
a certain mark and writes "hitherto," he is not yet at the end,
there is still a distance to be traversed. More trials, more
joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more prayers, more
answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories;
and then come sickness, old age, disease, death. Is it over now?
No! there is more yet-awakening in Jesu's likeness, thrones,
harps, songs, psalms, white raiment, the face of Jesus, the
society of saints, the glory of God, the fulness of eternity,
the infinity of bliss. O be of good courage, believer, and with
grateful confidence raise thy "Ebenezer," for--

            He who hath helped thee hitherto
            Will help thee all thy journey through.

When read in heaven's light how glorious and marvellous a
prospect will thy "hitherto" unfold to thy grateful eye!

* 12/30/AM

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."
                                              --Ecclesiastes 7:8

   Look at David's Lord and Master; see His beginning. He was
despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Would you see the end? He sits at His Father's right
hand, expecting until His enemies be made his footstool. "As He
is, so are we also in this world." You must bear the cross, or
you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire,
or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then,
poor Christian. "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning
thereof." See that creeping worm, how contemptible its
appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect
with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the
flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end
thereof. That caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up
in the chrysalis of death; but when Christ shall appear you
shall be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is. Be content to
be like Him, a worm and no man, that like Him you may be
satisfied when you wake up in His likeness. That rough-looking
diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all
sides. It loses much--much that seemed costly to itself. The
king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch's head with
trumpet's joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that
coronet, and it beams from that very diamond which was just now
so sorely vexed by the lapidary. You may venture to compare
yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God's people; and
this is the time of the cutting process. Let faith and patience
have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall be
set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one
ray of glory shall stream from you. "They shall be Mine," saith
the Lord, "in the day when I make up My jewels." "Better is the
end of a thing than the beginning thereof."

* 12/31/AM

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and
drink."
                                                     --John 7:37

   Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until
the last day of the feast He pleaded with the Jews, even as on
this last day of the year He pleads with us, and waits to be
gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the
Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year,
notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of
His Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land
of mercy!

   Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried,
which implies not only the loudness of His voice, but the
tenderness of His tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. "We
pray you," says the Apostle, "as though God did beseech you
by us." What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be
the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a
mother woo His children to His bosom! Surely at the call of
such a cry our willing hearts will come.

   Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that
man can need to quench his soul's thirst. To his conscience the
atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings
the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the
noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is
in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but
Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished,
Jesus could restore it.

   Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is
welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst.
Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure,
knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The
thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather
a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper
draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which
brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and
without respect of persons.

   Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to
Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal
Redeemer, who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the
tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of
hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the
sun sets upon the year's last day!

   No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking
represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool,
a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is
no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden
cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the water to the
thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff
the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch
the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall
themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader,
hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as He cries to each of us,

                      "IF ANY MAN THIRST,
                            LET HIM
                         COME UNTO ME
                          AND DRINK."
* 01/01/PM

"We will be glad and rejoice in Thee."
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:4

   We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. We will not open the
gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to
the sweet strains of the harp of joy, and the high sounding
cymbals of gladness. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us
make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." We, the
called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs,
and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let
others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening
tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify the
Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the
temples in which Thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring
and blessing the name of Jesus. We WILL, we are resolved about
it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart's delight; we will
not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence. We are
ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our
everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New
Jerusalem. We will BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with one
sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be
any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now?  Do not men of
grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and
cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven
itself? We will be glad and rejoice IN THEE. That last word is
the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the
text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus!  What rivers of
infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their
fulness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present
portion of Thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of
Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be
glad and rejoice in Thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord,
and December close with gladness in Jesus.

* 01/02/PM

"Let the people renew their strength."
                                                   --Isaiah 41:1

   All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing
continueth by itself. "Thou renewest the face of the year," was
the Psalmist's utterance. Even the trees, which wear not
themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with labour, must
drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures
of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only
live because day by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from
the earth.Neither can man's life be sustained without renewal
from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by
the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by
feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached
Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances.How
depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor
starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of
the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without
God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God
had begotten it, it would wait upon Him as the flowers wait upon
the dew. Without constant restoration we are not ready for the
perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven,
or even for the strifes within. When the whirlwind shall be
loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap, and
grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots.When tempests
arise, woe to the mariners that have not strengthened their
mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought the haven. If we suffer
the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength
and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so,
mayhap, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may
follow. Let us draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in
humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfillment of the
promise, "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their
strength."

* 01/03/PM

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make his paths straight."
                                                      --Luke 3:4

   The voice crying in the wilderness demanded a way for the
Lord, a way prepared, and a way prepared in the wilderness. I
would be attentive to the Master's proclamation, and give Him a
road into my heart, cast up by gracious operations, through the
desert of my nature. The four directions in the text must have
my serious attention.

   Every valley must be exalted. Low and grovelling thoughts
of God must be given up; doubting and despairing must be
removed; and self-seeking and carnal delights must be forsaken.
Across these deep valleys a glorious causeway of grace must be
raised.

   Every mountain and hill shall be laid low. Proud creature-
sufficiency, and boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled,
to make a highway for the King of kings. Divine fellowship is
never vouchsafed to haughty, highminded sinners. The Lord hath
respect unto the lowly, and visits the contrite in heart, but
the lofty are an abomination unto Him. My soul, beseech the Holy
Spirit to set thee right in this respect.

   The crooked shall be made straight. The wavering heart must
have a straight path of decision for God and holiness marked out
for it. Double-minded men are strangers to the God of truth. My
soul, take heed that thou be in all things honest and true, as
in the sight of the heart-searching God.

   The rough places shall be made smooth. Stumbling-blocks of
sin must be removed, and thorns and briers of rebellion must be
uprooted. So great a visitor must not find miry ways and stony
places when He comes to honour His favoured ones with His
company. Oh that this evening the Lord may find in my heart a
highway made ready by His grace, that He may make a triumphal
progress through the utmost bounds of my soul, from the
beginning of this year even to the end of it.

* 01/04/PM

"And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him."
                                                  --Genesis 42:8

   This morning our desires went forth for growth in our
acquaintance with the Lord Jesus; it may be well to-night to
consider a kindred topic, namely, our heavenly Joseph's
knowledge of us. This was most blessedly perfect long before we
had the slightest knowledge of Him. "His eyes beheld our
substance, yet being imperfect, and in His book all our members
were written, when as yet there was none of them." Before we had
a being in the world we had a being in His heart. When we were
enemies to Him, He knew us, our misery, our madness, and our
wickedness. When we wept bitterly in despairing repentance, and
viewed Him only as a judge and a ruler, He viewed us as His
brethren well beloved, and His bowels yearned towards us. He
never mistook His chosen, but always beheld them as objects of
His infinite affection. "The Lord knoweth them that are His," is
as true of the prodigals who are feeding swine as of the
children who sit at the table.

   But, alas! we knew not our royal Brother, and out of this
ignorance grew a host of sins. We withheld our hearts from Him,
and allowed Him no entrance to our love. We mistrusted Him, and
gave no credit to His words. We rebelled against Him, and paid
Him no loving homage. The Sun of Righteousness shone forth, and
we could not see Him. Heaven came down to earth, and earth
perceived it not. Let God be praised, those days are over with
us; yet even now it is but little that we know of Jesus compared
with what He knows of us. We have but begun to study Him, but He
knoweth us altogether. It is a blessed circumstance that the
ignorance is not on His side, for then it would be a hopeless
case for us. He will not say to us, "I never knew you," but He
will confess our names in the day of His appearing, and
meanwhile will manifest Himself to us as He doth not unto the
world.

* 01/05/PM

"And God saw the light."
                                                   --Genesis 1:4

   This morning we noticed the goodness of the light, and the
Lord's dividing it from the darkness, we now note the special
eye which the Lord had for the light. "God saw the light"--He
looked at it with complacency, gazed upon it with pleasure, saw
that it "was good." If the Lord has given you light, dear
reader, He looks on that light with peculiar interest; for not
only is it dear to Him as His own handiwork, but because it is
like Himself, for "He is light." Pleasant it is to the believer
to know that God's eye is thus tenderly observant of that work
of grace which He has begun. He never loses sight of the
treasure which He has placed in our earthen vessels. Sometimes
we cannot see the light, but God always sees the light, and that
is much better than our seeing it. Better for the judge to see
my innocence than for me to think I see it. It is very
comfortable for me to know that I am one of God's people--but
whether I know it or not, if the Lord knows it, I am still
safe. This is the foundation, "The Lord knoweth them that are
His." You may be sighing and groaning because of inbred sin, and
mourning over your darkness, yet the Lord sees "light" in your
heart, for He has put it there, and all the cloudiness and gloom
of your soul cannot conceal your light from His gracious eye.
You may have sunk low in despondency, and even despair; but if
your soul has any longing towards Christ, and if you are seeking
to rest in His finished work, God sees the "light." He not only
sees it, but He also preserves it in you. "I, the Lord, do
keep it." This is a precious thought to those who, after anxious
watching and guarding of themselves, feel their own
powerlessness to do so. The light thus preserved by His grace,
He will one day develop into the splendour of noonday, and the
fulness of glory. The light within is the dawn of the eternal
day.

* 01/06/PM

"Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening."
                                                 --Ezekiel 33:22

   In the way of judgment this may be the case, and, if so, be
it mine to consider the reason of such a visitation, and bear
the rod and Him that hath appointed it. I am not the only one
who is chastened in the night season; let me cheerfully submit
to the affliction, and carefully endeavour to be profited
thereby. But the hand of the Lord may also be felt in another
manner, strengthening the soul and lifting the spirit upward
towards eternal things. O that I may in this sense feel the Lord
dealing with me! A sense of the divine presence and indwelling
bears the soul towards heaven as upon the wings of eagles. At
such times we are full to the brim with spiritual joy, and
forget the cares and sorrows of earth; the invisible is near,
and the visible loses its power over us; servant-body waits at
the foot of the hill, and the master-spirit worships upon the
summit in the presence of the Lord. O that a hallowed season of
divine communion may be vouchsafed to me this evening!  The Lord
knows that I need it very greatly. My graces languish, my
corruptions rage, my faith is weak, my devotion is cold; all
these are reasons why His healing hand should be laid upon me.
His hand can cool the heat of my burning brow, and stay the
tumult of my palpitating heart. That glorious right hand which
moulded the world can new-create my mind; the unwearied hand
which bears the earth's huge pillars up can sustain my spirit;
the loving hand which incloses all the saints can cherish me;
and the mighty hand which breaketh in pieces the enemy can
subdue my sins. Why should I not feel that hand touching me this
evening? Come, my soul, address thy God with the potent plea,
that Jesu's hands were pierced for thy redemption, and thou
shalt surely feel that same hand upon thee which once touched
Daniel and set him upon his knees that he might see visions of
God.

* 01/07/PM

"My sister, my spouse."
                                          --Song of Solomon 4:12

   Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon
with intense affection addresses His bride the church. "My
sister, one near to me by ties of nature, partaker of the same
sympathies. My spouse, nearest and dearest, united to me by
the tenderest bands of love; my sweet companion, part of my own
self. My sister, by my Incarnation, which makes me bone of thy
bone and flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by heavenly betrothal,
in which I have espoused thee unto myself in righteousness. My
sister, whom I knew of old, and over whom I watched from her
earliest infancy; my spouse, taken from among the daughters,
embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me for ever. See
how true it is that our royal Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for
He dwells with manifest delight upon this two-fold relationship.
We have the word "my" twice in our version; as if Christ dwelt
with rapture on His possession of His Church. "His delights were
with the sons of men," because those sons of men were His own
chosen ones. He, the Shepherd, sought the sheep, because they
were His sheep; He has gone about "to seek and to save that
which was lost," because that which was lost was His long
before it was lost to itself or lost to Him. The church is the
exclusive portion of her Lord; none else may claim a
partnership, or pretend to share her love. Jesus, thy church
delights to have it so! Let every believing soul drink solace
out of these wells. Soul! Christ is near to thee in ties of
relationship; Christ is dear to thee in bonds of marriage union,
and thou art dear to Him; behold He grasps both of thy hands
with both His own, saying, "My sister, my spouse." Mark the
two sacred holdfasts by which thy Lord gets such a double hold
of thee that He neither can nor will ever let thee go. Be not, O
beloved, slow to return the hallowed flame of His love.

* 01/08/PM

"Thy love is better than wine."
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:2

   Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with
Christ. He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of
life, he can be glad both in God's gifts and God's works; but in
all these separately, yea, and in all of them added together, he
doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless
person of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on earth
ever yielded; he has bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt
could never bring forth. Where can such sweetness be found as we
have tasted in communion with our Beloved?  In our esteem, the
joys of earth are little better than husks for swine compared
with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one
mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a
whole world full of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the
wheat? What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is
a dream to the glorious reality?  What is time's mirth, in its
best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in His most despised
estate? If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess
that our highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the
fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise
of God. No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God
which was digged with the soldier's spear. All earthly bliss is
of the earth earthy, but the comforts of Christ's presence are
like Himself, heavenly. We can review our communion with Jesus,
and find no regrets of emptiness therein; there are no dregs in
this wine, no dead flies in this ointment. The joy of the Lord
is solid and enduring. Vanity hath not looked upon it, but
discretion and prudence testify that it abideth the test of
years, and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called "the
only true delight." For nourishment, consolation, exhilaration,
and refreshment, no wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us
drink to the full this evening.

* 01/09/PM

"Serve the Lord with gladness."
                                                   --Psalm 100:2

   Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who
serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is
unpleasant to them, are not serving Him at all; they bring the
form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no
slaves to grace His throne; He is the Lord of the empire of
love, and would have His servants dressed in the livery of joy.
The angels of God serve Him with songs, not with groans; a
murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That
obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord
looketh at the heart, and if He seeth that we serve Him from
force, and not because we love Him, He will reject our offering.
Service coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and
therefore true. Take away joyful willingness from the Christian,
and you have removed the test of his sincerity. If a man be
driven to battle, he is no patriot; but he who marches into the
fray with flashing eye and beaming face, singing, "It is sweet
for one's country to die," proves himself to be sincere in his
patriotism. Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in
the joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of
difficulties. It is to our service what oil is to the wheels of
a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and
accidents occur; and if there be not a holy cheerfulness to oil
our wheels, our spirits will be clogged with weariness. The man
who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience is
his element; he can sing,

              "Make me to walk in Thy commands,
              'Tis a delightful road."

Reader, let us put this question--do you serve the Lord with
gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our
religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy!
Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.

* 01/10/PM

"In my flesh shall I see God."
                                                     --Job 19:26

   Mark the subject of Job's devout anticipation "I shall see
God." He does not say, "I shall see the saints"--though
doubtless that will be untold felicity--but, "I shall see God."
It is not--"I shall see the pearly gates, I shall behold the
walls of jasper, I shall gaze upon the crowns of gold," but "I
shall see God." This is the sum and substance of heaven, this is
the joyful hope of all believers. It is their delight to see Him
now in the ordinances by faith. They love to behold Him in
communion and in prayer; but there in heaven they shall have an
open and unclouded vision, and thus seeing "Him as He is," shall
be made completely like Him. Likeness to God--what can we wish
for more? And a sight of God--what can we desire better? Some
read the passage, "Yet, I shall see God in my flesh," and find
here an allusion to Christ, as the "Word made flesh," and that
glorious beholding of Him which shall be the splendour of the
latter days. Whether so or not it is certain that Christ shall
be the object of our eternal vision; nor shall we ever want any
joy beyond that of seeing Him. Think not that this will be a
narrow sphere for the mind to dwell in. It is but one source of
delight, but that source is infinite. All His attributes shall
be subjects for contemplation, and as He is infinite under each
aspect, there is no fear of exhaustion. His works, His gifts,
His love to us, and His glory in all His purposes, and in all
His actions, these shall make a theme which will be ever new.
The patriarch looked forward to this sight of God as a
personal enjoyment. "Whom mine eye shall behold, and not
another." Take realizing views of heaven's bliss; think what it
will be to you. "Thine eyes shall see the King in His
beauty." All earthly brightness fades and darkens as we gaze
upon it, but here is a brightness which can never dim, a glory
which can never fade--"I shall see God."

* 01/11/PM

"I have prayed for thee."
                                                    --Luke 22:32

   How encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer's never-
ceasing intercession for us. When we pray, He pleads for us; and
then we are not praying, He is advocating our cause, and by
His supplications shielding us from unseen dangers. Notice the
word of comfort addressed to Peter--"Simon, Simon, Satan hath
desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but"--what?
"But go and pray for yourself." That would be good advice, but
it is not so written. Neither does he say, "But I will keep you
watchful, and so you shall be preserved." That were a great
blessing. No, it is, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy
faith fail not." We little know what we owe to our Saviour's
prayers. When we reach the hill-tops of heaven, and look back
upon all the way whereby the Lord our God hath led us, how we
shall praise Him who, before the eternal throne, undid the
mischief which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank
Him because He never held His peace, but day and night pointed
to the wounds upon His hands, and carried our names upon His
breastplate! Even before Satan had begun to tempt, Jesus had
forestalled him and entered a plea in heaven. Mercy outruns
malice. Mark, He does not say, "Satan hath desired to have
you." He checks Satan even in his very desire, and nips it in
the bud. He does not say, "But I have desired to pray for you."
No, but "I have prayed for you: I have done it already; I have
gone to court and entered a counterplea even before an
accusation is made." O Jesus, what a comfort it is that thou
hast pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies; countermined
their mines, and unmasked their ambushes. Here is a matter for
joy, gratitude, hope, and confidence.

* 01/12/PM

"I have yet to speak on God's behalf."
                                                      --Job 36:2

   We ought not to court publicity for our virtue, or notoriety
for our zeal; but, at the same time, it is a sin to be always
seeking to hide that which God has bestowed upon us for the good
of others. A Christian is not to be a village in a valley, but
"a city set upon a hill;" he is not to be a candle under a
bushel, but a candle in a candlestick, giving light to all.
Retirement may be lovely in its season, and to hide one's self
is doubtless modest, but the hiding of Christ in us can never
be justified, and the keeping back of truth which is precious to
ourselves is a sin against others and an offence against God. If
you are of a nervous temperament and of retiring disposition,
take care that you do not too much indulge this trembling
propensity, lest you should be useless to the church. Seek in
the name of Him who was not ashamed of you to do some little
violence to your feelings, and tell to others what Christ has
told to you. If thou canst not speak with trumpet tongue, use
the still small voice. If the pulpit must not be thy tribune, if
the press may not carry on its wings thy words, yet say with
Peter and John, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have
give I thee." By Sychar's well talk to the Samaritan woman, if
thou canst not on the mountain preach a sermon; utter the
praises of Jesus in the house, if not in the temple; in the
field, if not upon the exchange; in the midst of thine own
household, if thou canst not in the midst of the great family of
man. From the hidden springs within let sweetly flowing rivulets
of testimony flow forth, giving drink to every passer-by. Hide
not thy talent; trade with it; and thou shalt bring in good
interest to thy Lord and Master. To speak for God will be
refreshing to ourselves, cheering to saints, useful to sinners,
and honouring to the Saviour. Dumb children are an affliction to
their parents. Lord, unloose all Thy children's tongue.

* 01/13/PM

"The iron did swim."
                                                   --2 Kings 6:9

   The axe-head seemed hopelessly lost, and as it was borrowed,
the honour of the prophetic band was likely to be imperilled,
and so the name of their God to be compromised. Contrary to all
expectation, the iron was made to mount from the depth of the
stream and to swim; for things impossible with man are possible
with God. I knew a man in Christ but a few years ago who was
called to undertake a work far exceeding his strength. It
appeared so difficult as to involve absurdity in the bare idea
of attempting it. Yet he was called thereto, and his faith rose
with the occasion; God honoured his faith, unlooked-for aid was
sent, and the iron did swim. Another of the Lord's family was in
grievous financial straits, he was able to meet all claims, and
much more if he could have realized a certain portion of his
estate, but he was overtaken with a sudden pressure; he sought
for friends in vain, but faith led him to the unfailing Helper,
and lo, the trouble was averted, his footsteps were enlarged,
and the iron did swim. A third had a sorrowful case of depravity
to deal with. He had taught, reproved, warned, invited, and
interceded, but all in vain. Old Adam was too strong for young
Melancthon, the stubborn spirit would not relent. Then came an
agony of prayer, and before long a blessed answer was sent from
heaven. The hard heart was broken, the iron did swim.

   Beloved reader, what is thy desperate case? What heavy matter
hast thou in hand this evening? Bring it hither. The God of the
prophets lives, and lives to help His saints. He will not suffer
thee to lack any good thing. Believe thou in the Lord of hosts!
Approach Him pleading the name of Jesus, and the iron shall
swim; thou too shalt see the finger of God working marvels for
His people. According to thy faith be it unto thee, and yet
again the iron shall swim.

* 01/14/PM

"Beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me."
                                                 --Matthew 14:30

   Sinking times are praying times with the Lord's servants.
Peter neglected prayer at starting upon his venturous journey,
but when he began to sink his danger made him a suppliant, and
his cry though late was not too late. In our hours of bodily
pain and mental anguish, we find ourselves as naturally driven
to prayer as the wreck is driven upon the shore by the waves.
The fox hies to its hole for protection; the bird flies to the
wood for shelter; and even so the tried believer hastens to the
mercy seat for safety. Heaven's great harbour of refuge is
All-prayer; thousands of weather-beaten vessels have found a
haven there, and the moment a storm comes on, it is wise for us
to make for it with all sail.

   Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words
in the petition which Peter gasped out, but they were sufficient
for his purpose. Not length but strength is desirable. A sense
of need is a mighty teacher of brevity. If our prayers had less
of the tail feathers of pride and more wing they would be all
the better. Verbiage is to devotion as chaff to the wheat.
Precious things lie in small compass, and all that is real
prayer in many a long address might have been uttered in a
petition as short as that of Peter.

   Our extremities are the Lord's opportunities. Immediately a
keen sense of danger forces an anxious cry from us the ear of
Jesus hears, and with Him ear and heart go together, and the
hand does not long linger. At the last moment we appeal to our
Master, but His swift hand makes up for our delays by instant
and effectual action. Are we nearly engulfed by the boisterous
waters of affliction? Let us then lift up our souls unto our
Saviour, and we may rest assured that He will not suffer us to
perish. When we can do nothing Jesus can do all things; let us
enlist His powerful aid upon our side, and all will be well.

* 01/15/PM

"But I give myself unto prayer."
                                                   --Psalm 109:4

   Lying tongues were busy against the reputation of David, but
he did not defend himself; he moved the case into a higher
court, and pleaded before the great King Himself. Prayer is the
safest method of replying to words of hatred. The Psalmist
prayed in no cold-hearted manner, he gave himself to the
exercise--threw his whole soul and heart into it--straining
every sinew and muscle, as Jacob did when wrestling with the
angel. Thus, and thus only, shall any of us speed at the throne
of grace. As a shadow has no power because there is no substance
in it, even so that supplication, in which a man's proper self
is not thoroughly present in agonizing earnestness and vehement
desire, is utterly ineffectual, for it lacks that which would
give it force. "Fervent prayer," says an old divine, "like a
cannon planted at the gates of heaven, makes them fly open." The
common fault with the most of us is our readiness to yield to
distractions. Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we
make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver
our mind will not hold together, but rolls off this way and
that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and what is
worse, it insults our God. What should we think of a petitioner,
if, while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing
with a feather or catching a fly?

   Continuance and perseverance are intended in the expression
of our text. David did not cry once, and then relapse into
silence; his holy clamour was continued till it brought down the
blessing. Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily
business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to
their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we
addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in
our element, and so pray without ceasing. Lord, teach us so to
pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication.

* 01/16/PM

"The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself."
                                                   --Daniel 9:26

   Blessed be His name, there was no cause of death in Him.
Neither original nor actual sin had defiled Him, and therefore
death had no claim upon Him. No man could have taken His life
from Him justly, for He had done no man wrong, and no man could
even have lain Him by force unless He had been pleased to yield
Himself to die. But lo, one sins and another suffers. Justice
was offended by us, but found its satisfaction in Him. Rivers of
tears, mountains of offerings, seas of the blood of bullocks,
and hills of frankincense, could not have availed for the
removal of sin; but Jesus was cut off for us, and the cause of
wrath was cut off at once, for sin was put away for ever. Herein
is wisdom, whereby substitution, the sure and speedy way of
atonement, was devised! Herein is condescension, which brought
Messiah, the Prince, to wear a crown of thorns, and die upon the
cross! Herein is love, which led the Redeemer to lay down His
life for His enemies!

   It is not enough, however, to admire the spectacle of the
innocent bleeding for the guilty, we must make sure of our
interest therein. The special object of the Messiah's death was
the salvation of His church; have we a part and a lot among
those for whom He gave His life a ransom? Did the Lord Jesus
stand as our representative? Are we healed by His stripes? It
will be a terrible thing indeed if we should come short of a
portion in His sacrifice; it were better for us that we had
never been born. Solemn as the question is, it is a joyful
circumstance that it is one which may be answered clearly and
without mistake. To all who believe on Him the Lord Jesus is a
present Saviour, and upon them all the blood of reconciliation
has been sprinkled. Let all who trust in the merit of Messiah's
death be joyful at every remembrance of Him, and let their holy
gratitude lead them to the fullest consecration to His cause.

* 01/17/PM

"And it came to pass in an evening-tide, that David arose from
off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house."
                                                 --2 Samuel 11:2

   At that hour David saw Bathsheba. We are never out of the
reach of temptation. Both at home and abroad we are liable to
meet with allurements to evil; the morning opens with peril, and
the shades of evening find us still in jeopardy. They are well
kept whom God keeps, but woe unto those who go forth into the
world, or even dare to walk their own house unarmed. Those who
think themselves secure are more exposed to danger than any
others. The armour-bearer of Sin is Self-confidence.

   David should have been engaged in fighting the Lord's
battles, instead of which he tarried at Jerusalem, and gave
himself up to luxurious repose, for he arose from his bed at
eventide. Idleness and luxury are the devil's jackals, and find
him abundant prey. In stagnant waters noxious creatures swarm,
and neglected soil soon yields a dense tangle of weeds and
briars. Oh for the constraining love of Jesus to keep us active
and useful! When I see the King of Israel sluggishly leaving his
couch at the close of the day, and falling at once into
temptation, let me take warning, and set holy watchfulness to
guard the door.

   Is it possible that the king had mounted his housetop for
retirement and devotion? If so, what a caution is given us to
count no place, however secret, a sanctuary from sin!  While our
hearts are so like a tinder-box, and sparks so plentiful, we had
need use all diligence in all places to prevent a blaze. Satan
can climb housetops, and enter closets, and even if we could
shut out that foul fiend, our own corruptions are enough to
work our ruin unless grace prevent. Reader, beware of evening
temptations. Be not secure. The sun is down but sin is up. We
need a watchman for the night as well as a guardian for the day.
O blessed Spirit, keep us from all evil this night. Amen.

* 01/18/PM

"He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning himself."
                                                    --Luke 24:27

   The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had a most profitable
journey. Their companion and teacher was the best of tutors;
the interpreter one of a thousand, in whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The Lord Jesus condescended
to become a preacher of the gospel, and He was not ashamed to
exercise His calling before an audience of two persons, neither
does He now refuse to become the teacher of even one. Let us
court the company of so excellent an Instructor, for till He is
made unto us wisdom we shall never be wise unto salvation.

   This unrivalled tutor used as His class-book the best of
books. Although able to reveal fresh truth, He preferred to
expound the old. He knew by His omniscience what was the most
instructive way of teaching, and by turning at once to Moses and
the prophets, He showed us that the surest road to wisdom is not
speculation, reasoning, or reading human books, but meditation
upon the Word of God. The readiest way to be spiritually rich
in heavenly knowledge is to dig in this mine of diamonds, to
gather pearls from this heavenly sea. When Jesus Himself sought
to enrich others, He wrought in the quarry of Holy Scripture.

   The favoured pair were led to consider the best of
subjects, for Jesus spake of Jesus, and expounded the things
concerning Himself. Here the diamond cut the diamond, and what
could be more admirable? The Master of the House unlocked His
own doors, conducted the guests to His table, and placed His own
dainties upon it. He who hid the treasure in the field Himself
guided the searchers to it. Our Lord would naturally discourse
upon the sweetest of topics, and He could find none sweeter than
His own person and work: with an eye to these we should always
search the Word. O for grace to study the Bible with Jesus as
both our teacher and our lesson!

* 01/19/PM

"Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand
the Scriptures."
                                                    --Luke 24:45

   He whom we viewed last evening as opening Scripture, we here
perceive opening the understanding. In the first work He has
many fellow-labourers, but in the second He stands alone; many
can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can
prepare the mind to receive the Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus
differs from all other teachers; they reach the ear, but He
instructs the heart; they deal with the outward letter, but He
imparts an inward taste for the truth, by which we perceive its
savour and spirit. The most unlearned of men become ripe
scholars in the school of grace when the Lord Jesus by His Holy
Spirit unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom to them, and grants
the divine anointing by which they are enabled to behold the
invisible. Happy are we if we have had our understandings
cleared and strengthened by the Master!  How many men of
profound learning are ignorant of eternal things! They know the
killing letter of revelation, but its killing spirit they cannot
discern; they have a veil upon their hearts which the eyes of
carnal reason cannot penetrate. Such was our case a little time
ago; we who now see were once utterly blind; truth was to us as
beauty in the dark, a thing unnoticed and neglected. Had it not
been for the love of Jesus we should have remained to this
moment in utter ignorance, for without His gracious opening of
our understanding, we could no more have attained to spiritual
knowledge than an infant can climb the Pyramids, or an ostrich
fly up to the stars. Jesus' College is the only one in which
God's truth can be really learned; other schools may teach us
what is to be believed, but Christ's alone can show us how to
believe it. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus, and by earnest
prayer call in His blessed aid that our dull wits may grow
brighter, and our feeble understandings may receive heavenly
things.

* 01/20/PM

"Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken Thou me
in Thy way."
                                                  --Psalm 119:37

   There are divers kinds of vanity. The cap and bells of the
fool, the mirth of the world, the dance, the lyre, and the cup
of the dissolute, all these men know to be vanities; they wear
upon their forefront their proper name and title. Far more
treacherous are those equally vain things, the cares of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches. A man may follow vanity
as truly in the counting-house as in the theatre. If he be
spending his life in amassing wealth, he passes his days in a
vain show. Unless we follow Christ, and make our God the great
object of life, we only differ in appearance from the most
frivolous. It is clear that there is much need of the first
prayer of our text. "Quicken Thou me in Thy way." The Psalmist
confesses that he is dull, heavy, lumpy, all but dead. Perhaps,
dear reader, you feel the same. We are so sluggish that the best
motives cannot quicken us, apart from the Lord Himself. What!
will not hell quicken me? Shall I think of sinners perishing,
and yet not be awakened? Will not heaven quicken me? Can I think
of the reward that awaiteth the righteous, and yet be cold? Will
not death quicken me?  Can I think of dying, and standing before
my God, and yet be slothful in my Master's service? Will not
Christ's love constrain me? Can I think of His dear wounds, can
I sit at the foot of His cross, and not be stirred with fervency
and zeal? It seems so! No mere consideration can quicken us to
zeal, but God Himself must do it, hence the cry, "Quicken Thou
me." The Psalmist breathes out his whole soul in vehement
pleadings: his body and his soul unite in prayer. "Turn away
mine eyes," says the body: "Quicken Thou me," cries the soul.
This is a fit prayer for every day. O Lord, hear it in my case
this night.

* 01/21/PM

"He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou
hast given this great deliverance into the hand of Thy servant:
and now shall I die for thirst?"
                                                  --Judges 15:18

   Samson was thirsty and ready to die. The difficulty was
totally different from any which the hero had met before. Merely
to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to
be delivered from a thousand Philistines!  but when the thirst
was upon him, Samson felt that little present difficulty more
weighty than the great past difficulty out of which he had so
specially been delivered. It is very usual for God's people,
when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a little
trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines,
and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little water!
Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence
itself, and then goes "halting on his thigh!" Strange that there
must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if
the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order
to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly when he
said, "I have slain a thousand men." His boastful throat soon
grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God
has many ways of humbling His people. Dear child of God, if
after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an
unusual one. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, he
said, "I am this day weak, though anointed king." You must
expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest
triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverances in the
past, your present difficulty is only like Samson's thirst, and
the Lord will not let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the
uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the
road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all
along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with
Samson's words, and rest assured that God will deliver you ere
long.

* 01/22/PM

"Doth Job fear God for nought?"
                                                       --Job 1:9

   This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright
man of old, but there are many in the present day concerning
whom it might be asked with justice, for they love God after a
fashion because He prospers them; but if things went ill with
them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God. If
they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed
conversion the world has gone prosperously with them, then they
will love God in their poor carnal way; but if they endure
adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their love is the love
of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to
the master of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects
to have his reward in the next life, and to endure hardness in
this. The promise of the old covenant is adversity. Remember
Christ's words--"Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit"--
What? "He purgeth it, that it may bring forth fruit." If you
bring forth fruit, you will have to endure affliction. "Alas!"
you say, "that is a terrible prospect." But this affliction
works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the
subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as
his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ
Jesus. Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no
stranger to the rod. Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass
through the fire. Fear not, but rather rejoice that such
fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be
weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be
delivered from clinging to the present, and made to long for
those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you.
When you feel that as regards the present you do serve God for
nought, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the
future.

* 01/23/PM

"We will remember Thy love more than wine."
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:4

   Jesus will not let His people forget His love. If all the
love they have enjoyed should be forgotten, He will visit them
with fresh love. "Do you forget my cross?" says He, "I will
cause you to remember it; for at My table I will manifest Myself
anew to you. Do you forget at I did for you in the
council-chamber of eternity?  I will remind you of it, for you
shall need a counsellor, and shall find Me ready at your call."
Mothers do not let their children forget them. If the boy has
gone to Australia, and does not write home, his mother
writes--"Has John forgotten his mother?" Then there comes back a
sweet epistle, which proves that the gentle reminder was not in
vain. So is it with Jesus, He says to us, "Remember Me," and our
response is, "We will remember Thy love." We will remember Thy
love and its matchless history. It is ancient as the glory which
Thou hadst with the Father before the world was. We remember, O
Jesus, Thine eternal love when Thou didst become our Surety, and
espouse us as Thy betrothed. We remember the love which
suggested the sacrifice of Thyself, the love which, until the
fulness of time, mused over that sacrifice, and long for the
hour whereof in the volume of the book it was written of Thee,
"Lo, I come." We remember Thy love, O Jesus as it was manifest
to us in Thy holy life, from the manger of Bethlehem to the
garden of Gethsemane. We track Thee from the cradle to the
grave--for every word and deed of Thine was love--and we rejoice
in Thy love, which death did not exhaust; Thy love which shone
resplendent in Thy resurrection. We remember that burning fire
of love which will never let Thee hold Thy peace until Thy
chosen ones be all safely housed, until Zion be glorified, and
Jerusalem settled on her everlasting foundations of light and
love in heaven.

* 01/24/PM

"Martha was cumbered about much serving."
                                                   --Luke 10:40

   Her fault was not that she served: the condition of a
servant well becomes every Christian. "I serve," should be the
motto of all the princes of the royal family of heaven. Nor was
it her fault that she had "much serving." We cannot do too
much. Let us do all that we possibly can; let head, and heart,
and hands, be engaged in the Master's service. It was no fault
of hers that she was busy preparing a feast for the Master.
Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of entertaining so blessed
a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to throw her whole
soul so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was that she
grew "cumbered with much serving," so that she forgot Him,
and only remembered the service. She allowed service to override
communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of
another. We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do
much service, and have much communion at the same time. For this
we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune.
Joshua never grew weary in fighting with the Amalekites; but
Moses, on the top of the mountain in prayer, needed two helpers
to sustain his hands. The more spiritual the exercise, the
sooner we tire in it. The choicest fruits are the hardest to
rear: the most heavenly graces are the most difficult to
cultivate. Beloved, while we do not neglect external things,
which are good enough in themselves, we ought also to see to it
that we enjoy living, personal fellowship with Jesus. See to it
that sitting at the Saviour's feet is not neglected, even though
it be under the specious pretext of doing Him service. The first
thing for our soul's health, the first thing for His glory, and
the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in
perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus, and to see that the
vital spirituality of our religion is maintained over and above
everything else in the world.

* 01/25/PM

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea,
we establish the law."
                                                  --Romans 3:31

   When the believer is adopted into the Lord's family, his
relationship to old Adam and the law ceases at once; but then
he is under a new rule, and a new covenant. Believer, you are
God's child; it is your first duty to obey your heavenly
Father. A servile spirit you have nothing to do with: you are
not a slave, but a child; and now, inasmuch as you are a
beloved child, you are bound to obey your Father's faintest
wish, the least intimation of His will. Does He bid you fulfil
a sacred ordinance? It is at your peril that you neglect it,
for you will be disobeying your Father. Does He command you to
seek the image of Jesus? It is not your joy to do so? Does
Jesus tell you, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect"? Then not because the law commands, but
because your Saviour enjoins, you will labour to be perfect in
holiness. Does He bid his saints love one another? Do it, not
because the law says, "Love thy neighbour," but because Jesus
says, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments;" and this is the
commandment that He has given unto you, "that ye love one
another." Are you told to distribute to the poor?  Do it, not
because charity is a burden which you dare not shirk, but
because Jesus teaches, "Give to him that asketh of thee." Does
the Word say, "Love God with all your heart"? Look at the
commandment and reply, "Ah! commandment, Christ hath fulfilled
thee already--I have no need, therefore, to fulfill thee for my
salvation, but I rejoice to yield obedience to thee because God
is my Father now and He has a claim upon me, which I would not
dispute." May the Holy Ghost make your heart obedient to the
constraining power of Christ's love, that your prayer may be,
"Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do
I delight." Grace is the mother and nurse of holiness, and not
the apologist of sin.

* 01/26/PM

"All they that heard it wondered at those things."
                                                    --Luke 2:18

   We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God.
It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder
and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the
majesty of God's glory, though it may not express itself in
song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer,
yet it silently adores. Our incarnate God is to be worshipped
as "the Wonderful." That God should consider His fallen
creature, man, and instead of sweeping him away with the besom
of destruction, should Himself undertake to be man's Redeemer,
and to pay his ransom price, is, indeed marvellous!  But to
each believer redemption is most marvellous as he views it in
relation to himself. It is a miracle of grace indeed, that
Jesus should forsake the thrones and royalties above, to suffer
ignominiously below for you. Let your soul lose itself in
wonder, for wonder is in this way a very practical emotion.
Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship and heartfelt
thanksgiving. It will cause within you godly watchfulness;
you will be afraid to sin against such a love as this. Feeling
the presence of the mighty God in the gift of His dear Son, you
will put off your shoes from off your feet, because the place
whereon you stand is holy ground. You will be moved at the same
time to glorious hope. If Jesus has done such marvellous
things on your behalf, you will feel that heaven itself is not
too great for your expectation. Who can be astonished at
anything, when he has once been astonished at the manger and
the cross? What is there wonderful left after one has seen the
Saviour? Dear reader, it may be that from the quietness and
solitariness of your life, you are scarcely able to imitate the
shepherds of Bethlehem, who told what they had seen and heard,
but you can, at least, fill up the circle of the worshippers
before the throne, by wondering at what God has done.

* 01/27/PM

"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her
heart."
                                                    --Luke 2:19

   There  was an exercise, on the part of this blessed woman,
of three powers of her being: her memory--she kept all these
things; her affections--she kept them in her heart; her
intellect--she pondered them; so that memory, affection, and
understanding, were all exercised about the things which she
had heard. Beloved, remember what you have heard of your Lord
Jesus, and what He has done for you; make your heart the golden
pot of manna to preserve the memorial of the heavenly bread
whereon you have fed in days gone by. Let your memory treasure
up everything about Christ which you have either felt, or
known, or believed, and then let your fond affections hold
Him fast for evermore. Love the person of your Lord! Bring
forth the alabaster box of your heart, even though it be
broken, and let all the precious ointment of your affection
come streaming on His pierced feet. Let your intellect be
exercised concerning the Lord Jesus. Meditate upon what you
read: stop not at the surface; dive into the depths. Be not as
the swallow which toucheth the brook with her wing, but as the
fish which penetrates the lowest wave. Abide with your Lord:
let Him not be to you as a wayfaring man, that tarrieth for a
night, but constrain Him, saying, "Abide with us, for the day
is far spent." Hold Him, and do not let Him go. The word
"ponder, ' means to weigh. Make ready the balances of judgment.
Oh, but where are the scales that can weigh the Lord Christ?
"He taketh up the isles as a very little thing:"--who shall
take Him up?  "He weigheth the mountains in scales"--in what
scales shall we weigh Him? Be it so, if your understanding
cannot comprehend, let your affections apprehend; and if your
spirit cannot compass the Lord Jesus in the grasp of
understanding, let it embrace Him in the arms of affection.

* 01/28/PM

"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for
all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told
unto them."
                                                    --Luke 2:20

   What was the subject of their praise? They praised God for
what they had heard--for the good tidings of great joy that a
Saviour was born unto them. Let us copy them; let us also raise
a song of thanksgiving that we have heard of Jesus and His
salvation. They also praised God for what they had seen.
There is the sweetest music--what we have experienced, what we
have felt within, what we have made our own--"the things which
we have made touching the King." It is not enough to hear
about Jesus: mere hearing may tune the harp, but the fingers of
living faith must create the music. If you have seen Jesus with
the God-giving sight of faith, suffer no cobwebs to linger
among the harpstrings, but loud to the praise of sovereign
grace, awake your psaltery and harp. One point for which they
praised God was the agreement between what they had heard and
what they had seen. Observe the last sentence--"As it was told
unto them." Have you not found the gospel to be in yourselves
just what the Bible said it would be? Jesus said He would give
you rest--have you not enjoyed the sweetest peace in Him? He
said you should have joy, and comfort, and life through
believing in Him--have you not received all these? Are not His
ways ways of pleasantness, and His paths paths of peace? Surely
you can say with the queen of Sheba, "The half has not been
told me." I have found Christ more sweet than His servants ever
said He was. I looked upon His likeness as they painted it, but
it was a mere daub compared with Himself; for the King in His
beauty outshines all imaginable loveliness. Surely what we
have "seen" keeps pace with, nay, far exceeds, what we have
"heard." Let us, then, glorify and praise God for a Saviour
so precious, and so satisfying.

* 01/29/PM

"The dove came in to him in the evening."
                                                 --Genesis 8:11

   Blessed be the Lord for another day of mercy, even though I
am now weary with its toils. Unto the preserver of men lift I
my song of gratitude. The dove found no rest out of the ark,
and therefore returned to it; and my soul has learned yet more
fully than ever, this day, that there is no satisfaction to be
found in earthly things--God alone can give rest to my spirit.
As to my business, my possessions, my family, my attainments,
these are all well enough in their way, but they cannot fulfil
the desires of my immortal nature. "Return unto thy rest, O my
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." It was at
the still hour, when the gates of the day were closing, that
with weary wing the dove came back to the master: O Lord,
enable me this evening thus to return to Jesus. She could not
endure to spend a night hovering over the restless waste, not
can I bear to be even for another hour away from Jesus, the
rest of my heart, the home of my spirit. She did not merely
alight upon the roof of the ark, she "came in to him;" even so
would my longing spirit look into the secret of the Lord,
pierce to the interior of truth, enter into that which is
within the veil, and reach to my Beloved in very deed. To Jesus
must I come: short of the nearest and dearest intercourse with
Him my panting spirit cannot stay. Blessed Lord Jesus, be with
me, reveal Thyself, and abide with me all night, so that when I
awake I may be still with thee. I note that the dove brought in
her mouth an olive branch plucked off, the memorial of the past
day, and a prophecy of the future. Have I no pleasing record to
bring home? No pledge and earnest of lovingkindness yet to
come? Yes, my Lord, I present Thee my grateful acknowledgments
for tender mercies which have been new every morning and fresh
every evening; and now, I pray Thee, put forth Thy hand and
take Thy dove into Thy bosom.

* 01/30/PM

"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance."
                                               --Ephesians 1:11

   When Jesus gave Himself for us, He gave us all the rights
and privileges which went with Himself; so that now, although
as eternal God, He has essential rights to which no creature
may venture to pretend, yet as Jesus, the Mediator, the federal
Head of the covenant of grace, He has no heritage apart from
us. All the glorious consequences of His obedience unto death
are the joint riches of all who are in Him, and on whose behalf
He accomplished the divine will. See, He enters into glory, but
not for Himself alone, for it is written, "Whither the
Forerunner is for us entered." Heb. 6:20. Does He stand in
the presence of God?--"He appears in the presence of God for
us." Heb. 9:24. Consider this, believer. You have no right to
heaven in yourself: your right lies in Christ. If you are
pardoned, it is through His blood; if you are justified, it
is through His righteousness; if you are sanctified, it is
because He is made of God unto you sanctification; if you
shall be kept from falling, it will be because you are
preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected at the
last, it will be because you are complete in Him. Thus Jesus
is magnified--for all is in Him and by Him; thus the
inheritance is made certain to us--for it is obtained in Him;
thus each blessing is the sweeter, and even heaven itself the
brighter, because it is Jesus our Beloved "in whom" we have
obtained all. Where is the man who shall estimate our divine
portion? Weigh the riches of Christ in scales, and His treasure
in balances, and then think to count the treasures which belong
to the saints. Reach the bottom of Christ's sea of joy, and
then hope to understand the bliss which God hath prepared for
them that love Him. Overleap the boundaries of Christ's
possessions, and then dream of a limit to the fair inheritance
of the elect. "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's and
Christ is God's."

* 01/31/PM

"Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi."
                                               --2 Samuel 18:23

   Running is not everything, there is much in the way which we
select: a swift foot over hill and down dale will not keep pace
with a slower traveller upon level ground. How is it with my
spiritual journey, am I labouring up the hill of my own works
and down into the ravines of my own humiliations and
resolutions, or do I run by the plain way of "Believe and live"?
How blessed is it to wait upon the Lord by faith! The soul runs
without weariness, and walks without fainting, in the way of
believing. Christ Jesus is the way of life, and He is a plain
way, a pleasant way, a way suitable for the tottering feet and
feeble knees of trembling sinners: am I found in this way, or am
I hunting after another track such as priestcraft or metaphysics
may promise me? I read of the way of holiness, that the
wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein: have I been
delivered from proud reason and been brought as a little child
to rest in Jesus' love and blood? If so, by God's grace I shall
outrun the strongest runner who chooses any other path.  This
truth I may remember to my profit in my daily cares and needs.
It will be my wisest course to go at once to my God, and not to
wander in a roundabout manner to this friend and that.  He knows
my wants and can relieve them, to whom should I repair but to
Himself by the direct appeal of prayer, and the plain argument
of the promise. "Straightforward makes the best runner." I will
not parlay with the servants, but hasten to their master.

   In reading this passage, it strikes me that if men vie with
each other in common matters, and one outruns the other, I ought
to be in solemn earnestness so to run that I may obtain. Lord,
help me to gird up the loins of my mind, and may I press forward
towards the mark for the prize of my high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
* 02/01/PM

"Thy love to me was wonderful."
                                                 --2 Samuel 1:26

   Come, dear readers, let each one of us speak for himself of
the wonderful love, not of Jonathan, but of Jesus. We will not
relate what we have been told, but the things which we have
tasted and handled-of the love of Christ. Thy love to me, O
Jesus, was wonderful when I was a stranger wandering far from
Thee, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Thy
love restrained me from committing the sin which is unto death,
and withheld me from self-destruction. Thy love held back the
axe when Justice said, "Cut it down! why cumbereth it the
ground?" Thy love drew me into the wilderness, stripped me
there, and made me feel the guilt of my sin, and the burden of
mine iniquity. Thy love spake thus comfortably to me when, I was
sore dismayed--"Come unto Me, and I will give thee rest." Oh,
how matchless Thy love when, in a moment, Thou didst wash my
sins away, and make my polluted soul, which was crimson with the
blood of my nativity, and black with the grime of my
transgressions, to be white as the driven snow, and pure as the
finest wool. How Thou didst commend Thy love when Thou didst
whisper in my ears, "I am thine and thou art Mine." Kind were
those accents when Thou saidst, "The Father Himself loveth you."
And sweet the moments, passing sweet, when Thou declaredst to me
"the love of the Spirit." Never shall my soul forget those
chambers of fellowship where Thou has unveiled Thyself to me.
Had Moses his cleft in the rock, where he saw the train, the
back parts of his God? We, too, have had our clefts in the rock,
where we have seen the full splendours of the Godhead in the
person of Christ. Did David remember the tracks of the wild
goat, the land of Jordan and the Hermonites? We, too, can
remember spots to memory dear, equal to these in blessedness.
Precious Lord Jesus, give us a fresh draught of Thy wondrous
love to begin the month with. Amen.

* 02/02/PM

"And these are ancient things."
                                             --1 Chronicles 4:22

   Yet not so ancient as those precious things which are the
delight of our souls. Let us for a moment recount them, telling
them over as misers count their gold. The sovereign choice of
the Father, by which He elected us unto eternal life, or ever
the earth was, is a matter of vast antiquity, since no date can
be conceived for it by the mind of man. We were chosen from
before the foundations of the world. Everlasting love went
with the choice, for it was not a bare act of divine will by
which we were set apart, but the divine affections were
concerned. The Father loved us in and from the beginning. Here
is a theme for daily contemplation. The eternal purpose to
redeem us from our foreseen ruin, to cleanse and sanctify us,
and at last to glorify us, was of infinite antiquity, and runs
side by side with immutable love and absolute sovereignty. The
covenant is always described as being everlasting, and Jesus,
the second party in it, had His goings forth of old; He struck
hands in sacred suretyship long ere the first of the stars began
to shine, and it was in Him that the elect were ordained unto
eternal life. Thus in the divine purpose a most blessed covenant
union was established between the Son of God and His elect
people, which will remain as the foundation of their safety when
time shall be no more. Is it not well to be conversant with
these ancient things? Is it not shameful that they should be so
much neglected and even rejected by the bulk of professors? If
they knew more of their own sin, would they not be more ready to
adore distinguishing grace? Let us both admire and adore
tonight, as we sing--

               "A monument of grace,
               A sinner saved by blood;
               The streams of love I trace
               Up to the Fountain, God;
               And in His sacred bosom see
               Eternal thoughts of Love to me."

* 02/03/PM

"Tell me . . . where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock
to rest at noon."
                                           --Song of Solomon 1:7

   These words express the desire of the believer after Christ,
and his longing for present communion with Him. Where doest Thou
feed Thy flock? In Thy house? I will go, if I may find Thee
there. In private prayer? Then I will pray without ceasing. In
the Word? Then I will read it diligently. In Thine
ordinances? Then I will walk in them with all my heart. Tell
me where Thou feedest, for wherever Thou standest as the
Shepherd, there will I lie down as a sheep; for none but Thyself
can supply my need. I cannot be satisfied to be apart from Thee.
My soul hungers and thirsts for the refreshment of Thy presence.
"Where dost Thou make Thy flock to rest at noon?" for whether at
dawn or at noon, my only rest must be where Thou art and Thy
beloved flock. My soul's rest must be a grace-given rest, and
can only be found in Thee. Where is the shadow of that rock? Why
should I not repose beneath it? "Why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?" Thou hast
companions--why should I not be one? Satan tells me I am
unworthy; but I always was unworthy, and yet Thou hast long
loved me; and therefore my unworthiness cannot be a bar to my
having fellowship with Thee now. It is true I am weak in faith,
and prone to fall, but my very feebleness is the reason why I
should always be where Thou feedest Thy flock, that I may be
strengthened, and preserved in safety beside the still waters.
Why should I turn aside? There is no reason why I should, but
there are a thousand reasons why I should not, for Jesus beckons
me to come. If He withdrew Himself a little, it is but to make
me prize His presence more. Now that I am grieved and distressed
at being away from Him, He will lead me yet again to that
sheltered nook where the lambs of His fold are sheltered from
the burning sun.

* 02/04/PM

"Your refuge from the avenger of blood."
                                                   --Joshua 20:3

   It is said that in the land of Canaan, cities of refuge were
so arranged, that any man might reach one of them within half a
day at the utmost. Even so the word of our salvation is near to
us; Jesus is a present Saviour, and the way to Him is short; it
is but a simple renunciation of our own merit, and a laying hold
of Jesus, to be our all in all. With regard to the roads to the
city of refuge, we are told that they were strictly preserved,
every river was bridged, and every obstruction removed, so that
the man who fled might find an easy passage to the city. Once a
year the elders went along the roads and saw to their order, so
that nothing might impede the flight of any one, and cause him,
through delay, to be overtaken and slain. How graciously do the
promises of the gospel remove stumbling blocks from the way!
Wherever there were by-roads and turnings, there were fixed up
hand-posts, with the inscription upon them--"To the city of
refuge!" This is a picture of the road to Christ Jesus. It is no
roundabout road of the law; it is no obeying this, that, and the
other; it is a straight road: "Believe, and live." It is a road
so hard, that no self-righteous man can ever tread it, but so
easy, that every sinner, who knows himself to be a sinner may by
it find his way to heaven. No sooner did the man-slayer reach
the outworks of the city than he was safe; it was not necessary
for him to pass far within the walls, but the suburbs themselves
were sufficient protection. Learn hence, that if you do but
touch the hem of Christ's garment, you shall be made whole; if
you do but lay hold upon him with "faith as a grain of mustard
seed," you are safe.

               "A little genuine grace ensures
               The death of all our sins."

Only waste no time, loiter not by the way, for the avenger of
blood is swift of foot; and it may be he is at your heels at
this still hour of eventide.

* 02/05/PM

"At that time Jesus answered."
                                                 --Matthew 11:25

   This is a singular way in which to commence a verse--"At that
time Jesus answered." If you will look at the context you will
not perceive that any person had asked Him a question, or that
He was in conversation with any human being. Yet it is written,
"Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father." When a man
answers, he answers a person who has been speaking to him. Who,
then, had spoken to Christ? His Father. Yet there is no record
of it; and this should teach us that Jesus had constant
fellowship with His Father, and that God spake into His heart so
often, so continually, that it was not a circumstance singular
enough to be recorded. It was the habit and life of Jesus to
talk with God. Even as Jesus was, is this world, so are we; let
us therefore learn the lesson which this simple statement
concerning Him teaches us. May we likewise have silent
fellowship with the Father, so that often we may answer Him, and
though the world wotteth not to whom we speak, may we be
responding to that secret voice unheard of any other ear, which
our own ear, opened by the Spirit of God, recognizes with joy.
God has spoken to us, let us speak to God--either to set our
seal that God is true and faithful to His promise, or to confess
the sin of which the Spirit of God has convinced us, or to
acknowledge the mercy which God's providence has given, or to
express assent to the great truths which God the Holy Ghost has
opened to our understanding. What a privilege is intimate
communion with the Father of our spirits! It is a secret hidden
from the world, a joy with which even the nearest friend
intermeddleth not. If we would hear the whispers of God's love,
our ear must be purged and fitted to listen to His voice. This
very evening may our hearts be in such a state, that when God
speaks to us, we, like Jesus, may be prepared at once to answer
Him.

* 02/06/PM

"Pray one for another."
                                                    --James 5:16

   As an encouragement cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer,
remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears, for
the prayer of Christ is of this character. In all the incense
which our Great High Priest now puts into the golden censer,
there is not a single grain for Himself. His intercession must
be the most acceptable of all supplications--and the more like
our prayer is to Christ's, the sweeter it will be; thus while
petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for
others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit, more
love, more faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through the
precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation that we can
offer to God, the very fat of our sacrifice. Remember, again,
that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What
wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its
marvellous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy
hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and
thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren. When thou
hast the King's ear, speak to Him for the suffering members of
His body. When thou art favoured to draw very near to His
throne, and the King saith to thee, "Ask, and I will give thee
what thou wilt," let thy petitions be, not for thyself alone,
but for the many who need His aid. If thou hast grace at all,
and art not an intercessor, that grace must be small as a grain
of mustard seed. Thou hast just enough grace to float thy soul
clear from the quicksand, but thou hast no deep floods of grace,
or else thou wouldst carry in thy joyous bark a weighty cargo of
the wants of others, and thou wouldst bring back from thy Lord,
for them, rich blessings which but for thee they might not have
obtained:--

            "Oh, let my hands forget their skill,
            My tongue be silent, cold, and still,
            This bounding heart forget to beat,
            If I forget the mercy-seat!"

* 02/07/PM

"And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come
up hither."
                                              --Revelation 11:12

   Without considering these words in their prophetical
connection, let us regard them D as the invitation of our great
Forerunner to His sanctified people. In due time there shall be
heard "a great voice from heaven" to every believer, saying,
"Come up hither." This should be to the saints the subject of
joyful anticipation. Instead of dreading the time when we shall
leave this world to go unto the Father, we should be panting for
the hour of our emancipation. Our song should be--

             "My heart is with Him on His throne,
             And ill can brook delay;
             Each moment listening for the voice,
             'Rise up and come away.'"

We are not called down to the grave, but up to the skies.
Our heaven-born spirits should long for their native air.
Yet should the celestial summons be the object of patient
waiting. Our God knows best when to bid us "Come up
thither." We must not wish to antedate the period of our
departure. I know that strong love will make us cry,

             "O Lord of Hosts, the waves divide,
             And land us all in heaven;"

but patience must have her perfect work. God ordains with
accurate wisdom the most fitting time for the redeemed to abide
below. Surely, if there could be regrets in heaven, the saints
might mourn that they did not live longer here to do more good.
Oh, for more sheaves for my Lord's garner! more jewels for His
crown! But how, unless there be more work? True, there is the
other side of it, that, living so briefly, our sins are the
fewer; but oh! when we are fully serving God, and He is giving
us to scatter precious seed, and reap a hundredfold, we would
even say it is well for us to abide where we are. Whether our
Master shall say "go," or "stay," let us be equally well pleased
so long as He indulges us with His presence.

* 02/08/PM

"He shall save His people from their sins."
                                                  --Matthew 1:21

   Many persons, if they are asked what they understand by
salvation, will reply, "Being saved from hell and taken to
heaven." This is one result of salvation, but it is not one
tithe of what is contained in that boon. It is true our Lord
Jesus Christ does redeem all His people from the wrath to come;
He saves them from the fearful condemnation which their sins had
brought upon them; but His triumph is far more complete than
this. He saves His people "from their sins." Oh! sweet
deliverance from our worst foes. Where Christ works a saving
work, He casts Satan from his throne, and will not let him be
master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in
his mortal body. Sin will be in us--it will never be utterly
expelled till the spirit enters glory; but it will never have
dominion. There will be a striving for dominion--a lusting
against the new law and the new spirit which God has
implanted--but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be
absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the
heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of the tribe of Judah
shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out. Professor! is
sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is
unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved
person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you,
given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has done
nothing in you of a saving character. The grace which does not
make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ
saves His people, not in their sins, but from them. "Without
holiness no man shall see the Lord." "Let every one that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity." If not saved from
sin, how shall we hope to be counted among His people. Lord,
save me now from all evil, and enable me to honour my Saviour.

* 02/09/PM

"Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil [or, the
evil one]."
                                                     --Luke 11:4

   What we are taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should
equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly, therefore,
should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the
path of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt
us. We are not to enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly
might we pay for such presumption. This lion may cross our path
or leap upon us from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with
hunting him. He that meeteth with him, even though he winneth
the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the Christian pray
that he may be spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had
experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished
His disciples--"Pray that ye enter not into temptation."

   But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted; hence the
prayer "deliver us from evil." God had one Son without sin; but
He has no son without temptation. The natural man is born to
trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and the Christian man is born
to temptation just as certainly. We must be always on our watch
against Satan, because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of
his approach. Believers who have had experience of the ways of
Satan, know that there are certain seasons when he will most
probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds
may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by
fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet
it. Prevention is better than cure: it is better to be so well
armed that the devil will not attack you, than to endure the
perils of the fight, even though you come off a conqueror. Pray
this evening first that you may not be tempted, and next that if
temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one.

* 02/10/PM

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and,
as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee."
                                                  --Isaiah 44:22

   Attentively observe THE INSTRUCTIVE SIMILITUDE: our sins are
like a cloud. As clouds are of many shapes and shades, so are
our transgressions. As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and
darken the landscape beneath, so do our sins hide from us the
light of Jehovah's face, and cause us to sit in the shadow of
death. They are earth-born things, and rise from the miry
places of our nature; and when so collected that their measure
is full, they threaten us with storm and tempest. Alas! that,
unlike clouds, our sins yield us no genial showers, but rather
threaten to deluge us with a fiery flood of destruction. O ye
black clouds of sin, how can it be fair weather with our souls
while ye remain?

   Let our joyful eye dwell upon THE NOTABLE ACT of divine
mercy--"blotting out." God Himself appears upon the scene, and
in divine benignity, instead of manifesting His anger, reveals
His grace: He at once and for ever effectually removes the
mischief, not by blowing away the cloud, but by blotting it out
from existence once for all. Against the justified man no sin
remains, the great transaction of the cross has eternally
removed His transgressions from him. On Calvary's summit the
great deed, by which the sin of all the chosen was for ever put
away, was completely and effectually performed.

   Practically let us obey THE GRACIOUS COMMAND, "return unto
me."Why should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their
God? If we have been forgiven all our sins, let no legal fear
withhold us from the boldest access to our Lord. Let
backslidings be bemoaned, but let us not persevere in them. To
the greatest possible nearness of communion with the Lord, let
us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, strive mightily to return.
O Lord, this night restore us!

* 02/11/PM

"Thou hast left thy first love."
                                                --Revelation 2:4

   Ever to be remembered is that best and brightest of hours,
when first we saw the Lord, lost our burden, received the roll
of promise, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on our way in
peace. It was spring time in the soul; the winter was past; the
mutterings of Sinai's thunders were hushed; the flashings of its
lightnings were no more perceived; God was beheld as reconciled;
the law threatened no vengeance, justice demanded no punishment.
Then the flowers appeared in our heart; hope, love, peace, and
patience sprung from the sod; the hyacinth of repentance, the
snowdrop of pure holiness, the crocus of golden faith, the
daffodil of early love, all decked the garden of the soul. The
time of the singing of birds was come, and we rejoiced with
thanksgiving; we magnified the holy name of our forgiving God,
and our resolve was, "Lord, I am Thine, wholly Thine; all I am,
and all I have, I would devote to Thee. Thou hast brought me
with Thy blood--let me spend myself and be spent in Thy service.
In life and in death let me be consecrated to Thee." How have
we kept this resolve? Our espousal love burned with a holy
flame of devoutedness to Jesus--is it the same now? Might not
Jesus well say to us, "I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left they first love"? Alas!  it is but little we have
done for our Master's glory. Our winter has lasted all too long.
We are as cold as ice when we should feel a summer's glow and
bloom with sacred flowers. We give to God pence when He
deserveth pounds, nay, deserveth our heart's blood to be coined
in the service of His church and of His truth. But shall we
continue thus? O Lord, after Thou hast so richly blessed us,
shall we be ungrateful and become indifferent to Thy good cause
and work? O quicken us that we may return to our first love, and
do our first works! Send us a genial spring, O Sun of
Righteousness.

* 02/12/PM

"He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you
for ever."
                                                    --John 14:16

    Great Father revealed Himself to believers of old before the
coming of His Son, and was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as
the God Almighty. Then Jesus came, and the ever-blessed Son in
His own proper person, was the delight of His people's eyes. At
the time of the Redeemer's ascension, the Holy Spirit became
the head of the present dispensation, and His power was
gloriously manifested in and after Pentecost. He remains at this
hour the present Immanuel--God with us, dwelling in and with His
people, quickening, guiding, and ruling in their midst. Is His
presence recognized as it ought to be? We cannot control His
working; He is most sovereign in all His operations, but are we
sufficiently anxious to obtain His help, or sufficiently
watchful lest we provoke Him to withdraw His aid? Without Him we
can do nothing, but by His almighty energy the most
extraordinary results can be produced: everything depends upon
his manifesting or concealing His power. Do we always look up to
Him both for our inner life and our outward service with the
respectful dependence which is fitting? Do we not too often run
before His call and act independently of His aid? Let us humble
ourselves this evening for past neglects, and now entreat the
heavenly dew to rest upon us, the sacred oil to anoint us, the
celestial flame to burn within us. The Holy Ghost is no
temporary gift, He abides with the saints. We have but to seek
Him aright, and He will be found of us. He is jealous, but He
is pitiful; if He leaves in anger, He returns in mercy.
Condescending and tender, He does not weary of us, but awaits to
be gracious still.

             Sin has been hammering my heart
             Unto a hardness, void of love,
             Let supplying grace to cross his art
             Drop from above.

* 02/13/PM

"There is therefore now no condemnation."
                                                    --Romans 8:1

   Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou
art actually and effectually cleared from guilt; thou art led
out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a bond-slave;
thou art delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art
freed from sin, and canst walk at large as a freeman, they
Saviour's blood has procured thy full discharge. Thou hast a
right now to approach thy Father's throne. No flames of
vengeance are there to scare thee now; no fiery sword; justice
cannot smite the innocent. Thy disabilities are taken away: thou
wast once unable to see thy Father's face: thou canst see it
now. Thou couldst not speak with Him: but now thou hast access
with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon thee; but thou
hast no fear of it now, for how can there be punishment for the
guiltless? He who believeth is not condemned, and cannot be
punished. And more than all, the privileges thou mightst have
enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine now thou art
justified. All the blessings which thou wouldst have had if thou
hadst kept the law, and more, are thine, because Christ has kept
it for thee. All the love and the acceptance which perfect
obedience could have obtained of God, belong to thee, because
Christ was perfectly obedient on thy behalf, and hath imputed
all His merits to thy account, that thou mightst be exceeding
rich through Him, who for thy sake became exceeding poor. Oh!
how great the debt of love and gratitude thou owest to thy
Saviour!

          "A debtor to mercy alone,
          Of covenant mercy I sing;
          Nor fear with Thy righteousness on,
          My person and offerings to bring:
          The terrors of law and of God,
          With me can have nothing to do;
          My Saviour's obedience and blood
          Hide all my transgressions from view."

* 02/14/PM

"She was healed immediately."
                                                     --Luke 8:47

   One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour's
miracles is before us to-night. The woman was very ignorant. She
imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity,
without His knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a
stranger to the generosity of Jesus' character, or she would not
have gone behind to steal the cure which He was so ready to
bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of
mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus' heart, she would have
said, "I have but to put myself where He can see me--His
omniscience will teach Him my case, and His love at once will
work my cure." We admire her faith, but we marvel at her
ignorance. After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with
trembling: glad was she that the divine virtue had wrought a
marvel in her; but she feared lest Christ should retract the
blessing, and put a negative upon the grant of His grace: little
did she comprehend the fulness of His love!  We have not so
clear a view of Him as we could wish; we know not the heights
and depths of His love; but we know of a surety that He is too
good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift which it has
been able to obtain. But here is the marvel of it: little as
was her knowledge, her faith, because it was real faith, saved
her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay--faith's
miracle was instantaneous. If we have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession.
If in the list of the Lord's children we are written as the
feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no
power, human or devilish, can eject us from salvation. If we
dare not lean our heads upon His bosom with John, yet if we can
venture in the press behind Him, and touch the hem of his
garment, we are made whole. Courage, timid one!  thy faith hath
saved thee; go in peace. "Being justified by faith, we have
peace with God."

* 02/15/PM

"Whereby they have made Thee glad."
                                                    --Psalm 45:8

   And who are thus privileged to make the Saviour glad? His
church--His people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but
how can we make Him glad? By our love. Ah! we think it so
cold, so faint; and so, indeed, we must sorrowfully confess it
to be, but it is very sweet to Christ. Hear His own eulogy of
that love in the golden Canticle: "How fair is thy love, my
sister, my spouse!  how much better is thy love than wine!" See,
loving heart, how He delights in you. When you lean your head on
His bosom, you not only receive, but you give Him joy; when you
gaze with love upon His all-glorious face, you not only obtain
comfort, but impart delight. Our praise, too gives Him
joy--not the song of the lips alone, but the melody of the
heart's deep gratitude. Our gifts, too, are very pleasant to
Him; He loves to see us lay our time, our talents, our substance
upon the altar, not for the value of what we give, but for the
sake of the motive from which the gift springs. To Him the
lowly offerings of His saints are more acceptable than the
thousands of gold and silver. Holiness is like frankincense
and myrrh to Him. Forgive your enemy, and you make Christ glad;
distribute of your substance to the poor, and He rejoices; be
the means of saving souls, and you give Him to see of the
travail of His soul; proclaim His gospel, and you are a sweet
savour unto Him; go among the ignorant and lift up the cross,
and you have given Him honour. It is in your power even now to
break the alabaster box, and pour the precious oil of joy upon
His head, as did the woman of old, whose memorial is to this day
set forth wherever the gospel is preached. Will you be backward
then? Will you not perfume your beloved Lord with the myrrh and
aloes, and cassis, of your heart's praise? Yes, ye ivory
palaces, ye shall hear the songs of the saints!

* 02/16/PM

"Thy good Spirit."
                                                 --Nehemiah 9:20

   Common, too common is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit.
This is folly and ingratitude. He deserves well at our hands,
for He is good, supremely good. As God, He is good essentially.
He shares in the threefold ascription of Holy, holy, holy, which
ascends to the Triune Jehovah. Unmixed purity and truth, and
grace is He. He is good benevolently, tenderly bearing with
our waywardness, striving with our rebellious wills; quickening
us from our death in sin, and then training us for the skies as
a loving nurse fosters her child. How generous, forgiving, and
tender is this patient Spirit of God. He is good operatively.
All His works are good in the most eminent degree: He suggests
good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths,
applies good promises, assists in good attainments, and leads to
good results. There is no spiritual good in all the world of
which He is not the author and sustainer, and heaven itself will
owe the perfect character of its redeemed inhabitants to His
work. He is good officially; whether as Comforter, Instructor,
Guide, Sanctifier, Quickener, or Intercessor, He fulfils His
office well, and each work is fraught with the highest good to
the church of God. They who yield to His influences become good,
they who obey His impulses do good, they who live under His
power receive good. Let us then act towards so good a person
according to the dictates of gratitude. Let us revere His
person, and adore Him as God over all, blessed for ever; let us
own His power, and our need of Him by waiting upon Him in all
our holy enterprises; let us hourly seek His aid, and never
grieve Him; and let us speak to His praise whenever occasion
occurs. The church will never prosper until more reverently it
believes in the Holy Ghost. He is so good and kind, that it is
sad indeed that He should be grieved by slights and negligences.

* 02/17/PM

"Whereas the Lord was there."
                                                 --Ezekiel 35:10

   Edom's princes saw the whole country left desolate, and
counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great
difficulty in their way--quite unknown to them--"The Lord was
there"; and in His presence lay the special security of the
chosen land. Whatever may be the machinations and devices of the
enemies of God's people, there is still the same effectual
barrier to thwart their design. The saints are God's heritage,
and He is in the midst of them, and will protect His own. What
comfort this assurance yields us in our troubles and spiritual
conflicts! We are constantly opposed, and yet perpetually
preserved! How often Satan shoots his arrows against our
faith, but our faith defies the power of hell's fiery darts;
they are not only turned aside, but they are quenched upon its
shield, for "the Lord is there." Our good works are the
subjects of Satan's attacks. A saint never yet had a virtue or a
grace which was not the target for hellish bullets: whether it
was hope bright and sparkling, or love warm and fervent, or
patience all-enduring, or zeal flaming like coals of fire, the
old enemy of everything that is good has tried to destroy it.
The only reason why anything virtuous or lovely survives in us
is this, "the Lord is there."

   If the Lord be with us through life, we need not fear for our
dying confidence; for when we come to die, we shall find that
"the Lord is there"; where the billows are most tempestuous,
and the water is most chill, we shall feel the bottom, and know
that it is good: our feet shall stand upon the Rock of Ages when
time is passing away. Beloved, from the first of a Christian's
life to the last, the only reason why he does not perish is
because "the Lord is there." When the God of everlasting love
shall change and leave His elect to perish, then may the Church
of God be destroyed; but not till then, because it is written,
JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, "The Lord is there."

* 02/18/PM

"Father, I have sinned."
                                                    --Luke 15:18

   It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in His
precious blood need not make a confession of sin, as culprits or
criminals, before God the Judge, for Christ has for ever taken
away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer
stand where they can be condemned, but are once for all accepted
in the Beloved; but having become children, and offending as
children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly
Father and confess their sin, and acknowledge their iniquity in
that character? Nature teaches that it is the duty of erring
children to make a confession to their earthly father, and the
grace of God in the heart teaches us that we, as Christians, owe
the same duty to our heavenly father. We daily offend, and ought
not to rest without daily pardon. For, supposing that my
trespasses against my Father are not at once taken to Him to be
washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus, what will
be the consequence? If I have not sought forgiveness and been
washed from these offences against my Father, I shall feel at a
distance from Him; I shall doubt His love to me; I shall tremble
at Him; I shall be afraid to pray to Him: I shall grow like the
prodigal, who, although still a child, was yet far off from his
father. But if, with a child's sorrow at offending so gracious
and loving a Parent, I go to Him and tell Him all, and rest not
till I realize that I am forgiven, then I shall feel a holy love
to my Father, and shall go through my Christian career, not only
as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus
Christ my Lord. There is a wide distinction between confessing
sin as a culprit, and confessing sin as a child. The
Father's bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have
been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed
from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.

* 02/19/PM

"He first findeth his own brother Simon."
                                                     --John 1:41

   This case is an excellent pattern of all cases where
spiritual life is vigorous. As soon as a man has found Christ,
he begins to find others. I will not believe that thou hast
tasted of the honey of the gospel if thou canst eat it all
thyself. True grace puts an end to all spiritual monopoly.
Andrew first found his own brother Simon, and then others.
Relationship has a very strong demand upon our first individual
efforts. Andrew, thou didst well to begin with Simon. I doubt
whether there are not some Christians giving away tracts at
other people's houses who would do well to give away a tract at
their own--whether there are not some engaged in works of
usefulness abroad who are neglecting their special sphere of
usefulness at home. Thou mayst or thou mayst not be called to
evangelize the people in any particular locality, but certainly
thou art called to see after thine own servants, thine own
kinsfolk and acquaintance. Let thy religion begin at home. Many
tradesmen export their best commodities--the Christian should
not. He should have all his conversation everywhere of the best
savour; but let him have a care to put forth the sweetest fruit
of spiritual life and testimony in his own family. When Andrew
went to find his brother, he little imagined how eminent Simon
would become. Simon Peter was worth ten Andrews so far as we
can gather from sacred history, and yet Andrew was instrumental
in bringing him to Jesus. You may be very deficient in talent
yourself, and yet you may be the means of drawing to Christ one
who shall become eminent in grace and service. Ah! dear friend,
you little know the possibilities which are in you. You may but
speak a word to a child, and in that child there may be
slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian church
in years to come. Andrew has only two talents, but he finds
Peter. Go thou and do likewise.

* 02/20/PM

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil."
                                                   --Matthew 4:1

   A Holy character does not avert temptation--Jesus was
tempted. When Satan tempts us, his sparks fall upon tinder; but
in Christ's case, it was like striking sparks on water; yet the
enemy continued his evil work. Now, if the devil goes on
striking when there is no result, how much more will he do it
when he knows what inflammable stuff our hearts are made of.
Though you become greatly sanctified by the Holy Ghost, expect
that the great dog of hell will bark at you still. In the haunts
of men we expect to be tempted, but even seclusion will not
guard us from the same trial. Jesus Christ was led away from
human society into the wilderness, and was tempted of the devil.
Solitude has its charms and its benefits, and may be useful in
checking the lust of the eye and the pride of life; but the
devil will follow us into the most lovely retreats. Do not
suppose that it is only the worldly-minded who have dreadful
thoughts and blasphemous temptations, for even spiritual-minded
persons endure the same; and in the holiest position we may
suffer the darkest temptation. The utmost consecration of
spirit will not insure you against Satanic temptation. Christ
was consecrated through and through. It was His meat and drink
to do the will of Him that sent Him: and yet He was tempted!
Your hearts may glow with a seraphic flame of love to Jesus, and
yet the devil will try to bring you down to Laodicean
lukewarmness. If you will tell me when God permits a Christian
to lay aside his armour, I will tell you when Satan has left off
temptation. Like the old knights in war time, we must sleep with
helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the arch-deceiver will
seize our first unguarded hour to make us his prey. The Lord
keep us watchful in all seasons, and give us a final escape from
the jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear.

* 02/21/PM

"Understandest thou what thou readest?"
                                                     --Acts 8:30

   We should be abler teachers of others, and less liable to be
carried about by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a
more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy
Ghost, the Author of the Scriptures is He who alone can
enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly
ask His teaching, and His guidance into all truth. When the
prophet Daniel would interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, what did
he do? He set himself to earnest prayer that God would open up
the vision. The apostle John, in his vision at Patmos, saw a
book sealed with seven seals which none was found worthy to
open, or so much as to look upon. The book was afterwards opened
by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to open it;
but it is written first--"I wept much." The tears of John, which
were his liquid prayers, were, so far as he was concerned, the
sacred keys by which the folded book was opened. Therefore, if,
for your own and others' profiting, you desire to be "filled
with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding," remember that prayer is your best means of
study: like Daniel, you shall understand the dream, and the
interpretation thereof, when you have sought unto God; and like
John you shall see the seven seals of precious truth unloosed,
after you have wept much. Stones are not broken, except by an
earnest use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on
his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of
prayer be exercised, and there is not a stony doctrine in
revelation which is useful for you to understand, which will not
fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. You may
force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer.
Thoughts and reasonings are like the steel wedges which give a
hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever, the prise which forces
open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the
treasure hidden within.

* 02/22/PM

"The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power."
                                                     --Nahum 1:3

   Jehovah "is slow to anger." When mercy cometh into the
world she driveth winged steeds; the axles of her chariot-wheels
are red hot with speed; but when wrath goeth forth, it toileth
on with tardy footsteps, for God taketh no pleasure in the
sinner's death. God's rod of mercy is ever in His hands
outstretched; His sword of justice is in its scabbard, held down
by that pierced hand of love which bled for the sins of men.
"The Lord is slow to anger," because He is GREAT IN POWER. He is
truly great in power who hath power over himself. When God's
power doth restrain Himself, then it is power indeed: the power
that binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. A man who has
a strong mind can bear to be insulted long, and only resents the
wrong when a sense of right demands his action. The weak mind is
irritated at a little: the strong mind bears it like a rock
which moveth not, though a thousand breakers dash upon it, and
cast their pitiful malice in spray upon its summit. God marketh
His enemies, and yet He bestirs not Himself, but holdeth in His
anger. If He were less divine than He is, He would long ere
this have sent forth the whole of His thunders, and emptied the
magazines of heaven; He would long ere this have blasted the
earth with the wondrous fires of its lower regions, and man
would have been utterly destroyed; but the greatness of his
power brings us mercy. Dear reader, what is your state this
evening? Can you by humble faith look to Jesus, and say, "My
substitute, Thou art my rock, my trust"? Then, beloved, be not
afraid of God's power; for by faith you have fled to Christ for
refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you, than the
shield and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom he
loves. Rather rejoice that He who is "great in power" is your
Father and Friend.

* 02/23/PM

"Take up the cross, and follow Me."
                                                    --Mark 10:21

   You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief
is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted
to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord
and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by
divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to
take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to
stand cavilling at it. This night Jesus bids you submit your
shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or
trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run
away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of
Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; He leads the way in the path of
sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if He
carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The Via
Crucis is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny
paths.

   Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with
velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it
is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with
iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for
the Man of sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by
the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with
it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of
Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus
carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will
soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming
weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of
trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to
the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with
to-morrow's sun, you may go forth to the day's cross with the
holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the
Crucified.

* 02/24/PM

"O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy upon
Jerusalem? . . . And the Lord answered the angel . . . with good
words and comfortable words."
                                             --Zechariah 1:12,13

   What a sweet answer to an anxious enquiry!  This night let us
rejoice in it. O Zion, there are good things in store for thee;
thy time of travail shall soon be over; thy children shall be
brought forth; thy captivity shall end. Bear patiently the rod
for a season, and under the darkness still trust in God, for His
love burneth towards thee. God loves the church with a love too
deep for human imagination: He loves her with all His infinite
heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage; she cannot be
far from prosperity to whom God speaketh "good words and
comfortable words." What these comfortable words are the prophet
goes on to tell us: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion
with a great jealousy." The Lord loves His church so much that
He cannot bear that she should go astray to others; and when she
has done so, He cannot endure that she should suffer too much or
too heavily. He will not have his enemies afflict her: He is
displeased with them because they increase her misery. When God
seems most to leave His church, His heart is warm towards her.
History shows that whenever God uses a rod to chasten His
servants, He always breaks it afterwards, as if He loathed the
rod which gave his children pain. "Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." God hath not
forgotten us because He smites--His blows are no evidences of
want of love. If this is true of His church collectively, it
is of necessity true also of each individual member. You may
fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: He who
counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger
of forgetting His own children. He knows your case as thoroughly
as if you were the only creature He ever made, or the only saint
He ever loved. Approach Him and be at peace.

* 02/25/PM

"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of
the Lord, and went down to Joppa."
                                                     --Jonah 1:3

   Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade
him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape
from it. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from
duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his
conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of
God's love. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should
do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world
against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the
moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea
without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O
my God, where hast Thou gone? How could I have been so foolish
as to shun Thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright
shinings of Thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to
my allegiance, that I may rejoice in Thy presence." In the next
place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. Sin soon destroys a
believer's comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose
leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and
peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn
for comfort in any other case. He could not plead the promise
of divine protection, for he was not in God's ways; he could not
say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of
my duty, therefore help me through them." He was reaping his own
deeds; he was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play
the Jonah, unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows
rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is
far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once
yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he had to go
to Tarshish after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us
yield ourselves at once.

* 02/26/PM

"Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall
pronounce him clean that hath the plague."
                                               --Leviticus 13:13

   Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom
in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the
constitution was sound. This evening it may be well for us to
see the typical teaching of so singular a rule. We, too, are
lepers, and may read the law of the leper as applicable to
ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and
ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and in no
part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of
his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then he is clean
through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden,
unfelt, unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy; but when sin
is seen and felt, it has received its deathblow, and the Lord
looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it.
Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful
than contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing else but
sin," for no confession short of this will be the whole truth;
and if the Holy Spirit be at work with us, convincing us of sin,
there will be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment
--it will spring spontaneously from our lips. What comfort does
the text afford to truly awakened sinners: the very circumstance
which so grievously discouraged them is here turned into a sign
and symptom of a hopeful state!  Stripping comes before
clothing; digging out the foundation is the first thing in
building--and a thorough sense of sin is one of the earliest
works of grace in the heart. O thou poor leprous sinner,
utterly destitute of a sound spot, take heart from the text, and
come as thou art to Jesus--

"For let our debts be what they may, however great or small,
As soon as we have nought to pay, our Lord forgives us all.
'Tis perfect poverty alone that sets the soul at large:
While we can call one mite our own, we have no full discharge."

* 02/27/PM

"Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
                                                     --Micah 5:2

   The Lord Jesus had goings forth for His people as their
representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon
the stage of time. It was "from everlasting" that He signed
the compact with His Father, that He would pay blood for blood,
suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death,
in the behalf of His people; it was "from everlasting" that He
gave Himself up without a murmuring word. That from the crown of
His head to the sole of His foot He might sweat great drops of
blood, that He might be spit upon, pierced, mocked, rent
asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death. His goings
forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and
wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus "from
everlasting." Not only when thou wast born into the world did
Christ love thee, but His delights were with the sons of men
before there were any sons of men. Often did He think of them;
from everlasting to everlasting He had set His affection upon
them. What! my soul, has He been so long about thy salvation,
and will not He accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been
going forth to save me, and will He lose me now? What! has He
carried me in His hand, as His precious jewel, and will He now
let me slip from between His fingers? Did he choose me before
the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep
were digged, and will He reject me now? Impossible! I am sure He
would not have loved me so long if He had not been a changeless
Lover. If He could grow weary of me, He would have been tired of
me long before now. If He had not loved me with a love as deep
as hell, and as strong as death, He would have turned from me
long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am His
everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to Him by His
Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the
pillow for my head this night.

* 02/28/PM

"The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil
fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by
Elijah."
                                                 --1 Kings 17:16

   See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this
woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to
feed in a time of famine; and now, in addition, the prophet
Elijah was to be fed too. But though the need was threefold, yet
the supply of meal wasted not, for she had a constant supply.
Each day she made calls upon the barrel, but yet each day it
remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities,
and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that
the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil
will fail you. Rest assured that, according to the Word of God,
this shall not be the case. Each day, though it bring its
trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to
outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should
be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God's grace
and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never
know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow's days,
the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy
tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and
death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman never
was hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with
you. You shall see the sinner's hope perish, for he trusts his
native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee's confidence
totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even
your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall
find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks:
"Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure."
Better have God for your guardian, than the Bank of England for
your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but
the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.

* 02/29/PM

"Now we have received . . . the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
                                            --1 Corinthians 2:12

   Dear reader, have you received the spirit which is of God,
wrought by the Holy Ghost in your soul? The necessity of the
work of the Holy Spirit in the heart may be clearly seen from
this fact, that all which has been done by God the Father, and
by God the Son, must be ineffectual to us, unless the Spirit
shall reveal these things to our souls. What effect does the
doctrine of election have upon any man until the Spirit of God
enters into him? Election is a dead letter in my consciousness
until the Spirit of God calls me out of darkness into marvellous
light. Then through my calling, I see my election, and knowing
myself to be called of God, I know myself to have been chosen in
the eternal purpose. A covenant was made with the Lord Jesus
Christ, by His Father; but what avails that covenant to us until
the Holy Spirit brings us its blessings, and opens our hearts
to receive them? There hang the blessings on the nail--Christ
Jesus; but being short of stature, we cannot reach them; the
Spirit of God takes them down and hands them to us, and thus
they become actually ours. Covenant blessings in themselves
are like the manna in the skies, far out of mortal reach, but
the spirit of God opens the windows of heaven and scatters the
living bread around the camp of the spiritual Israel. Christ's
finished work is like wine stored in the wine-vat; through
unbelief we can neither draw nor drink. The Holy Spirit dips our
vessel into this precious wine, and then we drink; but without
the Spirit we are as truly dead in sin as though the Father
never had elected, and though the Son had never bought us with
His blood. The Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary to our
well-being. Let us walk lovingly towards Him and tremble at the
thought of grieving Him.
* 03/01/PM

"He is precious."
                                                   --1 Peter 2:7

   As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in
our Beloved. The glances of His eyes outshine the sun: the
beauties of His face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no
fragrance is like the breath of His mouth. Gems of the mine, and
pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by His
preciousness. Peter tells us that Jesus is precious, but he did
not and could not tell us how precious, nor could any of us
compute the value of God's unspeakable gift. Words cannot set
forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to His people, nor
fully tell how essential He is to their satisfaction and
happiness. Believer, have you not found in the midst of plenty
a sore famine if your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining,
but Christ had hidden Himself, and all the world was black to
you; or it was night, and since the bright and morning star was
gone, no other star could yield you so much as a ray of light.
What a howling wilderness is this world without our Lord! If
once He hideth Himself from us, withered are the flowers of our
garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their
songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth's candles
cannot make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He
is the soul of our soul, the light of our light, the life of our
life. Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without
Him, when thou wakest up and lookest forward to the day's
battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest home
jaded and weary, if there were no door of fellowship between
thee and Christ? Blessed be His name, He will not suffer us to
try our lot without Him, for Jesus never forsakes His own. Yet,
let the thought of what life would be without Him enhance His
preciousness.

* 03/02/PM

"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this
grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ."
                                                 --Ephesians 3:8

   The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to
preach the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a
drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while
Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it
greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes, the deeper it
sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their
abilities, because they are untried; but the earnest worker soon
learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, try hard work;
if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for
Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart
from the living God, attempt especially the great work of
proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will
know, as you never knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you
are. Although the apostle thus knew and confessed his weakness,
he was never perplexed as to the subject of his ministry. From
his first sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing
but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled the Son of God
who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal
efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let "Christ
and Him crucified" be your ever recurring theme. The Christian
should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun
is shining, open their golden cups, as if saying, "Fill us with
thy beams!" but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they
close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian
feel the sweet influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he
must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of
Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject
which is both "seed for the sower, and bread for the eater."
This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the
master-key to the heart of the hearer.

* 03/03/PM

"He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove."
                                                  --Matthew 3:16

   As the Spirit of God descended upon the Lord Jesus, the head,
so He also, in measure, descends upon the members of the
mystical body. His descent is to us after the same fashion as
that in which it fell upon our Lord. There is often a singular
rapidity about it; or ever we are aware, we are impelled
onward and heavenward beyond all expectation. Yet is there none
of the hurry of earthly haste, for the wings of the dove are as
soft as they are swift. Quietness seems essential to many
spiritual operations; the Lord is in the still small voice, and
like the dew, His grace is distilled in silence. The dove has
ever been the chosen type of purity, and the Holy Spirit is
holiness itself. Where He cometh, everything that is pure and
lovely, and of good report, is made to abound, and sin and
uncleanness depart. Peace reigns also where the Holy Dove
comes with power; He bears the olive branch which shows that the
waters of divine wrath are assuaged. Gentleness is a sure
result of the Sacred Dove's transforming power: hearts touched
by His benign influence are meek and lowly henceforth and for
ever. Harmlessness follows, as a matter of course; eagles and
ravens may hunt their prey--the turtledove can endure wrong, but
cannot inflict it. We must be harmless as doves. The dove is an
apt picture of love, the voice of the turtle is full of
affection; and so, the soul visited by the blessed Spirit,
abounds in love to God, in love to the brethren, and in love to
sinners; and above all, in love to Jesus. The brooding of the
Spirit of God upon the face of the deep, first produced order
and life, and in our hearts, He causes and fosters new life and
light. Blessed Spirit, as Thou didst rest upon our dear
Redeemer, even so rest upon us from this time forward and for
ever.

* 03/04/PM

"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy
house."
                                                    --Psalm 36:8

   Sheba's queen was amazed at the sumptuousness of Solomon's
table. She lost all heart when she saw the provision of a single
day; and she marvelled equally at the company of servants who
were feasted at the royal board. But what is this to the
hospitalities of the God of grace? Ten thousand thousand of his
people are daily fed; hungry and thirsty, they bring large
appetites with them to the banquet, but not one of them returns
unsatisfied; there is enough for each, enough for all, enough
for evermore. Though the host that feed at Jehovah's table is
countless as the stars of heaven, yet each one has his portion
of meat. Think how much grace one saint requires, so much that
nothing but the Infinite could supply him for one day; and yet
the Lord spreads His table, not for one, but many saints, not
for one day, but for many years; not for many years only, but
for generation after generation. Observe the full feasting
spoken of in the text, the guests at mercy's banquet are
satisfied, nay, more "abundantly satisfied;" and that not with
ordinary fare, but with fatness, the peculiar fatness of God's
own house; and such feasting is guaranteed by a faithful promise
to all those children of men who put their trust under the
shadow of Jehovah's wings. I once thought if I might but get the
broken meat at God's back door of grace I should be satisfied;
like the woman who said, "The dogs eat of the crumbs that fall
from the master's table;" but no child of God is ever served
with scraps and leavings; like Mephibosheth, they all eat from
the king's own table. In matters of grace, we all have
Benjamin's mess--we all have ten times more than we could have
expected, and though our necessities are great, yet are we often
amazed at the marvellous plenty of grace which God gives us
experimentally to enjoy.

* 03/05/PM

"Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation."
                                                    --Psalm 35:3

   What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my
evening's petition; but first let it yield me an instructive
meditation. The text informs me first of all that David had his
doubts; for why should he pray, "Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation," if he were not sometimes exercised with doubts and
fears? Let me, then, be of good cheer, for I am not the only
saint who has to complain of weakness of faith. If David
doubted, I need not conclude that I am no Christian because I
have doubts. The text reminds me that David was not content
while he had doubts and fears, but he repaired at once to the
mercy-seat to pray for assurance; for he valued it as much fine
gold. I too must labour after an abiding sense of my acceptance
in the Beloved, and must have no joy when His love is not shed
abroad in my soul. When my Bridegroom is gone from me, my soul
must and will fast. I learn also that David knew where to
obtain full assurance. He went to his God in prayer, crying,
"Say unto my soul I am thy salvation." I must be much alone with
God if I would have a clear sense of Jesus' love. Let my prayers
cease, and my eye of faith will grow dim. Much in prayer, much
in heaven; slow in prayer, slow in progress. I notice that
David would not be satisfied unless his assurance had a divine
source. "Say unto my soul." Lord, do Thou say it ! Nothing
short of a divine testimony in the soul will ever content the
true Christian. Moreover, David could not rest unless his
assurance had a vivid personality about it. "Say unto my
soul, I am thy salvation." Lord, if Thou shouldst say this to
all the saints, it were nothing, unless Thou shouldst say it to
me. Lord, I have sinned; I deserve not Thy smile; I scarcely
dare to ask it; but oh!  say to my soul, even to my soul, "I
am thy salvation." Let me have a present, personal,
infallible, indisputable sense that I am Thine, and that Thou
art mine.

* 03/06/PM

"Before destruction the heart of man is haughty."
                                                --Proverbs 18:12

   It is an old and common saying, that "coming events cast
their shadows before them;" the wise man teaches us that a
haughty heart is the prophetic prelude of evil. Pride is as
safely the sign of destruction as the change of mercury in the
weather-glass is the sign of rain; and far more infallibly so
than that. When men have ridden the high horse, destruction has
always overtaken them. Let David's aching heart show that there
is an eclipse of a man's glory when he dotes upon his own
greatness. 2 Sam. 24:10. See Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty builder
of Babylon, creeping on the earth, devouring grass like oxen,
until his nails had grown like bird's claws, and his hair like
eagle's feathers. Dan. 4:33. Pride made the boaster a beast, as
once before it made an angel a devil. God hates high looks, and
never fails to bring them down., All the arrows of God are aimed
at proud hearts. O Christian, is thine heart haughty this
evening? For pride can get into the Christian's heart as well as
into the sinner's; it can delude him into dreaming that he is
"rich and increased in goods, and hath need of nothing." Art
thou glorying in thy graces or thy talents? Art thou proud of
thyself, that thou hast had holy frames and sweet experiences?
Mark thee, reader, there is a destruction coming to thee also.
Thy flaunting poppies of self-conceit will be pulled up by the
roots, thy mushroom graces will wither in the burning heat, and
thy self-sufficiency shall become as straw for the dunghill. If
we forget to live at the foot of the cross in deepest lowliness
of spirit, God will not forget to make us smart under His rod. A
destruction will come to thee, O unduly exalted believer, the
destruction of thy joys and of thy comforts, though there can be
no destruction of thy soul. Wherefore, "He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord."

* 03/07/PM

"lt is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in
man."
                                                   --Psalm 118:8

   Doubtless the reader has been tried with the temptation to
rely upon the things which are seen, instead of resting alone
upon the invisible God. Christians often look to man for help
and counsel, and mar the noble simplicity of their reliance upon
their God. Does this evening's portion meet the eye of a child
of God anxious about temporals, then would we reason with him
awhile. You trust in Jesus, and only in Jesus, for your
salvation, then why are you troubled? "Because of my great
care." Is it not written, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord"? "Be
careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication make known your wants unto God." Cannot you trust
God for temporals? "Ah! I wish I could." If you cannot trust
God for temporals, how dare you trust Him for spirituals? Can
you trust Him for your soul's redemption, and not rely upon Him
for a few lesser mercies? Is not God enough for thy need, or is
His all-sufficiency too narrow for thy wants? Dost thou want
another eye beside that of Him who sees every secret thing? Is
His heart faint? Is His arm weary? If so, seek another God; but
if He be infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true, and all-wise, why
gaddest thou abroad so much to seek another confidence? Why dost
thou rake the earth to find another foundation, when this is
strong enough to bear all the weight which thou canst ever build
thereon? Christian, mix not only thy wine with water, do not
alloy thy gold of faith with the dross of human confidence. Wait
thou only upon God, and let thine expectation be from Him. Covet
not Jonah's gourd, but rest in Jonah's God. Let the sandy
foundations of terrestrial trust be the choice of fools, but do
thou, like one who foresees the storm, build for thyself an
abiding place upon the Rock of Ages.

* 03/08/PM

"She called his name Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but his father
called him Benjamin (son of my right hand)."
                                                 --Genesis 35:18

   To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side.
Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and
death; Jacob, though weeping the mother's loss, could see the
mercy of the child's birth. It is well for us if, while the
flesh mourns over trials, our faith triumphs in divine
faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so will our
adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds
multitudes with its fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous
flowerets; the stormy wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the
biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds distil bright drops,
and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found
in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in
discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to
gaze upon a trial; if there were only one slough in the world,
they would soon be up to their necks in it, and if there were
only one lion in the desert they would hear it roar. About us
all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt, at
times, like Jacob, to cry, "All these things are against me."
Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and
then to anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like
Gideon's men, she does not fret over the broken pitcher, but
rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the more. Out of the rough
oyster-shell of difficulty she extracts the rare pearl of
honour, and from the deep ocean-caves of distress she uplifts
the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity
ebbs, she finds treasures hid in the sands; and when her sun of
delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry
promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to
the light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our
dying Benoni to be our living Benjamin.

* 03/09/PM

"Abide in Me."
                                                     --John 15:4

   Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill.
Whether it be the wormwood of woe, or the cloying surfeit of
earthly delight, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take
bitterness from the one, and satiety from the other. Live near
to Jesus, Christian, and it is matter of secondary importance
whether thou livest on the mountain of honour or in the valley
of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, thou art covered with the
wings of God, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Let
nothing keep thee from that hallowed intercourse, which is the
choice privilege of a soul wedded to THE WELL-BELOVED. Be not
content with an interview now and then, but seek always to
retain His company, for only in His presence hast thou either
comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who
calls upon us now and then, but one with whom we walk evermore.
Thou hast a difficult road before thee: see, O traveller to
heaven, that thou go not without thy guide. Thou hast to pass
through the fiery furnace; enter it not unless, like Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, thou hast the Son of God to be thy
companion. Thou hast to storm the Jericho of thine own
corruptions: attempt not the warfare until, like Joshua, thou
hast seen the Captain of the Lord's host, with His sword drawn
in His hand. Thou art to meet the Esau of thy many temptations:
meet him not until at Jabbok's brook thou hast laid hold upon
the angel, and prevailed. In every case, in every condition,
thou wilt need Jesus; but most of all, when the iron gates of
death shall open to thee. Keep thou close to thy soul's Husband,
lean thy head upon His bosom, ask to be refreshed with the
spiced wine of His pomegranate, and thou shalt be found of Him
at the last, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Seeing
thou hast lived with Him, and lived in Him here, thou shalt
abide with Him for ever.

* 03/10/PM

"Man . . . is of few days, and full of trouble."
                                                      --Job 14:1

   It may be of great service to us, before we fall asleep, to
remember this mournful fact, for it may lead us to set loose by
earthly things. There is nothing very pleasant in the
recollection that we are not above the shafts of adversity, but
it may humble us and prevent our boasting like the Psalmist in
our morning's portion. "My mountain standeth firm: I shall
never be moved." It may stay us from taking too deep root in
this soil from which we are so soon to be transplanted into the
heavenly garden. Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we
hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the
trees of earth are marked for the woodman's axe, we should not
be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we
should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons
upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and
the hour when we must return them to the lender's hand may be
even at the door. The like is certainly true of our worldly
goods. Do not riches take to themselves wings and fly away? Our
health is equally precarious. Frail flowers of the field, we
must not reckon upon blooming for ever. There is a time
appointed for weakness and sickness, when we shall have to
glorify God by suffering, and not by earnest activity. There is
no single point in which we can hope to escape from the sharp
arrows of affliction; out of our few days there is not one
secure from sorrow. Man's life is a cask full of bitter wine; he
who looks for joy in it had better seek for honey in an ocean of
brine. Beloved reader, set not your affections upon things of
earth: but seek those things which are above, for here the
moth devoureth, and the thief breaketh through, but there all
joys are perpetual and eternal. The path of trouble is the way
home. Lord, make this thought a pillow for many a weary head!

* 03/11/PM

"Thou shalt be called, Sought out."
                                                  --Isaiah 62:12

   The surpassing grace of God is seen very clearly in that we
were not only sought, but sought out. Men seek for a thing
which is lost upon the floor of the house, but in such a case
there is only seeking, not seeking out. The loss is more
perplexing and the search more persevering when a thing is
sought out. We were mingled with the mire: we were as when
some precious piece of gold falls into the sewer, and men gather
out and carefully inspect a mass of abominable filth, and
continue to stir and rake, and search among the heap until the
treasure is found. Or, to use another figure, we were lost in a
labyrinth; we wandered hither and thither, and when mercy came
after us with the gospel, it did not find us at the first
coming, it had to search for us and seek us out; for we as lost
sheep were so desperately lost, and had wandered into such a
strange country, that it did not seem possible that even the
Good Shepherd should track our devious roamings. Glory be to
unconquerable grace, we were sought out!  No gloom could hide
us, no filthiness could conceal us, we were found and brought
home. Glory be to infinite love, God the Holy Spirit restored
us!

   The lives of some of God's people, if they could be written
would fill us with holy astonishment. Strange and marvellous are
the ways which God used in their case to find His own. Blessed
be His name, He never relinquishes the search until the chosen
are sought out effectually. They are not a people sought to-day
and cast away to-morrow. Almightiness and wisdom combined will
make no failures, they shall be called, "Sought out!" That any
should be sought out is matchless grace, but that we should be
sought out is grace beyond degree! We can find no reason for it
but God's own sovereign love, and can only lift up our heart in
wonder, and praise the Lord that this night we wear the name of
"Sought out."

* 03/12/PM

"To whom belongest thou?"
                                                --1 Samuel 30:13

   No neutralities can exist in religion. We are either ranked
under the banner of Prince Immanuel, to serve and fight His
battles, or we are vassals of the black prince, Satan. "To whom
belongest thou?"

   Reader, let me assist you in your response. Have you been
"born again"? If you have, you belong to Christ, but without
the new birth you cannot be His. In whom do you trust? For
those who believe in Jesus are the sons of God. Whose work are
you doing? You are sure to serve your master, for he whom you
serve is thereby owned to be your lord. What company do you
keep? If you belong to Jesus, you will fraternize with those
who wear the livery of the cross. "Birds of a feather flock
together." What is your conversation? Is it heavenly or is it
earthly? What have you learned of your Master?--for servants
learn much from their masters to whom they are apprenticed. If
you have served your time with Jesus, it will be said of you, as
it was of Peter and John, "They took knowledge of them, that
they had been with Jesus."

   We press the question, "To whom belongest thou?" Answer
honestly before you give sleep to your eyes. If you are not
Christ's you are in a hard service--Run away from your cruel
master! Enter into the service of the Lord of Love, and you
shall enjoy a life of blessedness. If you are Christ's let me
advise you to do four things. You belong to Jesus--obey him;
let his word be your law; let His wish be your will. You belong
to the Beloved, then love Him; let your heart embrace Him; let
your whole soul be filled with Him. You belong to the Son of
God, then trust him; rest nowhere but on him. You belong to
the King of kings, then be decided for Him. Thus, without your
being branded upon the brow, all will know to whom you belong.

* 03/13/PM

"Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in
unto him into the ark."
                                                   --Genesis 8:9

   Wearied out with her wanderings, the dove returns at length
to the ark as her only resting place. How heavily she flies--she
will drop--she will never reach the ark! But she struggles on.
Noah has been looking out for his dove all day long, and is
ready to receive her. She has just strength to reach the edge of
the ark, she can hardly alight upon it, and is ready to drop,
when Noah puts forth his hand and pulls her in unto him. Mark
that: "pulled her in unto him." She did not fly right in
herself, but was too fearful, or too weary to do so. She flew as
far as she could, and then he put forth his hand and pulled her
in unto him. This act of mercy was shown to the wandering dove,
and she was not chidden for her wanderings. Just as she was she
was pulled into the ark. So you, seeking sinner, with all your
sin, will be received. "Only return"--those are God's two
gracious words--"only return." What! nothing else? No, "only
return." She had no olive branch in her mouth this time, nothing
at all but just herself and her wanderings; but it is "only
return," and she does return, and Noah pulls her in. Fly, thou
wanderer; fly thou fainting one, dove as thou art, though thou
thinkest thyself to be black as the raven with the mire of sin,
back, back to the Saviour. Every moment thou waitest does but
increase thy misery; thine attempts to plume thyself and make
thyself fit for Jesus are all vanity. Come thou to Him just as
thou art. "Return, thou backsliding Israel." He does not say,
"Return, thou repenting Israel" (there is such an invitation
doubtless), but "thou backsliding one," as a backslider with
all thy backslidings about thee, Return, return, return! Jesus
is waiting for thee! He will stretch forth His hand and "pull
thee in"--in to Himself, thy heart's true home.

* 03/14/PM

"I will take heed to my ways."
                                                    --Psalm 39:1

   Fellow-pilgrim, say not in your heart, "I will go hither and
thither, and I shall not sin;" for you are never so out of
danger of sinning as to boast of security. The road is very
miry, it will be hard to pick your path so as not to soil your
garments. This is a world of pitch; you will need to watch
often, if in handling it you are to keep your hands clean. There
is a robber at every turn of the road to rob you of your jewels;
there is a temptation in every mercy; there is a snare in every
joy; and if you ever reach heaven, it will be a miracle of
divine grace to be ascribed entirely to your Father's power. Be
on your guard. When a man carries a bomb-shell in his hand, he
should mind that he does not go near a candle; and you too must
take care that you enter not into temptation. Even your common
actions are edged tools; you must mind how you handle them.
There is nothing in this world to foster a Christian's piety,
but everything to destroy it. How anxious should you be to look
up to God, that He may keep you! Your prayer should be, "Hold
thou me up, and I shall be safe." Having prayed, you must also
watch; guarding every thought, word, and action, with holy
jealousy. Do not expose yourselves unnecessarily; but if called
to exposure, if you are bidden to go where the darts are flying,
never venture forth without your shield; for if once the devil
finds you without your buckler, he will rejoice that his hour of
triumph is come, and will soon make you fall down wounded by his
arrows. Though slain you cannot be; wounded you may be. "Be
sober; be vigilant, danger may be in an hour when all seemeth
securest to thee." Therefore, take heed to thy ways, and watch
unto prayer. No man ever fell into error through being too
watchful. May the Holy Spirit guide us in all our ways, so shall
they always please the Lord.

* 03/15/PM

"He did it with all his heart and prospered."
                                            --2 Chronicles 31:21

   This is no unusual occurrence; it is the general rule of the
moral universe that those men prosper who do their work with all
their hearts, while those are almost certain to fail who go to
their labour leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not
give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is He
pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to
find its hid treasure. It is universally confessed that if a man
would prosper, he must be diligent in business. It is the same
in religion as it is in other things. If you would prosper in
your work for Jesus, let it be heart work, and let it be done
with all your heart. Put as much force, energy, heartiness, and
earnestness into religion as ever you do into business, for it
deserves far more. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, but He
does not encourage our idleness; He loves active believers. Who
are the most useful men in the Christian church? The men who do
what they undertake for God with all their hearts. Who are the
most successful Sabbath-school teachers? The most talented? No;
the most zealous; the men whose hearts are on fire, those are
the men who see their Lord riding forth prosperously in the
majesty of His salvation. Whole-heartedness shows itself in
perseverance; there may be failure at first, but the earnest
worker will say, "It is the Lord's work, and it must be done; my
Lord has bidden me do it, and in His strength I will accomplish
it." Christian, art thou thus "with all thine heart" serving thy
Master? Remember the earnestness of Jesus! Think what heart-work
was His! He could say, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me
up." When He sweat great drops of blood, it was no light burden
He had to carry upon those blessed shoulders; and when He poured
out His heart, it was no weak effort He was making for the
salvation of His people. Was Jesus in earnest, and are we
lukewarm?

* 03/16/PM

"Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins."
                                                   --Psalm 19:13

   Such was the prayer of the "man after God's own heart." Did
holy David need to pray thus? How needful, then, must such a
prayer be for us babes in grace! It is as if he said, "Keep me
back, or I shall rush headlong over the precipice of sin." Our
evil nature, like an ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May
the grace of God put the bridle upon it, and hold it in, that it
rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it
were not for the checks which the Lord sets upon us both in
providence and in grace! The psalmist's prayer is directed
against the worst form of sin--that which is done with
deliberation and wilfulness. Even the holiest need to be "kept
back" from the vilest transgressions. It is a solemn thing to
find the apostle Paul warning saints against the most loathsome
sins. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." What!  do
saints want warning against such sins as these? Yes, they do.
The whitest robes, unless their purity be preserved by divine
grace, will be defiled by the blackest spots. Experienced
Christian, boast not in your experience; you will trip yet if
you look away from Him who is able to keep you from falling. Ye
whose love is fervent, whose faith is constant, whose hopes are
bright, say not, "We shall never sin," but rather cry, "Lead us
not into temptation." There is enough tinder in the heart of the
best of men to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell,
unless God shall quench the sparks as they fall. Who would have
dreamed that righteous Lot could be found drunken, and
committing uncleanness? Hazael said, "Is Thy servant a dog, that
he should do this thing?" and we are very apt to use the same
self-righteous question. May infinite wisdom cure us of the
madness of self-confidence.

* 03/17/PM

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
children of God."
                                                   --Matthew 5:9

   This is the seventh of the beatitudes: and seven was the
number of perfection among the Hebrews. It may be that the
Saviour placed the peacemaker the seventh upon the list because
he most nearly approaches the perfect man in Christ Jesus. He
who would have perfect blessedness, so far as it can be enjoyed
on earth, must attain to this seventh benediction, and become a
peacemaker. There is a significance also in the position of the
text. The verse which precedes it speaks of the blessedness of
"the pure in heart: for they shall see God." It is well to
understand that we are to be "first pure, then peaceable." Our
peaceableness is never to be a compact with sin, or toleration
of evil. We must set our faces like flints against everything
which is contrary to God and His holiness: purity being in our
souls a settled matter, we can go on to peaceableness. Not less
does the verse that follows seem to have been put there on
purpose. However peaceable we may be in this world, yet we shall
be misrepresented and misunderstood: and no marvel, for even the
Prince of Peace, by His very peacefulness, brought fire upon the
earth. He Himself, though He loved mankind, and did no ill, was
"despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief." Lest, therefore, the peaceable in heart should be
surprised when they meet with enemies, it is added in the
following verse, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Thus,
the peacemakers are not only pronounced to be blessed, but they
are compassed about with blessings. Lord, give us grace to climb
to this seventh beatitude! Purify our minds that we may be
"first pure, then peaceable," and fortify our souls, that our
peaceableness may not lead us into cowardice and despair, when
for Thy sake we are persecuted.

* 03/18/PM

"As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you."
                                                     --John 15:9

   As the Father loves the Son, in the same manner Jesus loves
His people. What is that divine method? He loved Him without
beginning, and thus Jesus loves His members. "I have loved
thee with an everlasting love." You can trace the beginning of
human affection; you can easily find the beginning of your love
to Christ, but His love to us is a stream whose source is hidden
in eternity. God the Father loves Jesus without any change.
Christian, take this for your comfort, that there is no change
in Jesus Christ's love to those who rest in Him. Yesterday you
were on Tabor's top, and you said, "He loves me:" to-day you are
in the valley of humiliation, but He loves you still the same.
On the hill Mizar, and among the Hermons, you heard His voice,
which spake so sweetly with the turtle-notes of love; and now on
the sea, or even in the sea, when all His waves and billows go
over you, His heart is faithful to His ancient choice. The
Father loves the Son without any end, and thus does the Son
love His people. Saint, thou needest not fear the loosing of the
silver cord, for His love for thee will never cease. Rest
confident that even down to the grave Christ will go with you,
and that up again from it He will be your guide to the celestial
hills. Moreover, the Father loves the Son without any measure,
and the same immeasurable love the Son bestows upon His chosen
ones. The whole heart of Christ is dedicated to His people. He
"loved us and gave Himself for us." His is a love which passeth
knowledge. Ah! we have indeed an immutable Saviour, a precious
Saviour, one who loves without measure, without change, without
beginning, and without end, even as the Father loves Him! There
is much food here for those who know how to digest it. May the
Holy Ghost lead us into its marrow and fatness!

* 03/19/PM

"And she did eat, and was sufficed, and left."
                                                     --Ruth 2:14

   Whenever we are privileged to eat of the bread which Jesus
gives, we are, like Ruth, satisfied with the full and sweet
repast. When Jesus is the host no guest goes empty from the
table. Our head is satisfied with the precious truth which
Christ reveals; our heart is content with Jesus, as the
altogether lovely object of affection; our hope is satisfied,
for whom have we in heaven but Jesus? and our desire is
satiated, for what can we wish for more than "to know Christ and
to be found in Him"? Jesus fills our conscience till it is at
perfect peace; our judgment with persuasion of the certainty
of His teachings; our memory with recollections of what He has
done, and our imagination with the prospects of what He is yet
to do. As Ruth was "sufficed, and left," so is it with us. We
have had deep draughts; we have thought that we could take in
all of Christ; but when we have done our best we have had to
leave a vast remainder. We have sat at the table of the Lord's
love, and said, "Nothing but the infinite can ever satisfy me; I
am such a great sinner that I must have infinite merit to wash
my sin away;" but we have had our sin removed, and found that
there was merit to spare; we have had our hunger relieved at the
feast of sacred love, and found that there was a redundance of
spiritual meat remaining. There are certain sweet things in the
Word of God which we have not enjoyed yet, and which we are
obliged to leave for awhile; for we are like the disciples to
whom Jesus said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now." Yes, there are graces to which we have
not attained; places of fellowship nearer to Christ which we
have not reached; and heights of communion which our feet have
not climbed. At every banquet of love there are many baskets of
fragments left. Let us magnify the liberality of our glorious
Boaz.

* 03/20/PM

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church."
                                                --Ephesians 5:25

   What a golden example Christ gives to His disciples! Few
masters could venture to say, "If you would practise my
teaching, imitate my life;" but as the life of Jesus is the
exact transcript of perfect virtue, He can point to Himself as
the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher of it. The
Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model.
Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect
the grace which was in Him. As a husband, the Christian is to
look upon the portrait of Christ Jesus, and he is to paint
according to that copy. The true Christian is to be such a
husband as Christ was to His church. The love of a husband is
special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for the church a peculiar
affection, which is set upon her above the rest of mankind: "I
pray for them, I pray not for the world." The elect church is
the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of
His head, the bracelet of His arm, the breastplate of His heart,
the very centre and core of His love. A husband should love his
wife with a constant love, for thus Jesus loves His church.
He does not vary in His affection. He may change in His display
of affection, but the affection itself is still the same. A
husband should love his wife with an enduring love, for
nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." A true husband loves his
wife with a hearty love, fervent and intense. It is not mere
lip-service. Ah! beloved, what more could Christ have done in
proof of His love than He has done? Jesus has a delighted love
towards His spouse: He prizes her affection, and delights in her
with sweet complacence. Believer, you wonder at Jesus' love; you
admire it--are you imitating it? In your domestic
relationships is the rule and measure of your love--"even as
Christ loved the church"?

* 03/21/PM

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the
bands of Orion?"
                                                     --Job 38:31

   If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature
may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of
all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams
of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to
scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy
we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns
aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot
relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine
appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change
therein. Lord, what is man?

   In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is
limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad His
delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and
malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening
power of the Comforter. When He deigns to visit a church and
revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good
work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it
than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the
hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if
the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he
is in soul bondage, who can give him liberty? He alone can
remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a
people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but He. What a
blessing it is that He can do it. O that He would perform the
wonder to-night. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin.
I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and
dulness, but all things are possible with Thee. I need celestial
influences, the clear shinings of Thy love, the beams of Thy
grace, the light of Thy countenance, these are the Pleiades to
me. I suffer much from sin and temptation, these are my wintry
signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me.
Amen.

* 03/22/PM

"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with
Me where I am."
                                                    --John 17:24

   O death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading
branches weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away the
excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If thou must
use thine axe, use it upon the trees which yield no fruit; thou
mightest be thanked then. But why wilt thou fell the goodly
cedars of Lebanon? O stay thine axe, and spare the righteous.
But no, it must not be; death smites the goodliest of our
friends; the most generous, the most prayerful, the most holy,
the most devoted must die. And why? It is through Jesus'
prevailing prayer--"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou
hast given Me, be with Me where I am." It is that which bears
them on eagle's wings to heaven. Every time a believer mounts
from this earth to paradise, it is an answer to Christ's prayer.
A good old divine remarks, "Many times Jesus and His people pull
against one another in prayer. You bend your knee in prayer and
say 'Father, I will that Thy saints be with me where I am';
Christ says, 'Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast
given Me, be with Me where I am.'" Thus the disciple is at
cross-purposes with his Lord. The soul cannot be in both places:
the beloved one cannot be with Christ and with you too. Now,
which pleader shall win the day? If you had your choice; if the
King should step from His throne, and say, "Here are two
supplicants praying in opposition to one another, which shall be
answered?" Oh! I am sure, though it were agony, you would start
from your feet, and say, "Jesus, not my will, but Thine be
done." You would give up your prayer for your loved one's life,
if you could realize the thoughts that Christ is praying in the
opposite direction--"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou
hast given Me, be with Me where I am." Lord, Thou shalt have
them. By faith we let them go.

* 03/23/PM

"I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones
would immediately cry out."
                                                    --Luke 19:40

   But could the stones cry out? Assuredly they could if He who
opens the mouth of the dumb should bid them lift up their voice.
Certainly if they were to speak, they would have much to testify
in praise of Him who created them by the word of His power; they
could extol the wisdom and power of their Maker who called
them into being. Shall not we speak well of Him who made us
anew, and out of stones raised up children unto Abraham? The old
rocks could tell of chaos and order, and the handiwork of God in
successive stages of creation's drama; and cannot we talk of
God's decrees, of God's great work in ancient times, in all that
He did for His church in the days of old? If the stones were to
speak, they could tell of their breaker, how he took them from
the quarry, and made them fit for the temple, and cannot we tell
of our glorious Breaker, who broke our hearts with the hammer of
His word, that He might build us into His temple? If the stones
should cry out they would magnify their builder, who polished
them and fashioned them after the similitude of a palace; and
shall not we talk of our Architect and Builder, who has put us
in our place in the temple of the living God? If the stones
could cry out, they might have a long, long story to tell by way
of memorial, for many a time hath a great stone been rolled as a
memorial before the Lord; and we too can testify of Ebenezers,
stones of help, pillars of remembrance. The broken stones of the
law cry out against us, but Christ Himself, who has rolled away
the stone from the door of the sepulchre, speaks for us. Stones
might well cry out, but we will not let them: we will hush their
noise with ours; we will break forth into sacred song, and bless
the majesty of the Most High, all our days glorifying Him who is
called by Jacob the Shepherd and Stone of Israel.

* 03/24/PM

"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit."
                                                    --Luke 10:21

   The Saviour was "a man of sorrows," but every thoughtful mind
has discovered the fact that down deep in His innermost soul He
carried an inexhaustible treasury of refined and heavenly joy.
Of all the human race, there was never a man who had a deeper,
purer, or more abiding peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. "He was
anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows." His vast
benevolence must, from the very nature of things, have afforded
Him the deepest possible delight, for benevolence is joy. There
were a few remarkable seasons when this joy manifested itself.
"At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." Christ had His songs,
though it was night with Him; though His face was marred, and
His countenance had lost the lustre of earthly happiness, yet
sometimes it was lit up with a matchless splendour of
unparalleled satisfaction, as He thought upon the recompense of
the reward, and in the midst of the congregation sang His praise
unto God. In this, the Lord Jesus is a blessed picture of His
church on earth. At this hour the church expects to walk in
sympathy with her Lord along a thorny road; through much
tribulation she is forcing her way to the crown. To bear the
cross is her office, and to be scorned and counted an alien by
her mother's children is her lot; and yet the church has a deep
well of joy, of which none can drink but her own children. There
are stores of wine, and oil, and corn, hidden in the midst of
our Jerusalem, upon which the saints of God are evermore
sustained and nurtured; and sometimes, as in our Saviour's case,
we have our seasons of intense delight, for "There is a river,
the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God." Exiles
though we be, we rejoice in our King; yea, in Him we exceedingly
rejoice, while in His name we set up our banners.

* 03/25/PM

"The Son of man."
                                                     --John 3:13

   How constantly our Master used the title, the "Son of man!"
If He had chosen, He might always have spoken of Himself as the
Son of God, the Everlasting Father, the Wonderful, the
Counsellor, the Prince of Peace; but behold the lowliness of
Jesus! He prefers to call Himself the Son of man. Let us learn a
lesson of humility from our Saviour; let us never court great
titles nor proud degrees. There is here, however, a far sweeter
thought. Jesus loved manhood so much, that He delighted to
honour it; and since it is a high honour, and indeed, the
greatest dignity of manhood, that Jesus is the Son of man, He is
wont to display this name, that He may as it were hang royal
stars upon the breast of manhood, and show forth the love of God
to Abraham's seed. Son of man--whenever He said that word, He
shed a halo round the head of Adam's children. Yet there is
perhaps a more precious thought still. Jesus Christ called
Himself the Son of man to express His oneness and sympathy with
His people. He thus reminds us that He is the one whom we may
approach without fear. As a man, we may take to Him all our
griefs and troubles, for He knows them by experience; in that He
Himself hath suffered as the "Son of man," He is able to succor
and comfort us. All hail, Thou blessed Jesus! inasmuch as Thou
art evermore using the sweet name which acknowledges that Thou
art a brother and a near kinsman, it is to us a dear token of
Thy grace, Thy humility, Thy love.

               "Oh see how Jesus trusts Himself
               Unto our childish love,
               As though by His free ways with us
               Our earnestness to prove!

               His sacred name a common word
               On earth He loves to hear;
               There is no majesty in Him
               Which love may not come near."

* 03/26/PM

"When He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy
angels."
                                                     --Mark 8:38

   If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall
be sharers with Him in the lustre which shall surround Him when
He appears again in glory. Art thou, beloved one, with Christ
Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to Him? Then thou art to-day
with Him in His shame; thou hast taken up His cross, and gone
with Him without the camp bearing His reproach; thou shalt
doubtless be with Him when the cross is exchanged for the crown.
But judge thyself this evening; for if thou art not with Him in
the regeneration, neither shalt thou be with Him when He shall
come in His glory. If thou start back from the black side of
communion, thou shalt not understand its bright, its happy
period, when the King shall come, and all His holy angels with
Him. What! are angels with Him? And yet He took not up
angels--He took up the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels
with Him? Come, my soul, if thou art indeed His own beloved,
thou canst not be far from Him. If His friends and His
neighbours are called together to see His glory, what thinkest
thou if thou art married to Him? Shalt thou be distant? Though
it be a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that
heart which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted
thee into union. Has He not said to thee, O my soul, "I will
betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
lovingkindness"? Have not His own lips said it, "I am married
unto thee, and My delight is in thee"? If the angels, who are
but friends and neighbours, shall be with Him, it is abundantly
certain that His own beloved Hephzibah, in whom is all His
delight, shall be near to Him, and sit at His right hand. Here
is a morning star of hope for thee, of such exceeding
brilliance, that it may well light up the darkest and most
desolate experience.

* 03/27/PM

"And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their master's table."
                                                 --Matthew 15:27

   This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking GREAT
THOUGHTS OF CHRIST. The Master had talked about the children's
bread: "Now," argued she, "since Thou art the Master of the
table of grace, I know that Thou art a generous housekeeper, and
there is sure to be abundance of bread on Thy table; there will
be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs
to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare
none the worse because the dogs are fed." She thought Him one
who kept so good a table that all that she needed would only be
a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have
the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to
her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she said,
"It is nothing to Him, it is but a crumb for Christ to give."
This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin
alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ
will pilot you into the haven of peace. "My sins are many, but
oh! it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of
my guilt presses me down as a giant's foot would crush a worm,
but it is no more than a grain of dust to Him, because He has
already borne its curse in His own body on the tree. It will be
but a small thing for Him to give me full remission, although it
will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it." The woman
opens her soul's mouth very wide, expecting great things of
Jesus, and He fills it with His love. Dear reader, do the same.
She confessed what Christ laid at her door, but she laid fast
hold upon Him, and drew arguments even out of His hard words;
she believed great things of Him, and she thus overcame Him.
SHE WON THE VICTORY BY BELIEVING IN HIM. Her case is an instance
of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must
imitate her tactics.

* 03/28/PM

"I will accept you with your sweet savour."
                                                 --Ezekiel 20:41

   The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savour to the
Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive
righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was
a sweet savour in His active life by which He honoured the law
of God, and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel
in the pure setting of His own person. Such, too, was His
passive obedience, when He endured with unmurmuring submission,
hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at length sweat great
drops of blood in Gethsemane, gave His back to the smiters, and
His cheeks to them that plucked out the hair, and was fastened
to the cruel wood, that He might suffer the wrath of God in our
behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High; and for
the sake of His doing and His dying, His substitutionary
sufferings and His vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts
us. What a preciousness must there be in Him to overcome our
want of preciousness! What a sweet savour to put away our ill
savour!  What a cleansing power in His blood to take away sin
such as ours! and what glory in His righteousness to make such
unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved! Mark,
believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since
it is in Him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance
in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you
have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted.
Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins, Jehovah's
gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though He sees sin
in you, in yourself, yet when He looks at you through Christ, He
sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ, are always
blessed and dear to the Father's heart. Therefore lift up a
song, and as you see the smoking incense of the merit of the
Saviour coming up, this evening, before the sapphire throne, let
the incense of your praise go up also.

* 03/29/PM

"I called Him, but He gave me no answer."
                                           --Song of Solomon 5:6

   Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate,
until the King cometh forth to fill her bosom with the blessings
which she seeketh. The Lord, when He hath given great faith, has
been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered His
servants' voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky.
They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained
immovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like
Jeremiah, they have cried, "Thou hast covered Thyself with a
cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." Thus have true
saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not
because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were
unaccepted, but because it so pleased Him who is a Sovereign,
and who gives according to His own pleasure. If it pleases Him
to bid our patience exercise itself, shall He not do as He wills
with His own! Beggars must not be choosers either as to time,
place, or form. But we must be careful not to take delays in
prayer for denials: God's long-dated bills will be punctually
honoured; we must not suffer Satan to shake our confidence in
the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers.
Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our
prayers--they are not blown away by the wind, they are treasured
in the King's archives. This is a registry in the court of
heaven wherein every prayer is recorded. Tried believer, thy
Lord hath a tear-bottle in which the costly drops of sacred
grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy groanings are
numbered. By-and-by, thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be
content to wait a little? Will not thy Lord's time be better
than thy time? By-and-by He will comfortably appear, to thy
soul's joy, and make thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of
long waiting, and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full
fruition.

* 03/30/PM

"Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord."
                                             --Lamentations 3:40

   The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his
return; a long protracted separation from her lord is a
semi-death to her spirit: and so with souls who love the Saviour
much, they must see His face, they cannot bear that He should be
away upon the mountains of Bether, and no more hold communion
with them. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger will be
grievous to loving children, who fear to offend their tender
father, and are only happy in his smile. Beloved, it was so once
with you. A text of Scripture, a threatening, a touch of the rod
of affliction, and you went to your Father's feet, crying, "Show
me wherefore Thou contendest with me?" Is it so now? Are you
content to follow Jesus afar off? Can you contemplate suspended
communion with Christ without alarm? Can you bear to have your
Beloved walking contrary to you, because you walk contrary to
Him? Have your sins separated between you and your God, and is
your heart at rest? O let me affectionately warn you, for it is
a grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the
present enjoyment of the Saviour's face. Let us labour to feel
what an evil thing this is--little love to our own dying
Saviour, little joy in our precious Jesus, little fellowship
with the Beloved! Hold a true Lent in your souls, while you
sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow!
Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the
cross. There, and there only, can you get your spirit
quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may
have become, let us go again in all the rags and poverty, and
defilement of our natural condition. Let us clasp that cross,
let us look into those languid eyes, let us bathe in that
fountain filled with blood--this will bring back to us our first
love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith, and the
tenderness of our heart.

* 03/31/PM

"And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it
for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water
dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds
of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field
by night."
                                                --2 Samuel 21:10

   If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her
prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary
of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove
away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our
meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both
our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied?
Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She
bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the rains,
unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes:
her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her
children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we start at the
first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we
cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the
wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be
ready to encounter every foe for Jesus' sake? These her
children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept
and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified
our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our love should be
fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should
be our business, to protect His honour our occupation, to abide
by His cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have
affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at
whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but
everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as
a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with Thee yet awhile, and
do Thou graciously unveil Thyself to us; then shall we not sit
beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.
* 04/01/PM

"It is time to seek the Lord."
                                                   --Hosea 10:12

   This month of April is said to derive its name from the
Latin verb aperio, which signifies to open, because all the
buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the
gates of the flowery year. Reader, if you are yet unsaved, may
your heart, in accord with the universal awakening of nature,
be opened to receive the Lord. Every blossoming flower warns
you that it is time to seek the Lord; be not out of tune with
nature, but let your heart bud and bloom with holy desires. Do
you tell me that the warm blood of youth leaps in your veins?
then, I entreat you, give your vigour to the Lord. It was my
unspeakable happiness to be called in early youth, and I could
fain praise the Lord every day for it. Salvation is priceless,
let it come when it may, but oh! an early salvation has a
double value in it. Young men and maidens, since you may perish
ere you reach your prime, "It is time to seek the Lord." Ye
who feel the first signs of decay, quicken your pace: that
hollow cough, that hectic flush, are warnings which you must
not trifle with; with you it is indeed time to seek the Lord.
Did I observe a little grey mingled with your once luxurious
tresses? Years are stealing on apace, and death is drawing
nearer by hasty marches, let each return of spring arouse you
to set your house in order. Dear reader, if you are now
advanced in life, let me entreat and implore you to delay no
longer. There is a day of grace for you now--be thankful for
that, but it is a limited season and grows shorter every time
that clock ticks. Here in this silent chamber, on this first
night of another month, I speak to you as best I can by paper
and ink, and from my inmost soul, as God's servant, I lay
before you this warning, "It is time to seek the Lord."
Slight not that work, it may be your last call from
destruction, the final syllable from the lip of grace.

* 04/02/PM

"He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand."
                                                  --Isaiah 53:10

   Plead for the speedy fulfillment of this promise, all ye who
love the Lord. It is easy work to pray when we are grounded and
bottomed, as to our desires, upon God's own promise. How can He
that gave the word refuse to keep it? Immutable veracity cannot
demean itself by a lie, and eternal faithfulness cannot degrade
itself by neglect. God must bless His Son, His covenant binds
Him to it. That which the Spirit prompts us to ask for Jesus, is
that which God decrees to give Him. Whenever you are praying
for the kingdom of Christ, let your eyes behold the dawning of
the blessed day which draweth near, when the Crucified shall
receive His coronation in the place where men rejected Him.
Courage, you that prayerfully work and toil for Christ with
success of the very smallest kind, it shall not be so always;
better times are before you. Your eyes cannot see the blissful
future: borrow the telescope of faith; wipe the misty breath of
your doubts from the glass; look through it and behold the
coming glory. Reader, let us ask, do you make this your
constant prayer? Remember that the same Christ who tells us to
say, "Give us this day our daily bread," had first given us this
petition, "Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven." Let not your prayers be all
concerning your own sins, your own wants, your own
imperfections, your own trials, but let them climb the starry
ladder, and get up to Christ Himself, and then, as you draw nigh
to the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat, offer this prayer
continually, "Lord, extend the kingdom of Thy dear Son." Such a
petition, fervently presented, will elevate the spirit of all
your devotions. Mind that you prove the sincerity of your prayer
by labouring to promote the Lord's glory.

* 04/03/PM

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us
all."
                                                   --Isaiah 53:6

   Here a confession of sin common to all the elect people of
God. They have all fallen, and therefore, in common chorus, they
all say, from the first who entered heaven to the last who shall
enter there, "All we like sheep have gone astray." The
confession, while thus unanimous, is also special and
particular: "We have turned every one to his own way." There is
a peculiar sinfulness about every one of the individuals; all
are sinful, but each one with some special aggravation not found
in his fellow. It is the mark of genuine repentance that while
it naturally associates itself with other penitents, it also
takes up a position of loneliness. "We have turned every one to
his own way," is a confession that each man had sinned against
light peculiar to himself, or sinned with an aggravation which
he could not perceive in others. This confession is
unreserved; there is not a word to detract from its force, nor
a syllable by way of excuse. The confession is a giving up of
all pleas of self-righteousness. It is the declaration of men
who are consciously guilty--guilty with aggravations, guilty
without excuse: they stand with their weapons of rebellion
broken in pieces, and cry, "All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way." Yet we hear no
dolorous wailings attending this confession of sin; for the next
sentence makes it almost a song. "The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all." It is the most grievous sentence of the
three, but it overflows with comfort. Strange is it that where
misery was concentrated mercy reigned; where sorrow reached her
climax weary souls find rest. The Saviour bruised is the healing
of bruised hearts. See how the lowliest penitence gives place
to assured confidence through simply gazing at Christ on the
cross!

* 04/04/PM

"Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord."
                                                    --Isaiah 2:3

   It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this
present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of
this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke
everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding,
perhaps proud and carnal. It is well for us to cut down these
thorns and briers, for heavenly seed sown among them is not
likely to yield a harvest; and where shall we find a better
sickle with which to cut them down than communion with God and
the things of the kingdom? In the valleys of Switzerland many of
the inhabitants are deformed, and all wear a sickly appearance,
for the atmosphere is charged with miasma, and is close and
stagnant; but up yonder, on the mountain, you find a hardy race,
who breathe the clear fresh air as it blows from the virgin
snows of the Alpine summits. It would be well if the dwellers in
the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes
and the fever mists, and inhale the bracing element upon the
hills. It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you
this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists
of fear and the fevers of anxiety, and all the ills which gather
in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of
anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the
cords that keep us here below, and assist us to mount! We sit
too often like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that,
unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would,
perhaps, if it came really to the test, be loath to have it
snapped. May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from
the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and
leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may
our soul, like Abraham, attain the top of the mountain, there to
indulge in communion with the Most High.

* 04/05/PM

"Before honour is humility."
                                                --Proverbs 15:33

   Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with
it. If we empty our hearts of self God will fill them with His
love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember
the word of the Lord, "To this man will I look, even to him that
is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word."
Stoop if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, "He
descended that He might ascend"? so must you. You must grow
downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest
fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them
alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven," with all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer
of God shall be made over by deed of gift to the soul which is
humble enough to be able to receive it without growing proud
because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and
extremity of what it is safe for Him to do. If you do not get a
blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If
our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a
victory in His holy war, you would pilfer the crown for
yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a
victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety. When a man
is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a
grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God
will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the
God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our
fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any
garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of
life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it
be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the
genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

* 04/06/PM

"In the name of the Lord I will destroy them."
                                                  --Psalm 118:12

   Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to a
part of us only, but to the entire man. He contemplated in His
passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and body;
that in this triple kingdom He Himself might reign supreme
without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which
God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord
Jesus Christ. My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou
must conquer all the rest of thyself which yet remains unblest;
thou must subdue all thy powers and passions to the silver
sceptre of Jesus' gracious reign, and thou must never be
satisfied till He who is King by purchase becomes also King by
gracious coronation, and reigns in thee supreme. Seeing, then,
that sin has no right to any part of us, we go about a good and
lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it
out. O my body, thou art a member of Christ: shall I tolerate
thy subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has
suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with His most precious
blood: shall I suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of evil,
or thy passions to be firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender
my judgment to be perverted by error, or my will to be led in
fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, thou art Christ's, and sin
hath no right to thee.

   Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not
dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be
destroyed. You are able to overcome them--not in your own
strength--the weakest of them would be too much for you in that;
but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the
Lamb. Do not ask, "How shall I dispossess them, for they are
greater and mightier than I?" but go to the strong for strength,
wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely
come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through His
grace.

* 04/07/PM

"Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my
salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness."
                                                   --Psalm 51:14

   In this SOLEMN CONFESSION, it is pleasing to observe that
David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter,
nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate
accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its true
name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of
Bathsheba; but still it was planned in David's heart that Uriah
should be slain, and he was before the Lord his murderer. Learn
in confession to be honest with God. Do not give fair names to
foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter.
What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be;
and with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character.
Observe, that David was evidently oppressed with the heinousness
of his sin. It is easy to use words, but it is difficult to feel
their meaning. The fifty-first Psalm is the photograph of a
contrite spirit. Let us seek after the like brokenness of heart;
for however excellent our words may be, if our heart is not
conscious of the hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to
find forgiveness.

   Our text has in it AN EARNEST PRAYER--it is addressed to the
God of salvation. It is His prerogative to forgive; it is His
very name and office to save those who seek His face. Better
still, the text calls Him the God of my salvation. Yes,
blessed be His name, while I am yet going to Him through Jesus'
blood, I can rejoice in the God of my salvation.

   The psalmist ends with A COMMENDABLE VOW: if God will deliver
him he will sing--nay, more, he will "sing aloud." Who can
sing in any other style of such a mercy as this! But note the
subject of the song--"THY RIGHTEOUSNESS." We must sing of the
finished work of a precious Saviour; and he who knows most of
forgiving love will sing the loudest.

* 04/08/PM

"I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me."
                                                    --Psalm 23:4

   Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy
Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine
within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how
calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro,
and the pillars of the earth are removed! Even death itself,
with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the
music of a Christian's heart, but rather makes that music become
more sweet, more clear, more heavenly, till the last kind act
which death can do is to let the earthly strain melt into the
heavenly chorus, the temporal joy into the eternal bliss! Let us
have confidence, then, in the blessed Spirit's power to comfort
us. Dear reader, are you looking forward to poverty? Fear not;
the divine Spirit can give you, in your want, a greater plenty
than the rich have in their abundance. You know not what joys
may be stored up for you in the cottage around which grace will
plant the roses of content. Are you conscious of a growing
failure of your bodily powers? Do you expect to suffer long
nights of languishing and days of pain? O be not sad! That bed
may become a throne to you. You little know how every pang that
shoots through your body may be a refining fire to consume your
dross--a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of your
soul. Are the eyes growing dim? Jesus will be your light. Do the
ears fail you? Jesus' name will be your soul's best music, and
His person your dear delight. Socrates used to say,
"Philosophers can be happy without music;" and Christians can be
happier than philosophers when all outward causes of rejoicing
are withdrawn. In Thee, my God, my heart shall triumph, come
what may of ills without! By thy power, O blessed Spirit, my
heart shall be exceeding glad, though all things should fail me
here below.

* 04/09/PM

"Thy gentleness hath made me great."
                                                   --Psalm 18:35

   The words are capable of being translated, "Thy goodness
hath made me great." David gratefully ascribed all his greatness
not to his own goodness, but the goodness of God. "Thy
providence," is another reading; and providence is nothing
more than goodness in action. Goodness is the bud of which
providence is the flower, or goodness is the seed of which
providence is the harvest. Some render it, "Thy help," which
is but another word for providence; providence being the firm
ally of the saints, aiding them in the service of their Lord. Or
again, "Thy humility hath made me great." "Thy condescension"
may, perhaps, serve as a comprehensive reading, combining the
ideas mentioned, including that of humility. It is God's
making Himself little which is the cause of our being made
great. We are so little, that if God should manifest His
greatness without condescension, we should be trampled under His
feet; but God, who must stoop to view the skies, and bow to see
what angels do, turns His eye yet lower, and looks to the lowly
and contrite, and makes them great. There are yet other
readings, as for instance, the Septuagint, which reads, "Thy
discipline"--Thy fatherly correction--"hath made me great;"
while the Chaldee paraphrase reads, "Thy word hath increased
me." Still the idea is the same. David ascribes all his own
greatness to the condescending goodness of his Father in heaven.
May this sentiment be echoed in our hearts this evening while we
cast our crowns at Jesus' feet, and cry, "Thy gentleness hath
made me great." How marvellous has been our experience of God's
gentleness! How gentle have been His corrections! How gentle
His forbearance! How gentle His teachings! How gentle His
drawings! Meditate upon this theme, O believer. Let gratitude be
awakened; let humility be deepened; let love be quickened ere
thou fallest asleep to-night.

* 04/10/PM

"For there stood by me this night the angel of God."
                                                    --Acts 27:23

   Tempest and long darkness, coupled with imminent risk of
shipwreck, had brought the crew of the vessel into a sad case;
one man alone among them remained perfectly calm, and by his
word the rest were reassured. Paul was the only man who had
heart enough to say, "Sirs, be of good cheer." There were
veteran Roman legionaries on board, and brave old mariners, and
yet their poor Jewish prisoner had more spirit than they all. He
had a secret Friend who kept his courage up. The Lord Jesus
despatched a heavenly messenger to whisper words of consolation
in the ear of His faithful servant, therefore he wore a shining
countenance and spake like a man at ease.

   If we fear the Lord, we may look for timely interpositions
when our case is at its worst. Angels are not kept from us by
storms, or hindered by darkness. Seraphs think it no humiliation
to visit the poorest of the heavenly family. If angel's visits
are few and far between at ordinary times, they shall be
frequent in our nights of tempest and tossing. Friends may drop
from us when we are under pressure, but our intercourse with the
inhabitants of the angelic world shall be more abundant; and in
the strength of love-words, brought to us from the throne by the
way of Jacob's ladder, we shall be strong to do exploits. Dear
reader, is this an hour of distress with you? then ask for
peculiar help. Jesus is the angel of the covenant, and if His
presence be now earnestly sought, it will not be denied. What
that presence brings in heart-cheer those remember who, like
Paul, have had the angel of God standing by them in a night of
storm, when anchors would no longer hold, and rocks were nigh.

           "O angel of my God, be near,
           Amid the darkness hush my fear;
           Loud roars the wild tempestuous sea,
           Thy presence, Lord, shall comfort me."

* 04/11/PM

"Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my
sins."
                                                   --Psalm 25:18

   It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked
with pleas concerning our sins--when, being under God's hand, we
are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences
against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin to
the same place. It was to God that David carried his sorrow: it
was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must
take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll
upon God, for He counteth the hairs of your head; and your great
sorrows you may commit to Him, for He holdeth the ocean in the
hollow of His hand. Go to Him, whatever your present trouble may
be, and you shall find Him able and willing to relieve you. But
we must take our sins to God too. We must carry them to the
cross, that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their
guilt, and to destroy their defiling power.

   The special lesson of the text is this:--that we are to go
to the Lord with sorrows and with sins in the right spirit.
Note that all David asks concerning his sorrow is, "Look upon
mine affliction and my pain;" but the next petition is vastly
more express, definite, decided, plain--"Forgive all my sins"
Many sufferers would have put it, "Remove my affliction and my
pain, and look at my sins." But David does not say so; he cries,
"Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to
Thy wisdom. Lord, look at them, I will leave them to Thee, I
should be glad to have my pain removed, but do as Thou wilt; but
as for my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them; I must have
them forgiven; I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a
moment." A Christian counts sorrow lighter in the scale than
sin; he can bear that his troubles should continue, but he
cannot support the burden of his transgressions.

* 04/12/PM

"The king's garden."
                                                 --Nehemiah 3:15

   Mention of the king's garden by Nehemiah brings to mind the
paradise which the King of kings prepared for Adam. Sin has
utterly ruined that fair abode of all delights, and driven forth
the children of men to till the ground, which yields thorns and
briers unto them. My soul, remember the fall, for it was thy
fall. Weep much because the Lord of love was so shamefully
ill-treated by the head of the human race, of which thou art a
member, as undeserving as any. Behold how dragons and demons
dwell on this fair earth, which once was a garden of delights.

   See yonder another King's garden, which the King waters with
His bloody sweat--Gethsemane, whose bitter herbs are sweeter
far to renewed souls than even Eden's luscious fruits. There the
mischief of the serpent in the first garden was undone: there
the curse was lifted from earth, and borne by the woman's
promised seed. My soul, bethink thee much of the agony and the
passion; resort to the garden of the olive-press, and view thy
great Redeemer rescuing thee from thy lost estate. This is the
garden of gardens indeed, wherein the soul may see the guilt of
sin and the power of love, two sights which surpass all others.

   Is there no other King's garden? Yes, my heart, thou art,
or shouldst be such. How do the flowers flourish? Do any choice
fruits appear? Does the King walk within, and rest in the bowers
of my spirit? Let me see that the plants are trimmed and
watered, and the mischievous foxes hunted out. Come, Lord, and
let the heavenly wind blow at Thy coming, that the spices of Thy
garden may flow abroad. Nor must I forget the King's garden of
the church. O Lord, send prosperity unto it. Rebuild her
walls, nourish her plants, ripen her fruits, and from the huge
wilderness, reclaim the barren waste, and make thereof "a King's
garden."

* 04/13/PM

"And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering;
and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him."
                                                 --Leviticus 1:4

   Our Lord's being made "sin for us" is set forth here by the
very significant transfer of sin to the bullock, which was made
by the elders of the people. The laying of the hand was not a
mere touch of contact, for in some other places of Scripture the
original word has the meaning of leaning heavily, as in the
expression, "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me" (Psalm 88:7). Surely
this is the very essence and nature of faith, which doth not
only bring us into contact with the great Substitute, but
teaches us to lean upon Him with all the burden of our guilt.
Jehovah made to meet upon the head of the Substitute all the
offences of His covenant people, but each one of the chosen is
brought personally to ratify this solemn covenant act, when by
grace he is enabled by faith to lay his hand upon the head of
the "Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world."
Believer, do you remember that rapturous day when you first
realized pardon through Jesus the sin-bearer? Can you not make
glad confession, and join with the writer in saying, "My soul
recalls her day of deliverance with delight. Laden with guilt
and full of fears, I saw my Saviour as my Substitute, and I laid
my hand upon Him; oh! how timidly at first, but courage grew and
confidence was confirmed until I leaned my soul entirely upon
Him; and now it is my unceasing joy to know that my sins are no
longer imputed to me, but laid on Him, and like the debts of the
wounded traveller, Jesus, like the good Samaritan, has said of
all my future sinfulness, 'Set that to My account.'" Blessed
discovery! Eternal solace of a grateful heart!

            "My numerous sins transferr'd to Him,
            Shall never more be found,
            Lost in His blood's atoning stream,
            Where every crime is drown'd!"

* 04/14/PM

"Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him."
                                                   --Isaiah 3:10

   It is well with the righteous ALWAYS. If it had said, "Say
ye to the righteous, that it is well with him in his
prosperity," we must have been thankful for so great a boon, for
prosperity is an hour of peril, and it is a gift from heaven to
be secured from its snares: or if it had been written, "It is
well with him when under persecution," we must have been
thankful for so sustaining an assurance, for persecution is hard
to bear; but when no time is mentioned, all time is included.
God's "shalls" must be understood always in their largest sense.
From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, from the
first gathering of evening shadows until the day-star shines, in
all conditions and under all circumstances, it shall be well
with the righteous. It is so well with him that we could not
imagine it to be better, for he is well fed, he feeds upon the
flesh and blood of Jesus; he is well clothed, he wears the
imputed righteousness of Christ; he is well housed, he dwells
in God; he is well married, his soul is knit in bonds of
marriage union to Christ; he is well provided for, for the
Lord is his Shepherd; he is well endowed, for heaven is his
inheritance. It is well with the righteous--well upon divine
authority; the mouth of God speaks the comforting assurance. O
beloved, if God declares that all is well, ten thousand devils
may declare it to be ill, but we laugh them all to scorn.
Blessed be God for a faith which enables us to believe God when
the creatures contradict Him. It is, says the Word, at all times
well with thee, thou righteous one; then, beloved, if thou canst
not see it, let God's word stand thee in stead of sight; yea,
believe it on divine authority more confidently than if thine
eyes and thy feelings told it to thee. Whom God blesses is blest
indeed, and what His lip declares is truth most sure and
steadfast.

* 04/15/PM

"Lift them up for ever."
                                                    --Psalm 28:9

   God's people need lifting up. They are very heavy by
nature. They have no wings, or, if they have, they are like the
dove of old which lay among the pots; and they need divine grace
to make them mount on wings covered with silver, and with
feathers of yellow gold. By nature sparks fly upward, but the
sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord, "lift them up for
ever!" David himself said, "Unto Thee, O God, do I lift up my
soul," and he here feels the necessity that other men's souls
should be lifted up as well as his own. When you ask this
blessing for yourself, forget not to seek it for others also.
There are three ways in which God's people require to be lifted
up. They require to be elevated in character. Lift them up, O
Lord; do not suffer Thy people to be like the world's people!
The world lieth in the wicked one; lift them out of it! The
world's people are looking after silver and gold, seeking their
own pleasures, and the gratification of their lusts; but, Lord,
lift Thy people up above all this; keep them from being
"muck-rakers," as John Bunyan calls the man who was always
scraping after gold! Set thou their hearts upon their risen Lord
and the heavenly heritage! Moreover, believers need to be
prospered in conflict. In the battle, if they seem to fall, O
Lord, be pleased to give them the victory. If the foot of the
foe be upon their necks for a moment, help them to grasp the
sword of the Spirit, and eventually to win the battle. Lord,
lift up Thy children's spirits in the day of conflict; let them
not sit in the dust, mourning for ever. Suffer not the adversary
to vex them sore, and make them fret; but if they have been,
like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the mercy of a
delivering God.

   We may also ask our Lord to lift them up at the last! Lift
them up by taking them home, lift their bodies from the tomb,
and raise their souls to Thine eternal kingdom in glory.

* 04/16/PM

"And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."
                                                  --Exodus 17:12

   So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it.
The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the
fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. No, in the soul's
conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and
vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You
must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling
must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses',
holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was
the emblem of God's working with Moses, the symbol of God's
government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the
promise and the oath of God before Him. The Lord cannot deny His
own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you
will.

   Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at
any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let
holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the
stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and
prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who
can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than
to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never
grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the
praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it
is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for
special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our
infirmities, as He allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to
continue with our hands steady "until the going down of the
sun;" till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to
the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed
up in praise.

* 04/17/PM

"We would see Jesus."
                                                    --John 12:21

   Evermore the worldling's cry is, Who will show us any good?"
He seeks satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and
riches. But the quickened sinner knows of only one good. "O
that I knew where I might find HIM!" When he is truly awakened
to feel his guilt, if you could pour the gold of India at his
feet, he would say, "Take it away: I want to find HIM." It is a
blessed thing for a man, when he has brought his desires into a
focus, so that they all centre in one object. When he has fifty
different desires, his heart resembles a mere of stagnant water,
spread out into a marsh, breeding miasma and pestilence; but
when all his desires are brought into one channel, his heart
becomes like a river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize
the fields. Happy is he who hath one desire, if that one desire
be set on Christ, though it may not yet have been realized. If
Jesus be a soul's desire, it is a blessed sign of divine work
within. Such a man will never be content with mere ordinances.
He will say, "I want Christ; I must have Him--mere ordinances
are of no use to me; I want Himself; do not offer me these;
you offer me the empty pitcher, while I am dying of thirst; give
me water, or I die. Jesus is my soul's desire. I would see
Jesus!"

   Is this thy condition, my reader, at this moment? Hast thou
but one desire, and is that after Christ? Then thou art not far
from the kingdom of heaven. Hast thou but one wish in thy heart,
and that one wish that thou mayst be washed from all thy sins in
Jesus' blood? Canst thou really say, "I would give all I have to
be a Christian; I would give up everything I have and hope for,
if I might but feel that I have an interest in Christ"? Then,
despite all thy fears, be of good cheer, the Lord loveth thee,
and thou shalt come out into daylight soon, and rejoice in the
liberty wherewith Christ makes men free.

* 04/18/PM

"And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good."
                                                 --Genesis 32:12

   When Jacob was on the other side of the brook Jabbok, and
Esau was coming with armed men, he earnestly sought God's
protection, and as a master reason he pleaded, "And Thou saidst,
I will surely do thee good." Oh, the force of that plea! He was
holding God to His word--"Thou saidst." The attribute of God's
faithfulness is a splendid horn of the altar to lay hold upon;
but the promise, which has in it the attribute and something
more, is a yet mightier holdfast--"Thou saidst, I will surely do
thee good." And has He said, and shall He not do it? "Let God
be true, and every man a liar." Shall not He be true? Shall
He not keep His word? Shall not every word that cometh out of
His lips stand fast and be fulfilled? Solomon, at the opening
of the temple, used this same mighty plea. He pleaded with God
to remember the word which He had spoken to his father David,
and to bless that place. When a man gives a promissory note, his
honour is engaged; he signs his hand, and he must discharge it
when the due time comes, or else he loses credit. It shall never
be said that God dishonours His bills. The credit of the Most
High never was impeached, and never shall be. He is punctual to
the moment: He never is before His time, but He never is behind
it. Search God's word through, and compare it with the
experience of God's people, and you shall find the two tally
from the first to the last. Many a hoary patriarch has said with
Joshua, "Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which
the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass."
If you have a divine promise, you need not plead it with an
"if," you may urge it with certainty. The Lord meant to fulfil
the promise, or He would not have given it. God does not give
His words merely to quiet us, and to keep us hopeful for awhile
with the intention of putting us off at last; but when He
speaks, it is because He means to do as He has said.

* 04/19/PM

"The Amen."
                                               --Revelation 3:14

   The word AMEN solemnly confirms that which went before; and
Jesus is the great Confirmer; immutable, for ever is "the Amen"
in all His promises. Sinner, I would comfort thee with this
reflection. Jesus Christ said, "Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If you come to
Him, He will say "Amen" in your soul; His promise shall be true
to you. He said in the days of His flesh, "The bruised reed I
will not break." O thou poor, broken, bruised heart, if thou
comest to Him, He will say "Amen" to thee, and that shall be
true in thy soul as in hundreds of cases in bygone years.
Christian, is not this very comforting to thee also, that
there is not a word which has gone out of the Saviour's lips
which He has ever retracted? The words of Jesus shall stand when
heaven and earth shall pass away. If thou gettest a hold of but
half a promise, thou shalt find it true. Beware of him who is
called "Clip-promise," who will destroy much of the comfort of
God's word.

   Jesus is Yea and Amen in all His offices. He was a Priest
to pardon and cleanse once, He is Amen as Priest still. He was a
King to rule and reign for His people, and to defend them with
His mighty arm, He is an Amen King, the same still. He was a
Prophet of old, to foretell good things to come, His lips are
most sweet, and drop with honey still--He is an Amen Prophet.
He is Amen as to the merit of His blood; He is Amen as to His
righteousness. That sacred robe shall remain most fair and
glorious when nature shall decay. He is Amen in every single
title which He bears; your Husband, never seeking a divorce;
your Friend, sticking closer than a brother; your Shepherd, with
you in death's dark vale; your Help and your Deliverer; your
Castle and your High Tower; the Horn of your strength, your
confidence, your joy, your all in all, and your Yea and Amen in
all.

* 04/20/PM

"Fight the Lord's battles."
                                                --1 Samuel 18:17

   The sacramental host of God's elect is warring still on
earth, Jesus Christ being the Captain of their salvation. He has
said, "Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
Hark to the shouts of war! Now let the people of God stand fast
in their ranks, and let no man's heart fail him. It is true that
just now in England the battle is turned against us, and unless
the Lord Jesus shall lift His sword, we know not what may become
of the church of God in this land; but let us be of good
courage, and play the man. There never was a day when
Protestantism seemed to tremble more in the scales than now that
a fierce effort is making to restore the Romish antichrist to
his ancient seat. We greatly want a bold voice and a strong hand
to preach and publish the old gospel for which martyrs bled and
confessors died. The Saviour is, by His Spirit, still on earth;
let this cheer us. He is ever in the midst of the fight, and
therefore the battle is not doubtful. And as the conflict rages,
what a sweet satisfaction it is to know that the Lord Jesus, in
His office as our great Intercessor, is prevalently pleading for
His people! O anxious gazer, look not so much at the battle
below, for there thou shalt be enshrouded in smoke, and amazed
with garments rolled in blood; but lift thine eyes yonder where
the Saviour lives and pleads, for while He intercedes, the cause
of God is safe. Let us fight as if it all depended upon us, but
let us look up and know that all depends upon Him.

   Now, by the lilies of Christian purity, and by the roses of
the Saviour's atonement, by the roes and by the hinds of the
field, we charge you who are lovers of Jesus, to do valiantly in
the Holy War, for truth and righteousness, for the kingdom and
crown jewels of your Master. Onward! "for the battle is not
yours but God's."

* 04/21/PM

"Who is even at the right hand of God."
                                                   --Romans 8:34

   He who was once despised and rejected of men, now occupies
the honourable position of a beloved and honoured Son. The right
hand of God is the place of majesty and favour. Our Lord Jesus
is His people's representative. When He died for them they had
rest; He rose again for them, they had liberty; when He sat down
at His Father's right hand, they had favour, and honour, and
dignity. The raising and elevation of Christ is the elevation,
the acceptance, and enshrinement, the glorifying of all His
people, for He is their head and representative. This sitting at
the right hand of God, then, is to be viewed as the acceptance
of the person of the Surety, the reception of the Representative,
and therefore, the acceptance of our souls. O saint, see in
this thy sure freedom from condemnation. "Who is he that
condemneth?" Who shall condemn the men who are in Jesus at the
right hand of God?

   The right hand is the place of power. Christ at the right
hand of God hath all power in heaven and in earth. Who shall
fight against the people who have such power vested in their
Captain? O my soul, what can destroy thee if Omnipotence be thy
helper? If the aegis of the Almighty cover thee, what sword can
smite thee? Rest thou secure. If Jesus is thine all-prevailing
King, and hath trodden thine enemies beneath His feet; if sin,
death, and hell are all vanquished by Him, and thou art
represented in Him, by no possibility canst thou be destroyed.

           "Jesu's tremendous name
           Puts all our foes to flight:
           Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,
           A Lion is in fight.

           "By all hell's host withstood;
           We all hell's host o'erthrow;
           And conquering them, through Jesu's blood
           We still to conquer go."

* 04/22/PM

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night."
                                                    --Psalm 91:5

   What is this terror? It may be the cry of fire, or the noise
of thieves, or fancied appearances, or the shriek of sudden
sickness or death. We live in the world of death and sorrow, we
may therefore look for ills as well in the night-watches as
beneath the glare of he broiling sun. Nor should this alarm us,
for be the terror what it may, the promise is that the believer
shall not be afraid. Why should he? Let us put it more closely,
why should we? God our Father is here, and will be here all
through the lonely hours; He is an almighty Watcher, a sleepless
Guardian, a faithful Friend. Nothing can happen without His
direction, for even hell itself is under His control. Darkness
is not dark to Him. He has promised to be a wall of fire around
His people--and who can break through such a barrier? Worldlings
may well be afraid, for they have an angry God above them, a
guilty conscience within them, and a yawning hell beneath them;
but we who rest in Jesus are saved from all these through rich
mercy. If we give way to foolish fear we shall dishonour our
profession, and lead others to doubt the reality of godliness.
We ought to be afraid of being afraid, lest we should vex the
Holy Spirit by foolish distrust. Down, then, ye dismal
forebodings and groundless apprehensions, God has not forgotten
to be gracious, nor shut up His tender mercies, it may be night
in the soul, but there need be no terror, for the God of love
changes not. Children of light may walk in darkness, but they
are not therefore cast away, nay, they are now enabled to prove
their adoption by trusting in their heavenly Father as
hypocrites cannot do.

             "Though the night be dark and dreary,
             Darkness cannot hide from Thee;
             Thou art He, who, never weary,
             Watchest where Thy people be."

* 04/23/PM

"Lo, in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb as it had
been slain."
                                                --Revelation 5:6

   Why should our exalted Lord appear in His wounds in glory?
The wounds of Jesus are His glories, His jewels, His sacred
ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is passing fair
because He is "white and ruddy" white with innocence, and ruddy
with His own blood. We see Him as the lily of matchless purity,
and as the rose crimsoned with His own gore. Christ is lovely
upon Olivet and Tabor, and by the sea, but oh! there never was
such a matchless Christ as He that did hang upon the cross.
There we beheld all His beauties in perfection, all His
attributes developed, all His love drawn out, all His character
expressed. Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far more fair in our
eyes than all the splendour and pomp of kings. The thorny crown
is more than an imperial diadem. It is true that He bears not
now the sceptre of reed, but there was a glory in it that never
flashed from sceptre of gold. Jesus wears the appearance of a
slain Lamb as His court dress in which He wooed our souls, and
redeemed them by His complete atonement. Nor are these only the
ornaments of Christ: they are the trophies of His love and of
His victory. He has divided the spoil with the strong. He has
redeemed for Himself a great multitude whom no man can number,
and these scars are the memorials of the fight. Ah! if Christ
thus loves to retain the thought of His sufferings for His
people, how precious should his wounds be to us!

        "Behold how every wound of His
        A precious balm distils,
        Which heals the scars that sin had made,
        And cures all mortal ills.

        "Those wounds are mouths that preach His grace;
        The ensigns of His love;
        The seals of our expected bliss
        In paradise above."

* 04/24/PM

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of
birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our
land."
                                          --Song of Solomon 2:12

   Sweet is the season of spring: the long and dreary winter
helps us to appreciate its genial warmth, and its promise of
summer enhances its present delights. After periods of
depression of spirit, it is delightful to behold again the light
of the Sun of Righteousness; then our slumbering graces rise
from their lethargy, like the crocus and the daffodil from their
beds of earth; then is our heart made merry with delicious notes
of gratitude, far more melodious than the warbling of birds--and
the comforting assurance of peace, infinitely more delightful
than the turtle's note, is heard within the soul. Now is the
time for the soul to seek communion with her Beloved; now must
she rise from her native sordidness, and come away from her old
associations. If we do not hoist the sail when the breeze is
favourable, we shall be blameworthy: times of refreshing ought
not to pass over us unimproved. When Jesus Himself visits us in
tenderness, and entreats us to arise, can we be so base as to
refuse His request? He has Himself risen that He may draw us
after Him: He now by His Holy Spirit has revived us, that we
may, in newness of life, ascend into the heavenlies, and hold
communion with Himself. Let our wintry state suffice us for
coldness and indifference; when the Lord creates a spring
within, let our sap flow with vigour, and our branch blossom
with high resolve. O Lord, if it be not spring time in my chilly
heart, I pray Thee make it so, for I am heartily weary of living
at a distance from Thee. Oh! the long and dreary winter, when
wilt Thou bring it to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my
soul! quicken Thou me! restore me, and have mercy on me! This
very night I would earnestly implore the Lord to take pity upon
His servant, and send me a happy revival of spiritual life!

* 04/25/PM

"If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to
him."
                                               --Revelation 3:20

   What is your desire this evening? Is it set upon heavenly
things? Do you long to enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love?
Do you desire liberty in very close communion with God? Do you
aspire to know the heights, and depths, and lengths, and
breadths? Then you must draw ear to Jesus; you must get a clear
sight of Him in His preciousness and completeness: you must view
Him in His work, in His offices, in His person. He who
understands Christ, receives an anointing from the Holy One, by
which He knows all things. Christ is the great master-key of all
the chambers of God: there is no treasure-house of God which
will not open and yield up all its wealth to the soul that lives
near to Jesus. Are you saying, "O that He would dwell in my
bosom"? "Would that He would make my heart His dwelling-place
for ever"? Open the door, beloved, and He will come into your
souls. He has long been knocking, and all with this object, that
He may sup with you, and you with Him. He sups with you
because you find the house or the heart, and you with Him
because He brings the provision. He could not sup with you if it
were not in your heart, you finding the house; nor could you sup
with Him, for you have a bare cupboard, if He did not bring
provision with Him. Fling wide, then, the portals of your soul.
He will come with that love which you long to feel; He will come
with that joy into which you cannot work your poor depressed
spirit; He will bring the peace which now you have not; He will
come with His flagons of wine and sweet apples of love, and
cheer you till you have no other sickness but that of "love
o'erpowering, love divine." Only open the door to Him, drive out
His enemies, give Him the keys of your heart, and He will dwell
there for ever. Oh, wondrous love, that brings such a guest to
dwell in such a heart!

* 04/26/PM

"Blessed is he that watcheth."
                                              --Revelation 16:15

   "We die daily," said the apostle. This was the life of the
early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their
hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same
fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace
to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the
present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more
likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have
to bear the sneer of the world--that is little; its
blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning,
its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich
and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of
this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not
the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be
torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death
by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he
destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in Him. I fear
me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her
integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher
times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted
ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing,
unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a
vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely
to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on
their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God.
Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can
dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these
things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display
His omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all
these softer things, as well as in the rougher, "We are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us."

* 04/27/PM

"The Lord is King for ever and ever."
                                                   --Psalm 10:16

   Jesus Christ is no despotic claimant of divine right, but
He is really and truly the Lord's anointed! "It hath pleased the
Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." God hath given to
Him all power and all authority. As the Son of man, He is now
head over all things to His church, and He reigns over heaven,
and earth, and hell, with the keys of life and death at His
girdle. Certain princes have delighted to call themselves kings
by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is
such in His church. If it could be put to the vote whether He
should be King in the church, every believing heart would crown
Him. O that we could crown Him more gloriously than we do! We
would count no expense to be wasted that could glorify Christ.
Suffering would be pleasure, and loss would be gain, if thereby
we could surround His brow with brighter crowns, and make Him
more glorious in the eyes of men and angels. Yes, He shall
reign. Long live the King! All hail to Thee, King Jesus! Go
forth, ye virgin souls who love your Lord, bow at His feet,
strew His way with the lilies of your love, and the roses of
your gratitude: "Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him
Lord of all." Moreover, our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right
of conquest: He has taken and carried by storm the hearts of
His people, and has slain their enemies who held them in cruel
bondage. In the Red Sea of His own blood, our Redeemer has
drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: shall He not be King in
Jeshurun? He has delivered us from the iron yoke and heavy curse
of the law: shall not the Liberator be crowned? We are His
portion, whom He has taken out of the hand of the Amorite with
His sword and with His bow: who shall snatch His conquest from
His hand? All hail, King Jesus! we gladly own Thy gentle sway!
Rule in our hearts for ever, Thou lovely Prince of Peace.

* 04/28/PM

"All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted."
                                                   --Ezekiel 3:7

   Are there no exceptions? No, not one. Even the favoured race
are thus described. Are the best so bad?--then what must the
worst be? Come, my heart, consider how far thou hast a share in
this universal accusation, and while considering, be ready to
take shame unto thyself herein thou mayst have been guilty. The
first charge is impudence, or hardness of forehead, a want of
holy shame, an unhallowed boldness in evil. Before my
conversion, I could sin and feel no compunction, hear of my
guilt and yet remain unhumbled, and even confess my iniquity and
manifest no inward humiliation on account of it. For a sinner to
go to God's house and pretend to pray to Him and praise Him
argues a brazen-facedness of the worst kind! Alas! since the
day of my new birth I have doubted my Lord to His face, murmured
unblushingly in His presence, worshipped before Him in a
slovenly manner, and sinned without bewailing myself concerning
it. If my forehead were not as an adamant, harder than flint, I
should have far more holy fear, and a far deeper contrition of
spirit. Woe is me, I am one of the impudent house of Israel. The
second charge is hardheartedness, and I must not venture to
plead innocent here. Once I had nothing but a heart of stone,
and although through grace I now have a new and fleshy heart,
much of my former obduracy remains. I am not affected by the
death of Jesus as I ought to be; neither am I moved by the ruin
of my fellow men, the wickedness of the times, the chastisement
of my heavenly Father, and my own failures, as I should be. O
that my heart would melt at the recital of my Saviour's
sufferings and death. Would to God I were rid of this nether
millstone within me, this hateful body of death. Blessed be the
name of the Lord, the disease is not incurable, the Saviour's
precious blood is the universal solvent, and me, even me, it
will effectually soften, till my heart melts as wax before the
fire.

* 04/29/PM

"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."
                                                   --Psalm 149:4

   How comprehensive is the love of Jesus! There is no part of
His people's interests which He does not consider, and there is
nothing which concerns their welfare which is not important to
Him. Not merely does He think of you, believer, as an immortal
being, but as a mortal being too. Do not deny it or doubt it:
"The very hairs of your head are all numbered." "The steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in His way"
It were a sad thing for us if this mantle of love did not cover
all our concerns, for what mischief might be wrought to us in
that part of our business which did not come under our gracious
Lord's inspection! Believer, rest assured that the heart of
Jesus cares about your meaner affairs. The breadth of His tender
love is such that you may resort to Him in all matters; for in
all your afflictions He is afflicted, and like as a father
pitieth his children, so doth He pity you. The meanest interests
of all His saints are all borne upon the broad bosom of the Son
of God. Oh, what a heart is His, that doth not merely comprehend
the persons of His people, but comprehends also the diverse and
innumerable concerns of all those persons! Dost thou think, O
Christian, that thou canst measure the love of Christ? Think of
what His love has brought thee--justification, adoption,
sanctification, eternal life! The riches of His goodness are
unsearchable; thou shalt never be able to tell them out or even
conceive them. Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ! Shall such
a love as this have half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love
in return? Shall Jesus' marvellous lovingkindness and tender
care meet with but faint response and tardy acknowledgment? O my
soul, tune thy harp to a glad song of thanksgiving! Go to thy
rest rejoicing, for thou art no desolate wanderer, but a beloved
child, watched over, cared for, supplied, and defended by thy
Lord.

* 04/30/PM

"How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God."
                                                  --Psalm 139:17

   Divine omniscience affords no comfort to the ungodly mind,
but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is
always thinking upon us, never turns aside His mind from us, has
us always before His eyes; and this is precisely as we would
have it, for it would be dreadful to exist for a moment beyond
the observation of our heavenly Father. His thoughts are always
tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and they bring to
us countless benefits: hence it is a choice delight to remember
them. The Lord always did think upon His people: hence their
election and the covenant of grace by which their salvation is
secured; He always will think upon them: hence their final
perseverance by which they shall be brought safely to their
final rest. In all our wanderings the watchful glance of the
Eternal Watcher is evermore fixed upon us--we never roam beyond
the Shepherd's eye. In our sorrows He observes us incessantly,
and not a pang escapes Him; in our toils He marks all our
weariness, and writes in His book all the struggles of His
faithful ones. These thoughts of the Lord encompass us in all
our paths, and penetrate the innermost region of our being. Not
a nerve or tissue, valve or vessel, of our bodily organization
is uncared for; all the littles of our little world are thought
upon by the great God.

   Dear reader, is this precious to you? then hold to it. Never
be led astray by those philosophic fools who preach up an
impersonal God, and talk of self-existent, self-governing
matter. The Lord liveth and thinketh upon us, this is a truth
far too precious for us to be lightly robbed of it. The notice
of a nobleman is valued so highly that he who has it counts his
fortune made; but what is it to be thought of by the King of
kings! If the Lord thinketh upon us, all is well, and we may
rejoice evermore.
* 05/01/PM

"I am the rose of Sharon."
                                           --Song of Solomon 2:1

   Whatever there may be of beauty in the material world, Jesus
Christ possesses all that in the spiritual world in a tenfold
degree. Amongst flowers the rose is deemed the sweetest, but
Jesus is infinitely more beautiful in the garden of the soul
than the rose can in the gardens of earth. He takes the first
place as the fairest among ten thousand. He is the sun, and all
others are the stars; the heavens and the day are dark in
comparison with Him, for the King in His beauty transcends
all. "I am the rose of Sharon." This was the best and rarest
of roses. Jesus is not "the rose" alone, He is "the rose of
Sharon," just as He calls His righteousness "gold," and then
adds, "the gold of Ophir"--the best of the best. He is
positively lovely, and superlatively the loveliest. There is
variety in His charms. The rose is delightful to the eye, and
its scent is pleasant and refreshing; so each of the senses of
the soul, whether it be the taste or feeling, the hearing, the
sight, or the spiritual smell, finds appropriate gratification
in Jesus. Even the recollection of His love is sweet. Take the
rose of Sharon, and pull it leaf from leaf, and lay by the
leaves in the jar of memory, and you shall find each leaf
fragrant long afterwards, filling the house with perfume.
Christ satisfies the highest taste of the most educated spirit
to the very full. The greatest amateur in perfumes is quite
satisfied with the rose: and when the soul has arrived at her
highest pitch of true taste, she shall still be content with
Christ, nay, she shall be the better able to appreciate Him.
Heaven itself possesses nothing which excels the rose of Sharon.
What emblem can fully set forth His beauty? Human speech and
earth-born things fail to tell of Him. Earth's choicest charms
commingled, feebly picture His abounding preciousness. Blessed
rose, bloom in my heart for ever!

* 05/02/PM

"These all died in faith."
                                                 --Hebrews 11:13

   Behold the epitaph of all those blessed saints who fell
asleep before the coming of our Lord! It matters nothing how
else they died, whether of old age, or by violent means; this
one point, in which they all agree, is the most worthy of
record, "they all died in faith." In faith they lived--it was
their comfort, their guide, their motive and their support; and
in the same spiritual grace they died, ending their life-song in
the sweet strain in which they had so long continued. They did
not die resting in the flesh or upon their own attainments; they
made no advance from their first way of acceptance with God, but
held to the way of faith to the end. Faith is as precious to die
by as to live by.

   Dying in faith has distinct reference to the past. They
believed the promises which had gone before, and were assured
that their sins were blotted out through the mercy of God.
Dying in faith has to do with the present. These saints were
confident of their acceptance with God, they enjoyed the beams
of His love, and rested in His faithfulness. Dying in faith
looks into the future. They fell asleep, affirming that the
Messiah would surely come, and that when He would in the last
days appear upon the earth, they would rise from their graves to
behold Him. To them the pains of death were but the birth-pangs
of a better state. Take courage, my soul, as thou readest this
epitaph. Thy course, through grace, is one of faith, and sight
seldom cheers thee; this has also been the pathway of the
brightest and the best. Faith was the orbit in which these stars
of the first magnitude moved all the time of their shining here;
and happy art thou that it is thine. Look anew to-night to
Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith, and thank Him for
giving thee like precious faith with souls now in glory.

* 05/03/PM

"A very present help."
                                                    --Psalm 46:1

   Covenant blessings are not meant to be looked at only, but to
be appropriated. Even our Lord Jesus is given to us for our
present use. Believer, thou dost not make use of Christ as thou
oughtest to do. When thou art in trouble, why dost thou not tell
Him all thy grief? Has He not a sympathizing heart, and can He
not comfort and relieve thee? No, thou art going about to all
thy friends, save thy best Friend, and telling thy tale
everywhere except into the bosom of thy Lord. Art thou burdened
with this day's sins? Here is a fountain filled with blood: use
it, saint, use it. Has a sense of guilt returned upon thee? The
pardoning grace of Jesus may be proved again and again. Come to
Him at once for cleansing. Dost thou deplore thy weakness? He is
thy strength: why not lean upon Him? Dost thou feel naked? Come
hither, soul; put on the robe of Jesus' righteousness. Stand
not looking at it, but wear it. Strip off thine own
righteousness, and thine own fears too: put on the fair white
linen, for it was meant to wear. Dost thou feel thyself sick?
Pull the night-bell of prayer, and call up the Beloved
Physician! He will give the cordial that will revive thee. Thou
art poor, but then thou hast "a kinsman, a mighty man of
wealth." What! wilt thou not go to Him, and ask Him to give
thee of His abundance, when He has given thee this promise, that
thou shalt be joint heir with Him, and has made over all that He
is and all that He has to be thine? There is nothing Christ
dislikes more than for His people to make a show-thing of Him,
and not to use Him. He loves to be employed by us. The more
burdens we put on His shoulders, the more precious will He be to
us.

              "Let us be simple with Him, then,
              Not backward, stiff, or cold,
              As though our Bethlehem could be
              What Sinai was of old."

* 05/04/PM

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible."
                                                  --1 Peter 1:23

   Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love
each other "with a pure heart fervently" and he wisely fetched
his argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy,
but from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in
His people. Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour
to beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified
behaviour, finding arguments in their position and descent, so,
looking upon God's people as heirs of glory, princes of the
blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth's truest
and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them, "See that ye love
one another, because of your noble birth, being born of
incorruptible seed; because of your pedigree, being descended
from God, the Creator of all things; and because of your
immortal destiny, for you shall never pass away, though the
glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its existence shall
cease." It would be well if, in the spirit of humility, we
recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived
up to it. What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king,
he adds priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king's royalty
often lieth only in his crown, but with a Christian it is
infused into his inmost nature. He is as much above his fellows
through his new birth, as a man is above the beast that
perisheth. Surely he ought to carry himself, in all his
dealings, as one who is not of the multitude, but chosen out of
the world, distinguished by sovereign grace, written among "the
peculiar people" and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as
others, nor live after the manner of the world's citizens. Let
the dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your
prospects, O believers in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto
holiness, and to avoid the very appearance of evil.

* 05/05/PM

"He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso
trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
                                                --Proverbs 16:20

   Wisdom is man's true strength; and, under its guidance, he
best accomplishes the ends of his being. Wisely handling the
matter of life gives to man the richest enjoyment, and presents
the noblest occupation for his powers; hence by it he finds good
in the fullest sense. Without wisdom, man is as the wild ass's
colt, running hither and thither, wasting strength which might
be profitably employed. Wisdom is the compass by which man is to
steer across the trackless waste of life; without it he is a
derelict vessel, the sport of winds and waves. A man must be
prudent in such a world as this, or he will find no good, but be
betrayed into unnumbered ills. The pilgrim will sorely wound his
feet among the briers of the wood of life if he do not pick his
steps with the utmost caution. He who is in a wilderness
infested with robber bands must handle matters wisely if he
would journey safely. If, trained by the Great Teacher, we
follow where He leads, we shall find good, even while in this
dark abode; there are celestial fruits to be gathered this side
of Eden's bowers, and songs of paradise to be sung amid the
groves of earth. But where shall this wisdom be found? Many have
dreamed of it, but have not possessed it. Where shall we learn
it? Let us listen to the voice of the Lord, for He hath declared
the secret; He hath revealed to the sons of men wherein true
wisdom lieth, and we have it in the text, "Whoso trusteth in the
Lord, happy is he." The true way to handle a matter wisely is
to trust in the Lord. This is the sure clue to the most
intricate labyrinths of life, follow it and find eternal bliss.
He who trusts in the Lord has a diploma for wisdom granted by
inspiration: happy is he now, and happier shall he be above.
Lord, in this sweet eventide walk with me in the garden, and
teach me the wisdom of faith.

* 05/06/PM

"All the days of my appointed time will I wait."
                                                     --Job 14:14

   A little stay on earth will make heaven more heavenly.
Nothing makes rest so sweet as toil; nothing renders security so
pleasant as exposure to alarms. The bitter quassia cups of earth
will give a relish to the new wine which sparkles in the golden
bowls of glory. Our battered armour and scarred countenances
will render more illustrious our victory above, when we are
welcomed to the seats of those who have overcome the world. We
should not have full fellowship with Christ if we did not for
awhile sojourn below, for He was baptized with a baptism of
suffering among men, and we must be baptized with the same if we
would share his kingdom. Fellowship with Christ is so honourable
that the sorest sorrow is a light price by which to procure it.
Another reason for our lingering here is for the good of
others. We would not wish to enter heaven till our work is
done, and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister light
to souls benighted in the wilderness of sin. Our prolonged stay
here is doubtless for God's glory. A tried saint, like a
well-cut diamond, glitters much in the King's crown. Nothing
reflects so much honour on a workman as a protracted and severe
trial of his work, and its triumphant endurance of the ordeal
without giving way in any part. We are God's workmanship, in
whom He will be glorified by our afflictions. It is for the
honour of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith with
sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the
glory of Jesus, and feel, "If my lying in the dust would elevate
my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots
of earth. If to live on earth for ever would make my Lord more
glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven." Our
time is fixed and settled by eternal decree. Let us not be
anxious about it, but wait with patience till the gates of pearl
shall open.

* 05/07/PM

"Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
                                                      --John 5:8

   Like many others, the impotent man had been waiting for a
wonder to be wrought, and a sign to be given. Wearily did he
watch the I pool, but no angel came, or came not for him; yet,
thinking it to be his only chance, he waited still, and knew not
that there was One near him whose word could heal him in a
moment. Many are in the same plight: they are waiting for some
singular emotion, remarkable impression, or celestial vision;
they wait in vain and watch for nought. Even supposing that, in
a few cases, remarkable signs are seen, yet these are rare, and
no man has a right to look for them in his own case; no man
especially who feels his impotency to avail himself of the
moving of the water even if it came. It is a very sad reflection
that tens of thousands are now waiting in the use of means, and
ordinances, and vows, and resolutions, and have so waited time
out of mind, in vain, utterly in vain. Meanwhile these poor
souls forget the present Saviour, who bids them look unto Him
and be saved. He could heal them at once, but they prefer to
wait for an angel and a wonder. To trust Him is the sure way to
every blessing, and He is worthy of the most implicit
confidence; but unbelief makes them prefer the cold porches of
Bethesda to the warm bosom of His love. O that the Lord may turn
His eye upon the multitudes who are in this case to-night; may
He forgive the slights which they put upon His divine power, and
call them by that sweet constraining voice, to rise from the bed
of despair, and in the energy of faith take up their bed and
walk. O Lord, hear our prayer for all such at this calm hour of
sunset, and ere the day breaketh may they look and live.

   Courteous reader, is there anything in this portion for you?

* 05/08/PM

"Acquaint now thyself with Him."
                                                     --Job 22:21

   If we would rightly "acquaint ourselves with God, and be at
peace," we must know Him as He has revealed Himself, not only in
the unity of His essence and subsistence, but also in the
plurality of His persons. God said, "Let us make man in our own
image"--let not man be content until he knows something of the
"us" from whom his being was derived. Endeavour to know the
Father; bury your head in His bosom in deep repentance, and
confess that you are not worthy to be called His son; receive
the kiss of His love; let the ring which is the token of His
eternal faithfulness be on your finger; sit at His table and let
your heart make merry in His grace. Then press forward and seek
to know much of the Son of God who is the brightness of His
Father's glory, and yet in unspeakable condescension of grace
became man for our sakes; know Him in the singular complexity of
His nature: eternal God, and yet suffering, finite man; follow
Him as He walks the waters with the tread of deity, and as He
sits upon the well in the weariness of humanity. Be not
satisfied unless you know much of Jesus Christ as your Friend,
your Brother, your Husband, your all. Forget not the Holy
Spirit; endeavour to obtain a clear view of His nature and
character, His attributes, and His works. Behold that Spirit of
the Lord, who first of all moved upon chaos, and brought forth
order; who now visits the chaos of your soul, and creates the
order of holiness. Behold Him as the Lord and giver of spiritual
life, the Illuminator, the Instructor, the Comforter, and the
Sanctifier. Behold Him as, like holy unction, He descends upon
the head of Jesus, and then afterwards rests upon you who are
as the skirts of His garments. Such an intelligent, scriptural,
and experimental belief in the Trinity in Unity is yours if you
truly know God; and such knowledge brings peace indeed.

* 05/09/PM

"Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field . . . let us
see if the vine flourish."
                                       --Song of Solomon 7:11,12

   The church was about to engage in earnest labour, and desired
her Lord's company in it. She does not say, "I will go," but
"let us go." It is blessed working when Jesus is at our side! It
is the business of God's people to be trimmers of God's vines.
Like our first parents, we are put into the garden of the Lord
for usefulness; let us therefore go forth into the field.
Observe that the church, when she is in her right mind, in all
her many labours desires to enjoy communion with Christ. Some
imagine that they cannot serve Christ actively, and yet have
fellowship with Him: they are mistaken. Doubtless it is very
easy to fritter away our inward life in outward exercises, and
come to complain with the spouse, "They made me keeper of the
vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept:" but there is
no reason why this should be the case except our own folly and
neglect. Certain is it that a professor may do nothing, and yet
grow quite as lifeless in spiritual things as those who are most
busy. Mary was not praised for sitting still; but for her
sitting at Jesus' feet. Even so, Christians are not to be
praised for neglecting duties under the pretence of having
secret fellowship with Jesus: it is not sitting, but sitting at
Jesus' feet which is commendable. Do not think that activity is
in itself an evil: it is a great blessing, and a means of grace
to us. Paul called it a grace given to him to be allowed to
preach; and every form of Christian service may become a
personal blessing to those engaged in it. Those who have most
fellowship with Christ are not recluses or hermits, who have
much time to spare, but indefatigable labourers who are toiling
for Jesus, and who, in their toil, have Him side by side with
them, so that they are workers together with God. Let us
remember then, in anything we have to do for Jesus, that we can
do it, and should do it in close communion with Him.

* 05/10/PM

"The only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
                                                     --John 1:14

   Believer, YOU can bear your testimony that Christ is the
only begotten of the Father, as well as the first begotten from
the dead. You can say, "He is divine to me, if He be human to
all the world beside. He has done that for me which none but a
God could do. He has subdued my stubborn will, melted a heart of
adamant, opened gates of brass, and snapped bars of iron. He
hath turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my desolation
into joy; He hath led my captivity captive, and made my heart
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Let others think
as they will of Him, to me He must be the only begotten of the
Father: blessed be His name. And He is full of grace. Ah! had
He not been I should never have been saved. He drew me when I
struggled to escape from His grace; and when at last I came all
trembling like a condemned culprit to His mercy-seat He said,
'Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee: be of good
cheer.' And He is full of truth. True have His promises been,
not one has failed. I bear witness that never servant had such a
master as I have; never brother such a kinsman as He has been to
me; never spouse such a husband as Christ has been to my soul;
never sinner a better Saviour; never mourner a better comforter
than Christ hath been to my spirit. I want none beside Him. In
life He is my life, and in death He shall be the death of death;
in poverty Christ is my riches; in sickness He makes my bed; in
darkness He is my star, and in brightness He is my sun; He is
the manna of the camp in the wilderness, and He shall be the new
corn of the host when they come to Canaan. Jesus is to me all
grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood: and of truth and
grace He is full, infinitely full. My soul, this night, bless
with all thy might 'the only Begotten.'"

* 05/11/PM

"Only be thou strong and very courageous."
                                                    --Joshua 1:7

   Our God's tender love for His servants makes Him concerned
for the state of their inward feelings. He desires them to be of
good courage. Some esteem it a small thing for a believer to be
vexed with doubts and fears, but God thinks not so. From this
text it is plain that our Master would not have us entangled
with fears. He would have us without carefulness, without
doubt, without cowardice. Our Master does not think so lightly
of our unbelief as we do. When we are desponding we are subject
to a grievous malady, not to be trifled with, but to be carried
at once to the beloved Physician. Our Lord loveth not to see our
countenance sad. It was a law of Ahasuerus that no one should
come into the king's court dressed in mourning: this is not the
law of the King of kings, for we may come mourning as we are;
but still He would have us put off the spirit of heaviness, and
put on the garment of praise, for there is much reason to
rejoice. The Christian man ought to be of a courageous spirit,
in order that he may glorify the Lord by enduring trials in an
heroic manner. If he be fearful and fainthearted, it will
dishonour his God. Besides, what a bad example it is. This
disease of doubtfulness and discouragement is an epidemic which
soon spreads amongst the Lord's flock. One downcast believer
makes twenty souls sad. Moreover, unless your courage is kept up
Satan will be too much for you. Let your spirit be joyful in
God your Saviour, the joy of the Lord shall be your strength,
and no fiend of hell shall make headway against you: but
cowardice throws down the banner. Moreover, labour is light to
a man of cheerful spirit; and success waits upon cheerfulness.
The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his
heart, has success guaranteed. He who sows in hope shall reap in
joy; therefore, dear reader, "be thou strong, and very
courageous."

* 05/12/PM

"Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a
great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will
also surely bring thee up again."
                                                --Genesis 46:3,4

   Jacob must have shuddered at the thought of leaving the land
of his father's sojourning, and dwelling among heathen
strangers. It was a new scene, and likely to be a trying one:
who shall venture among couriers of a foreign monarch without
anxiety? Yet the way was evidently appointed for him, and
therefore he resolved to go. This is frequently the position of
believers now--they are called to perils and temptations
altogether untried: at such seasons let them imitate Jacob's
example by offering sacrifices of prayer unto God, and seeking
His direction; let them not take a step until they have waited
upon the Lord for His blessing: then they will have Jacob's
companion to be their friend and helper. How blessed to feel
assured that the Lord is with us in all our ways, and
condescends to go down into our humiliations and banishments
with us! Even beyond the ocean our Father's love beams like the
sun in its strength. We cannot hesitate to go where Jehovah
promises His presence; even the valley of deathshade grows
bright with the radiance of this assurance. Marching onwards
with faith in their God, believers shall have Jacob's promise.
They shall be brought up again, whether it be from the troubles
of life or the chambers of death. Jacob's seed came out of
Egypt in due time, and so shall all the faithful pass unscathed
through the tribulation of life, and the terror of death. Let us
exercise Jacob's confidence. "Fear not," is the Lord's command
and His divine encouragement to those who at His bidding are
launching upon new seas; the divine presence and preservation
forbid so much as one unbelieving fear. Without our God we
should fear to move; but when He bids us to, it would be
dangerous to tarry. Reader, go forward, and fear not.

* 05/13/PM

"Thou art my portion, O Lord."
                                                  --Psalm 119:57

   Look at thy possessions, O believer, and compare thy portion
with the lot of thy fellowmen. Some of them have their portion
in the field; they are rich, and their harvests yield them a
golden increase; but what are harvests compared with thy God,
who is the God of harvests? What are bursting granaries compared
with Him, who is the Husbandman, and feeds thee with the bread
of heaven? Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is
abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they
become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with
thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could
not be sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and
could it allay its pangs? Apply it to a desponding heart, and
see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the
less? But thou hast God, and in Him thou hast more than gold or
riches ever could buy. Some have their portion in that which
most men love--applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy
God more to thee than that? What if a myriad clarions should be
loud in thine applause, would this prepare thee to pass the
Jordan, or cheer thee in prospect of judgment? No, there are
griefs in life which wealth cannot alleviate; and there is the
deep need of a dying hour, for which no riches can provide. But
when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all
else put together. In Him every want is met, whether in life or
in death. With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for He
will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief,
guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take
thee home, to enjoy Him as thy portion for ever. "I have
enough," said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can
say, but Jacob replies, "I have all things," which is a note too
high for carnal minds.

* 05/14/PM

"He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His
bosom."
                                                  --Isaiah 40:11

   Who is He of whom such gracious words are spoken? He is THE
GOOD SHEPHERD. Why doth He carry the lambs in His bosom? Because
He hath a tender heart, and any weakness at once melts His
heart. The sighs, the ignorance, the feebleness of the little
ones of His flock draw forth His compassion. It is His office,
as a faithful High Priest, to consider the weak. Besides, He
purchased them with blood, they are His property: He must and
will care for that which cost Him so dear. Then He is
responsible for each lamb, bound by covenant engagements not
to lose one. Moreover, they are all a part of His glory and
reward.

   But how may we understand the expression, "He will carry
them"? Sometimes He carries them by not permitting them to
endure much trial. Providence deals tenderly with them. Often
they are "carried" by being filled with an unusual degree of
love, so that they bear up and stand fast. Though their
knowledge may not be deep, they have great sweetness in what
they do know. Frequently He "carries" them by giving them a
very simple faith, which takes the promise just as it stands,
and believingly runs with every trouble straight to Jesus. The
simplicity of their faith gives them an unusual degree of
confidence, which carries them above the world.

   "He carries the lambs in His bosom." Here is boundless
affection. Would He put them in His bosom if He did not love
them much? Here is tender nearness: so near are they, that
they could not possibly be nearer. Here is hallowed
familiarity: there are precious love-passages between Christ
and His weak ones. Here is perfect safety: in His bosom who
can hurt them? They must hurt the Shepherd first. Here is
perfect rest and sweetest comfort. Surely we are not
sufficiently sensible of the infinite tenderness of Jesus!

* 05/15/PM

"Made perfect."
                                                 --Hebrews 12:23

   Recollect that there are two kinds of perfection which the
Christian needs--the perfection of justification in the person
of Jesus, and the perfection of sanctification wrought in him by
the Holy Spirit. At present, corruption yet remains even in the
breasts of the regenerate--experience soon teaches us this.
Within us are still lusts and evil imaginations. But I rejoice
to know that the day is coming when God shall finish the work
which He has begun; and He shall present my soul, not only
perfect in Christ, but perfect through the Spirit, without spot
or blemish, or any such thing. Can it be true that this poor
sinful heart of mine is to become holy even as God is holy? Can
it be that this spirit, which often cries, "O wretched man that
I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this sin and death?"
shall get rid of sin and death--that I shall have no evil things
to vex my ears, and no unholy thoughts to disturb my peace? Oh,
happy hour! may it be hastened! When I cross the Jordan, the
work of sanctification will be finished; but not till that
moment shall I even claim perfection in myself. Then my spirit
shall have its last baptism in the Holy Spirit's fire. Methinks
I long to die to receive that last and final purification which
shall usher me into heaven. Not an angel more pure than I shall
be, for I shall be able to say, in a double sense, "I am clean,"
through Jesus' blood, and through the Spirit's work. Oh, how
should we extol the power of the Holy Ghost in thus making us
fit to stand before our Father in heaven! Yet let not the hope
of perfection hereafter make us content with imperfection now.
If it does this, our hope cannot be genuine; for a good hope is
a purifying thing, even now. The work of grace must be abiding
in us now or it cannot be perfected then. Let us pray to "be
filled with the Spirit," that we may bring forth increasingly
the fruits of righteousness.

* 05/16/PM

"And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of
ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither
shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water,
that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your beasts."
                                               --2 Kings 3:16,17

   The armies of the three kings were famishing for want of
water: God was about to send it, and in these words the prophet
announced the coming blessing. Here was a case of human
helplessness: not a drop of water could all the valiant men
procure from the skies or find in the wells of earth. Thus often
the people of the Lord are at their wits' end; they see the
vanity of the creature, and learn experimentally where their
help is to be found. Still the people were to make a believing
preparation for the divine blessing; they were to dig the
trenches in which the precious liquid would be held. The church
must by her varied agencies, efforts, and prayers, make herself
ready to be blessed; she must make the pools, and the Lord will
fill them. This must be done in faith, in the full assurance
that the blessing is about to descend. By-and-by there was a
singular bestowal of the needed boon. Not as in Elijah's case
did the shower pour from the clouds, but in a silent and
mysterious manner the pools were filled. The Lord has His own
sovereign modes of action: He is not tied to manner and time as
we are, but doeth as He pleases among the sons of men. It is
ours thankfully to receive from Him, and not to dictate to Him.
We must also notice the remarkable abundance of the supply
--there was enough for the need of all. And so it is in the
gospel blessing; all the wants of the congregation and of the
entire church shall be met by the divine power in answer to
prayer; and above all this, victory shall be speedily given to
the armies of the Lord.

   What am I doing for Jesus? What trenches am I digging? O
Lord, make me ready to receive the blessing which Thou art so
willing to bestow.

* 05/17/PM

"Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee."
                                                   --Isaiah 41:9

   If we have received the grace of God in our hearts, its
practical effect has been to make us God's servants. We may be
unfaithful servants, we certainly are unprofitable ones, but
yet, blessed be His name, we are His servants, wearing His
livery, feeding at His table, and obeying His commands. We were
once the servants of sin, but He who made us free has now taken
us into His family and taught us obedience to His will. We do
not serve our Master perfectly, but we would if we could. As we
hear God's voice saying unto us, "Thou art My servant," we can
answer with David, "I am thy servant; Thou hast loosed my
bonds." But the Lord calls us not only His servants, but His
chosen ones--"I have chosen thee." We have not chosen Him
first, but He hath chosen us. If we be God's servants, we were
not always so; to sovereign grace the change must be ascribed.
The eye of sovereignty singled us out, and the voice of
unchanging grace declared, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love." Long ere time began or space was created God
had written upon His heart the names of His elect people, had
predestinated them to be conformed unto the image of His Son,
and ordained them heirs of all the fulness of His love, His
grace, and His glory. What comfort is here! Has the Lord loved
us so long, and will He yet cast us away? He knew how
stiffnecked we should be, He understood that our hearts were
evil, and yet He made the choice. Ah! our Saviour is no fickle
lover. He doth not feel enchanted for awhile with some gleams
of beauty from His church's eye, and then afterwards cast her
off because of her unfaithfulness. Nay, He married her in old
eternity; and it is written of Jehovah, "He hateth putting
away." The eternal choice is a bond upon our gratitude and
upon His faithfulness which neither can disown.

* 05/18/PM

"Afterward."
                                                 --Hebrews 12:11

   How happy are tried Christians, afterwards. No calm more
deep than that which succeeds a storm. Who has not rejoiced in
clear shinings after rain? Victorious banquets are for
well-exercised soldiers. After killing the lion we eat the
honey; after climbing the Hill Difficulty, we sit down in the
arbour to rest; after traversing the Valley of Humiliation,
after fighting with Apollyon, the shining one appears, with the
healing branch from the tree of life. Our sorrows, like the
passing keels of the vessels upon the sea, leave a silver line
of holy light behind them "afterwards." It is peace, sweet, deep
peace, which follows the horrible turmoil which once reigned in
our tormented, guilty souls. See, then, the happy estate of a
Christian! He has his best things last, and he therefore in this
world receives his worst things first. But even his worst things
are "afterward" good things, harsh ploughings yielding joyful
harvests. Even now he grows rich by his losses, he rises by his
falls, he lives by dying, and becomes full by being emptied; if,
then, his grievous afflictions yield him so much peaceable fruit
in this life, what shall be the full vintage of joy "afterwards"
in heaven? If his dark nights are as bright as the world's days,
what shall his days be? If even his starlight is more splendid
than the sun, what must his sunlight be? If he can sing in a
dungeon, how sweetly will he sing in heaven! If he can praise
the Lord in the fires, how will he extol Him before the eternal
throne! If evil be good to him now, what will the overflowing
goodness of God be to him then? Oh, blessed "afterward!" Who
would not be a Christian? Who would not bear the present cross
for the crown which cometh afterwards? But herein is work for
patience, for the rest is not for to-day, nor the triumph for
the present, but "afterward." Wait, O soul, and let patience
have her perfect work.

* 05/19/PM

"And he requested for himself that he might die."
                                                  --1 Kings 19:4

   It was a remarkable thing that the man who was never to die,
for whom God had ordained an infinitely better lot, the man who
should be carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, and be
translated, that he should not see death--should thus pray, "Let
me die, I am no better than my fathers." We have here a
memorable proof that God does not always answer prayer in kind,
though He always does in effect. He gave Elias something better
than that which he asked for, and thus really heard and answered
him. Strange was it that the lion-hearted Elijah should be so
depressed by Jezebel's threat as to ask to die, and blessedly
kind was it on the part of our heavenly Father that He did not
take His desponding servant at his word. There is a limit to the
doctrine of the prayer of faith. We are not to expect that God
will give us everything we choose to ask for. We know that we
sometimes ask, and do not receive, because we ask amiss. If we
ask for that which is not promised--if we run counter to the
spirit which the Lord would have us cultivate--if we ask
contrary to His will, or to the decrees of His providence--if we
ask merely for the gratification of our own ease, and without an
eye to His glory, we must not expect that we shall receive. Yet,
when we ask in faith, nothing doubting, if we receive not the
precise thing asked for, we shall receive an equivalent, and
more than an equivalent, for it. As one remarks, "If the Lord
does not pay in silver, He will in gold; and if He does not pay
in gold, He will in diamonds." If He does not give you precisely
what you ask for, He will give you that which is tantamount to
it, and that which you will greatly rejoice to receive in lieu
thereof. Be then, dear reader, much in prayer, and make this
evening a season of earnest intercession, but take heed what you
ask.

* 05/20/PM

"I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love."
                                                    --Hosea 11:4

   Our heavenly Father often draws us with the cords of love;
but ah! how backward we are to run towards Him! How slowly do we
respond to His gentle impulses! He draws us to exercise a more
simple faith in Him; but we have not yet attained to Abraham's
confidence; we do not leave our worldly cares with God, but,
like Martha, we cumber ourselves with much serving. Our meagre
faith brings leanness into our souls; we do not open our mouths
wide, though God has promised to fill them. Does He not this
evening draw us to trust Him? Can we not hear Him say, "Come, My
child, and trust Me. The veil is rent; enter into My presence,
and approach boldly to the throne of My grace. I am worthy of
thy fullest confidence, cast thy cares on Me. Shake thyself from
the dust of thy cares, and put on thy beautiful garments of
joy." But, alas! though called with tones of love to the blessed
exercise of this comforting grace, we will not come. At another
time He draws us to closer communion with Himself. We have
been sitting on the doorstep of God's house, and He bids us
advance into the banqueting hall and sup with Him, but we
decline the honour. There are secret rooms not yet opened to us;
Jesus invites us to enter them, but we hold back. Shame on our
cold hearts! We are but poor lovers of our sweet Lord Jesus, not
fit to be His servants, much less to be His brides, and yet He
hath exalted us to be bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh,
married to Him by a glorious marriage-covenant. Herein is love!
But it is love which takes no denial. If we obey not the
gentle drawings of His love, He will send affliction to drive us
into closer intimacy with Himself. Have us nearer He will. What
foolish children we are to refuse those bands of love, and so
bring upon our backs that scourge of small cords, which Jesus
knows how to use!

* 05/21/PM

"There is corn in Egypt."
                                                  --Genesis 42:2

   Famine pinched all the nations, and it seemed inevitable that
Jacob and his family should suffer great want; but the God of
providence, who never forgets the objects of electing love, had
stored a granary for His people by giving the Egyptians warning
of the scarcity, and leading them to treasure up the grain of
the years of plenty. Little did Jacob expect deliverance from
Egypt, but there was the corn in store for him. Believer, though
all things are apparently against thee, rest assured that God
has made a reservation on thy behalf; in the roll of thy griefs
there is a saving clause. Somehow He will deliver thee, and
somewhere He will provide for thee. The quarter from which thy
rescue shall arise may be a very unexpected one, but help will
assuredly come in thine extremity, and thou shalt magnify the
name of the Lord. If men do not feed thee, ravens shall; and if
earth yield not wheat, heaven shall drop with manna. Therefore
be of good courage, and rest quietly in the Lord. God can make
the sun rise in the west if He pleases, and make the source of
distress the channel of delight. The corn in Egypt was all in
the hands of the beloved Joseph; he opened or closed the
granaries at will. And so the riches of providence are all in
the absolute power of our Lord Jesus, who will dispense them
liberally to His people. Joseph was abundantly ready to succour
his own family; and Jesus is unceasing in His faithful care for
His brethren. Our business is to go after the help which is
provided for us: we must not sit still in despondency, but
bestir ourselves. Prayer will bear us soon into the presence of
our royal Brother: once before His throne we have only to ask
and have: His stores are not exhausted; there is corn still: His
heart is not hard, He will give the corn to us. Lord, forgive
our unbelief, and this evening constrain us to draw largely from
Thy fulness and receive grace for grace.

* 05/22/PM

"Behold, Thou art fair, my Beloved."
                                          --Song of Solomon 1:16

   From every point our Well-beloved is most fair. Our various
experiences are meant by our heavenly Father to furnish fresh
standpoints from which we may view the loveliness of Jesus; how
amiable are our trials when they carry us aloft where we may
gain clearer views of Jesus than ordinary life could afford us!
We have seen Him from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir
and Hermon, and He has shone upon us as the sun in his strength;
but we have seen Him also "from the lions' dens, from the
mountains of the leopards," and He has lost none of His
loveliness. From the languishing of a sick bed, from the borders
of the grave, have we turned our eyes to our soul's spouse, and
He has never been otherwise than "all fair." Many of His saints
have looked upon Him from the gloom of dungeons, and from the
red flames of the stake, yet have they never uttered an ill word
of Him, but have died extolling His surpassing charms. Oh, noble
and pleasant employment to be for ever gazing at our sweet Lord
Jesus! Is it not unspeakably delightful to view the Saviour in
all His offices, and to perceive Him matchless in each?--to
shift the kaleidoscope, as it were, and to find fresh
combinations of peerless graces? In the manger and in eternity,
on the cross and on His throne, in the garden and in His
kingdom, among thieves or in the midst of cherubim, He is
everywhere "altogether lovely." Examine carefully every little
act of His life, and every trait of His character, and He is as
lovely in the minute as in the majestic. Judge Him as you will,
you cannot censure; weigh Him as you please, and He will not be
found wanting. Eternity shall not discover the shadow of a spot
in our Beloved, but rather, as ages revolve, His hidden glories
shall shine forth with yet more inconceivable splendour, and His
unutterable loveliness shall more and more ravish all celestial
minds.

* 05/23/PM

"Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money."
                                                  --Isaiah 43:24

   Worshippers at the temple were wont to bring presents of
sweet perfumes to be burned upon the altar of God: but Israel,
in the time of her backsliding, became ungenerous, and made but
few votive offerings to her Lord: this was an evidence of
coldness of heart towards God and His house. Reader, does this
never occur with you? Might not the complaint of the text be
occasionally, if not frequently, brought against you? Those who
are poor in pocket, if rich in faith, will be accepted none the
less because their gifts are small; but, poor reader, do you
give in fair proportion to the Lord, or is the widow's mite kept
back from the sacred treasury? The rich believer should be
thankful for the talent entrusted to him, but should not forget
his large responsibility, for where much is given much will be
required; but, rich reader, are you mindful of your obligations,
and rendering to the Lord according to the benefit received?
Jesus gave His blood for us, what shall we give to Him? We are
His, and all that we have, for He has purchased us unto Himself
--can we act as if we were our own? O for more consecration! and
to this end, O for more love! Blessed Jesus, how good it is of
Thee to accept our sweet cane bought with money! nothing is too
costly as a tribute to Thine unrivalled love, and yet Thou dost
receive with favour the smallest sincere token of affection!
Thou dost receive our poor forget-me-nots and love-tokens as
though they were intrinsically precious, though indeed they are
but as the bunch of wild flowers which the child brings to its
mother. Never may we grow niggardly towards Thee, and from this
hour never may we hear Thee complain of us again for withholding
the gifts of our love. We will give Thee the first fruits of our
increase, and pay Thee tithes of all, and then we will confess
"of Thine own have we given Thee."

* 05/24/PM

"Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of
Christ."
                                              --Philippians 1:27

   The word "conversation" does not merely mean our talk and
converse with one another, but the whole course of our life and
behaviour in the world. The Greek word signifies the actions and
the privileges of citizenship: and thus we are commanded to let
our actions, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, be such as
becometh the gospel of Christ. What sort of conversation is
this? In the first place, the gospel is very simple. So
Christians should be simple and plain in their habits. There
should be about our manner, our speech, our dress, our whole
behaviour, that simplicity which is the very soul of beauty. The
gospel is pre-eminently true, it is gold without dross; and
the Christian's life will be lustreless and valueless without
the jewel of truth. The gospel is a very fearless gospel, it
boldly proclaims the truth, whether men like it or not: we must
be equally faithful and unflinching. But the gospel is also
very gentle. Mark this spirit in its Founder: "a bruised reed
He will not break." Some professors are sharper than a
thorn-hedge; such men are not like Jesus. Let us seek to win
others by the gentleness of our words and acts. The gospel is
very loving. It is the message of the God of love to a lost
and fallen race. Christ's last command to His disciples was,
"Love one another." O for more real, hearty union and love to
all the saints; for more tender compassion towards the souls of
the worst and vilest of men! We must not forget that the gospel
of Christ is holy. It never excuses sin: it pardons it, but
only through an atonement. If our life is to resemble the
gospel, we must shun, not merely the grosser vices, but
everything that would hinder our perfect conformity to Christ.
For His sake, for our own sakes, and for the sakes of others, we
must strive day by day to let our conversation be more in
accordance with His gospel.

* 05/25/PM

"And they rose up the same hour, and returned Jerusalem . . .
and they told what things were done in the way, and how He was
known of them."
                                                 --Luke 24:33,35

   When the two disciples had reached Emmaus, and were
refreshing themselves at the evening meal, the mysterious
stranger who had so enchanted them upon the road, took bread and
brake it, made Himself known to them, and then vanished out of
their sight. They had constrained Him to abide with them,
because the day was far spent; but now, although it was much
later, their love was a lamp to their feet, yea, wings also;
they forgot the darkness, their weariness was all gone, and
forthwith they journeyed back the threescore furlongs to tell
the gladsome news of a risen Lord, who had appeared to them by
the way. They reached the Christians in Jerusalem, and were
received by a burst of joyful news before they could tell their
own tale. These early Christians were all on fire to speak of
Christ's resurrection, and to proclaim what they knew of the
Lord; they made common property of their experiences. This
evening let their example impress us deeply. We too must bear
our witness concerning Jesus. John's account of the sepulchre
needed to be supplemented by Peter; and Mary could speak of
something further still; combined, we have a full testimony from
which nothing can be spared. We have each of us peculiar gifts
and special manifestations; but the one object God has in view
is the perfecting of the whole body of Christ. We must,
therefore, bring our spiritual possessions and lay them at the
apostle's feet, and make distribution unto all of what God has
given to us. Keep back no part of the precious truth, but speak
what you know, and testify what you have seen. Let not the toil
or darkness, or possible unbelief of your friends, weigh one
moment in the scale. Up, and be marching to the place of duty,
and there tell what great things God has shown to your soul.

* 05/26/PM

"Continue in the faith."
                                                    --Acts 14:22

   Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life
is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a
continuance in the same as long as life lasts. It is with a
Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, "Conquest
has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me." So, under
God, dear brother in the Lord, conquest has made you what you
are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto must be,
"Excelsior." He only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned
at the last, who continueth till war's trumpet is blown no more.
Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our spiritual
enemies. The world does not object to your being a Christian
for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage,
and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. The
flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing
on to glory. "It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it
up. Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give
me at least a furlough from this constant warfare." Satan will
make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the
mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in
service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that
you want rest. He will endeavour to make you weary of
suffering, he will whisper, "Curse God, and die." Or he will
attack your steadfastness: "What is the good of being so
zealous? Be quiet like the rest; sleep as do others, and let
your lamp go out as the other virgins do." Or he will assail
your doctrinal sentiments: "Why do you hold to these
denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal;
they are removing the old landmarks: fall in with the times."
Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armour,
and cry mightily unto God, that by His Spirit you may endure to
the end.

* 05/27/PM

"What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am?"
                                                  --2 Samuel 9:8

   If Mephibosheth was thus humbled by David's kindness, what
shall we be in the presence of our gracious Lord? The more grace
we have, the less we shall think of ourselves, for grace, like
light, reveals our impurity. Eminent saints have scarcely known
to what to compare themselves, their sense of unworthiness has
been so clear and keen. "I am," says holy Rutherford, "a dry and
withered branch, a piece of dead carcass, dry bones, and not
able to step over a straw." In another place he writes, "Except
as to open outbreakings, I want nothing of what Judas and Cain
had." The meanest objects in nature appear to the humbled mind
to have a preference above itself, because they have never
contracted sin: a dog may be greedy, fierce, or filthy, but it
has no conscience to violate, no Holy Spirit to resist. A dog
may be a worthless animal, and yet by a little kindness it is
soon won to love its master, and is faithful unto death; but we
forget the goodness of the Lord, and follow not at His call.
The term "dead dog" is the most expressive of all terms of
contempt, but it is none too strong to express the self-
abhorrence of instructed believers. They do not affect mock
modesty, they mean what they say, they have weighed themselves
in the balances of the sanctuary, and found out the vanity of
their nature. At best, we are but clay, animated dust, mere
walking hillocks; but viewed as sinners, we are monsters indeed.
Let it be published in heaven as a wonder, that the Lord Jesus
should set His heart's love upon such as we are. Dust and ashes
though we be, we must and will "magnify the exceeding greatness
of His grace." Could not His heart find rest in heaven? Must He
needs come to these tents of Kedar for a spouse, and choose a
bride upon whom the sun had looked? O heavens and earth, break
forth into a song, and give all glory to our sweet Lord Jesus.

* 05/28/PM

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."
                                             --Lamentations 3:21

   Memory is frequently the bondslave of despondency. Despairing
minds call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and
dilate upon every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory,
clothed in sackcloth, presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall
and wormwood. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom
can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. That same
recollection which in its left hand brings so many gloomy omens,
may be trained to bear in its right a wealth of hopeful signs.
She need not wear a crown of iron, she may encircle her brow
with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus it was in
Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had brought
him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me"; and now this same memory
restored him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first
killed his pride with one edge, and then slew his despair with
the other. As a general principle, if we would exercise our
memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress,
strike a match which would instantaneously kindle the lamp of
comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the
earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would
prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light
for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and
the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime.
Be it ours to remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and to
rehearse His deeds of grace. Let us open the volume of
recollection which is so richly illuminated with memorials of
mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus memory may be, as
Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and when the
Divine Comforter bends it to His service, it may be chief among
earthly comforters.

* 05/29/PM

"Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and
buildeth this city Jericho."
                                                   --Joshua 6:26

   Since he was cursed who rebuilt Jericho, I much more the man
who labours to restore Popery among us. In our fathers' days the
gigantic walls of Popery fell by the power of their faith, the
perseverance of their efforts, and the blast of their gospel
trumpets; and now there are some who would rebuild that accursed
system upon its old foundation. O Lord, be pleased to thwart
their unrighteous endeavours, and pull down every stone which
they build. It should be a serious business with us to be
thoroughly purged of every error which may have a tendency to
foster the spirit of Popery, and when we have made a clean sweep
at home we should seek in every way to oppose its all too rapid
spread abroad in the church and in the world. This last can be
done in secret by fervent prayer, and in public by decided
testimony. We must warn with judicious boldness those who are
inclined towards the errors of Rome; we must instruct the young
in gospel truth, and tell them of the black doings of Popery in
the olden times. We must aid in spreading the light more
thoroughly through the land, for priests, like owls, hate
daylight. Are we doing all we can for Jesus and the gospel? If
not, our negligence plays into the hands of the priestcraft.
What are we doing to spread the Bible, which is the Pope's bane
and poison? Are we casting abroad good, sound gospel writings?
Luther once said, "The devil hates goose quills" and, doubtless,
he has good reason, for ready writers, by the Holy Spirit's
blessing, have done his kingdom much damage. If the thousands
who will read this short word this night will do all they can to
hinder the rebuilding of this accursed Jericho, the Lord's glory
shall speed among the sons of men. Reader, what can you do? What
will you do?

* 05/30/PM

"That henceforth we should not serve sin."
                                                    --Romans 6:6

   Christian, what hast thou to do with sin? Hath it not cost
thee enough already? Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire?
What! when thou hast already been between the jaws of the lion,
wilt thou step a second time into his den? Hast thou not had
enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all thy veins once,
and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand
upon the cockatrice's den a second time? Oh, be not so mad! so
foolish! Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure? Didst thou find
solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to thine old drudgery,
and wear the chain again, if it delight thee. But inasmuch as
sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but deluded
thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler--
be free, and let the remembrance of thy ancient bondage forbid
thee to enter the net again! It is contrary to the designs of
eternal love, which all have an eye to thy purity and holiness;
therefore run not counter to the purposes of thy Lord. Another
thought should restrain thee from sin. Christians can never sin
cheaply; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression
destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders
prayer, brings darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf
and bondman of sin. There is yet a higher argument: each time
you "serve sin" you have "Crucified the Lord afresh, and put
Him to an open shame." Can you bear that thought? Oh! if you
have fallen into any special sin during this day, it may be my
Master has sent this admonition this evening, to bring you back
before you have backslidden very far. Turn thee to Jesus anew;
He has not forgotten His love to thee; His grace is still the
same. With weeping and repentance, come thou to His footstool,
and thou shalt be once more received into His heart; thou shalt
be set upon a rock again, and thy goings shall be established.

* 05/31/PM

"Who healeth all thy diseases."
                                                   --Psalm 103:3

   Humbling as is the statement, yet the fact is certain, that
we are all more or less suffering under the disease of sin. What
a comfort to know that we have a great Physician who is both
able and willing to heal us! Let us think of Him awhile
to-night. His cures are very speedy--there is life in a look
at Him; His cures are radical--He strikes at the centre of the
disease; and hence, His cures are sure and certain. He never
fails, and the disease never returns. There is no relapse
where Christ heals; no fear that His patients should be merely
patched up for a season, He makes new men of them: a new heart
also does He give them, and a right spirit does He put with
them. He is well skilled in all diseases. Physicians generally
have some specialite. Although they may know a little about
almost all our pains and ills, there is usually one disease
which they have studied above all others; but Jesus Christ is
thoroughly acquainted with the whole of human nature. He is as
much at home with one sinner as with another, and never yet did
He meet with an out-of-the-way case that was difficult to Him.
He has had extraordinary complications of strange diseases to
deal with, but He has known exactly with one glance of His eye
how to treat the patient. He is the only universal doctor; and
the medicine He gives is the only true catholicon, healing in
every instance. Whatever our spiritual malady may be, we should
apply at once to this Divine Physician. There is no brokenness
of heart which Jesus cannot bind up. "His blood cleanseth from
all sin." We have but to think of the myriads who have been
delivered from all sorts of diseases through the power and
virtue of His touch, and we shall joyfully put ourselves in His
hands. We trust Him, and sin dies; we love Him, and grace lives;
we wait for Him and grace is strengthened; we see Him as he is,
and grace is perfected for ever.
* 06/01/PM

"He will make her wilderness like Eden."
                                                   --Isaiah 51:3

   Methinks, I see in vision a howling wilderness, a great and
terrible desert, like to the Sahara. I perceive nothing in it to
relieve the eye, all around I am wearied with a vision of hot
and arid sand, strewn with ten thousand bleaching skeletons of
wretched men who have expired in anguish, having lost their way
in the pitiless waste. What an appalling sight! How horrible! a
sea of sand without a bound, and without an oasis, a cheerless
graveyard for a race forlorn! But behold and wonder!  Upon a
sudden, upspringing from the scorching sand I see a plant of
renown; and as it grows it buds, the bud expands--it is a rose,
and at its side a lily bows its modest head; and, miracle of
miracles! as the fragrance of those flowers is diffused the
wilderness is transformed into a fruitful field, and all around
it blossoms exceedingly, the glory of Lebanon is given unto it,
the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. Call it not Sahara, call it
Paradise. Speak not of it any longer as the valley of
deathshade, for where the skeletons lay bleaching in the sun,
behold a resurrection is proclaimed, and up spring the dead, a
mighty army, full of life immortal.  Jesus is that plant of
renown, and His presence makes all things new. Nor is the wonder
less in each individual's salvation. Yonder I behold you, dear
reader, cast out, an infant, unswathed, unwashed, defiled with
your own blood, left to be food for beasts of prey.  But lo, a
jewel has been thrown into your bosom by a divine hand, and for
its sake you have been pitied and tended by divine providence,
you are washed and cleansed from your defilement, you are
adopted into heaven's family, the fair seal of love is upon your
forehead, and the ring of faithfulness is on your hand--you are
now a prince unto God, though once an orphan, cast away. O prize
exceedingly the matchless power and grace which changes deserts
into gardens, and makes the barren heart to sing for joy.

* 06/02/PM

"Good Master."
                                                 --Matthew 19:16

   If the young man in the gospel used this title in speaking to
our Lord, how much more fitly may I thus address Him! He is
indeed my Master in both senses, a ruling Master and a teaching
Master. I delight to run upon His errands, and to sit at His
feet. I am both His servant and His disciple, and count it my
highest honour to own the double character. If He should ask me
why I call Him "good," I should have a ready answer. It is
true that "there is none good but one, that is, God," but then
He is God, and all the goodness of Deity shines forth in Him. In
my experience, I have found Him good, so good, indeed, that all
the good I have has come to me through Him. He was good to me
when I was dead in sin, for He raised me by His Spirit's power;
He has been good to me in all my needs, trials, struggles, and
sorrows. Never could there be a better Master, for His service
is freedom, His rule is love: I wish I were one thousandth part
as good a servant. When He teaches me as my Rabbi, He is
unspeakably good, His doctrine is divine, His manner is
condescending, His spirit is gentleness itself. No error mingles
with His instruction--pure is the golden truth which He brings
forth, and all His teachings lead to goodness, sanctifying as
well as edifying the disciple. Angels find Him a good Master and
delight to pay their homage at His footstool. The ancient saints
proved Him to be a good Master, and each of them rejoiced to
sing, "I am Thy servant, O Lord!" My own humble testimony must
certainly be to the same effect. I will bear this witness before
my friends and neighbours, for possibly they may be led by my
testimony to seek my Lord Jesus as their Master. O that they
would do so! They would never repent so wise a deed. If they
would but take His easy yoke, they would find themselves in so
royal a service that they would enlist in it for ever.

* 06/03/PM

"He humbled Himself."
                                               --Philippians 2:8

   Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need
daily to learn of Him. See the Master taking a towel and washing
His disciples' feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble
thyself? See Him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou
canst not be proud!  Is not this sentence the compendium of His
biography, "He humbled Himself"? Was He not on earth always
stripping off first one robe of honour and then another, till,
naked, He was fastened to the cross, and there did He not empty
out His inmost self, pouring out His life-blood, giving up for
all of us, till they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave? How
low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud?
Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by
which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark His
scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see
hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and His whole self to
mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the
throes of inward grief, showing themselves in His outward frame;
hear the thrilling shriek, "My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground
before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not
humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know Him.  You were
so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God's
only begotten. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you, bow
yourself in lowliness at His feet. A sense of Christ's amazing
love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a
consciousness of our own guilt.  May the Lord bring us in
contemplation to Calvary, then our position will no longer be
that of the pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble
place of one who loves much because much has been forgiven him.
Pride cannot live beneath the cross. Let us sit there and learn
our lesson, and then rise and carry it into practice.

* 06/04/PM

"Received up into glory."
                                                --1 Timothy 3:16

   We have seen our well-beloved Lord in the days of His flesh,
humiliated and sore vexed; for He was "despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He whose
brightness is as the morning, wore the sackcloth of sorrow as
His daily dress: shame was His mantle, and reproach was His
vesture. Yet now, inasmuch as He has triumphed over all the
powers of darkness upon the bloody tree, our faith beholds our
King returning with dyed garments from Edom, robed in the
splendour of victory. How glorious must He have been in the eyes
of seraphs, when a cloud received Him out of mortal sight, and
He ascended up to heaven! Now He wears the glory which He had
with God or ever the earth was, and yet another glory above
all--that which He has well earned in the fight against sin,
death, and hell. As victor He wears the illustrious crown. Hark
how the song swells high! It is a new and sweeter song: "Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain, for He hath redeemed us unto God by
His blood!" He wears the glory of an Intercessor who can never
fail, of a Prince who can never be defeated, of a Conqueror who
has vanquished every foe, of a Lord who has the heart's
allegiance of every subject. Jesus wears all the glory which the
pomp of heaven can bestow upon Him, which ten thousand times ten
thousand angels can minister to Him.  You cannot with your
utmost stretch of imagination conceive His exceeding greatness;
yet there will be a further revelation of it when He shall
descend from heaven in great power, with all the holy
angels--"Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Oh,
the splendour of that glory!  It will ravish His people's
hearts. Nor is this the close, for eternity shall sound His
praise, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever!" Reader, if
you would joy in Christ's glory hereafter, He must be glorious
in your sight now. Is He so?

* 06/05/PM

"He that loveth not knoweth not God."
                                                    --1 John 4:8

   The distinguishing mark of a Christian is his confidence in
the love of Christ, and the yielding of his affections to Christ
in return.  First, faith sets her seal upon the man by enabling
the soul to say with the apostle, "Christ loved me and gave
Himself for me." Then love gives the countersign, and stamps
upon the heart gratitude and love to Jesus in return. "We love
Him because He first loved us." In those grand old ages, which
are the heroic period of the Christian religion, this double
mark was clearly to be seen in all believers in Jesus; they were
men who knew the love of Christ, and rested upon it as a man
leaneth upon a staff whose trustiness he has tried. The love
which they felt towards the Lord was not a quiet emotion which
they hid within themselves in the secret chamber of their souls,
and which they only spake of in their private assemblies when
they met on the first day of the week, and sang hymns in honour
of Christ Jesus the crucified, but it was a passion with them of
such a vehement and all-consuming energy, that it was visible in
all their actions, spoke in their common talk, and looked out of
their eyes even in their commonest glances. Love to Jesus was a
flame which fed upon the core and heart of their being; and,
therefore, from its own force burned its way into the outer man,
and shone there. Zeal for the glory of King Jesus was the seal
and mark of all genuine Christians. Because of their dependence
upon Christ's love they dared much, and because of their love
to Christ they did much, and it is the same now. The children
of God are ruled in their inmost powers by love--the love of
Christ constraineth them; they rejoice that divine love is set
upon them, they feel it shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto them, and then by force of gratitude
they love the Saviour with a pure heart, fervently. My reader,
do you love Him? Ere you sleep give an honest answer to a
weighty question!

* 06/06/PM

"Are they Israelites? so am I."
                                           --2 Corinthians 11:22

   We have here A PERSONAL CLAIM, and one that needs proof.
The apostle knew that His claim was indisputable, but there
are many persons who have no right to the title who yet claim to
belong to the Israel of God. If we are with confidence
declaring, "So am I also an Israelite," let us only say it after
having searched our heart as in the presence of God. But if we
can give proof that we are following Jesus, if we can from the
heart say, "I trust Him wholly, trust Him only, trust Him
simply, trust Him now, and trust Him ever," then the position
which the saints of God hold belongs to us--all their enjoyments
are our possessions; we may be the very least in Israel, "less
than the least of all saints," yet since the mercies of God
belong to the saints AS SAINTS, and not as advanced saints, or
well-taught saints, we may put in our plea, and say, "Are they
Israelites? so am I; therefore the promises are mine, grace is
mine, glory will be mine." The claim, rightfully made, is one
which will yield untold comfort. When God's people are rejoicing
that they are His, what a happiness if they can say, "So AM I!"
When they speak of being pardoned, and justified, and accepted
in the Beloved, how joyful to respond, "Through the grace of
God, SO AM I." But this claim not only has its enjoyments and
privileges, but also its conditions and duties.  We must share
with God's people in cloud as well as in sunshine.  When we hear
them spoken of with contempt and ridicule for being Christians,
we must come boldly forward and say, "So am I." When we see them
working for Christ, giving their time, their talent, their whole
heart to Jesus, we must be able to say, "So do I." O let us
prove our gratitude by our devotion, and live as those who,
having claimed a privilege, are willing to take the
responsibility connected with it.

* 06/07/PM

"Be zealous."
                                               --Revelation 3:19

   If you would see souls converted, if you would hear the cry
that "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our
Lord"; if you would place crowns upon the head of the Saviour,
and His throne lifted high, then be filled with zeal. For, under
God, the way of the world's conversion must be by the zeal of
the church. Every grace shall do exploits, but this shall be
first; prudence, knowledge, patience, and courage will follow in
their places, but zeal must lead the van. It is not the extent
of your knowledge, though that is useful; it is not the extent
of your talent, though that is not to be despised; it is your
zeal that shall do great exploits. This zeal is the fruit of the
Holy Spirit: it draws its vital force from the continued
operations of the Holy Ghost in the soul. If our inner life
dwindles, if our heart beats slowly before God, we shall not
know zeal; but if all be strong and vigorous within, then we
cannot but feel a loving anxiety to see the kingdom of Christ
come, and His will done on earth, even as it is in heaven. A
deep sense of gratitude will nourish Christian zeal. Looking
to the hole of the pit whence we were digged, we find abundant
reason why we should spend and be spent for God. And zeal is
also stimulated by the thought of the eternal future.  It
looks with tearful eyes down to the flames of hell, and it
cannot slumber: it looks up with anxious gaze to the glories of
heaven, and it cannot but bestir itself. It feels that time is
short compared with the work to be done, and therefore it
devotes all that it has to the cause of its Lord. And it is ever
strengthened by the remembrance of Christ's example. He was
clothed with zeal as with a cloak. How swift the chariot-wheels
of duty went with Him! He knew no loitering by the way. Let us
prove that we are His disciples by manifesting the same spirit
of zeal.

* 06/08/PM

"Thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee
or not."
                                                 --Numbers 11:23

   God had made a positive promise to Moses that for the space
of a whole month He would feed the vast host in the wilderness
with flesh.  Moses, being overtaken by a fit of unbelief, looks
to the outward means, and is at a loss to know how the promise
can be fulfilled. He looked to the creature instead of the
Creator. But doth the Creator expect the creature to fulfil His
promise for Him?  No; He who makes the promise ever fulfils it
by His own unaided omnipotence. If He speaks, it is done--done
by Himself. His promises do not depend for their fulfillment
upon the co-operation of the puny strength of man. We can at
once perceive the mistake which Moses made. And yet how commonly
we do the same! God has promised to supply our needs, and we
look to the creature to do what God has promised to do; and
then, because we perceive the creature to be weak and feeble, we
indulge in unbelief. Why look we to that quarter at all? Will
you look to the north pole to gather fruits ripened in the sun?
Verily, you would act no more foolishly if ye did this than when
you look to the weak for strength, and to the creature to do the
Creator's work. Let us, then, put the question on the right
footing. The ground of faith is not the sufficiency of the
visible means for the performance of the promise, but the
all-sufficiency of the invisible God, who will most surely do as
He hath said. If after clearly seeing that the onus lies with
the Lord and not with the creature, we dare to indulge in
mistrust, the question of God comes home mightily to us: "Has
the Lord's hand waxed short?" May it happen, too, in His mercy,
that with the question there may flash upon our souls that
blessed declaration, "Thou shalt see now whether My word shall
come to pass unto thee or not."

* 06/09/PM

"Search the Scriptures."
                                                     --John 5:39

   The Greek word here rendered search signifies a strict,
close, diligent, curious search, such as men make when they are
seeking gold, or hunters when they are in earnest after game. We
must not rest content with having given a superficial reading to
a chapter or two, but with the candle of the Spirit we must
deliberately seek out the hidden meaning of the word. Holy
Scripture requires searching--much of it can only be learned
by careful study. There is milk for babes, but also meat for
strong men. The rabbis wisely say that a mountain of matter
hangs upon every word, yea, upon every title of Scripture.
Tertullian exclaims, "I adore the fulness of the Scriptures." No
man who merely skims the book of God can profit thereby; we must
dig and mine until we obtain the hid treasure. The door of the
word only opens to the key of diligence. The Scriptures claim
searching. They are the writings of God, bearing the divine
stamp and imprimatur-- who shall dare to treat them with levity?
He who despises them despises the God who wrote them. God forbid
that any of us should leave our Bibles to become swift witnesses
against us in the great day of account. The word of God will
repay searching. God does not bid us sift a mountain of chaff
with here and there a grain of wheat in it, but the Bible is
winnowed corn--we have but to open the granary door and find it.
Scripture grows upon the student. It is full of surprises. Under
the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the searching eye it glows
with splendour of revelation, like a vast temple paved with
wrought gold, and roofed with rubies, emeralds, and all manner
of gems. No merchandise like the merchandise of Scripture truth.
Lastly, the Scriptures reveal Jesus: "They are they which
testify of Me." No more powerful motive can be urged upon Bible
readers than this: he who finds Jesus finds life, heaven, all
things. Happy he who, searching his Bible, discovers his
Saviour.

* 06/10/PM

"They are they which testify of Me."
                                                     --John 5:39

   Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the Bible. He is the
constant theme of its sacred pages; from first to last they
testify of Him.  At the creation we at once discern Him as one
of the sacred Trinity; we catch a glimpse of Him in the promise
of the woman's seed; we see Him typified in the ark of Noah; we
walk with Abraham, as He sees Messiah's day; we dwell in the
tents of Isaac and Jacob, feeding upon the gracious promise; we
hear the venerable Israel talking of Shiloh; and in the numerous
types of the law, we find the Redeemer abundantly foreshadowed.
Prophets and kings, priests and preachers, all look one
way--they all stand as the cherubs did over the ark, desiring to
look within, and to read the mystery of God's great
propitiation. Still more manifestly in the New Testament we find
our Lord the one pervading subject.  It is not an ingot here and
there, or dust of gold thinly scattered, but here you stand upon
a solid floor of gold; for the whole substance of the New
Testament is Jesus crucified, and even its closing sentence is
bejewelled with the Redeemer's name. We should always read
Scripture in this light; we should consider the word to be as a
mirror into which Christ looks down from heaven; and then we,
looking into it, see His face reflected as in a glass--darkly,
it is true, but still in such a way as to be a blessed
preparation for seeing Him as we shall see Him face to face.
This volume contains Jesus Christ's letters to us, perfumed by
His love. These pages are the garments of our King, and they all
smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. Scripture is the royal
chariot in which Jesus rides, and it is paved with love for the
daughters of Jerusalem. The Scriptures are the swaddling bands
of the holy child Jesus; unroll them and you find your Saviour.
The quintessence of the word of God is Christ.

* 06/11/PM

"There brake He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the
sword, and the battle."
                                                    --Psalm 76:3

   Our Redeemer's glorious cry of "It is finished," was the
death-knell of all the adversaries of His people, the breaking
of "the and the battle." Behold the hero of Golgotha using His
cross as an anvil, and His woes as a hammer, dashing to shivers
bundle after bundle of our sins, those poisoned "arrows of the
bow"; trampling on every indictment, and destroying every
accusation. What glorious blows the mighty Breaker gives with a
hammer far more ponderous than the fabled weapon of Thor! How
the diabolical darts fly to fragments, and the infernal bucklers
are broken like potters' vessels! Behold, He draws from its
sheath of hellish workmanship the dread sword of Satanic power!
He snaps it across His knee, as a man breaks the dry wood of a
fagot, and casts it into the fire. Beloved, no sin of a believer
can now be an arrow mortally to wound him, no condemnation can
now be a sword to kill him, for the punishment of our sin was
borne by Christ, a full atonement was made for all our
iniquities by our blessed Substitute and Surety. Who now
accuseth? Who now condemneth? Christ hath died, yea rather, hath
risen again.  Jesus has emptied the quivers of hell, has
quenched every fiery dart, and broken off the head of every arrow
of wrath; the ground is strewn with the splinters and relics of
the weapons of hell's warfare, which are only visible to us to
remind us of our former danger, and of our great deliverance.
Sin hath no more dominion over us. Jesus has made an end of it,
and put it away for ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to
a perpetual end. Talk ye of all the wondrous works of the Lord,
ye who make mention of His name, keep not silence, neither by
day, nor when the sun goeth to his rest. Bless the Lord, O my
soul.

* 06/12/PM

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling."
                                                 --2 Timothy 1:9

   The apostle uses the perfect tense and says, "Who hath
saved us." Believers in Christ Jesus are saved. They are not
looked upon as persons who are in a hopeful state, and may
ultimately be saved, but they are already saved. Salvation is
not a blessing to be enjoyed upon the dying bed, and to be sung
of in a future state above, but a matter to be obtained,
received, promised, and enjoyed now. The Christian is perfectly
saved in God's purpose; God has ordained him unto salvation,
and that purpose is complete. He is saved also as to the price
which has been paid for him: "It is finished" was the cry of
the Saviour ere He died. The believer is also perfectly saved
in His covenant head, for as he fell in Adam, so he lives in
Christ. This complete salvation is accompanied by a holy
calling. Those whom the Saviour saved upon the cross are in due
time effectually called by the power of God the Holy Spirit unto
holiness: they leave their sins; they endeavour to be like
Christ; they choose holiness, not out of any compulsion, but
from the stress of a new nature, which leads them to rejoice in
holiness just as naturally as aforetime they delighted in sin.
God neither chose them nor called them because they were holy,
but He called them that they might be holy, and holiness is the
beauty produced by His workmanship in them. The excellencies
which we see in a believer are as much the work of God as the
atonement itself. Thus is brought out very sweetly the fulness
of the grace of God. Salvation must be of grace, because the
Lord is the author of it: and what motive but grace could move
Him to save the guilty? Salvation must be of grace, because the
Lord works in such a manner that our righteousness is for ever
excluded. Such is the believer's privilege--a present
salvation; such is the evidence that he is called to it--a
holy life.

* 06/13/PM

"Remove far from me vanity and lies."
                                                 --Proverbs 30:8

   "O my God, be not far from me." Psalm 38:21. Here we have two
great lessons--what to deprecate and what to supplicate. The
happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is
the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness
nearest to Christ.  No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes
are fixed on vanity--he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is
quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness
elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing
to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That
is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her
husband was always very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that
this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore
I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it."
Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the
insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain
pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls. We have heard of a
philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a
pit; but how deeply do they fall who look down. Their fall is
fatal.  No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his
God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the
great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as
regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in
this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living
near to God. It is when the Christian departs from his God,
becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities,
that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes
stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his
Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who
slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time
he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for
grace to walk humbly with our God!

* 06/14/PM

"O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face . . . because we have
sinned against Thee."
                                                    --Daniel 9:8

   A deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the
punishment which it deserves, should make us lie low before the
throne. We have sinned as Christians. Alas! that it should be
so. Favoured as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful:
privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in
proportion. Who is there, although he may long have been engaged
in the Christian warfare, that will not blush when he looks back
upon the past? As for our days before we were regenerated, may
they be forgiven and forgotten; but since then, though we have
not sinned as before, yet we have sinned against light and
against love--light which has really penetrated our minds, and
love in which we have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a
pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins cheaply compared with
the sin of one of God's own elect ones, who has had communion
with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus' bosom. Look at
David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his
repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans
out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears, as they fall upon
the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the
softened music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore,
seek the spirit of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak
much of Peter's denying his Master. Remember, it is written, "He
wept bitterly." Have we no denials of our Lord to be lamented
with tears? Alas! these sins of ours, before and after
conversion, would consign us to the place of inextinguishable
fire if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to
differ, snatching us like brands from the burning. My soul, bow
down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy
God. Admire the grace which saves thee--the mercy which spares
thee--the love which pardons thee!

* 06/15/PM

"He openeth, and no man shutteth."
                                                --Revelation 3:7

   Jesus is the keeper of the gates of paradise and before every
believing soul He setteth an open door, which no man or devil
shall be able to close against it. What joy it will be to find
that faith in Him is the golden key to the everlasting doors. My
soul, dost thou carry this key in thy bosom, or art thou
trusting to some deceitful pick-lock, which will fail thee at
last? Hear this parable of the preacher, and remember it. The
great King has made a banquet, and He has proclaimed to all the
world that none shall enter but those who bring with them the
fairest flower that blooms. The spirits of men advance to the
gate by thousands, and they bring each one the flower which he
esteems the queen of the garden; but in crowds they are driven
from the royal presence, and enter not into the festive halls.
Some bear in their hand the deadly nightshade of superstition,
or the flaunting poppies of Rome, or the hemlock of self-
righteousness, but these are not dear to the King, the bearers
are shut out of the pearly gates.  My soul, hast thou gathered
the rose of Sharon? Dost thou wear the lily of the valley in thy
bosom constantly? If so, when thou comest up to the gates of
heaven thou wilt know its value, for thou hast only to show this
choicest of flowers, and the Porter will open: not for a moment
will He deny thee admission, for to that rose the Porter openeth
ever.  Thou shalt find thy way with the rose of Sharon in thy
hand up to the throne of God Himself, for heaven itself
possesses nothing that excels its radiant beauty, and of all the
flowers that bloom in paradise there is none that can rival the
lily of the valley. My soul, get Calvary's blood-red rose into
thy hand by faith, by love wear it, by communion preserve it, by
daily watchfulness make it thine all in all, and thou shalt be
blessed beyond all bliss, happy beyond a dream.  Jesus, be mine
for ever, my God, my heaven, my all.

* 06/16/PM

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the
Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
                                                    --Psalm 27:1

   "The Lord is my light and my salvation." Here is personal
interest, "my light," "my salvation"; the soul is assured of
it, and therefore declares it boldly. Into the soul at the new
birth divine light is poured as the precursor of salvation;
where there is not enough light to reveal our own darkness and
to make us long for the Lord Jesus, there is no evidence of
salvation. After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide,
teacher, and in every sense our light: He is light within, light
around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us.
Note, it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that
He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is
salvation; he, then, who by faith has laid hold upon God, has
all covenant blessings in his possession. This being made sure
as a fact, the argument drawn from it is put in the form of a
question, "Whom shall I fear?" A question which is its own
answer.  The powers of darkness are not to be feared, for the
Lord, our light, destroys them; and the damnation of hell is not
to be dreaded by us, for the Lord is our salvation. This is a
very different challenge from that of boastful Goliath, for it
rests, not upon the conceited vigour of an arm of flesh, but
upon the real power of the omnipotent I AM. "The Lord is the
strength of my life." Here is a third glowing epithet, to show
that the writer's hope was fastened with a threefold cord which
could not be broken. We may well accumulate terms of praise
where the Lord lavishes deeds of grace. Our life derives all its
strength from God; and if He deigns to make us strong, we cannot
be weakened by all the machinations of the adversary. "Of whom
shall I be afraid?" The bold question looks into the future as
well as the present. "If God be for us," who can be against us,
either now or in time to come?

* 06/17/PM

"Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto
it."
                                                 --Numbers 21:17

   Famous was the well of Beer in the wilderness, because it was
the subject of a promise: "That is the well whereof the Lord
spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give
them water." The people needed water, and it was promised by
their gracious God.  We need fresh supplies of heavenly grace,
and in the covenant the Lord has pledged Himself to give all we
require.  The well next became the cause of a song. Before the
water gushed forth, cheerful faith prompted the people to sing;
and as they saw the crystal fount bubbling up, the music grew
yet more joyous. In like manner, we who believe the promise of
God should rejoice in the prospect of divine revivals in our
souls, and as we experience them our holy joy should overflow.
Are we thirsting? Let us not murmur, but sing. Spiritual thirst
is bitter to bear, but we need not bear it--the promise
indicates a well; let us be of good heart, and look for it.
Moreover, the well was the centre of prayer. "Spring up, O
well." What God has engaged to give, we must enquire after, or
we manifest that we have neither desire nor faith. This evening
let us ask that the Scripture we have read, and our devotional
exercises, may not be an empty formality, but a channel of grace
to our souls. O that God the Holy Spirit would work in us with
all His mighty power, filling us with all the fulness of God.
Lastly, the well was the object of effort. "The nobles of the
people digged it with their staves." The Lord would have us
active in obtaining grace. Our staves are ill adapted for
digging in the sand, but we must use them to the utmost of our
ability. Prayer must not be neglected; the assembling of
ourselves together must not be forsaken; ordinances must not be
slighted. The Lord will give us His peace most plenteously, but
not in a way of idleness. Let us, then, bestir ourselves to seek
Him in whom are all our fresh springs.

* 06/18/PM

"I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse."
                                           --Song of Solomon 5:1

   The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it
with His precious blood, and He enters it and claims it as His
own. A garden implies separation. It is not the open common;
it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would
that we could see the wall of separation between the church and
the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear
Christians saying, "Well, there is no harm in this; there is no
harm in that," thus getting as near to the world as possible.
Grace is at a low ebb in that soul which can even raise the
question of how far it may go in worldly conformity. A garden is
a place of beauty, it far surpasses the wild uncultivated
lands. The genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in
his life than the best moralist, because Christ's garden ought
to produce the best flowers in all the world. Even the best is
poor compared with Christ's deservings; let us not put Him off
with withering and dwarf plants. The rarest, richest, choicest
lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place which Jesus calls
His own. The garden is a place of growth. The saints are not
to remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the
Husbandman, and the Holy Spirit the dew from above.  A garden is
a place of retirement. So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us
reserve our souls as a place in which He can manifest Himself,
as He doth not unto the world. O that Christians were more
retired, that they kept their hearts more closely shut up for
Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with
much serving, so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary
had, and do not sit at His feet as we should. The Lord grant the
sweet showers of His grace to water His garden this day.

* 06/19/PM

"My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feedeth among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my
Beloved, and be Thou like a roe or a young hart upon the
mountains of Bether."
                                      --Song of Solomon 2:16, 17

   Surely if there be a happy verse in the Bible it is this--"My
Beloved is mine, and I am His." So peaceful, so full of
assurance, so overrunning with happiness and contentment is it,
that it might well have been written by the same hand which
penned the twenty-third Psalm. Yet though the prospect is
exceeding fair and lovely--earth cannot show its superior--it is
not entirely a sunlit landscape. There is a cloud in the sky
which casts a shadow over the scene. Listen, "Until the day
break, and the shadows flee away."

   There is a word, too, about the "mountains of Bether," or,
"the mountains of division," and to our love, anything like
division is bitterness. Beloved, this may be your present state
of mind; you do not doubt your salvation; you know that Christ
is yours, but you are not feasting with Him.  You understand
your vital interest in Him, so that you have no shadow of a
doubt of your being His, and of His being yours, but still His
left hand is not under your head, nor doth His right hand
embrace you. A shade of sadness is cast over your heart, perhaps
by affliction, certainly by the temporary absence of your Lord,
so even while exclaiming, "I am His," you are forced to take to
your knees, and to pray, "Until the day break, and the shadows
flee away, turn, my Beloved."

   "Where is He?" asks the soul. And the answer comes, "He
feedeth among the lilies." If we would find Christ, we must get
into communion with His people, we must come to the ordinances
with His saints. Oh, for an evening glimpse of Him! Oh, to sup
with Him to-night!

* 06/20/PM

"Straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him."
                                                     --Mark 1:18

   When they heard the call of Jesus, Simon and Andrew obeyed at
once without demur. If we would always, punctually and with
resolute zeal, put in practice what we hear upon the spot, or at
the first fit occasion, our attendance at the means of grace,
and our reading of good books, could not fail to enrich us
spiritually. He will not lose his loaf who has taken care at
once to eat it, neither can he be deprived of the benefit of the
doctrine who has already acted upon it. Most readers and hearers
become moved so far as to purpose to amend; but, alas!  the
proposal is a blossom which has not been knit, and therefore no
fruit comes of it; they wait, they waver, and then they forget,
till, like the ponds in nights of frost, when the sun shines by
day, they are only thawed in time to be frozen again. That fatal
to-morrow is blood-red with the murder of fair resolutions; it
is the slaughter-house of the innocents. We are very concerned
that our little book of "Evening Readings" should not be
fruitless, and therefore we pray that readers may not be readers
only, but doers, of the word. The practice of truth is the most
profitable reading of it. Should the reader be impressed with
any duty while perusing these pages, let him hasten to fulfil it
before the holy glow has departed from his soul, and let him
leave his nets, and all that he has, sooner than be found
rebellious to the Master's call. Do not give place to the devil
by delay! Haste while opportunity and quickening are in happy
conjunction. Do not be caught in your own nets, but break the
meshes of worldliness, and away where glory calls you. Happy is
the writer who shall meet with readers resolved to carry out his
teachings: his harvest shall be a hundredfold, and his Master
shall have great honour. Would to God that such might be our
reward upon these brief meditations and hurried hints. Grant it,
O Lord, unto thy servant!

* 06/21/PM

"The foundation of God standeth sure."
                                                --2 Timothy 2:19

   The foundation upon which our faith rests is this, that "God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them." The great fact on which genuine
faith relies is, that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us," and that "Christ also hath suffered for sin, the just for
the unjust, that He might bring us to God"; "Who Himself bare
our sins in His own body on the tree"; "For the chastisement of
our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." In
one word, the great pillar of the Christian's hope is
substitution.  The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the
guilty, Christ being made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him, Christ offering up a true and
proper expiatory and substitutionary sacrifice in the room,
place, and stead of as many as the Father gave Him, who are
known to God by name, and are recognized in their own hearts by
their trusting in Jesus--this is the cardinal fact of the
gospel. If this foundation were removed, what could we do? But
it standeth firm as the throne of God.  We know it; we rest on
it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate
upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be actuated and
moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and
conversation. In these days a direct attack is made upon the
doctrine of the atonement.  Men cannot bear substitution. They
gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the
sin of man.  But we, who know by experience the preciousness of
this truth, will proclaim it in defiance of them confidently and
unceasingly. We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor
fritter it away in any shape or fashion. It shall still be
Christ, a positive substitute, bearing human guilt and
suffering in the stead of men. We cannot, dare not, give it up,
for it is our life, and despite every controversy we feel that
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure."

* 06/22/PM

"That those things which cannot be shaken may remain."
                                                 --Hebrews 12:27

   We have many things in our possession at the present moment
which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set
much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these
rolling skies; change is written upon all things. Yet, we have
certain "things which cannot be shaken," and I invite you this
evening to think of them, that if the things which can be shaken
should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the
things that cannot be shaken, which will remain. Whatever your
losses have been, or may be, you enjoy present salvation. You
are standing at the foot of His cross, trusting alone in the
merit of Jesus' precious blood, and no rise or fall of the
markets can interfere with your salvation in Him; no breaking of
banks, no failures and bankruptcies can touch that. Then you are
a child of God this evening.  God is your Father. No change of
circumstances can ever rob you of that. Although by losses
brought to poverty, and stripped bare, you can say, "He is my
Father still. In my Father's house are many mansions; therefore
will I not be troubled." You have another permanent blessing,
namely, the love of Jesus Christ. He who is God and Man loves
you with all the strength of His affectionate nature--nothing
can affect that. The fig tree may not blossom, and the flocks
may cease from the field, it matters not to the man who can
sing, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." Our best portion and
richest heritage we cannot lose. Whatever troubles come, let us
play the man; let us show that we are not such little children
as to be cast down by what may happen in this poor fleeting
state of time. Our country is Immanuel's land, our hope is above
the sky, and therefore, calm as the summer's ocean; we will see
the wreck of everything earthborn, and yet rejoice in the God of
our salvation.

* 06/23/PM

"Waiting for the adoption."
                                                   --Romans 8:23

   Even in this world saints are God's children, but men cannot
discover them to be so, except by certain moral characteristics.
The adoption is not manifested, the children are not yet openly
declared. Among the Romans a man might adopt a child, and keep
it private for a long time: but there was a second adoption in
public; when the child was brought before the constituted
authorities its former garments were taken off, and the father
who took it to be his child gave it raiment suitable to its new
condition of life. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be." We are not yet arrayed in
the apparel which befits the royal family of heaven; we are
wearing in this flesh and blood just what we wore as the sons of
Adam; but we know that "when He shall appear" who is the
"first-born among many brethren," we shall be like Him, we shall
see Him as He is. Cannot you imagine that a child taken from the
lowest ranks of society, and adopted by a Roman senator, would
say to himself, "I long for the day when I shall be publicly
adopted. Then I shall leave off these plebeian garments, and be
robed as becomes my senatorial rank"? Happy in what he has
received, for that very reason he groans to get the fulness of
what is promised him. So it is with us today. We are waiting
till we shall put on our proper garments, and shall be
manifested as the children of God. We are young nobles, and have
not yet worn our coronets. We are young brides, and the marriage
day is not yet come, and by the love our Spouse bears us, we are
led to long and sigh for the bridal morning. Our very happiness
makes us groan after more; our joy, like a swollen spring, longs
to well up like an Iceland geyser, leaping to the skies, and it
heaves and groans within our spirit for want of space and room
by which to manifest itself to men.

* 06/24/PM

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said . . . Be it
known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods."
                                               --Daniel 3:16, 18

   The narrative of the manly courage and marvellous deliverance
of the three holy children, or rather champions, is well
calculated to excite in the minds of believers firmness and
steadfastness in upholding the truth in the teeth of tyranny and
in the very jaws of death.  Let young Christians especially
learn from their example, both in matters of faith in religion,
and matters of uprightness in business, never to sacrifice their
consciences. Lose all rather than lose your integrity, and when
all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the
rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. Be not
guided by the will-o'-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star
of divine authority. Follow the right at all hazards. When you
see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God
the honour to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the
sake of principle. See whether He will be your debtor! See if He
doth not even in this life prove His word that "Godliness, with
contentment, is great gain," and that they who "seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, shall have all these
things added unto them." Should it happen that, in the
providence of God, you are a loser by conscience, you shall find
that if the Lord pays you not back in the silver of earthly
prosperity, He will discharge His promise in the gold of
spiritual joy. Remember that a man's life consisteth not in the
abundance of that which he possesseth. To wear a guileless
spirit, to have a heart void of offence, to have the favour and
smile of God, is greater riches than the mines of Ophir could
yield, or the traffic of Tyre could win. "Better is a dinner of
herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and inward contention
therewith." An ounce of heart's-ease is worth a ton of gold.

* 06/25/PM

"The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot."
                                                   --Genesis 8:9

   Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus?
Then be assured that your religion is vain. Are you satisfied
with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and
interest in Christ? Then woe unto you.  If you profess to be a
Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and
pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch
herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet
broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a
hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or
perception of His preciousness. But if, on the other hand, you
feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, yet it
would be a punishment of itself; and that if you could have the
whole world, and abide in it for ever, it would be quite enough
misery not to be parted from it; for your God--your God--is what
your soul craves after; then be of good courage, thou art a
child of God. With all thy sins and imperfections, take this to
thy comfort: if thy soul has no rest in sin, thou are not as the
sinner is!  If thou art still crying after and craving after
something better, Christ has not forgotten thee, for thou hast
not quite forgotten Him. The believer cannot do without his
Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of Him. We
cannot live on the sands of the wilderness, we want the manna
which drops from on high; our skin bottles of creature
confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture, but we drink of
the rock which follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you
feed on Him your soul can sing, "He hath satisfied my mouth with
good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's," but
if you have Him not, your bursting wine vat and well-filled barn
can give you no sort of satisfaction: rather lament over them in
the words of wisdom, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"

* 06/26/PM

"Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust."
                                                   --2 Peter 1:4

   Vanish for ever all thought of indulging the flesh if you
would live in the power of your risen Lord. It were ill that a
man who is alive in Christ should dwell in the corruption of
sin. "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" said the angel to
Magdalene. Should the living dwell in the sepulchre? Should
divine life be immured in the charnel house of fleshly lust? How
can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink the cup of
Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are
delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and
delusive lime-twigs of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth
from the lust of pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have
you clean escaped from carnal security? Are you seeking day by
day to live above worldliness, the pride of life, and the
ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this that you
have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you be indeed
the chosen of God, and beloved by Him, do not suffer all the
lavish treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. Follow after
holiness; it is the Christian's crown and glory. An unholy
church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men.
It is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. The
worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been
brought upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of
God are upon you. You are God's priest: act as such. You are
God's king: reign over your lusts. You are God's chosen: do not
associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live like a
heavenly spirit, so shall you prove that you have true faith in
Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there be
holiness in the life.

              "Lord, I desire to live as one
              Who bears a blood-bought name,
              As one who fears but grieving Thee,
              And knows no other shame."

* 06/27/PM

"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."
                                            --1 Corinthians 7:20

   Some persons have the foolish notion that the only way in
which they can live for God is by becoming ministers,
missionaries, or Bible women. Alas! how many would be shut out
from any opportunity of magnifying the Most High if this were
the case. Beloved, it is not office, it is earnestness; it is
not position, it is grace which will enable us to glorify God.
God is most surely glorified in that cobbler's stall, where the
godly worker, as he plies the awl, sings of the Saviour's love,
ay, glorified far more than in many a prebendal stall where
official religiousness performs its scanty duties. The name of
Jesus is glorified by the poor unlearned carter as he drives his
horse, and blesses his God, or speaks to his fellow labourer by
the roadside, as much as by the popular divine who, throughout
the country, like Boanerges, is thundering out the gospel.  God
is glorified by our serving Him in our proper vocations. Take
care, dear reader, that you do not forsake the path of duty by
leaving your occupation, and take care you do not dishonour your
profession while in it. Think little of yourselves, but do not
think too little of your callings.  Every lawful trade may be
sanctified by the gospel to noblest ends. Turn to the Bible, and
you will find the most menial forms of labour connected either
with most daring deeds of faith, or with persons whose lives
have been illustrious for holiness. Therefore be not
discontented with your calling. Whatever God has made your
position, or your work, abide in that, unless you are quite sure
that he calls you to something else. Let your first care be to
glorify God to the utmost of your power where you are. Fill your
present sphere to His praise, and if He needs you in another He
will show it you. This evening lay aside vexatious ambition, and
embrace peaceful content.

* 06/28/PM

"But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods."
                                                   --Exodus 7:12

   This incident is an instructive emblem of the sure victory of
the divine handiwork over all opposition. Whenever a divine
principle is cast into the heart, though the devil may fashion a
counterfeit, and produce swarms of opponents, as sure as ever
God is in the work, it will swallow up all its foes. If God's
grace takes possession of a man, the world's magicians may throw
down all their rods; and every rod may be as cunning and
poisonous as a serpent, but Aaron's rod will swallow up their
rods.  The sweet attractions of the cross will woo and win the
man's heart, and he who lived only for this deceitful earth will
now have an eye for the upper spheres, and a wing to mount into
celestial heights. When grace has won the day the worldling
seeks the world to come. The same fact is to be observed in the
life of the believer. What multitudes of foes has our faith had
to meet! Our old sins--the devil threw them down before us, and
they turned to serpents. What hosts of them! Ah, but the cross
of Jesus destroys them all. Faith in Christ makes short work of
all our sins. Then the devil has launched forth another host of
serpents in the form of worldly trials, temptations, unbelief;
but faith in Jesus is more than a match for them, and overcomes
them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the faithful
service of God! With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties
are surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are
honours. But if religion is thus a consuming passion in the
heart, then it follows that there are many persons who profess
religion but have it not; for what they have will not bear this
test. Examine yourself, my reader, on this point. Aaron's rod
proved its heaven-given power. Is your religion doing so? If
Christ be anything He must be everything. O rest not till love
and faith in Jesus be the master passions of your soul!

* 06/29/PM

"Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of
Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was
done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know
all that was in his heart."
                                            --2 Chronicles 32:31

   Hezekiah was growing so inwardly great, and priding himself
so much upon the favour of God, that self-righteousness crept
in, and through his carnal security, the grace of God was for a
time, in its more active operations, withdrawn. Here is quite
enough to account with the Babylonians; for if the grace of God
should leave the best Christian, there is enough of sin in his
heart to make him the worst of transgressors. If left to
yourselves, you who are warmest for Christ would cool down like
Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness: you who are sound in the
faith would be white with the leprosy of false doctrine; you who
now walk before the Lord in excellency and integrity would reel
to and fro, and stagger with a drunkenness of evil passion. Like
the moon, we borrow our light; bright as we are when grace
shines on us, we are darkness itself when the Sun of
Righteousness withdraws Himself. Therefore let us cry to God
never to leave us.  "Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from us!
Withdraw not from us Thine indwelling grace! Hast Thou not said,
'I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any
hurt it, I will keep it night and day'? Lord, keep us
everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not
against Thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we
wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when
our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming
conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools
than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at
the very last, we should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us
dying, keep us labouring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting,
keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need
Thee, O our God!"

* 06/30/PM

"Ah Lord God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by
thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too
hard for Thee."
                                                --Jeremiah 32:17

   At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem, and
when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated the land,
Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a field, and have the
deed of transfer legally sealed and witnessed. This was a
strange purchase for a rational man to make. Prudence could not
justify it, for it was buying with scarcely a probability that
the person purchasing could ever enjoy the possession. But it
was enough for Jeremiah that his God had bidden him, for well he
knew that God will be justified of all His children. He reasoned
thus: "Ah, Lord God!  Thou canst make this plot of ground of use
to me; Thou canst rid this land of these oppressors; Thou canst
make me yet sit under my vine and my fig-tree in the heritage
which I have bought; for Thou didst make the heavens and the
earth, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." This gave a
majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do at God's
command things which carnal reason would condemn. Whether it be
a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to
offer up his only son, or a Moses who is to despise the
treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho seven
days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams' horns, they all
act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of carnal
reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of
their obedient faith. Would to God we had in the religion of
these modern times a more potent infusion of this heroic faith
in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God,
we should enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are
strangers. Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours--nothing
is too hard for the God that created the heavens and the earth.
* 07/01/PM

"The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day."
                                                   --Genesis 3:8

   My soul, now that the cool of the day has come, retire awhile
and hearken to the voice of thy God. He is always ready to speak
with thee when thou art prepared to hear. If there be any
slowness to commune it is not on His part, but altogether on
thine own, for He stands at the door and knocks, and if His
people will but open He rejoices to enter. But in what state is
my heart, which is my Lord's garden? May I venture to hope that
it is well trimmed and watered, and is bringing forth fruit fit
for Him? If not, He will have much to reprove, but still I pray
Him to come unto me, for nothing can so certainly bring my heart
into a right condition as the presence of the Sun of
Righteousness, who brings healing in His wings. Come,
therefore, O Lord, my God, my soul invites Thee earnestly, and
waits for Thee eagerly. Come to me, O Jesus, my well-beloved,
and plant fresh flowers in my garden, such as I see blooming in
such perfection in Thy matchless character! Come, O my Father,
who art the Husbandman, and deal with me in Thy tenderness and
prudence! Come, O Holy Spirit, and bedew my whole nature, as the
herbs are now moistened with the evening dews. O that God would
speak to me. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth! O that He
would walk with me; I am ready to give up my whole heart and
mind to Him, and every other thought is hushed. I am only
asking what He delights to give. I am sure that He will
condescend to have fellowship with me, for He has given me His
Holy Spirit to abide with me for ever. Sweet is the cool
twilight, when every star seems like the eye of heaven, and the
cool wind is as the breath of celestial love. My Father, my
elder Brother, my sweet Comforter, speak now in lovingkindness,
for Thou hast opened mine ear and I am not rebellious.

* 07/02/PM

"Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me:
lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down
into the pit."
                                                    --Psalm 28:1

   A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable
utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry
must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to
waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the
readiness of the Lord to hear, and His ability to aid, we shall
see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God
of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the
day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries.

   "Be not silent to me." Mere formalists may be content
without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot;
they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in
calming the mind and subduing the will--they must go further,
and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and
those replies they long to receive at once, they dread even a
little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that
it shakes the wilderness; but His silence is equally full of awe
to an eager suppliant. When God seems to close His ear, we must
not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more
earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and
grief, He will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case
should we be in if the Lord should become for ever silent to our
prayers? "Lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them
that go down into the pit." Deprived of the God who answers
prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in
the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in
hell. We must have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case
of dire necessity; surely the Lord will speak peace to our
agitated minds, for He never can find it in His heart to permit
His own elect to perish.

* 07/03/PM

"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him."
                                                --2 Timothy 2:12

   We must not imagine that we are suffering for Christ, and
with Christ, if we are not in Christ. Beloved friend, are you
trusting to Jesus only? If not, whatever you may have to mourn
over on earth, you are not "suffering with Christ," land have no
hope of reigning with Him in heaven. Neither are we to conclude
that all a Christian's sufferings are sufferings with Christ,
for it is essential that he be called by God to suffer. If we
are rash and imprudent, and run into positions for which neither
providence nor grace has fitted us, we ought to question whether
we are not rather sinning than communing with Jesus. If we let
passion take the place of judgment, and self-will reign instead
of Scriptural authority, we shall fight the Lord's battles with
the devil's weapons, and if we cut our own fingers we must not
be surprised. Again, in troubles which come upon us as the
result of sin, we must not dream that we are suffering with
Christ. When Miriam spoke evil of Moses, and the leprosy
polluted her, she was not suffering for God. Moreover, suffering
which God accepts must have God's glory as its end. If I
suffer that I may earn a name, or win applause, I shall get no
other reward than that of the Pharisee. It is requisite also
that love to Jesus, and love to His elect, be ever the
mainspring of all our patience. We must manifest the Spirit of
Christ in meekness, gentleness, and forgiveness. Let us search
and see if we truly suffer with Jesus. And if we do thus
suffer, what is our "light affliction" compared with reigning
with Him? Oh it is so blessed to be in the furnace with Christ,
and such an honour to stand in the pillory with Him, that if
there were no future reward, we might count ourselves happy in
present honour; but when the recompense is so eternal, so
infinitely more than we had any right to expect, shall we not
take up the cross with alacrity, and go on our way rejoicing?

* 07/04/PM

"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted
up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."
                                                    --Psalm 24:4

   Outward practical holiness is a very precious mark of grace.
It is to be feared that many professors have perverted the
doctrine of justification by faith in such a way as to treat
good works with contempt; if so, they will receive everlasting
contempt at the last great day. If our hands are not clean, let
us wash them in Jesus' precious blood, and so let us lift up
pure hands unto God. But "clean hands"will not suffice,
unless they are connected with "a pure heart." True religion
is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the
platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy,
we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are
more truly ourselves than our hands are; the very life of our
being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of
purity within. The pure in heart shall see God, all others are
but blind bats.

   The man who is born for heaven "hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity." All men have their joys, by which their souls are
lifted up; the worldling lifts up his soul in carnal delights,
which are mere empty vanities; but the saint loves more
substantial things; like Jehoshaphat, he is lifted up in the
ways of the Lord. He who is content with husks, will be reckoned
with the swine. Does the world satisfy thee? Then thou hast thy
reward and portion in this life; make much of it, for thou shalt
know no other joy.

   "Nor sworn deceitfully." The saints are men of honour
still. The Christian man's word is his only oath; but that is as
good as twenty oaths of other men. False speaking will shut any
man out of heaven, for a liar shall not enter into God's house,
whatever may be his professions or doings. Reader, does the text
before us condemn thee, or dost thou hope to ascend into the
hill of the Lord?

* 07/05/PM

"Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is
everlasting strength."
                                                   --Isaiah 26:4

   Seeing that we have such a God to trust to, let us rest upon
Him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all
unbelief, and endeavour to get rid of doubts and fears, which so
much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for fear where
God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be
sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how
ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little
confidence in our heavenly Father who has never failed us, and
who never will. It were well if doubting were banished from the
household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as
nimble nowadays as when the psalmist asked, "Is His mercy clean
gone for ever? Will He be favourable no more?" David had not
made any very lengthy trial of the mighty sword of the giant
Goliath, and yet he said, "There is none like it." He had tried
it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved
itself to be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it
ever afterwards; even so should we speak well of our God, there
is none like unto Him in the heaven above or the earth beneath;
"To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the
Holy One." There is no rock like unto the rock of Jacob, our
enemies themselves being judges. So far from suffering doubts to
live in our hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as
Elijah did the prophets of Baal, and slay them over the brook;
and for a stream to kill them at, we will select the sacred
torrent which wells forth from our Saviour's wounded side. We
have been in many trials, but we have never yet been cast where
we could not find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be
encouraged to trust in the Lord for ever, assured that His ever
lasting strength will be, as it has been, our succour and stay.

* 07/06/PM

"How many are mine iniquities and sins?"
                                                     --Job 13:23

   Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin
of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression,
and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower
up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each
other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon
Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is
in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children!
Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude
of the redeemed, "a number which no man can number," and you
will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the
people for whom Jesus shed His blood. But we arrive at a more
adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the
remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and
well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before
Him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround His glorious
throne. "God over all, blessed for ever. Amen." And yet He
takes upon Himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and
pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but
the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for
our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite
value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's
people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably
greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a
black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet
stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and
cry, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea
rather, that hath risen again." While the recollection of his
sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes
it a foil to show the brightness of mercy--guilt is the dark
night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene
splendour.

* 07/07/PM

"When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live."
                                                  --Ezekiel 16:6

   Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate (of mercy. Note
that this fiat of God is majestic. In our text, we perceive a
sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath;
but the eternal Lord passes by in His glory; l He looks. He
pauses, and He pronounces the solitary but royal word, "Live."
There speaks a God. Who but He could venture thus to deal with
life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is
manifold. When He saith "Live," it includes many things. Here
is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the
mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises pardoned and absolved. It
is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus--our eyes could not see
Christ, our ears could not hear His voice--Jehovah said "Live,"
and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of
spiritual life. "I said unto thee, Live:" and that word rolls on
through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst
of the shadows of death, the Lord's voice is still heard,
"Live!" In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same
voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, "Live," and as holy
spirits rise to heaven to be blest for ever in the glory of
their God, it is in the power of this same word, "Live." Note
again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is
on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God.
A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the
brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?" This mandate is a mandate of free grace.
When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will
do it to magnify His free, unpurchased, unsought grace.
Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your
gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden
you live, see to it that you live in earnest.

* 07/08/PM


"Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my
salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day."
                                                    --Psalm 25:5

   When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in
the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a
little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves
to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental
teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he
felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's
school: four times over in two verses he applies for a
scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many
professors if instead of following their own devices, and
cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would
enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech
the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and
teachable spirits. "For thou art the God of my salvation." The
Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to
His people. Reader, is He the God of your salvation? Do you
find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in
the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes?
If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further
blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely He will
not refuse to instruct you in His ways. It is a happy thing when
we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here
manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in
trial. "On Thee do I wait all the day." Patience is the fair
handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are
certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our
privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in
expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be
tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear
continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of
waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He
once waited for us.

* 07/09/PM

"And God divided the light from the darkness."
                                                   --Genesis 1:4

   A believer has two principles at work within him. In his
natural estate he was subject to one principle only, which was
darkness; now light has entered, and the two principles
disagree. Mark the apostle Paul's words in the seventh chapter
of Romans: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members." How is this state of things
occasioned? "The Lord divided the light from the darkness."
Darkness, by itself, is quiet and undisturbed, but when the Lord
sends in light, there is a conflict, for the one is in
opposition to the other: a conflict which will never cease till
the believer is altogether light in the Lord. If there be a
division within the individual Christian, there is certain to
be a division without. So soon as the Lord gives to any man
light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness around;
he secedes from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial,
for nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him,
and he withdraws himself from worldly society and frivolous
amusements, and seeks the company of the saints, for "We know we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What
God has divided, let us never try to unite, but as Christ went
without the camp, bearing His reproach, so let us come out from
the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as He was, so we are to
be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and
distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our
Master.

* 07/10/PM

"And the evening and the morning were the first day."
                                                   --Genesis 1:5

   The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and
yet the two together are called by the name that is given to
the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an
exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there
is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner
because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint
because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a
most comforting thought to those who are mourning their
infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there
is so much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not
your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are
spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly
holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light,
though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what
is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one
day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening
comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time,
and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension,
driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be merciful to
me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when
grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan,
"That which is last, lasts for ever." That which is first,
yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the
last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you
become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy
sun shall no more go down." The first day in this life is an
evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with
God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred,
high, eternal noon.

* 07/11/PM

"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their
children, and their children another generation."
                                                      --Joel 1:3

   In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for
truth is always to be kept alive in the land--the beloved of the
Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the
covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next
descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the
family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his
ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and
the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior
claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's
arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we
cannot delegate it to Sunday School Teachers, or other friendly
aids, these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred
obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this
case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their
households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring
concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental
teaching is a natural duty--who so fit to look to the child's
well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To
neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish.
Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family
itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is
covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual
means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected,
namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that
parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this
matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and
daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an
accepted work, for God has saved the children through the
parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which
this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive His smile.

* 07/12/PM

"His heavenly kingdom."
                                                --2 Timothy 4:18

   Yonder city of the great King is a place of active service.
Ransomed spirits serve Him day and night in His temple. They
never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their King. They
always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care is
concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or
inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of communion
with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse
with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with Him who by
His love and His potent arm has brought them safely home. We
shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King.
Heaven is a place of victory realized. Whenever, Christian,
thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts--whenever after hard
struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet--thou
hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when
the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou
shalt find thyself more than conqueror through Him who hath
loved thee. Paradise is a place of security. When you enjoy
the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that
glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect
citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem,
thou happy harbour of my soul! Thanks, even now, to Him whose
love hath taught me to long for Thee; but louder thanks in
eternity, when I shall possess thee.

             "My soul has tasted of the grapes,
             And now it longs to go
             Where my dear Lord His vineyard keeps
             And all the clusters grow.

             "Upon the true and living vine,
             My famish'd soul would feast,
             And banquet on the fruit divine,
             An everlasting guest."

* 07/13/PM

"When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this
I know; for God is for me."
                                                    --Psalm 56:9

   It is impossible for any human speech to express the full
meaning of this delightful phrase, "God is for me." He was
"for us" before the worlds were made; He was "for us," or He
would not have given His well-beloved son; He was "for us" when
He smote the Only-begotten, and laid the full weight of His
wrath upon Him--He was "for us," though He was against Him;
He was "for us," when we were ruined in the fall--He loved us
notwithstanding all; He was "for us," when we were rebels
against Him, and with a high hand were bidding Him defiance; He
was "for us," or He would not have brought us humbly to seek His
face. He has been "for us" in many struggles; we have been
summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have been assailed by
temptations from without and within--how could we have remained
unharmed to this hour if He had not been "for us"? He is "for
us," with all the infinity of His being; with all the
omnipotence of His love; with all the infallibility of His
wisdom; arrayed in all His divine attributes, He is "for
us,"--eternally and immutably "for us"; "for us" when yon blue
skies shall be rolled up like a worn out vesture; "for us"
throughout eternity. And because He is "for us," the voice of
prayer will always ensure His help. "When I cry unto Thee, then
shall mine enemies be turned back." This is no uncertain hope,
but a well grounded assurance--"this I know." I will direct my
prayer unto Thee, and will look up for the answer, assured that
it will come, and that mine enemies shall be defeated, "for God
is for me." O believer, how happy art thou with the King of
kings on thy side! How safe with such a Protector! How sure thy
cause pleaded by such an Advocate! If God be for thee, who can
be against thee?

* 07/14/PM

"As it began to dawn, came Magdalene, to see the sepulchre."
                                                  --Matthew 28:1

   Let us learn from Mary Magdalene how to obtain fellowship
with the Lord Jesus. Notice how she sought. She sought the
Saviour very early in the morning. If thou canst wait for
Christ, and be patient in the hope of having fellowship with Him
at some distant season, thou wilt never have fellowship at all;
for the heart that is fitted for communion is a hungering and a
thirsting heart. She sought Him also with very great boldness.
Other disciples fled from the sepulchre, for they trembled and
were amazed; but Mary, it is said, "stood" at the sepulchre. If
you would have Christ with you, seek Him boldly. Let nothing
hold you back. Defy the world. Press on where others flee. She
sought Christ faithfully--she stood at the sepulchre. Some
find it hard to stand by a living Saviour, but she stood by a
dead one. Let us seek Christ after this mode, cleaving to the
very least thing that has to do with Him, remaining faithful
though all others should forsake Him. Note further, she sought
Jesus earnestly--she stood "weeping." Those tear-droppings
were as spells that led the Saviour captive, and made Him come
forth and show Himself to her. If you desire Jesus' presence,
weep after it! If you cannot be happy unless He come and say to
you, "Thou art My beloved," you will soon hear His voice.
Lastly, she sought the Saviour only. What cared she for
angels, she turned herself back from them; her search was only
for her Lord. If Christ be your one and only love, if your heart
has cast out all rivals, you will not long lack the comfort of
His presence. Mary Magdalene sought thus because she loved
much. Let us arouse ourselves to the same intensity of
affection; let our heart, like Mary's, be full of Christ, and
our love, like hers, will be satisfied with nothing short of
Himself. O Lord, reveal Thyself to us this evening!

* 07/15/PM

"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene."
                                                     --Mark 16:9

   Jesus "appeared first to Mary Magdalene," probably not only
on account of her great love and persevering seeking, but
because, as the context intimates, she had been a special
trophy of Christ's delivering power. Learn from this, that the
greatness of our sin before conversion should not make us
imagine that we may not be specially favoured with the very
highest grade of fellowship. She was one who had left all to
become a constant attendant on the Saviour. He was her first,
her chief object. Many who were on Christ's side did not take up
Christ's cross; she did. She spent her substance in relieving
His wants. If we would see much of Christ, let us serve Him.
Tell me who they are that sit oftenest under the banner of His
love, and drink deepest draughts from the cup of communion, and
I am sure they will be those who give most, who serve best, and
who abide closest to the bleeding heart of their dear Lord. But
notice how Christ revealed Himself to this sorrowing one--by a
word, "Mary." It needed but one word in His voice, and at
once she knew Him, and her heart owned allegiance by another
word, her heart was too full to say more. That one word would
naturally be the most fitting for the occasion. It implies
obedience. She said, "Master." There is no state of mind in
which this confession of allegiance will be too cold. No, when
your spirit glows most with the heavenly fire, then you will
say, "I am Thy servant, Thou hast loosed my bonds." If you can
say, "Master," if you feel that His will is your will, then you
stand in a happy, holy place. He must have said, "Mary," or else
you could not have said, "Rabboni." See, then, from all this,
how Christ honours those who honour Him, how love draws our
Beloved, how it needs but one word of His to turn our weeping to
rejoicing, how His presence makes the heart's sunshine.

* 07/16/PM

"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to
favour her, yea, the set time is come. For Thy servants rake
pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."
                                              --Psalm 102:13, 14

   A selfish man in trouble is exceedingly hard to comfort,
because the springs of his comfort entirely within himself, and
when he is sad all his springs are dry. But a large-hearted man
full of Christian philanthropy, has other springs from which to
supply himself with comfort beside those which lie within. He
can go to his God first of all, and there find abundant help;
and he can discover arguments for consolation in things relating
to the world at large, to his country, and, above all, to the
church. David in this Psalm was exceedingly sorrowful; he wrote,
"I am like an owl of the desert, I watch, and am as a sparrow
alone upon the house top." The only way in which he could
comfort himself, was in the reflection that God would arise, and
have mercy upon Zion: though he was sad, yet Zion should
prosper; however low his own estate, yet Zion should arise.
Christian man! learn to comfort thyself in God's gracious
dealing towards the church. That which is so dear to thy Master,
should it not be dear above all else to thee? What though thy
way be dark, canst thou not gladden thine heart with the
triumphs of His cross and the spread of His truth? Our own
personal troubles are forgotten while we look, not only upon
what God has done, and is doing for Zion, but on the glorious
things He will yet do for His church. Try this receipt, O
believer, whenever thou art sad of heart and in heaviness of
spirit: forget thyself and thy little concerns, and seek the
welfare and prosperity of Zion. When thou bendest thy knee in
prayer to God, limit not thy petition to the narrow circle of
thine own life, tried though it be, but send out thy longing
prayers for the church's prosperity, "Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem," and thine own soul shall be refreshed.

* 07/17/PM

"Let not one of them escape."
                                                 --1 Kings 18:40

   When the prophet Elijah had received the answer to his
prayer, and the fire from heaven had consumed the sacrifice in
the presence of all the people, he called upon the assembled
Israelites to take the priests of Baal, and sternly cried, "Let
not one of them escape." He took them all down to the brook
Kishon, and slew them there. So must it be with our sins--they
are all doomed, not one must be preserved. Our darling sin must
die. Spare it not for its much crying. Strike, though it be as
dear as an Isaac. Strike, for God struck at sin when it was laid
upon His own Son. With stern unflinching purpose must you
condemn to death that sin which was once the idol of your heart.
Do you ask how you are to accomplish this? Jesus will be your
power. You have grace to overcome sin given you in the covenant
of grace; you have strength to win the victory in the crusade
against inward lusts, because Christ Jesus has promised to be
with you even unto the end. If you would triumph over darkness,
set yourself in the presence of the Sun of Righteousness. There
is no place so well adapted for the discovery of sin, and
recovery from its power and guilt, as the immediate presence of
God. Job never knew how to get rid of sin half so well as he did
when his eye of faith rested upon God, and then he abhorred
himself, and repented in dust and ashes. The fine gold of the
Christian is oft becoming dim. We need the sacred fire to
consume the dross. Let us fly to our God, He is a consuming
fire; He will not consume our spirit, but our sins. Let the
goodness of God excite us to a sacred jealousy, and to a holy
revenge against those iniquities which are hateful in His sight.
Go forth to battle with Amalek in His strength, and utterly
destroy the accursed crew: let not one of them escape.

* 07/18/PM

"Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every
one in his path."
                                                      --Joel 2:8

   Locusts always keep their rank, and although their number is
legion, they do not crowd upon each other, so as to throw their
columns into confusion. This remarkable fact in natural history
shows how thoroughly the a Lord has infused the spirit of order
into His universe, since the smallest animate creatures are as
much controlled by it as are the rolling spheres or the seraphic
messengers. It would be wise for believers to be ruled by the
same influence in all their spiritual life. In their Christian
graces no one virtue should usurp the sphere of another, or eat
out the vitals of the rest for its own support. Affection must
not smother honesty, courage must not elbow weakness out of the
field, modesty must not jostle energy, and patience must not
slaughter resolution. So also with our duties, one must not
interfere with another; public usefulness must not injure
private piety; church work must not push family worship into a
corner. It is ill to offer God one duty stained with the blood
of another. Each thing is beautiful in its season, but not
otherwise. It was to the Pharisee that Jesus said, "This ought
ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone." The
same rule applies to our personal position, we must take care
to know our place, take it, and keep to it. We must minister as
the Spirit has given us ability, and not intrude upon our fellow
servant's domain. Our Lord Jesus taught us not to covet the high
places, but to be willing to be the least among the brethren.
Far from us be an envious, ambitious spirit, let us feel the
force of the Master's command, and do as He bids us, keeping
rank with the rest of the host. To-night let us see whether we
are keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, and
let our prayer be that, in all the churches of the Lord Jesus,
peace and order may prevail.

* 07/19/PM

"A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He
not quench."
                                                 --Matthew 12:20

   What is weaker than the bruised reed or the smoking flax? A
reed that groweth in the fen or marsh, let but the wild duck
light upon it, and it snaps; let but the foot of man brush
against it, and it is bruised and broken; every wind that flits
across the river moves it to and fro. You can conceive of
nothing more frail or brittle, or whose existence is more in
jeopardy, than a bruised reed. Then look at the smoking flax--
what is it? It has a spark within it, it is true, but it is
almost smothered; an infant's breath might blow it out; nothing
has a more precarious existence than its flame. Weak things
are here described, yet Jesus says of them, "The smoking flax I
will not quench; the bruised reed I will not break." Some of
God's children are made strong to do mighty works for Him; God
has His Samsons here and there who can pull up Gaza's gates, and
carry them to the top of the hill; He has a few mighties who are
lion-like men, but the majority of His people are a timid,
trembling race. They are like starlings, frightened at every
passer by; a little fearful flock. If temptation comes, they are
taken like birds in a snare; if trial threatens, they are ready
to faint; their frail skiff is tossed up and down by every wave,
they are drifted along like a sea bird on the crest of the
billows--weak things, without strength, without wisdom, without
foresight. Yet, weak as they are, and because they are so
weak, they have this promise made specially to them. Herein is
grace and graciousness! Herein is love and lovingkindness! How
it opens to us the compassion of Jesus--so gentle, tender,
considerate! We need never shrink back from His touch. We need
never fear a harsh word from Him; though He might well chide
us for our weakness, He rebuketh not. Bruised reeds shall have
no blows from Him, and the smoking flax no damping frowns.

* 07/20/PM

"And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the
waters of Sihor?"
                                                 --Jeremiah 2:18

   By sundry miracles, by divers mercies, by strange
deliverances Jehovah had proved Himself to be worthy of Israel's
trust. Yet they broke down the hedges with which God had
enclosed them as a sacred garden; they forsook their own true
and living God, and followed after false gods. Constantly did
the Lord reprove them for this infatuation, and our text
contains one instance of God's expostulating with them, "What
hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of the
muddy river?"--for so it may be translated. "Why dost thou
wander afar and leave thine own cool stream from Lebanon? Why
dost thou forsake Jerusalem to turn aside to Noph and to
Tahapanes? Why art thou so strangely set on mischief, that thou
canst not be content with the good and healthful, but wouldst
follow after that which is evil and deceitful?" Is there not
here a word of expostulation and warning to the Christian? O
true believer, called by grace and washed in the precious blood
of Jesus, thou hast tasted of better drink than the muddy river
of this world's pleasure can give thee; thou hast had fellowship
with Christ; thou hast obtained the joy of seeing Jesus, and
leaning thine head upon His bosom. Do the trifles, the songs,
the honours, the merriment of this earth content thee after
that? Hast thou eaten the bread of angels, and canst thou live
on husks? Good Rutherford once said, "I have tasted of Christ's
own manna, and it hath put my mouth out of taste for the brown
bread of this world's joys." Methinks it should be so with thee.
If thou art wandering after the waters of Egypt, O return
quickly to the one living fountain: the waters of Sihor may be
sweet to the Egyptians, but they will prove only bitterness to
thee. What hast thou to do with them? Jesus asks thee this
question this evening--what wilt thou answer Him?

* 07/21/PM

"Why go I mourning?"
                                                    --Psalm 42:9

   Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason
why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield
to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would
never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances
would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues
of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of
thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and
ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of
despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood
comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope
thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not
know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this?
Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and
God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest
moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as
much as thou dost; He only cares to use it for that reason which
should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works
thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the
angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant
God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget
the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who
led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them.
Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while
passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting
joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then
"for ever with the Lord," thy bliss shall never wane.

            "Faint not nor fear, His arms are near,
            He changeth not, and thou art dear;
            Only believe and thou shalt see,
            That Christ is all in all to thee."

* 07/22/PM

"Behold the Man!"
                                                     --John 19:5

   If there be one place where our Lord Jesus most fully becomes
the joy and comfort of His people, it is where He plunged
deepest into the depths of woe. Come hither, gracious souls, and
behold the Man in the garden of Gethsemane; behold His heart so
brimming with love that He cannot hold it in--so full of sorrow
that it must find a vent. Behold the bloody sweat as it distils
from every pore of His body, and falls upon the ground. Behold
the Man as they drive the nails into His hands and feet. Look
up, repenting sinners, and see the sorrowful image of your
suffering Lord. Mark Him, as the ruby drops stand on the
thorn-crown, and adorn with priceless gems the diadem of the
King of Misery. Behold the Man when all His bones are out of
joint, and He is poured out like water and brought into the dust
of death; God hath forsaken Him, and hell compasseth Him about.
Behold and see, was there ever sorrow like unto His sorrow that
is done unto Him? All ye that pass by draw near and look upon
this spectacle of grief, unique, unparalleled, a wonder to men
and angels, a prodigy unmatched. Behold the Emperor of Woe who
had no equal or rival in His agonies! Gaze upon Him, ye
mourners, for if there be not consolation in a crucified Christ
there is no joy in earth or heaven. If in the ransom price of
His blood there be not hope, ye harps of heaven, there is no joy
in you, and the right hand of God shall know no pleasures for
evermore. We have only to sit more continually at the cross foot
to be less troubled with our doubts and woes. We have but to see
His sorrows, and our sorrows we shall be ashamed to mention;
we have but to gaze into His wounds and heal our own. If we
would live aright it must be by the contemplation of His death;
if we would rise to dignity, it must be by considering His
humiliation and His sorrow.

* 07/23/PM

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
                                                    --1 John 1:7

   "Cleanseth," says the text--not "shall cleanse." There are
multitudes who think that as a dying hope they may look forward
to pardon. Oh! how infinitely better to have cleansing now than
to depend on the bare possibility of forgiveness when I come to
die. Some imagine that a sense of pardon is an attainment only
obtainable after many years of Christian experience. But
forgiveness of sin is a present thing--a privilege for this
day, a joy for this very hour. The moment a sinner trusts Jesus
he is fully forgiven. The text, being written in the present
tense, also indicates continuance; it was "cleanseth"
yesterday, it is "cleanseth" to-day, it will be "cleanseth"
tomorrow: it will be always so with you, Christian, until you
cross the river; every hour you may come to this fountain, for
it cleanseth still. Notice, likewise, the completeness of the
cleansing, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from
all sin"--not only from sin, but "from all sin." Reader, I
cannot tell you the exceeding sweetness of this word, but I pray
God the Holy Ghost to give you a taste of it. Manifold are our
sins against God. Whether the bill be little or great, the same
receipt can discharge one as the other. The blood of Jesus
Christ is as blessed and divine a payment for the transgressions
of blaspheming Peter as for the shortcomings of loving John; our
iniquity is gone, all gone at once, and all gone for ever.
Blessed completeness! What a sweet theme to dwell upon as one
gives himself to sleep.

               "Sins against a holy God;
               Sins against His righteous laws;
               Sins against His love, His blood;
               Sins against His name and cause;
               Sins immense as is the sea-
               From them all He cleanseth me."

* 07/24/PM

"His camp is very great."
                                                     --Joel 2:11

   Consider, my soul, the mightiness of the Lord who is thy
glory and defence. He is a man of war, Jehovah is His name. All
the forces of heaven are at His beck, legions wait at His
door, cherubim and seraphim;, watchers and holy ones,
principalities and powers, are all attentive to His will. If our
eyes were not blinded by the ophthalmia of the flesh, we should
see horses of fire and chariots of fire round about the Lord's
beloved. The powers of nature are all subject to the absolute
control of the Creator: stormy wind and tempest, lightning and
rain, and snow, and hail, and the soft dews and cheering
sunshine, come and go at His decree. The bands of Orion He
looseth, and bindeth the sweet influences of the Pleiades.
Earth, sea, and air, and the places under the earth, are the
barracks for Jehovah's great armies; space is His camping
ground, light is His banner, and flame is His sword. When He
goeth forth to war, famine ravages the land, pestilence smites
the nations, hurricane sweeps the sea, tornado shakes the
mountains, and earthquake makes the solid world to tremble. As
for animate creatures, they all own His dominion, and from the
great fish which swallowed the prophet, down to "all manner of
flies," which plagued the field of Zoan, all are His servants,
and like the palmer-worm, the caterpillar, and the cankerworm,
are squadrons of His great army, for His camp is very great. My
soul, see to it that thou be at peace with this mighty King,
yea, more, be sure to enlist under His banner, for to war
against Him is madness, and to serve Him is glory. Jesus,
Immanuel, God with us, is ready to receive recruits for the army
of the Lord: if I am not already enlisted let me go to Him ere I
sleep, and beg to be accepted through His merits; and if I be
already, as I hope I am, a soldier of the cross, let me be of
good courage; for the enemy is powerless compared with my Lord,
whose camp is very great.

* 07/25/PM

"In their affliction they will seek Me early."
                                                    --Hosea 5:15

   Losses and adversities are frequently the means which the
great Shepherd uses to fetch home His wandering sheep; like
fierce dogs they worry the wanderers back to the fold. There is
no making lions tame if they are too well fed; they must be
brought down from their great strength, and their stomachs must
be lowered, and then they will submit to the tamer's hand; and
often have we seen the Christian rendered obedient to the Lord's
will by straitness of bread and hard labour. When rich and
increased in goods many professors carry their heads much too
loftily, and speak exceeding boastfully. Like David, they
flatter themselves, "My mountain standeth fast; I shall never be
moved." When the Christian groweth wealthy, is in good repute,
hath good health, and a happy family, he too often admits Mr.
Carnal Security to feast at his table, and then if he be a true
child of God there is a rod preparing for him. Wait awhile, and
it may be you will see his substance melt away as a dream. There
goes a portion of his estate--how soon the acres change hands.
That debt, that dishonoured bill--how fast his losses roll in,
where will they end? It is a blessed sign of divine life if when
these embarrassments occur one after another he begins to be
distressed about his backslidings, and betakes himself to his
God. Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock
of salvation! Losses in business are often sanctified to our
soul's enriching. If the chosen soul will not come to the Lord
full-handed, it shall come empty. If God, in His grace, findeth
no other means of making us honour Him among men, He will cast
us into the deep; if we fail to honour Him on the pinnacle of
riches, He will bring us into the valley of poverty. Yet faint
not, heir of sorrow, when thou art thus rebuked, rather
recognize the loving hand which chastens, and say, "I will
arise, and go unto my Father."

* 07/26/PM

"That He may set him with princes."
                                                   --Psalm 113:8

   Our spiritual privileges are of the highest order. "Among
princes" is the place of select society. "Truly our fellowship
is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Speak of
select society, there is none like this! "We are a chosen
generation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood." "We are come
unto the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose
names are written in heaven." The saints have courtly
audience: princes have admittance to royalty when common people
must stand afar off. The child of God has free access to the
inner courts of heaven. "For through Him we both have access by
one Spirit unto the Father." "Let us come boldly," says the
apostle, "to the throne of the heavenly grace." Among princes
there is abundant wealth, but what is the abundance of princes
compared with the riches of believers? for "all things are
yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Princes
have peculiar power. A prince of heaven's empire has great
influence: he wields a sceptre in his own domain; he sits upon
Jesus' throne, for "He hath made us kings and priests unto God,
and we shall reign for ever and ever." We reign over the united
kingdom of time and eternity. Princes, again, have special
honour. We may look down upon all earth-born dignity from the
eminence upon which grace has placed us. For what is human
grandeur to this, "He hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"? We share the
honour of Christ, and compared with this, earthly splendours are
not worth a thought. Communion with Jesus is a richer gem than
ever glittered in imperial diadem. Union with the Lord is a
coronet of beauty outshining all the blaze of imperial pomp.

* 07/27/PM

"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?"
                                                   --Romans 8:33

   Most blessed challenge! How unanswerable it is! Every sin of
the elect was laid upon the great Champion of our salvation, and
by the atonement carried away. There is no sin in God's book
against His people: He seeth no sin in Jacob, neither iniquity
in Israel; they are justified in Christ for ever. When the guilt
of sin was taken away, the punishment of sin was removed. For
the Christian there is no stroke from God's angry hand--nay, not
so much as a single frown of punitive justice. The believer may
be chastised by his Father, but God the Judge has nothing to say
to the Christian, except "I have absolved thee: thou art
acquitted." For the Christian there is no penal death in this
world, much less any second death. He is completely freed from
all the punishment as well as the guilt of sin, and the power of
sin is removed too. It may stand in our way, and agitate us with
perpetual warfare; but sin is a conquered foe to every soul in
union with Jesus. There is no sin which a Christian cannot
overcome if he will only rely upon his God to do it. They who
wear the white robe in heaven overcame through the blood of the
Lamb, and we may do the same. No lust is too mighty, no
besetting sin too strongly entrenched; we can overcome through
the power of Christ. Do believe it, Christian, that thy sin is a
condemned thing. It may kick and struggle, but it is doomed to
die. God has written condemnation across its brow. Christ has
crucified it, "nailing it to His cross." Go now and mortify it,
and the Lord help you to live to His praise, for sin with all
its guilt, shame, and fear, is gone.

             "Here's pardon for transgressions past,
             It matters not how black their cast;
             And, O my soul, with wonder view,
             For sins to come here's pardon too."

* 07/28/PM

"Who went about doing good."
                                                    --Acts 10:38

   Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of
a master's pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it
true in the fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. "He
went about doing good." From this description it is evident that
He did good personally. The evangelists constantly tell us
that He touched the leper with His own finger, that He anointed
the eyes of the blind, and that in cases where He was asked to
speak the word only at a distance, He did not usually comply,
but went Himself to the sick bed, and there personally wrought
the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it
ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word,
will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his
soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole
library of tracts. Our Lord's mode of doing good sets forth His
incessant activity! He did not only the good which came close
to hand, but He "went about" on His errands of mercy. Throughout
the whole land of Judea there was scarcely a village or a hamlet
which was not gladdened by the sight of Him. How this reproves
the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors serve
the Lord. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary
in well doing. Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ went
out of His way to do good? "He went about doing good." He was
never deterred by danger or difficulty. He sought out the
objects of His gracious intentions. So must we. If old plans
will not answer, we must try new ones, for fresh experiments
sometimes achieve more than regular methods. Christ's
perseverance, and the unity of His purpose, are also hinted
at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed
up in the words, "He hath left us an example that we should
follow in His steps."

* 07/29/PM

"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me."
                                                     --John 6:37

   This declaration involves the doctrine of election: there
are some whom the Father gave to Christ. It involves the
doctrine of effectual calling: these who are given must and
shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it,
yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God's marvellous
light. It teaches us the indispensable necessity of faith; for
even those who are given to Christ are not saved except they
come to Jesus. Even they must come, for there is no other way
to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus. All that the Father
gives to our Redeemer must come to Him, therefore none can
come to heaven except they come to Christ.

   Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words "shall
come." He does not say they have power to come, nor they may
come if they will, but they "shall come." The Lord Jesus doth
by His messengers, His word, and His Spirit, sweetly and
graciously compel men to come in that they may eat of His
marriage supper; and this He does, not by any violation of the
free agency of man, but by the power of His grace. I may
exercise power over another man's will, and yet that other man's
will may be perfectly free, because the constraint is exercised
in a manner accordant with the laws of the human mind. Jehovah
Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the
understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections,
and by the mysterious influence of His Holy Spirit operating
upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the
whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields
cheerfully to His government, subdued by sovereign love. But how
shall those be known whom God hath chosen? By this result: that
they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to Him
with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon Him as all their
salvation and all their desire. Reader, have you thus come to
Jesus?

* 07/30/PM

"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."
                                                     --John 6:37

   No limit is set to the duration of this promise. It does
not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first
coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads,
"I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out."
The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a
believer; and that as He will not do it at first, so He will not
to the last.

   But suppose the believer sins after coming? "If any man sin
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous." But suppose that believers backslide? "I will heal
their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is
turned away from him." But believers may fall under temptation!
"God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way
to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." But the believer may
fall into sin as David did! Yes, but He will "Purge them with
hyssop, and they shall be clean; He will wash them and they
shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I
cleanse them."

            "Once in Christ, in Christ for ever,
            Nothing from His love can sever."

"I give unto My sheep," saith He, "eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand."
What sayest thou to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a
precious mercy, that coming to Christ, thou dost not come to One
who will treat thee well for a little while, and then send thee
about thy business, but He will receive thee and make thee His
bride, and thou shalt be His for ever? Receive no longer the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption
whereby thou shalt cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these
words: "I will in no wise cast out."

* 07/31/PM

"And these are the singers . . . they were employed in that work
day and night."
                                             --1 Chronicles 9:33

   Well was it so ordered in the temple that the sacred chant
never ceased: for evermore did the singers praise the Lord,
whose mercy endureth for ever. As mercy did not cease to rule
either by day or by night, so neither did music hush its holy
ministry. My heart, there is a lesson sweetly taught to thee in
the ceaseless song of Zion's temple, thou too art a constant
debtor, and see thou to it that thy gratitude, like charity,
never faileth. God's praise is constant in heaven, which is to
be thy final dwelling-place, learn thou to practise the eternal
hallelujah. Around the earth as the sun scatters his light, his
beams awaken grateful believers to tune their morning hymn, so
that by the priesthood of the saints perpetual praise is kept up
at all hours, they swathe our globe in a mantle of thanksgiving,
and girdle it with a golden belt of song.

   The Lord always deserves to be praised for what He is in
Himself, for His works of creation and providence, for His
goodness towards His creatures, and especially for the
transcendent act of redemption, and all the marvellous blessing
flowing therefrom. It is always beneficial to praise the Lord;
it cheers the day and brightens the night; it lightens toil and
softens sorrow; and over earthly gladness it sheds a sanctifying
radiance which makes it less liable to blind us with its glare.
Have we not something to sing about at this moment? Can we not
weave a song out of our present joys, or our past deliverances,
or our future hopes? Earth yields her summer fruits: the hay is
housed, the golden grain invites the sickle, and the sun
tarrying long to shine upon a fruitful earth, shortens the
interval of shade that we may lengthen the hours of devout
worship. By the love of Jesus, let us be stirred up to close the
day with a psalm of sanctified gladness.
* 08/01/PM

"Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness."
                                                   --Psalm 65:11

   All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly
blessing us; both when we sleep and when we wake His mercy waits
upon us. The sun may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God
never ceases to shine upon His children with beams of love. Like
a river, His lovingkindness is always flowing, with a fulness
inexhaustible as His own nature. Like the atmosphere which
constantly surrounds the earth, and is always ready to support
the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all His
creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and
have their being. Yet as the sun on summer days gladdens us with
beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers
are at certain seasons swollen by the rain, and as the
atmosphere itself is sometimes fraught with more fresh, more
bracing, or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with
the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours; its days of
overflow, when the Lord magnifieth His grace before the sons of
men. Amongst the blessings of the nether springs, the joyous
days of harvest are a special season of excessive favour. It is
the glory of autumn that the ripe gifts of providence are then
abundantly bestowed; it is the mellow season of realization,
whereas all before was but hope and expectation. Great is the
joy of harvest. Happy are the reapers who fill their arms with
the liberality of heaven. The Psalmist tells us that the harvest
is the crowning of the year. Surely these crowning mercies call
for crowning thanksgiving! Let us render it by the inward
emotions of gratitude. Let our hearts be warmed; let our
spirits remember, meditate, and think upon this goodness of the
Lord. Then let us praise Him with our lips, and laud and
magnify His name from whose bounty all this goodness flows. Let
us glorify God by yielding our gifts to His cause. A practical
proof of our gratitude is a special thank-offering to the Lord
of the harvest.

* 08/02/PM

"So she gleaned in the field until even."
                                                     --Ruth 2:17

   Let me learn from Ruth, the gleaner. As she went out to
gather the ears of corn, so must I go forth into the fields of
prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the word to
gather spiritual food. The gleaner gathers her portion ear by
ear; her gains are little by little: so must I be content to
search for single truths, if there be no greater plenty of them.
Every ear helps to make a bundle, and every gospel lesson
assists in making us wise unto salvation. The gleaner keeps her
eyes open: if she stumbled among the stubble in a dream, she
would have no load to carry home rejoicingly at eventide. I must
be watchful in religious exercises lest they become unprofitable
to me; I fear I have lost much already--O that I may rightly
estimate my opportunities, and glean with greater diligence.
The gleaner stoops for all she finds, and so must I. High
spirits criticize and object, but lowly minds glean and receive
benefit. A humble heart is a great help towards profitably
hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving word is not
received except with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner;
down, master pride, thou art a vile robber, not to be endured
for a moment. What the gleaner gathers she holds: if she
dropped one ear to find another, the result of her day's work
would be but scant; she is as careful to retain as to obtain,
and so at last her gains are great. How often do I forget all
that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head,
and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do
I feel duly the importance of storing up the truth? A hungry
belly makes the gleaner wise; if there be no corn in her hand,
there will be no bread on her table; she labours under the sense
of necessity, and hence her tread is nimble and her grasp is
firm; I have even a greater necessity, Lord, help me to feel it,
that it may urge me onward to glean in fields which yield so
plenteous a reward to diligence.

* 08/03/PM

"But as He went."
                                                     --Luke 8:42

   Jesus is passing through the throng to the house of Jairus,
to raise the ruler's dead daughter; but He is so profuse in
goodness that He works another miracle while upon the road.
While yet this rod of Aaron bears the blossom of an
unaccomplished wonder, it yields the ripe almonds of a perfect
work of mercy. It is enough for us, if we have some one purpose,
straightway to go and accomplish it; it were imprudent to expend
our energies by the way. Hastening to the rescue of a drowning
friend, we cannot afford to exhaust our strength upon another in
like danger. It is enough for a tree to yield one sort of fruit,
and for a man to fulfil his own peculiar calling. But our Master
knows no limit of power or boundary of mission. He is so
prolific of grace, that like the sun which shines as it rolls
onward in its orbit, His path is radiant with lovingkindness. He
is a swift arrow of love, which not only reaches its ordained
target, but perfumes the air through which it flies. Virtue is
evermore going out of Jesus, as sweet odours exhale from
flowers; and it always will be emanating from Him, as water from
a sparkling fountain. What delightful encouragement this truth
affords us! If our Lord is so ready to heal the sick and bless
the needy, then, my soul, be not thou slow to put thyself in His
way, that He may smile on thee. Be not slack in asking, if He be
so abundant in bestowing. Give earnest heed to His word now, and
at all times, that Jesus may speak through it to thy heart.
Where He is to be found there make thy resort, that thou mayst
obtain His blessing. When He is present to heal, may He not heal
thee? But surely He is present even now, for He always comes to
hearts which need Him. And dost not thou need Him? Ah, He
knows how much! Thou Son of David, turn Thine eye and look upon
the distress which is now before Thee, and make Thy suppliant
whole.

* 08/04/PM

"I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all
the labours of your hands."
                                                   --Haggai 2:17

  How destructive is the hail to the standing crops, beating out
the precious grain upon the ground! How grateful ought we to be
when the corn is spared so terrible a ruin! Let us offer unto
the Lord thanksgiving. Even more to be dreaded are those
mysterious destroyers--smut, bunt, rust, and mildew. These turn
the ear into a mass of soot, or render it putrid, or dry up the
grain, and all in a manner so beyond all human control that the
farmer is compelled to cry, "This is the finger of God."
Innumerable minute fungi cause the mischief, and were it not for
the goodness of God, the rider on the black horse would soon
scatter famine over the land. Infinite mercy spares the food of
men, but in view of the active agents which are ready to destroy
the harvest, right wisely are we taught to pray, "Give us this
day our daily bread." The curse is abroad; we have constant need
of the blessing. When blight and mildew come they are
chastisements from heaven, and men must learn to hear the rod,
and Him that hath appointed it.

   Spiritually, mildew is no uncommon evil. When our work is
most promising this blight appears. We hoped for many
conversions, and lo! a general apathy, an abounding worldliness,
or a cruel hardness of heart! There may be no open sin in those
for whom we are labouring, but there is a deficiency of
sincerity and decision sadly disappointing our desires. We learn
from this our dependence upon the Lord, and the need of prayer
that no blight may fall upon our work. Spiritual pride or sloth
will soon bring upon us the dreadful evil, and only the Lord of
the harvest can remove it. Mildew may even attack our own
hearts, and shrivel our prayers and religious exercises. May it
please the great Husbandman to avert so serious a calamity.
Shine, blessed Sun of Righteousness, and drive the blights away.

* 08/05/PM

"Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?"
                                                  --Numbers 32:6

   Kindred has its obligations. The Reubenites and Gadites would
have been unbrotherly if they had claimed the land which had
been conquered, and had left the rest of the people to fight for
their portions alone. We have received much by means of the
efforts and sufferings of the saints in years gone by, and if we
do not make some return to the church of Christ by giving her
our best energies, we are unworthy to be enrolled in her ranks.
Others are combating the errors of the age manfully, or
excavating perishing ones from amid the ruins of the fall, and
if we fold our hands in idleness we had need be warned, lest the
curse of Meroz fall upon us. The Master of the vineyard saith,
"Why stand ye here all the day idle?" What is the idler's
excuse? Personal service of Jesus becomes all the more the duty
of all because it is cheerfully and abundantly rendered by some.
The toils of devoted missionaries and fervent ministers shame us
if we sit still in indolence. Shrinking from trial is the
temptation of those who are at ease in Zion: they would fain
escape the cross and yet wear the crown; to them the question
for this evening's meditation is very applicable. If the most
precious are tried in the fire, are we to escape the crucible?
If the diamond must be vexed upon the wheel, are we to be made
perfect without suffering? Who hath commanded the wind to cease
from blowing because our bark is on the deep? Why and wherefore
should we be treated better than our Lord? The firstborn felt
the rod, and why not the younger brethren? It is a cowardly
pride which would choose a downy pillow and a silken couch for a
soldier of the cross. Wiser far is he who, being first resigned
to the divine will, groweth by the energy of grace to be pleased
with it, and so learns to gather lilies at the cross foot, and,
like Samson, to find honey in the lion.

* 08/06/PM

"Let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen."
                                                   --Psalm 72:19

   This is a large petition. To intercede for a whole city needs
a stretch of faith, and there are times when a prayer for one
man is enough to stagger us. But how far-reaching was the
psalmist's dying intercession! How comprehensive! How sublime!
"Let the whole earth be filled with His glory." It doth not
exempt a single country however crushed by the foot of
superstition; it doth not exclude a single nation however
barbarous. For the cannibal as well as for the civilized, for
all climes and races this prayer is uttered: the whole circle of
the earth it encompasses, and omits no son of Adam. We must be
up and doing for our Master, or we cannot honestly offer such a
prayer. The petition is not asked with a sincere heart unless we
endeavour, as God shall help us, to extend the kingdom of our
Master. Are there not some who neglect both to plead and to
labour? Reader, is it your prayer? Turn your eyes to Calvary.
Behold the Lord of Life nailed to a cross, with the thorn-crown
about His brow, with bleeding head, and hands, and feet. What!
can you look upon this miracle of miracles, the death of the Son
of God, without feeling within your bosom a marvellous adoration
that language never can express? And when you feel the blood
applied to your conscience, and know that He has blotted out
your sins, you are not a man unless you start from your knees
and cry, "Let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen,
and Amen." Can you bow before the Crucified in loving homage,
and not wish to see your Monarch master of the world? Out on you
if you can pretend to love your Prince, and desire not to see
Him the universal ruler. Your piety is worthless unless it leads
you to wish that the same mercy which has been extended to you
may bless the whole world. Lord, it is harvest-time, put in Thy
sickle and reap.

* 08/07/PM

"Satan hindered us."
                                          --1 Thessalonians 2:18

   Since the first hour in which goodness came into conflict
with evil, it has never ceased to be true in spiritual
experience, that Satan hinders us. From all points of the
compass, all along the line of battle, in the vanguard and in
the rear, at the dawn of day and in the midnight hour, Satan
hinders us. If we toil in the field, he seeks to break the
ploughshare; if we build the wall, he labours to cast down the
stones; if we would serve God in suffering or in conflict--
everywhere Satan hinders us. He hinders us when we are first
coming to Jesus Christ. Fierce conflicts we had with Satan when
we first looked to the cross and lived. Now that we are saved,
he endeavours to hinder the completeness of our personal
character. You may be congratulating yourself, "I have hitherto
walked consistently; no man can challenge my integrity." Beware
of boasting, for your virtue will yet be tried; Satan will
direct his engines against that very virtue for which you are
the most famous. If you have been hitherto a firm believer, your
faith will ere long be attacked; if you have been meek as Moses,
expect to be tempted to speak unadvisedly with your lips. The
birds will peck at your ripest fruit, and the wild boar will
dash his tusks at your choicest vines. Satan is sure to hinder
us when we are earnest in prayer. He checks our importunity,
and weakens our faith in order that, if possible, we may miss
the blessing. Nor is Satan less vigilant in obstructing
Christian effort. There was never a revival of religion without
a revival of his opposition. As soon as Ezra and Nehemiah begin
to labour, Sanballat and Tobiah are stirred up to hinder them.
What then? We are not alarmed because Satan hindereth us, for it
is a proof that we are on the Lord's side, and are doing the
Lord's work, and in His strength we shall win the victory, and
triumph over our adversary.

* 08/08/PM

"All things are possible to him that believeth."
                                                     --Mark 9:23

   Many professed Christians are always doubting and fearing,
and they forlornly think that this is the necessary state of
believers. This is a mistake, for "all things are possible to
him that believeth"; and it is possible for us to mount into a
state in which a doubt or a fear shall be but as a bird of
passage flitting across the soul, but never lingering there.
When you read of the high and sweet communions enjoyed by
favoured saints, you sigh and murmur in the chamber of your
heart, "Alas! these are not for me." O climber, if thou hast but
faith, thou shalt yet stand upon the sunny pinnacle of the
temple, for "all things are possible to him that believeth." You
hear of exploits which holy men have done for Jesus; what they
have enjoyed of Him; how much they have been like Him; how they
have been able to endure great persecutions for His sake; and
you say, "Ah! as for me, I am but a worm; I can never attain to
this." But there is nothing which one saint was, that you may
not be. There is no elevation of grace, no attainment of
spirituality, no clearness of assurance, no post of duty, which
is not open to you if you have but the power to believe. Lay
aside your sackcloth and ashes, and rise to the dignity of your
true position; you are little in Israel because you will be so,
not because there is any necessity for it. It is not meet that
thou shouldst grovel in the dust, O child of a King. Ascend!
The golden throne of assurance is waiting for you! The crown of
communion with Jesus is ready to bedeck your brow. Wrap
yourself in scarlet and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every
day; for if thou believest, thou mayst eat the fat of kidneys of
wheat; thy land shall flow with milk and honey, and thy soul
shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Gather golden
sheaves of grace, for they await thee in the fields of faith.
"All things are possible to him that believeth."

* 08/09/PM

"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast
seven devils."
                                                     --Mark 16:9

   Mary of Magdala was the victim of a fearful evil. She was
possessed by not one devil only, but seven. These dreadful
inmates caused much pain and pollution to the poor frame in
which they had found a lodging. Hers was a hopeless, horrible
case. She could not help herself, neither could any human
succour avail. But Jesus passed that way, and unsought, and
probably even resisted by the poor demoniac, He uttered the word
of power, and Mary of Magdala became a trophy of the healing
power of Jesus. All the seven demons left her, left her never
to return, forcibly ejected by the Lord of all. What a blessed
deliverance! What a happy change! From delirium to delight, from
despair to peace, from hell to heaven! Straightway she became
a constant follower of Jesus, catching His every word,
following His devious steps, sharing His toilsome life; and
withal she became His generous helper, first among that band
of healed and grateful women who ministered unto Him of their
substance. When Jesus was lifted up in crucifixion, Mary
remained the sharer of His shame: we find her first beholding
from afar, and then drawing near to the foot of the cross. She
could not die on the cross with Jesus, but she stood as near it
as she could, and when His blessed body was taken down, she
watched to see how and where it was laid. She was the faithful
and watchful believer, last at the sepulchre where Jesus slept,
first at the grave whence He arose. Her holy fidelity made her
a favoured beholder of her beloved Rabboni, who deigned to
call her by her name, and to make her His messenger of good
news to the trembling disciples and Peter. Thus grace found her
a maniac and made her a minister, cast out devils and gave her
to behold angels, delivered her from Satan, and united her for
ever to the Lord Jesus. May I also be such a miracle of grace!

* 08/10/PM

"The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins."
                                                   --Matthew 9:6

   Behold one of the great Physician's mightiest arts: He has
power to forgive sin! While here He lived below, before the
ransom had been paid, before the blood had been literally
sprinkled on the mercy-seat, He had power to forgive sin. Hath
He not power to do it now that He hath died? What power must
dwell in Him who to the utmost farthing has faithfully
discharged the debts of His people! He has boundless power now
that He has finished transgression and made an end of sin. If ye
doubt it, see Him rising from the dead! behold Him in ascending
splendour raised to the right hand of God! Hear Him pleading
before the eternal Father, pointing to His wounds, urging the
merit of His sacred passion! What power to forgive is here! "He
hath ascended on high, and received gifts for men." "He is
exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins." The
most crimson sins are removed by the crimson of His blood. At
this moment, dear reader, whatever thy sinfulness, Christ has
power to pardon, power to pardon thee, and millions such as
thou art. A word will speak it. He has nothing more to do to win
thy pardon; all the atoning work is done. He can, in answer to
thy tears, forgive thy sins today, and make thee know it. He can
breathe into thy soul at this very moment a peace with God which
passeth all understanding, which shall spring from perfect
remission of thy manifold iniquities. Dost thou believe that? I
trust thou believest it. Mayst thou experience now the power of
Jesus to forgive sin! Waste no time in applying to the
Physician of souls, but hasten to Him with words like these:--

              "Jesus! Master! hear my cry;
              Save me, heal me with a word;
              Fainting at Thy feet I lie,
              Thou my whisper'd plaint hast heard."

* 08/11/PM

"Everlasting consolation."
                                          --2 Thessalonians 2:16

   "Consolation." There is music in the word: like David's harp,
it charms away the evil spirit of melancholy. It was a
distinguished I honour to Barnabas to be called "the son of
consolation"; nay, it is one of the illustrious names of a
greater than Barnabas, for the Lord Jesus is "the consolation of
Israel." "Everlasting consolation"--here is the cream of all,
for the eternity of comfort is the crown and glory of it. What
is this "everlasting consolation"? It includes a sense of
pardoned sin. A Christian man has received in his heart the
witness of the Spirit that his iniquities are put away like a
cloud, and his transgressions like a thick cloud. If sin be
pardoned, is not that an everlasting consolation? Next, the Lord
gives His people an abiding sense of acceptance in Christ. The
Christian knows that God looks upon him as standing in union
with Jesus. Union to the risen Lord is a consolation of the most
abiding order; it is, in fact, everlasting. Let sickness
prostrate us, have we not seen hundreds of believers as happy in
the weakness of disease as they would have been in the strength
of hale and blooming health? Let death's arrows pierce us to
the heart, our comfort dies not, for have not our ears full
often heard the songs of saints as they have rejoiced because
the living love of God was shed abroad in their hearts in dying
moments? Yes, a sense of acceptance in the Beloved is an
everlasting consolation. Moreover, the Christian has a
conviction of his security. God has promised to save those who
trust in Christ: the Christian does trust in Christ, and he
believes that God will be as good as His word, and will save
him. He feels that he is safe by virtue of his being bound up
with the person and work of Jesus.

* 08/12/PM

"The bow shall be seen in the cloud."
                                                  --Genesis 9:14

   The rainbow, the symbol of the covenant with Noah, is typical
of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lord's witness to the people. When
may we expect to see the token of the covenant? The rainbow
is only to be seen painted upon a cloud. When the sinner's
conscience is dark with clouds, when he remembers his past sin,
and mourneth and lamenteth before God, Jesus Christ is revealed
to him as the covenant Rainbow, displaying all the glorious hues
of the divine character and betokening peace. To the believer,
when his trials and temptations surround him, it is sweet to
behold the person of our Lord Jesus Christ--to see Him bleeding,
living, rising, and pleading for us. God's rainbow is hung over
the cloud of our sins, our sorrows, and our woes, to prophesy
deliverance. Nor does a cloud alone give a rainbow, there must
be the crystal drops to reflect the light of the sun. So, our
sorrows must not only threaten, but they must really fall upon
us. There had been no Christ for us if the vengeance of God had
been merely a threatening cloud: punishment must fall in
terrible drops upon the Surety. Until there is a real anguish
in the sinner's conscience, there is no Christ for him; until
the chastisement which he feels becomes grievous, he cannot see
Jesus. But there must also be a sun; for clouds and drops of
rain make not rainbows unless the sun shineth. Beloved, our
God, who is as the sun to us, always shines, but we do not
always see Him--clouds hide His face; but no matter what drops
may be falling, or what clouds may be threatening, if He does
but shine there will be a rainbow at once. It is said that when
we see the rainbow the shower is over. Certain it is, that when
Christ comes, our troubles remove; when we behold Jesus, our
sins vanish, and our doubts and fears subside. When Jesus walks
the waters of the sea, how profound the calm!

* 08/13/PM

"And I will remember My covenant."
                                                  --Genesis 9:15

   Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when ye
shall look upon the bow, and ye shall remember My covenant,
then I will not destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put,
not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon
God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The bow shall
be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember
the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my remembering God, it
is God's remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it
is not my laying hold of His covenant, but His covenant's laying
hold on me. Glory be to God! the whole of the bulwarks of
salvation are secured by divine power, and even the minor
towers, which we may imagine might have been left to man, are
guarded by almighty strength. Even the remembrance of the
covenant is not left to our memories, for we might forget, but
our Lord cannot forget the saints whom He has graven on the
palms of His hands. It is with us as with Israel in Egypt; the
blood was upon the lintel and the two side-posts, but the Lord
did not say, "When you see the blood I will pass over you,"
but "When I see the blood I will pass over you." My looking to
Jesus brings me joy and peace, but it is God's looking to Jesus
which secures my salvation and that of all His elect, since it
is impossible for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding
Surety, and then to be angry with us for sins already punished
in Him. No, it is not left with us even to be saved by
remembering the covenant. There is no linsey-wolsey here--not a
single thread of the creature mars the fabric. It is not of
man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone. We should
remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine
grace; but the hinge of our safety does not hang there--it is
God's remembering us, not our remembering Him; and hence the
covenant is an everlasting covenant.

* 08/14/PM

"I know their sorrows."
                                                    --Exodus 3:7

   The child is cheered as he sings, "This my father knows"; and
shall not we be comforted as we discern that our dear Friend and
tender soul-husband knows all about us?

   1. He is the Physician, and if He knows all, there is no
need that the patient should know. Hush, thou silly, fluttering
heart, prying, peeping, and suspecting! What thou knowest not
now, thou shalt know hereafter, and meanwhile Jesus, the beloved
Physician, knows thy soul in adversities. Why need the patient
analyze all the medicine, or estimate all the symptoms? This is
the Physician's work, not mine; it is my business to trust, and
His to prescribe. If He shall write His prescription in uncouth
characters which I cannot read, I will not be uneasy on that
account, but rely upon His unfailing skill to make all plain in
the result, however mysterious in the working.

   2. He is the Master, and His knowledge is to serve us
instead of our own; we are to obey, not to judge: "The servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth." Shall the architect explain
his plans to every hodman on the works? If he knows his own
intent, is it not enough? The vessel on the wheel cannot guess
to what pattern it shall be conformed, but if the potter
understands his art, what matters the ignorance of the clay? My
Lord must not be cross-questioned any more by one so ignorant as
I am.

   3. He is the Head. All understanding centres there. What
judgment has the arm? What comprehension has the foot? All the
power to know lies in the head. Why should the member have a
brain of its own when the head fulfils for it every intellectual
office? Here, then, must the believer rest his comfort in
sickness, not that he himself can see the end, but that Jesus
knows all. Sweet Lord, be thou for ever eye, and soul, and head
for us, and let us be content to know only what Thou choosest to
reveal.


* 08/15/PM

"And I will give you an heart of flesh."
                                                 --Ezekiel 36:26

   A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin.
To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild
desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a
heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls
a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh.

               "If to the right or left I stray,
               That moment, Lord, reprove;
               And let me weep my life away,
               For having grieved thy love"

The heart of flesh is tender of God's will. My Lord
Will-be-will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him
to God's will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will
quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows
like an osier in every breeze of God's Spirit. The natural will
is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but
the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand
of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the
affections. The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the
renewed heart burns with affection towards Him. The hard heart
is selfish and coldly demands, "Why should I weep for sin? Why
should I love the Lord?" But the heart of flesh says; "Lord,
Thou knowest that I love Thee; help me to love Thee more!" Many
are the privileges of this renewed heart; "'Tis here the Spirit
dwells, 'tis here that Jesus rests." It is fitted to receive
every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is
prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise
of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is
the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for
heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the
coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you this heart of flesh?

* 08/16/PM

"Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit."
                                                   --Romans 8:23

   Present possession is declared. At this present moment we
have the first fruits of the Spirit. We have repentance, that
gem of the first water; faith, that priceless pearl; hope, the
heavenly emerald; and love, the glorious ruby. We are already
made "new creatures in Christ Jesus," by the effectual working
of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the firstfruit because it
comes first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest,
so the spiritual life, and all the graces which adorn that life,
are the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. The
firstfruits were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the
Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, he looked
forward with glad anticipation to the time when the wain should
creak beneath the sheaves. So, brethren, when God gives us
things which are pure, lovely, and of good report, as the work
of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics of the
coming glory. The firstfruits were always holy to the Lord,
and our new nature, with all its powers, is a consecrated thing.
The new life is not ours that we should ascribe its excellence
to our own merit; it is Christ's image and creation, and is
ordained for His glory. But the firstfruits were not the
harvest, and the works of the Spirit in us at this moment are
not the consummation--the perfection is yet to come. We must not
boast that we have attained, and so reckon the wave-sheaf to be
all the produce of the year: we must hunger and thirst after
righteousness, and pant for the day of full redemption. Dear
reader, this evening open your mouth wide, and God will fill it.
Let the boon in present possession excite in you a sacred
avarice for more grace. Groan within yourself for higher degrees
of consecration, and your Lord will grant them to you, for He is
able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or even think.

* 08/17/PM

"This sickness is not unto death."
                                                     --John 11:4

   From our Lord's words we learn that there is a limit to
sickness. Here is an "unto" within which its ultimate end is
restrained, and beyond which it cannot go. Lazarus might pass
through death, but death was not to be the ultimatum of his
sickness. In all sickness, the Lord saith to the waves of pain,
"Hitherto shall ye go, but no further." His fixed purpose is not
the destruction, but the instruction of His people. Wisdom hangs
up the thermometer at the furnace mouth, and regulates the heat.

   1. The limit is encouragingly comprehensive. The God of
providence has limited the time, manner, intensity, repetition,
and effects of all our sicknesses; each throb is decreed, each
sleepless hour predestinated, each relapse ordained, each
depression of spirit foreknown, and each sanctifying result
eternally purposed. Nothing great or small escapes the ordaining
hand of Him who numbers the hairs of our head.

   2. This limit is wisely adjusted to our strength, to the
end designed, and to the grace apportioned. Affliction comes not
at haphazard--the weight of every stroke of the rod is
accurately measured. He who made no mistakes in balancing the
clouds and meting out the heavens, commits no errors in
measuring out the ingredients which compose the medicine of
souls. We cannot suffer too much nor be relieved too late.

   3. The limit is tenderly appointed. The knife of the
heavenly Surgeon never cuts deeper than is absolutely necessary.
"He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."
A mother's heart cries, "Spare my child"; but no mother is more
compassionate than our gracious God. When we consider how
hard-mouthed we are, it is a wonder that we are not driven with
a sharper bit. The thought is full of consolation, that He who
has fixed the bounds of our habitation, has also fixed the
bounds of our tribulation.

* 08/18/PM

"And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He
received it not."
                                                    --Mark 15:23

   A golden truth is couched in the fact that the Saviour put
the myrrhed wine-cup from His lips. On the heights of heaven the
Son of God stood of old, and as He looked down upon our globe He
measured the long descent to the utmost depths of human misery;
He cast up the m total of all the agonies which expiation would
require, and abated not a jot. He solemnly determined that to
offer a sufficient atoning sacrifice He must go the whole way,
from the highest to the lowest, from the throne of highest glory
to the cross of deepest woe. This myrrhed cup, with its
soporific influence, would have stayed Him within a little of
the utmost limit of misery, therefore He refused it. He would
not stop short of all He had undertaken to suffer for His
people. Ah, how many of us have pined after reliefs to our grief
which would have been injurious to us! Reader, did you never
pray for a discharge from hard service or suffering with a
petulant and wilful eagerness? Providence has taken from you the
desire of your eyes with a stroke. Say, Christian, if it had
been said, "If you so desire it, that loved one of yours shall
live, but God will be dishonoured," could you have put away the
temptation, and said, "Thy will be done"? Oh, it is sweet to be
able to say, "My Lord, if for other reasons I need not suffer,
yet if I can honour Thee more by suffering, and if the loss of
my earthly all will bring Thee glory, then so let it be. I
refuse the comfort, if it comes in the way of Thine honour." O
that we thus walked more in the footsteps of our Lord,
cheerfully enduring trial for His sake, promptly and willingly
putting away the thought of self and comfort when it would
interfere with our finishing the work which He has given us to
do. Great grace is needed, but great grace is provided.

* 08/19/PM

"Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for
Thou art my strength."
                                                    --Psalm 31:4

   Our spiritual foes are of the serpent's brood, a and seek to
ensnare us by subtlety. The prayer before us supposes the
possibility of the believer being caught like a bird. So deftly
does the fowler do his work, that simple ones are soon
surrounded by the net. The text asks that even out of Satan's
meshes the captive one may be delivered; this is a proper
petition, and one which can be granted: from between the jaws of
the lion, and out of the belly of hell, can eternal love rescue
the saint. It may need a sharp pull to save a soul from the net
of temptations, and a mighty pull to extricate a man from the
snares of malicious cunning, but the Lord is equal to every
emergency, and the most skilfully placed nets of the hunter
shall never be able to hold His chosen ones. Woe unto those who
are so clever at net laying; they who tempt others shall be
destroyed themselves.

   "For Thou art my strength." What an inexpressible sweetness
is to be found in these few words! How joyfully may we encounter
toils, and how cheerfully may we endure sufferings, when we can
lay hold upon celestial strength. Divine power will rend
asunder all the toils of our enemies, confound their politics,
and frustrate their knavish tricks; he is a happy man who has
such matchless might engaged upon his side. Our own strength
would be of little service when embarrassed in the nets of base
cunning, but the Lord's strength is ever available; we have but
to invoke it, and we shall find it near at hand. If by faith we
are depending alone upon the strength of the mighty God of
Israel, we may use our holy reliance as a plea in supplication.

"Lord, evermore Thy face we seek:
Tempted we are, and poor, and weak;
Keep us with lowly hearts, and meek.
Let us not fall. Let us not fall."

* 08/20/PM

"And they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall."
                                                  --Nehemiah 3:8

   Cities well fortified have broad walls, and so had Jerusalem
in her glory. The New Jerusalem must, in like manner, be
surrounded and preserved by a broad wall of nonconformity to the
world, and separation from its customs and spirit. The
tendency of these days break down the holy barrier, and make the
distinction between the church and the world merely nominal.
Professors are no longer strict and Puritanical, questionable
literature is read on all hands, frivolous pastimes are
currently indulged, and a general laxity threatens to deprive
the Lord's peculiar people of those sacred singularities which
separate them from sinners. It will be an ill day for the church
and the world when the proposed amalgamation shall be complete,
and the sons of God and the daughters of men shall be as one:
then shall another deluge of wrath be ushered in. Beloved
reader, be it your aim in heart, in word, in dress, in action to
maintain the broad wall, remembering that the friendship of this
world is enmity against God.

   The broad wall afforded a pleasant place of resort for the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, from which they could command
prospects of the surrounding country. This reminds us of the
Lord's exceeding broad commandments, in which we walk at liberty
in communion with Jesus, overlooking the scenes of earth, and
looking out towards the glories of heaven. Separated from the
world, and denying ourselves all ungodliness and fleshly lusts,
we are nevertheless not in prison, nor restricted within narrow
bounds; nay, we walk at liberty, because we keep His precepts.
Come, reader, this evening walk with God in His statutes. As
friend met friend upon the city wall, so meet thou thy God in
the way of holy prayer and meditation. The bulwarks of salvation
thou hast a right to traverse, for thou art a freeman of the
royal burgh, a citizen of the metropolis of the universe.

* 08/21/PM

"I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain."
                                                  --Isaiah 45:19

   We may gain much solace by considering what God has not
said. What He has said is inexpressibly full of comfort and
delight; what He has not said is scarcely less rich in
consolation. It was one of these "said nots" which preserved
the kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash,
for "the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel
from under heaven." 2 Kings 14:27. In our text we have an
assurance that God will answer prayer, because He hath "not
said unto the seed of Israel, Seek ye Me in vain." You who write
bitter things against yourselves should remember that, let your
doubts and fears say what they will, if God has not cut you
off from mercy, there is no room for despair: even the voice of
conscience is of little weight if it be not seconded by the
voice of God. What God has said, tremble at! But suffer not
your vain imaginings to overwhelm you with despondency and
sinful despair. Many timid persons have been vexed by the
suspicion that there may be something in God's decree which
shuts them out from hope, but here is a complete refutation to
that troublesome fear, for no true seeker can be decreed to
wrath. "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the
earth; I have not said," even in the secret of my unsearchable
decree, "Seek ye Me in vain." God has clearly revealed that He
will hear the prayer of those who call upon Him, and that
declaration cannot be contravened. He has so firmly, so
truthfully, so righteously spoken, that there can be no room for
doubt. He does not reveal His mind in unintelligible words, but
He speaks plainly and positively, "Ask, and ye shall receive."
Believe, O trembler, this sure truth--that prayer must and shall
be heard, and that never, even in the secrets of eternity, has
the Lord said unto any living soul, "Seek ye Me in vain."

* 08/22/PM

"The unsearchable riches of Christ."
                                                 --Ephesians 3:8

   My Master has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the
measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the
eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and
study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think
Him to be when your thoughts are at the greatest. My Lord is
more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than
you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your
wants than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts
of my Lord Jesus. When you put the crown on His head, you will
only crown Him with silver when He deserves gold. My Master
has riches of happiness to bestow upon you now. He can make
you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still
waters. There is no music like the music of His pipe, when He is
the Shepherd and you are the sheep, and you lie down at His
feet. There is no love like His, neither earth nor heaven can
match it. To know Christ and to be found in Him--oh! this is
life, this is joy, this is marrow and fatness, wine on the lees
well refined. My Master does not treat His servants churlishly;
He gives to them as a king giveth to a king; He gives them two
heavens--a heaven below in serving Him here, and a heaven above
in delighting in Him for ever. His unsearchable riches will be
best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven
all you need; your place of defence shall be the munitions of
rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your waters shall be
sure; but it is there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of
them that triumph, the shout of them that feast, and shall have
a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One. The
unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the
minstrels of earth, and the song for the harpers of heaven.
Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell out the
good news to others.

* 08/23/PM

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."
                                                --Ephesians 3:17

   Beyond measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should
have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our
love towards Him, and to increase our knowledge of Him. I would
to God that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in
Jesus' college, students of Corpus Christi, or the body of
Christ, resolved to attain unto a good degree in the learning of
the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full
of Him, welling up with His love, even to overrunning; hence the
apostle prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts." See how
near he would have Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer
to you than to have it in the heart itself. "That He may
dwell"; not that He may call upon you sometimes, as a casual
visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night, but that He
may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your
inmost being, never more to go out.

   Observe the words--that He may dwell in your heart, that
best room of the house of manhood; not in your thoughts alone,
but in your affections; not merely in the mind's meditations,
but in the heart's emotions. We should pant after love to Christ
of a most abiding character, not a love that flames up and then
dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant
flame, fed by sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which
never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith.
Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of
the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be
sweet. Faith is the lily's root, and love is the lily's bloom.
Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart's love except you
have a firm hold of Him by your heart's faith; and, therefore,
pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may
always love Him. If love be cold, be sure that faith is
drooping.

* 08/24/PM

"If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of
corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith;
he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."
                                                   --Exodus 22:6

   But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the
fire-brands of error, or the coals of lasciviousness, and sets
men's souls on a blaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is
beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an
offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the
retrospect, since he cannot undo the mischief which he has done!
An ill example may kindle a flame which years of amended
character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad enough,
but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us
to reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to
enquire whether, even in the present, there may not be evil in
us which has a tendency to bring damage to the souls of our
relatives, friends, or neighbours.

   The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a
Christian church. Where converts were multiplied, and God was
glorified, jealousy and envy do the devil's work most
effectually. Where the golden grain was being housed, to reward
the toil of the great Boaz, the fire of enmity comes in and
leaves little else but smoke and a heap of blackness. Woe unto
those by whom offences come. May they never come through us, for
although we cannot make restitution, we shall certainly be the
chief sufferers if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed
the fire deserve just censure, but he who first kindles it is
most to blame. Discord usually takes first hold upon the thorns;
it is nurtured among the hypocrites and base professors in the
church, and away it goes among the righteous, blown by the winds
of hell, and no one knows where it may end. O Thou Lord and
giver of peace, make us peacemakers, and never let us aid and
abet the men of strife, or even unintentionally cause the least
division among Thy people.

* 08/25/PM

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."
                                                     --Acts 8:37

   These words may answer your scruples, devout reader,
concerning the ordinances. Perhaps you say, "I should be
afraid to be baptized; it is such a solemn thing to avow myself
to be dead with Christ, and buried with Him. should not feel at
liberty to come to the Master's table; I should be afraid of
eating and drinking damnation unto myself, not discerning the
Lord's body." Ah! poor trembler, Jesus has given you liberty, be
not afraid. If a stranger came to your house, he would stand at
the door, or wait in the hall; he would not dream of intruding
unbidden into your parlour--he is not at home: but your child
makes himself very free about the house; and so is it with the
child of God. A stranger may not intrude where a child may
venture. When the Holy Ghost has given you to feel the spirit of
adoption, you may come to Christian ordinances without fear. The
same rule holds good of the Christian's inward privileges. You
think, poor seeker, that you are not allowed to rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory; if you are permitted to get
inside Christ's door, or sit at the bottom of His table, you
will be well content. Ah! but you shall not have less privileges
than the very greatest. God makes no difference in His love to
His children. A child is a child to Him; He will not make him a
hired servant; but he shall feast upon the fatted calf, and
shall have the music and the dancing as much as if he had never
gone astray. When Jesus comes into the heart, He issues a
general licence to be glad in the Lord. No chains are worn in
the court of King Jesus. Our admission into full privileges may
be gradual, but it is sure. Perhaps our reader is saying, "I
wish I could enjoy the promises, and walk at liberty in my
Lord's commands." "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou
mayest." Loose the chains of thy neck, O captive daughter, for
Jesus makes thee free.

* 08/26/PM

"The people, when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, and
running to Him saluted Him."
                                                     --Mark 9:15

   How great the difference between Moses and Jesus! When the
prophet of Horeb had been forty days upon the mountain, he
underwent a kind of transfiguration, so that his countenance
shone with exceeding brightness, and he put a veil over his
face, for the people could not endure to look upon his glory.
Not so our Saviour. He had been transfigured with a greater
glory than that of Moses, and yet, it is not written that the
people were blinded by the blaze of His countenance, but rather
they were amazed, and running to Him they saluted Him. The glory
of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus attracts.
Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with His purity there
is so much of truth and grace, that sinners run to Him amazed at
His goodness, fascinated by His love; they salute Him, become
His disciples, and take Him to be their Lord and Master. Reader,
it may be that just now you are blinded by the dazzling
brightness of the law of God. You feel its claims on your
conscience, but you cannot keep it in your life. Not that you
find fault with the law, on the contrary, it commands your
profoundest esteem, still you are in nowise drawn by it to God;
you are rather hardened in heart, and are verging towards
desperation. Ah, poor heart! turn thine eye from Moses, with all
his repelling splendour, and look to Jesus, resplendent with
milder glories. Behold His flowing wounds and thorn-crowned
head! He is the Son of God, and therein He is greater than
Moses, but He is the Lord of love, and therein more tender than
the lawgiver. He bore the wrath of God, and in His death
revealed more of God's justice than Sinai on a blaze, but that
justice is now vindicated, and henceforth it is the guardian of
believers in Jesus. Look, sinner, to the bleeding Saviour, and
as thou feelest the attraction of His love, fly to His arms, and
thou shalt be saved.

* 08/27/PM

"Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O
Lord God of truth."
                                                    --Psalm 31:5

   These words have been frequently used by holy men in their
hour of departure. We may profitably consider them this evening.
The object of the faithful man's solicitude in life and death is
not his body or his estate, but his spirit; this is his choice
treasure--if this be safe, all is well. What is this mortal
state compared with the soul? The believer commits his soul to
the hand of his God; it came from Him, it is His own, He has
aforetime sustained it, He is able to keep it, and it is most
fit that He should receive it. All things are safe in Jehovah's
hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and
in that day of days towards which we are hastening. It is
peaceful living, and glorious dying, to repose in the care of
heaven. At all times we should commit our all to Jesus' faithful
hand; then, though life may hang on a thread, and adversities
may multiply as the sands of the sea, our soul shall dwell at
ease, and delight itself in quiet resting places.

   "Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." Redemption
is a solid basis for confidence. David had not known
Calvary as we have done, but temporal redemption cheered
him; and shall not eternal redemption yet more sweetly
console us? Past deliverances are strong pleas for present
assistance. What the Lord has done He will do again, for
He changes not. He is faithful to His promises, and
gracious to His saints; He will not turn away from His people.

               "Though Thou slay me I will trust,
               Praise Thee even from the dust,
               Prove, and tell it as I prove,
               Thine unutterable love.

               Thou mayst chasten and correct,
               But Thou never canst neglect;
               Since the ransom price is paid,
               On Thy love my hope is stay'd."

* 08/28/PM

"Sing, O barren."
                                                   --Isaiah 54:1

   Though we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ, and have
a joyful hope that we are "plants of His own right hand
planting," yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer
is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, each grace in the
garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers
in the hot sun, requiring the refreshing shower. In such a
condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just
such a state. "Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud." But
what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even
the past looks full of barrenness. Ah! I can sing of Jesus
Christ. I can talk of visits which the Redeemer has aforetimes
paid to me; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love
wherewith He loved His people when He came from the heights of
heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come,
my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and thou didst lose thy
burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross
which gave thee life may give thee fruitfulness. What is my
barrenness? It is the platform for His fruit-creating power.
What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire
of His everlasting love. I will go in poverty, I will go in
helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will
tell Him that I am still His child, and in confidence in His
faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

   Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the
hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on, for now that thou art
really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now
that God makes thee loath to be without fruit He will soon
cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is
painful, but the Lord's visitations are delightful. A sense of
our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need
to be, for in Him is our fruit found.

* 08/29/PM

"All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is
made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk."
                                                   --Numbers 6:4

   Nazarites had taken, among other vows, one which debarred
them from the use of wine. In order that they might not violate
the obligation, they were forbidden to drink the vinegar of wine
or strong liquors, and to make the rule still more clear, they
were not to touch the unfermented juice of grapes, nor even to
eat the fruit either fresh or dried. In order, altogether, to
secure the integrity of the vow, they were not even allowed
anything that had to do with the vine; they were, in fact, to
avoid the appearance of evil. Surely this is a lesson to the
Lord's separated ones, teaching them to come away from sin in
every form, to avoid not merely its grosser shapes, but even its
spirit and similitude. Strict walking is much despised in these
days, but rest assured, dear reader, it is both the safest and
the happiest. He who yields a point or two to the world is in
fearful peril; he who eats the grapes of Sodom will soon drink
the wine of Gomorrah. A little crevice in the sea-bank in
Holland lets in the sea, and the gap speedily swells till a
province is drowned. Worldly conformity, in any degree, is a
snare to the soul, and makes it more and more liable to
presumptuous sins. Moreover, as the Nazarite who drank grape
juice could not be quite sure whether it might not have endured
a degree of fermentation, and consequently could not be clear in
heart that his vow was intact, so the yielding, temporizing
Christian cannot wear a conscience void of offence, but must
feel that the inward monitor is in doubt of him. Things doubtful
we need not doubt about; they are wrong to us. Things tempting
we must not dally with, but flee from them with speed. Better be
sneered at as a Puritan than be despised as a hypocrite. Careful
walking may involve much self-denial, but it has pleasures of
its own which are more than a sufficient recompense.

* 08/30/PM

"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed."
                                                --Jeremiah 17:14
"I have seen His ways, and will heal him."
                                                  --Isaiah 57:18

   It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual
disease. Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men,
but even then the honour is to be given to God who giveth virtue
unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human frame to cast
off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the
great Physician alone; He claims it as His prerogative, "I kill
and I make alive, I wound and I heal"; and one of the Lord's
choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee. "I
will heal thee of thy wounds," is a promise which could not come
from the lip of man, but only from the mouth of the eternal God.
On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, "O Lord, heal
me, for my bones are sore vexed," and again, "Heal my soul, for
I have sinned against thee." For this, also, the godly praise
the name of the Lord, saying, "He healeth all our diseases." He
who made man can restore man; He who was at first the creator of
our nature can new create it. What a transcendent comfort it is
that in the person of Jesus "dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily!" My soul, whatever thy disease may be, this
great Physician can heal thee. If He be God, there can be no
limit to His power. Come then with the blind eye of darkened
understanding, come with the limping foot of wasted energy, come
with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry
temper, or the ague of shivering despondency, come just as thou
art, for He who is God can certainly restore thee of thy plague.
None shall restrain the healing virtue which proceeds from Jesus
our Lord. Legions of devils have been made to own the power of
the beloved Physician, and never once has He been baffled. All
His patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the
future, and thou shalt be one among them, my friend, if thou
wilt but rest thyself in Him this night.

* 08/31/PM

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light."
                                                      --John 1:7

   As He is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we
ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as He is whom we
call "Our Father," of whom it is written, "God is light, and in
Him is no darkness at all"? Certainly, this is the model which
it set before us, for the Saviour Himself said, "Be ye perfect,
even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect"; and although
we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet
we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we
attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early
pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but
still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind,
he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But
what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in
light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import
likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we
are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light,
as honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same
measure. I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for
my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so,
though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth
which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely
good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by
the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to His
image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, "We may be
in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for
equality." We are to have the same light, and are as truly to
have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with
God in His holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross
the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark
that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing
are bound up with walking in the light.
* 09/01/PM

"Trust in Him at all times."
                                                    --Psalm 62:8

   Faith is as much the rule of temporal as of spiritual life;
we ought to have faith in God for our earthly affairs as well as
for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust in
God for the supply of all our daily need that we shall live
above the world. We are not to be idle, that would show we did
not trust in God, who worketh hitherto, but in the devil, who
is the father of idleness. We are not to be imprudent or rash;
that were to trust chance, and not the living God, who is a God
of economy and order. Acting in all prudence and uprightness, we
are to rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times.

   Let me commend to you a life of trust in God in temporal
things. Trusting in God, you will not be compelled to mourn
because you have used sinful means to grow rich. Serve God with
integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will
lie upon your conscience. Trusting God, you will not be guilty
of self-contradiction. He who trusts in craft, sails this way
to-day, and that way the next, like a vessel tossed about by the
fickle wind; but he that trusteth in the Lord is like a vessel
propelled by steam, she cuts through the waves, defies the wind,
and makes one bright silvery straightforward track to her
destined haven. Be you a man with living principles within;
never bow to the varying customs of worldly wisdom. Walk in your
path of integrity with steadfast steps, and show that you are
invincibly strong in the strength which confidence in God alone
can confer. Thus you will be delivered from carking care, you
will not be troubled with evil tidings, your heart will be
fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along the
stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living
than a life of dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We have
no care, for He careth for us; we have no troubles, because we
cast our burdens upon the Lord.

* 09/02/PM


"Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."
                                                     --John 4:48

   A craving after marvels was a symptom of the sickly state of
men's minds in our Lord's day; they refused solid nourishment,
and pined after mere wonder. The gospel which they so greatly
needed they would not have; the miracles which Jesus did not
always choose to give they eagerly demanded. Many nowadays must
see signs and wonders, or they will not believe. Some have said
in their heart, "I must feel deep horror of soul, or I never
will believe in Jesus." But what if you never should feel it, as
probably you never may? Will you go to hell out of spite against
God, because He will not treat you like another? One has said to
himself, "If I had a dream, or if I could feel a sudden shock of
I know not what, then I would believe." Thus you undeserving
mortals dream that my Lord is to be dictated to by you! You are
beggars at His gate, asking for mercy, and you must needs draw
up rules and regulations as to how He shall give that mercy.
Think you that He will submit to this? My Master is of a
generous spirit, but He has a right royal heart, He spurns all
dictation, and maintains His sovereignty of action. Why, dear
reader, if such be your case, do you crave for signs and
wonders? Is not the gospel its own sign and wonder? Is not this
a miracle of miracles, that "God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not
perish"? Surely that precious word, "Whosoever will, let him
come and take the water of life freely" and that solemn promise,
"Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out," are
better than signs and wonders! A truthful Saviour ought to be
believed. He is truth itself. Why will you ask proof of the
veracity of One who cannot lie? The devils themselves declared
Him to be the Son of God; will you mistrust Him?

* 09/03/PM


"The Lord trieth the righteous."
                                                    --Psalm 11:5

   All events are under the control of Providence; consequently
all the trials of our outward life are traceable at once to the
great First Cause. Out of the golden gate of God's ordinance the
armies of trial march forth in array, clad in their iron armour,
and armed with weapons of war. All providences are doors to
trial. Even our mercies, like roses, have their thorns. Men may
be drowned in seas of prosperity as well as in rivers of
affliction. Our mountains are not too high, and our valleys are
not too low for temptations: trials lurk on all roads.
Everywhere, above and beneath, we are beset and surrounded with
dangers. Yet no shower falls unpermitted from the threatening
cloud; every drop has its order ere it hastens to the earth. The
trials which come from God are sent to prove and strengthen our
graces, and so at once to illustrate the power of divine grace,
to test the genuineness of our virtues, and to add to their
energy. Our Lord in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love,
sets so high a value upon His people's faith that He will not
screen them from those trials by which faith is strengthened.
You would never have possessed the precious faith which now
supports you if the trial of your faith had not been like unto
fire. You are a tree that never would have rooted so well if the
wind had not rocked you to and fro, and made you take firm hold
upon the precious truths of the covenant grace. Worldly ease is
a great foe to faith; it loosens the joints of holy valour, and
snaps the sinews of sacred courage. The balloon never rises
until the cords are cut; affliction doth this sharp service for
believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortably in the husk
it is useless to man, it must be threshed out of its resting
place before its value can be known. Thus it is well that
Jehovah trieth the righteous, for it causeth them to grow rich
towards God.

* 09/04/PM

"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin,
shall ye have."
                                               --Leviticus 19:36

   Weights, and scales, and measures were to be all according to
the standard of justice. Surely no Christian man will need to be
reminded of this in his business, for if righteousness were
banished from all the world beside, it should find a shelter in
believing hearts. There are, however, other balances which
weigh moral and spiritual things, and these often need
examining. We will call in the officer to-night.

   The balances in which we weigh our own and other men's
characters, are they quite accurate? Do we not turn our own
ounces of goodness into pounds, and other persons' bushels of
excellence into pecks? See to weights and measures here,
Christian. The scales in which we measure our trials and
troubles, are they according to standard? Paul, who had more to
suffer than we have, called his afflictions light, and yet we
often consider ours to be heavy--surely something must be amiss
with the weights! We must see to this matter, lest we get
reported to the court above for unjust dealing. Those weights
with which we measure our doctrinal belief, are they quite fair?
The doctrines of grace should have the same weight with us as
the precepts of the word, no more and no less; but it is to be
feared that with many one scale or the other is unfairly
weighted. It is a grand matter to give just measure in truth.
Christian, be careful here. Those measures in which we estimate
our obligations and responsibilities look rather small. When a
rich man gives no more to the cause of God than the poor
contribute, is that a just ephah and a just hin? When ministers
are half starved, is that honest dealing? When the poor are
despised, while ungodly rich men are held in admiration, is that
a just balance? Reader, we might lengthen the list, but we
prefer to leave it as your evening's work to find out and
destroy all unrighteous balances, weights, and measures.

* 09/05/PM

"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?"
                                                     --Job 38:16

   Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most
intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has
bounds beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for
God alone. If this be so in the things which are seen and
temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more so in matters
spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain
with speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human
responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no more able to
comprehend than to find out the depth which coucheth beneath,
from which old ocean draws her watery stores. Why am I so
curious to know the reason of my Lord's providences, the motive
of His actions, the design of His visitations? Shall I ever be
able to clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my
palm? yet these are as a drop of a bucket compared with the Lord
my God. Let me not strive to understand the infinite, but spend
my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect I can
possess by affection, and let that suffice me. I cannot
penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthful
breezes which sweep over its bosom, and I can sail over its blue
waves with propitious winds. If I could enter the springs of the
sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or
to others, it would not save the sinking bark, or give back the
drowned mariner to his weeping wife and children; neither would
my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least
love to God, and the simplest act of obedience to Him, are
better than the profoundest knowledge. My Lord, I leave the
infinite to Thee, and pray Thee to put far from me such a love
for the tree of knowledge as might keep me from the tree of
life.

* 09/06/PM

"If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."
                                                --Galatians 5:18

   We who looks at his own character and position from a legal
point of view, will not only despair when he comes to the end
of his reckoning, but if he be a wise man he will despair at the
beginning; for if we are to be judged on the footing of the
law, there shall no flesh living be justified. How blessed to
know that we dwell in the domains of grace and not of law! When
thinking of my state before God the question is not, "Am I
perfect in myself before the law?" but, "Am I perfect in Christ
Jesus?" That is a very different matter. We need not enquire,
"Am I without sin naturally?" but, "Have I been washed in the
fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness?" It is not "Am I in
myself well pleasing to God?" but it is "Am I accepted in the
Beloved?" The Christian views his evidences from the top of
Sinai, and grows alarmed concerning his salvation; it were
better far if he read his title by the light of Calvary. "Why,"
saith he, "my faith has unbelief in it, it is not able to save
me." Suppose he had considered the object of his faith instead
of his faith, then he would have said, "There is no failure in
Him, and therefore I am safe." He sighs over his hope: "Ah! my
hope is marred and dimmed by an anxious carefulness about
present things; how can I be accepted?" Had he regarded the
ground of his hope, he would have seen that the promise of God
standeth sure, and that whatever our doubts may be, the oath and
promise never fail. Ah! believer, it is safer always for you to
be led of the Spirit into gospel liberty than to wear legal
fetters. Judge yourself at what Christ is rather than at what
you are. Satan will try to mar your peace by reminding you of
your sinfulness and imperfections: you can only meet his
accusations by faithfully adhering to the gospel and refusing to
wear the yoke of bondage.

* 09/07/PM

"There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet."
                                                --Jeremiah 49:23

   Little know we what sorrow may be upon the sea at this
moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but far away on the
salt sea the hurricane may be cruelly seeking for the lives of
men. Hear how the death fiends howl among the cordage; how every
timber starts as the waves beat like battering rams upon the
vessel! God help you, poor drenched and wearied ones! My prayer
goes up to the great Lord of sea and land, that He will make the
storm a calm, and bring you to your desired haven! Nor ought I
to offer prayer alone, I should try to benefit those hardy men
who risk their lives so constantly. Have I ever done anything
for them? What can I do? How often does the boisterous sea
swallow up the mariner! Thousands of corpses lie where pearls
lie deep. There is death-sorrow on the sea, which is echoed in
the long wail of widows and orphans. The salt of the sea is in
many eyes of mothers and wives. Remorseless billows, ye have
devoured the love of women, and the stay of households. What a
resurrection shall there be from the caverns of the deep when
the sea gives up her dead! Till then there will be sorrow on the
sea. As if in sympathy with the woes of earth, the sea is for
ever fretting along a thousand shores, wailing with a sorrowful
cry like her own birds, booming with a hollow crash of unrest,
raving with uproarious discontent, chafing with hoarse wrath, or
jangling with the voices of ten thousand murmuring pebbles. The
roar of the sea may be joyous to a rejoicing spirit, but to the
son of sorrow the wide, wide ocean is even more forlorn than the
wide, wide world. This is not our rest, and the restless billows
tell us so. There is a land where there is no more sea--our
faces are steadfastly set towards it; we are going to the place
of which the Lord hath spoken. Till then, we cast our sorrows on
the Lord who trod the sea of old, and who maketh a way for His
people through the depths thereof.

* 09/08/PM

"The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe
according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought
in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead."
                                            --Ephesians 1:19, 20

   In the resurrection of Christ, as in our salvation, there was
put forth nothing short of a divine power. What shall we say
of those who think that conversion is wrought by the free will
of man, and is due to his own betterness of disposition? When we
shall see the dead rise from the grave by their own power, then
may we expect to see ungodly sinners of their own free will
turning to Christ. It is not the word preached, nor the word
read in itself; all quickening power proceeds from the Holy
Ghost. This power was irresistible. All the soldiers and the
high priests could not keep the body of Christ in the tomb;
Death himself could not hold Jesus in his bonds: even thus
irresistible is the power put forth in the believer when he is
raised to newness of life. No sin, no corruption, no devils in
hell nor sinners upon earth, can stay the hand of God's grace
when it intends to convert a man. If God omnipotently says,
"Thou shalt," man shall not say, "I will not." Observe that the
power which raised Christ from the dead was glorious. It
reflected honour upon God and wrought dismay in the hosts of
evil. So there is great glory to God in the conversion of every
sinner. It was everlasting power. "Christ being raised from
the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him."
So we, being raised from the dead, go not back to our dead works
nor to our old corruptions, but we live unto God. "Because He
lives we live also." "For we are dead, and our life is hid with
Christ in God." "Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life." Lastly, in the text mark the union of the new life to
Jesus. The same power which raised the Head works life in the
members. What a blessing to be quickened together with Christ!

* 09/09/PM

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment."
                                                --Revelation 4:4

   These representatives of the saints in heaven are said to be
around the throne. In the passage in Canticles, where Solomon
sings of the King sitting at his table, some render it "a round
table." From this, some expositors, I think, without straining
the text, have said, "There is an equality among the saints."
That idea is conveyed by the equal nearness of the four and
twenty elders. The condition of glorified spirits in heaven is
that of nearness to Christ, clear vision of His glory, constant
access to His court, and familiar fellowship with His person:
nor is there any difference in this respect between one saint
and another, but all the people of God, apostles, martyrs,
ministers, or private and obscure Christians, shall all be
seated near the throne, where they shall for ever gaze upon
their exalted Lord, and be satisfied with His love. They shall
all be near to Christ, all ravished with His love, all eating
and drinking at the same table with Him, all equally beloved as
His favourites and friends even if not all equally rewarded as
servants.

   Let believers on earth imitate the saints in heaven in their
nearness to Christ. Let us on earth be as the elders are in
heaven, sitting around the throne. May Christ be the object of
our thoughts, the centre of our lives. How can we endure to live
at such a distance from our Beloved? Lord Jesu, draw us nearer
to Thyself. Say unto us, "Abide in Me, and I in you"; and permit
us to sing, "His left hand is under my head, and His right hand
doth embrace me."

              O lift me higher, nearer Thee,
              And as I rise more pure and meet,
              O let my soul's humility
              Make me lie lower at Thy feet;
              Less trusting self, the more I prove
              The blessed comfort of Thy love.

* 09/10/PM

"Evening wolves."
                                                  --Habakkuk 1:8

   While preparing the present volume, this particular
expression recurred to me so frequently, that in order to be rid
of its constant importunity I determined to give a page to it.
The evening wolf, infuriated by a day of hunger, was fiercer and
more ravenous than he would have been in the morning. May not
the furious creature represent our doubts and fears after a day
of distraction of mind, losses in business, and perhaps
ungenerous tauntings from our fellow men? How our thoughts howl
in our ears, "Where is now thy God?" How voracious and greedy
they are, swallowing up all suggestions of comfort, and
remaining as hungry as before. Great Shepherd, slay these
evening wolves, and bid Thy sheep lie down in green pastures,
undisturbed by insatiable unbelief. How like are the fiends of
hell to evening wolves, for when the flock of Christ are in a
cloudy and dark day, and their sun seems going down, they hasten
to tear and to devour. They will scarcely attack the Christian
in the daylight of faith, but in the gloom of soul conflict they
fall upon him. O Thou who hast laid down Thy life for the sheep,
preserve them from the fangs of the wolf.

   False teachers who craftily and industriously hunt for the
precious life, devouring men by their false-hoods, are as
dangerous and detestable as evening wolves. Darkness is their
element, deceit is their character, destruction is their end. We
are most in danger from them when they wear the sheep's skin.
Blessed is he who is kept from them, for thousands are made the
prey of grievous wolves that enter within the fold of the
church.

   What a wonder of grace it is when fierce persecutors are
converted, for then the wolf dwells with the lamb, and men of
cruel ungovernable dispositions become gentle and teachable. O
Lord, convert many such: for such we will pray to-night.

* 09/11/PM

"Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies."
                                                    --Psalms 5:8

   Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of
Christ. Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they
will magnify the most trivial offence in the followers of Jesus.
Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to account,
and since so many are watching for our halting, let this be a
special motive for walking very carefully before God. If we live
carelessly, the lynx-eyed world will soon see it, and with its
hundred tongues, it will spread the story, exaggerated and
emblazoned by the zeal of slander. They will shout triumphantly.
"Aha! So would we have it! See how these Christians act! They
are hypocrites to a man." Thus will much damage be done to the
cause of Christ, and much insult offered to His name. The cross
of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed
that we add no offence of our own. It is "to the Jews a
stumblingblock": let us mind that we put no stumblingblocks
where there are enough already. "To the Greeks it is
foolishness": let us not add our folly to give point to the
scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel. How jealous
should we be of ourselves! How rigid with our consciences! In
the presence of adversaries who will misrepresent our best
deeds, and impugn our motives where they cannot censure our
actions, how circumspect should we be! Pilgrims travel as
suspected persons through Vanity Fair. Not only are we under
surveillance, but there are more spies than we reck of. The
espionage is everywhere, at home and abroad. If we fall into the
enemies' hands we may sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or
mercy from a fiend, than anything like patience with our
infirmities from men who spice their infidelity towards God with
scandals against His people. O Lord, lead us ever, lest our
enemies trip us up!

* 09/12/PM

"I will sing of mercy and judgment."
                                                   --Psalm 101:1

   Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner
prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the
dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she I cries, "I will
sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing."
Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and
discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud, and
sees that

               'Tis big with mercy and shall break
               In blessings on her head."

There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards
us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have
been; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to
have borne; and our affliction is not so crushing as the
burden which others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst
sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God's
wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love
gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says
of her grief, "This is a badge of honour, for the child must
feel the rod"; and then she sings of the sweet result of her
sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says
Faith, "These light afflictions, which are but for a moment,
work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory." So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and
to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and
chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray.

              "All I meet I find assists me
              In my path to heavenly joy:
              Where, though trials now attend me,
              Trials never more annoy.

              "Blest there with a weight of glory,
              Still the path I'll ne'er forget,
              But, exulting, cry, it led me
              To my blessed Saviour's seat."

* 09/13/PM

"This man receiveth sinners."
                                                     --Luke 15:2

   Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who
towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners--this Man receiveth sinners. This Man,
who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil
their faces--this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's
tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us
should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful--
they are of our own race; but that He, the offended God, against
whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon
Himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and
should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this
is marvellous.

   "This Man receiveth sinners"; not, however, that they may
remain sinners, but He receives them that He may pardon their
sins, justify their persons, cleanse their hearts by His
purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the
Holy Ghost, and enable them to serve Him, to show forth His
praise, and to have communion with Him. Into His heart's love
He receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and wears
them as jewels in His crown; plucks them as brands from the
burning, and preserves them as costly monuments of His mercy.
None are so precious in Jesus' sight as the sinners for whom He
died. When Jesus receives sinners, He has not some out-of-doors
reception place, no casual ward where He charitably entertains
them as men do passing beggars, but He opens the golden gates of
His royal heart, and receives the sinner right into
Himself--yea, He admits the humble penitent into personal union
and makes Him a member of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is
still most sure this evening, He is still receiving sinners:
would to God sinners would receive Him.

* 09/14/PM

"I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and
Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."
                                                    --Psalm 32:5

   David's grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible
upon his outward frame: "his bones waxed old"; "his moisture was
turned into the drought of summer." No remedy could he find,
until he made a full confession before the throne of the
heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and
his heart became more and more filled with grief: like a
mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen
with torrents of sorrow. He fashioned excuses; he endeavoured to
divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a
festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the
lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment, and knew
no rest. At last it came to this, that he must return unto his
God in humble penitence, or die outright; so he hastened to the
mercy-seat, and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities
before the all-seeing One, acknowledging all the evil of his
ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and other
penitential Psalms. Having done this, a work so simple and yet
so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine
forgiveness; the bones which had been broken were made to
rejoice, and he came forth from his closet to sing the
blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven. See the
value of a grace-wrought confession of sin! It is to be prized
above all price, for in every case where there is a genuine,
gracious confession, mercy is freely given, not because the
repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ's
sake. Blessed be God, there is always healing for the broken
heart; the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins.
Truly, O Lord, Thou art a God "ready to pardon!" Therefore will
we acknowledge our iniquities.

* 09/15/PM

"A people near unto him."
                                                  --Psalm 148:14

   The dispensation of the old covenant was that of distance.
When God appeared even to His servant Moses, He said, "Draw not
nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet"; and when He
manifested Himself upon Mount Sinai, to His own chosen and
separated people, one of the first commands was, "Thou shalt set
bounds about the mount." Both in the sacred worship of the
tabernacle and the temple, the thought of distance was always
prominent. The mass of the people did not even enter the outer
court. Into the inner court none but the priests might dare to
intrude; while into the innermost place, or the holy of holies,
the high priest entered but once in the year. It was as if the
Lord in those early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly
loathsome to Him, that He must treat men as lepers put without
the camp; and when He came nearest to them, He yet made them
feel the width of the separation between a holy God and an
impure sinner. When the gospel came, we were placed on quite
another footing. The word "Go" was exchanged for "Come";
distance was made to give place to nearness, and we who
aforetime were afar off, were made nigh by the blood of Jesus
Christ. Incarnate Deity has no wall of fire about it. "Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest," is the joyful proclamation of God as He appears in human
flesh. Not now does He teach the leper his leprosy by setting
him at a distance, but by Himself suffering the penalty of His
defilement. What a state of safety and privilege is this
nearness to God through Jesus! Do you know it by experience? If
you know it, are you living in the power of it? Marvellous is
this nearness, yet it is to be followed by a dispensation of
greater nearness still, when it shall be said, "The tabernacle
of God is with men, and He doth dwell among them." Hasten it, O
Lord.

* 09/16/PM

"Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me?"
                                                      --Job 7:12

   This was a strange question for Job to ask of the Lord. He
felt himself to be too insignificant to be so strictly watched
and chastened, and he hoped that he was not so unruly as to need
to be so restrained. The enquiry was natural from one surrounded
with such insupportable miseries, but after all, it is capable
of a very humbling answer. It is true man is not the sea, but he
is even more troublesome and unruly. The sea obediently respects
its boundary, and though it be but a belt of sand, it does not
overleap the limit. Mighty as it is, it hears the divine
hitherto, and when most raging with tempest it respects the
word; but self-willed man defies heaven and oppresses earth,
neither is there any end to this rebellious rage. The sea,
obedient to the moon, ebbs and flows with ceaseless regularity,
and thus renders an active as well as a passive obedience; but
man, restless beyond his sphere, sleeps within the lines of
duty, indolent where he should be active. He will neither come
nor go at the divine command, but sullenly prefers to do what he
should not, and to leave undone that which is required of him.
Every drop in the ocean, every beaded bubble, and every yeasty
foam-flake, every shell and pebble, feel the power of law, and
yield or move at once. O that our nature were but one thousandth
part as much conformed to the will of God! We call the sea
fickle and false, but how constant it is! Since our fathers'
days, and the old time before them, the sea is where it was,
beating on the same cliffs to the same tune; we know where to
find it, it forsakes not its bed, and changes not in its
ceaseless boom; but where is man-vain, fickle man? Can the wise
man guess by what folly he will next be seduced from his
obedience? We need more watching than the billowy sea, and are
far more rebellious. Lord, rule us for Thine own glory. Amen.

* 09/17/PM

"Encourage him."
                                              --Deuteronomy 1:38

   God employs His people to encourage one another. He did not
say to an angel, "Gabriel, my servant Joshua is about to lead my
people into Canaan--go, encourage him." God never works needless
miracles; if His purposes can be accomplished by ordinary means,
He will not use miraculous agency. Gabriel would not have been
half so well fitted for the work as Moses. A brother's sympathy
is more precious than an angel's embassy. The angel, swift of
wing, had better known the Master's bidding than the people's
temper. An angel had never experienced the hardness of the road,
nor seen the fiery serpents, nor had he led the stiff-necked
multitude in the wilderness as Moses had done. We should be glad
that God usually works for man by man. It forms a bond of
brotherhood, and being mutually dependent on one another, we are
fused more completely into one family. Brethren, take the text
as God's message to you. Labour to help others, and especially
strive to encourage them. Talk cheerily to the young and
anxious enquirer, lovingly try to remove stumblingblocks out of
his way. When you find a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down
and blow it into a flame. Leave the young believer to discover
the roughness of the road by degrees, but tell him of the
strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the promise,
and of the charms of communion with Christ. Aim to comfort the
sorrowful, and to animate the desponding. Speak a word in season
to him that is weary, and encourage those who are fearful to go
on their way with gladness. God encourages you by His promises;
Christ encourages you as He points to the heaven He has won for
you, and the spirit encourages you as He works in you to will
and to do of His own will and pleasure. Imitate divine wisdom,
and encourage others, according to the word of this evening.

* 09/18/PM

"And they follow me."
                                                    --John 10:27

   We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow
their shepherd, for He has a right to lead us wherever He
pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price--let us
recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows
his captain, the servant obeys his master, much more must we
follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession. We
are not true to our profession of being Christians, if we
question the bidding of our Leader and Commander. Submission is
our duty, cavilling is our folly. Often might our Lord say to us
as to Peter, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." Wherever
Jesus may lead us, He goes before us. If we know not where we
go, we know with whom we go. With such a companion, who will
dread the perils of the road? The journey may be long, but His
everlasting arms will carry us to the end. The presence of Jesus
is the assurance of eternal salvation, because He lives, we
shall live also. We should follow Christ in simplicity and
faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory
and immortality. It is true they may not be smooth paths--they
may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the
"city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep
His covenant." Let us put full trust in our Leader, since we
know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health,
popularity or contempt, His purpose shall be worked out, and
that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of
mercy. We shall find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the
hill with Christ; and when rain and snow blow into our faces,
His dear love will make us far more blest than those who sit at
home and warm their hands at the world's fire. To the top of
Amana, to the dens of lions, or to the hills of leopards, we
will follow our Beloved. Precious Jesus, draw us, and we will
run after Thee.

* 09/19/PM

"For this child I prayed."
                                                 --1 Samuel 1:27

   Devout souls delight to look upon those mercies which they
have obtained in answer to supplication, for they can see God's
especial love in them. When we can name our blessings Samuel,
that is, "asked of God," they will be as dear to us as her child
was to Hannah. Peninnah had many children, but they came as
common blessings unsought in prayer: Hannah's one heaven-given
child was dearer far, because he was the fruit of earnest
pleadings. How sweet was that water to Samson which he found at
"the well of him that prayed!" Quassia cups turn all waters
bitter, but the cup of prayer puts a sweetness into the draughts
it brings. Did we pray for the conversion of our children? How
doubly sweet, when they are saved, to see in them our own
petitions fulfilled! Better to rejoice over them as the fruit of
our pleadings than as the fruit of our bodies. Have we sought of
the Lord some choice spiritual gift? When it comes to us it will
be wrapped up in the gold cloth of God's faithfulness and truth,
and so be doubly precious. Have we petitioned for success in the
Lord's work? How joyful is the prosperity which comes flying
upon the wings of prayer! It is always best to get blessings
into our house in the legitimate way, by the door of prayer;
then they are blessings indeed, and not temptations. Even when
prayer speeds not, the blessings grow all the richer for the
delay; the child Jesus was all the more lovely in the eyes of
Mary when she found Him after having sought Him sorrowing. That
which we win by prayer we should dedicate to God, as Hannah
dedicated Samuel. The gift came from heaven, let it go to
heaven. Prayer brought it, gratitude sang over it, let devotion
consecrate it. Here will be a special occasion for saying, "Of
Thine own have I given unto Thee." Reader, is prayer your
element or your weariness? Which?

* 09/20/PM

"In the evening withhold not thy hand."
                                             --Ecclesiastes 11:6

   In the evening of the day opportunities are plentiful: men
return from their labour, and the zealous soul-winner finds time
to tell abroad the love of Jesus. Have I no evening work for
Jesus? If I have not, let me no longer withhold my hand from a
service which requires abundant labour. Sinners are perishing
for lack of knowledge; he who loiters may find his skirts
crimson with the blood of souls. Jesus gave both His hands to
the nails, how can I keep back one of mine from His blessed
work? Night and day He toiled and prayed for me, how can I give
a single hour to the pampering of my flesh with luxurious ease?
Up, idle heart; stretch out thy hand to work, or uplift it to
pray; heaven and hell are in earnest, let me be so, and this
evening sow good seed for the Lord my God.

   The evening of life has also its calls. Life is so short
that a morning of manhood's vigour, and an evening of decay,
make the whole of it. To some it seems long, but a four-pence is
a great sum of money to a poor man. Life is so brief that no man
can afford to lose a day. It has been well said that if a great
king should bring us a great heap of gold, and bid us take as
much as we could count in a day, we should make a long day of
it; we should begin early in the morning, and in the evening we
should not withhold our hand; but to win souls is far nobler
work, how is it that we so soon withdraw from it? Some are
spared to a long evening of green old age; if such be my case,
let me use such talents as I still retain, and to the last hour
serve my blessed and faithful Lord. By His grace I will die in
harness, and lay down my charge only when I lay down my body.
Age may instruct the young, cheer the faint, and encourage the
desponding; if eventide has less of vigorous heat, it should
have more of calm wisdom, therefore in the evening I will not
withhold my hand.

* 09/21/PM

"Gather not my soul with sinners."
                                                    --Psalm 26:9

   Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, "Perhaps,
after all, thou mayst be gathered with the wicked." That fear,
although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy
anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the
pardoned man will enquire, "What if at the end my sins should be
remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the
saved?" He recollects his present unfruitfulness--so little
grace, so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward
to the future, he considers his weakness and the many
temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and
become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and
his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and
trembling, "Gather not my soul with sinners." Reader, if you
have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly
described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need not be
afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two
virtues which David had--the outward walking in integrity, and
the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ's
sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble
hope? If so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be
gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the
judgment is like to like. "Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into
my barn." If, then, thou art like God's people, thou shalt be
with God's people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for
you are too dearly bought. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you
are His for ever, and where He is, there must His people be. You
are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one
dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven
claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not!

* 09/22/PM

"When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is
higher than I."
                                                    --Psalm 61:2

   Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart;
emptied as when a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside down;
submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by
the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the
Lord permits the great deep of our depravity to become troubled
and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments and heart-breaks will
do this when billow after billow rolls over us, and we are like
a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf. Blessed be God, at
such seasons we are not without an all-sufficient solace, our
God is the harbour of weather-beaten sails, the hospice of
forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is He, His mercy higher
than our sins, His love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful
to see men putting their trust in something lower than
themselves; but our confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high
and glorious Lord. A Rock He is since He changes not, and a high
Rock, because the tempests which overwhelm us roll far beneath
at His feet; He is not disturbed by them, but rules them at His
will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock we may
defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering
cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled mind is
often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter. Hence
the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by Thy Holy Spirit,
teach us the way of faith, lead us into Thy rest. The wind blows
us out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; Thou, Thou
alone canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe
into the fair haven. How dependent we are upon Thee--we need
Thee to bring us to Thee. To be wisely directed and steered into
safety and peace is Thy gift, and Thine alone. This night be
pleased to deal well with Thy servants.

* 09/23/PM

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe."
                                                     --Mark 9:23

   A certain man had a demoniac son, who was afflicted with a
dumb spirit. The father, having seen the futility of the
endeavours of the disciples to heal his child, had little or no
faith in Christ, and therefore, when he was bidden to bring his
son to Him, he said to Jesus, "If Thou cast do anything, have
compassion on us, and help us." Now there was an "if" in the
question, but the poor trembling father had put the "if" in the
wrong place: Jesus Christ, therefore, without commanding him to
retract the "if," kindly puts it in its legitimate position.
"Nay, verily," He seemed to say, "there should be no 'if' about
My power, nor concerning My willingness, the 'if' lies somewhere
else." "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth." The man's trust was strengthened, he offered a
humble prayer for an increase of faith, and instantly Jesus
spoke the word, and the devil was cast out, with an injunction
never to return. There is a lesson here which we need to learn.
We, like this man, often see that there is an "if" somewhere,
but we are perpetually blundering by putting it in the wrong
place. "If" Jesus can help me--"if" He can give me grace to
overcome temptation--"if" He can give me pardon--"if" He can
make me successful? Nay, "if" you can believe, He both can and
will. You have misplaced your "if." If you can confidently
trust, even as all things are possible to Christ, so shall all
things be possible to you. Faith standeth in God's power, and is
robed in God's majesty; it weareth the royal apparel, and rideth
on the King's horse, for it is the grace which the King
delighteth to honour. Girding itself with the glorious might of
the all-working Spirit, it becomes, in the omnipotence of God,
mighty to do, to dare, and to suffer. All things, without limit,
are possible to him that believeth. My soul, canst thou believe
thy Lord to-night?

* 09/24/PM

"I sleep, but my heart waketh."
                                           --Song of Solomon 5:2

   Paradoxes abound in Christian experience, and here is
one--the spouse was asleep, and yet she was awake. He only can
read the believer's riddle who has ploughed with the heifer of
his experience. The two points in this evening's text are--a
mournful sleepiness and a hopeful wakefulness. I sleep.
Through sin that dwelleth in us we may become lax in holy
duties, slothful in religious exercises, dull in spiritual joys,
and altogether supine and careless. This is a shameful state for
one in whom the quickening Spirit dwells; and it is dangerous to
the highest degree. Even wise virgins sometimes slumber, but it
is high time for all to shake off the bands of sloth. It is to
be feared that many believers lose their strength as Samson lost
his locks, while sleeping on the lap of carnal security. With a
perishing world around us, to sleep is cruel; with eternity so
near at hand, it is madness. Yet we are none of us so much awake
as we should be; a few thunder-claps would do us all good, and
it may be, unless we soon bestir ourselves, we shall have them
in the form of war, or pestilence, or personal bereavements and
losses. O that we may leave for ever the couch of fleshly ease,
and go forth with flaming torches to meet the coming Bridegroom!
My heart waketh. This is a happy sign. Life is not extinct,
though sadly smothered. When our renewed heart struggles against
our natural heaviness, we should be grateful to sovereign grace
for keeping a little vitality within the body of this death.
Jesus will hear our hearts, will help our hearts, will visit our
hearts; for the voice of the wakeful heart is really the voice
of our Beloved, saying, "Open to me." Holy zeal will surely
unbar the door.

              "Oh lovely attitude! He stands
              With melting heart and laden hands;
              My soul forsakes her every sin;
              And lets the heavenly stranger in."

* 09/25/PM

"Who of God is made unto us wisdom."
                                            --1 Corinthians 1:30

   Man's intellect seeks after rest, and by nature seeks it
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of education are apt,
even when converted, to look upon the simplicities of the cross
of Christ with an eye too little reverent and loving. They are
snared in the old net in which the Grecians were taken, and have
a hankering to mix philosophy with revelation. The temptation
with a man of refined thought and high education is to depart
from the simple truth of Christ crucified, and to invent, as the
term is, a more intellectual doctrine. This led the early
Christian churches into Gnosticism, and bewitched them with all
sorts of heresies. This is the root of Neology, and the other
fine things which in days gone by were so fashionable in
Germany, and are now so ensnaring to certain classes of divines.
Whoever you are, good reader, and whatever your education may
be, if you be the Lord's, be assured you will find no rest in
philosophizing divinity. You may receive this dogma of one great
thinker, or that dream of another profound reasoner, but what
the chaff is to the wheat, that will these be to the pure word
of God. All that reason, when best guided, can find out is but
the A B C of truth, and even that lacks certainty, while in
Christ Jesus there is treasured up all the fulness of wisdom and
knowledge. All attempts on the part of Christians to be content
with systems such as Unitarian and Broad-church thinkers would
approve of, must fail; true heirs of heaven must come back to
the grandly simple reality which makes the ploughboy's eye flash
with joy, and glads the pious pauper's heart--"Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners." Jesus satisfies the most
elevated intellect when He is believingly received, but apart
from Him the mind of the regenerate discovers no rest. "The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." "A good
understanding have all they that do His commandments."

* 09/26/PM

"Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen."
                                                --Zechariah 11:2

   When in the forest there is heard the crash of a falling oak,
it is a sign that the woodman is abroad, and every tree in the
whole company may tremble lest to-morrow the sharp edge of the
axe should find it out. We are all like trees marked for the
axe, and the fall of one should remind us that for every one,
whether great as the cedar, or humble as the fir, the appointed
hour is stealing on apace. I trust we do not, by often hearing
of death, become callous to it. May we never be like the birds
in the steeple, which build their nests when the bells are
tolling, and sleep quietly when the solemn funeral peals are
startling the air. May we regard death as the most weighty of
all events, and be sobered by its approach. It ill behoves us to
sport while our eternal destiny hangs on a thread. The sword is
out of its scabbard--let us not trifle; it is furbished, and the
edge is sharp--let us not play with it. He who does not prepare
for death is more than an ordinary fool, he is a madman. When
the voice of God is heard among the trees of the garden, let fig
tree and sycamore, and elm and cedar, alike hear the sound
thereof.

   Be ready, servant of Christ, for thy Master comes on a
sudden, when an ungodly world least expects Him. See to it that
thou be faithful in His work, for the grave shall soon be digged
for thee. Be ready, parents, see that your children are brought
up in the fear of God, for they must soon be orphans; be ready,
men of business, take care that your affairs are correct, and
that you serve God with all your hearts, for the days of your
terrestrial service will soon be ended, and you will be called
to give account for the deeds done in the body, whether they be
good or whether they be evil. May we all prepare for the
tribunal of the great King with a care which shall be rewarded
with the gracious commendation, "Well done, good and faithful
servant"

* 09/27/PM

"My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my
bowels were moved for Him."
                                           --Song of Solomon 5:4

   Knocking was not enough, for my heart was too full of sleep,
too cold and ungrateful to arise and open the door, but the
touch of His effectual grace has made my soul bestir itself.
Oh, the longsuffering of my Beloved, to tarry when He found
Himself shut out, and me asleep upon the bed of sloth! Oh, the
greatness of His patience, to knock and knock again, and to add
His voice to His knockings, beseeching me to open to Him! How
could I have refused Him! Base heart, blush and be confounded!
But what greatest kindness of all is this, that He becomes His
own porter and unbars the door Himself. Thrice blessed is the
hand which condescends to lift the latch and turn the key. Now I
see that nothing but my Lord's own power can save such a naughty
mass of wickedness as I am; ordinances fail, even the gospel has
no effect upon me, till His hand is stretched out. Now, also, I
perceive that His hand is good where all else is unsuccessful,
He can open when nothing else will. Blessed be His name, I feel
His gracious presence even now. Well may my bowels move for Him,
when I think of all that He has suffered for me, and of my
ungenerous return. I have allowed my affections to wander. I
have set up rivals. I have grieved Him. Sweetest and dearest of
all beloveds, I have treated Thee as an unfaithful wife treats
her husband. Oh, my cruel sins, my cruel self. What can I do?
Tears are a poor show of my repentance, my whole heart boils
with indignation at myself. Wretch that I am, to treat my Lord,
my All in All, my exceeding great joy, as though He were a
stranger. Jesus, thou forgivest freely, but this is not enough,
prevent my unfaithfulness in the future. Kiss away these tears,
and then purge my heart and bind it with sevenfold cords to
Thyself, never to wander more.

* 09/28/PM

"Go again seven times."
                                                 --1 Kings 18:43

   Success is certain when the Lord has promised it. Although
you may have pleaded month after month without evidence of
answer, it is not possible that the Lord should be deaf when His
people are earnest in a matter which concerns His glory. The
prophet on the top of Carmel continued to wrestle with God, and
never for a moment gave way to a fear that he should be
non-suited in Jehovah's courts. Six times the servant returned,
but on each occasion no word was spoken but "Go again." We must
not dream of unbelief, but hold to our faith even to seventy
times seven. Faith sends expectant hope to look from Carmel's
brow, and if nothing is beheld, she sends again and again. So
far from being crushed by repeated disappointment, faith is
animated to plead more fervently with her God. She is humbled,
but not abashed: her groans are deeper, and her sighings more
vehement, but she never relaxes her hold or stays her hand. It
would be more agreeable to flesh and blood to have a speedy
answer, but believing souls have learned to be submissive, and
to find it good to wait for as well as upon the Lord.
Delayed answers often set the heart searching itself, and so
lead to contrition and spiritual reformation: deadly blows are
thus struck at our corruption, and the chambers of imagery are
cleansed. The great danger is lest men should faint, and miss
the blessing. Reader, do not fall into that sin, but continue in
prayer and watching. At last the little cloud was seen, the sure
forerunner of torrents of rain, and even so with you, the token
for good shall surely be given, and you shall rise as a
prevailing prince to enjoy the mercy you have sought. Elijah was
a man of like passions with us: his power with God did not lie
in his own merits. If his believing prayer availed so much, why
not yours? Plead the precious blood with unceasing importunity,
and it shall be with you according to your desire.

* 09/29/PM

"I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let
Him go."
                                           --Song of Solomon 3:4

   Does Christ receive us when we come to Him, notwithstanding
all our past sinfulness? Does He never chide us for having tried
all other refuges first? And is there none on earth like Him? Is
He the best of all the good, the fairest of all the fair? Oh,
then let us praise Him! Daughters of Jerusalem, extol Him with
timbrel and harp! Down with your idols, up with the Lord Jesus.
Now let the standards of pomp and pride be trampled under foot,
but let the cross of Jesus, which the world frowns and scoffs
at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory for our King
Solomon! let Him be set on high for ever, and let my soul sit at
His footstool, and kiss His feet, and wash them with my tears.
Oh, how precious is Christ! How can it be that I have thought so
little of Him? How is it I can go abroad for joy or comfort when
He is so full, so rich, so satisfying. Fellow believer, make a
covenant with thine heart that thou wilt never depart from Him,
and ask thy Lord to ratify it. Bid Him set thee as a signet upon
His finger, and as a bracelet upon His arm. Ask Him to bind thee
about Him, as the bride decketh herself with ornaments, and as
the bridegroom putteth on his jewels. I would live in Christ's
heart; in the clefts of that rock my soul would eternally abide.
The sparrow hath made a house, and the swallow a nest for
herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord
of hosts, my King and my God; and so too would I make my nest,
my home, in Thee, and never from Thee may the soul of Thy turtle
dove go forth again, but may I nestle close to Thee, O Jesus, my
true and only rest.

                 "When my precious Lord I find,
                 All my ardent passions glow;
                 Him with cords of love I bind,
                 Hold and will not let Him go."

* 09/30/PM

"A living dog is better than a dead lion."
                                              --Ecclesiastes 9:4

   Life is a precious thing, and in its humblest form it is
superior to death. This truth is eminently certain in spiritual
things. It is better to be the least in the kingdom of heaven
than the greatest out of it. The lowest degree of grace is
superior to the noblest development of unregenerate nature.
Where the Holy Ghost implants divine life in the soul, there is
a precious deposit which none of the refinements of education
can equal. The thief on the cross excels Caesar on his throne;
Lazarus among the dogs is better than Cicero among the senators;
and the most unlettered Christian is in the sight of God
superior to Plato. Life is the badge of nobility in the realm of
spiritual things, and men without it are only coarser or finer
specimens of the same lifeless material, needing to be
quickened, for they are dead in trespasses and sins.

   A living, loving, gospel sermon, however unlearned in matter
and uncouth in style, is better than the finest discourse devoid
of unction and power. A living dog keeps better watch than a
dead lion, and is of more service to his master; and so the
poorest spiritual preacher is infinitely to be preferred to the
exquisite orator who has no wisdom but that of words, no energy
but that of sound. The like holds good of our prayers and other
religious exercises; if we are quickened in them by the Holy
Spirit, they are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, though
we may think them to be worthless things; while our grand
performances in which our hearts were absent, like dead lions,
are mere carrion in the sight of the living God. O for living
groans, living sighs, living despondencies, rather than lifeless
songs and dead calms. Better anything than death. The snarlings
of the dog of hell will at least keep us awake, but dead faith
and dead profession, what greater curses can a man have? Quicken
us, quicken us, O Lord!
* 10/01/PM

"He will give grace and glory."
                                                   --Psalm 84:11

   Bounteous is Jehovah in His nature; to give is His delight.
His gifts are beyond measure precious, and are as freely given
as the light of the sun. He gives grace to His elect because He
wills it, to His redeemed because of His covenant, to the called
because of His promise, to believers because they seek it, to
sinners because they need it. He gives grace abundantly,
seasonably, constantly, readily, sovereignly; doubly enhancing
the value of the boon by the manner of its bestowal. Grace in
all its forms He freely renders to His people: comforting,
preserving, sanctifying, directing, instructing, assisting
grace, He generously pours into their souls without ceasing, and
He always will do so, whatever may occur. Sickness may befall,
but the Lord will give grace; poverty may happen to us, but
grace will surely be afforded; death must cone but grace will
light a candle at the darkest hour. Reader, how blessed it is as
years roll round, and the leaves begin again to fall, to enjoy
such an unfading promise as this, "The Lord will give grace."

   The little conjunction "and" in this verse is a diamond
rivet binding the present with the future: grace and glory
always go together. God has married them, and none can divorce
them. The Lord will never deny a soul glory to whom He has
freely given to live upon His grace; indeed, glory is nothing
more than grace in its Sabbath dress, grace in full bloom, grace
like autumn fruit, mellow and perfected. How soon we may have
glory none can tell! It may be before this month of October has
run out we shall see the Holy City; but be the interval longer
or shorter, we shall be glorified ere long. Glory, the glory of
heaven, the glory of eternity, the glory of Jesus, the glory of
the Father, the Lord will surely give to His chosen. Oh, rare
promise of a faithful God!

           Two golden links of one celestial chain:
           Who owneth grace shall surely glory gain.

* 10/02/PM

"A man greatly beloved."
                                                  --Daniel 10:11

   Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah!
has your unbelief made you forget that you are greatly beloved
too? Must you not have been greatly beloved, to have been bought
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot? When God smote His only begotten Son for you,
what was this but being greatly beloved? You lived in sin, and
rioted in it, must you not have been greatly beloved for God to
have borne so patiently with you? You were called by grace and
led to a Saviour, and made a child of God and an heir of heaven.
All this proves, does it not, a very great and superabounding
love? Since that time, whether your path has been rough with
troubles, or smooth with mercies, it has been full of proofs
that you are a man greatly beloved. If the Lord has chastened
you, yet not in anger; if He has made you poor, yet in grace you
have been rich. The more unworthy you feel yourself to be, the
more evidence have you that nothing but unspeakable love could
have led the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours. The more
demerit you feel, the clearer is the display of the abounding
love of God in having chosen you, and called you, and made you
an heir of bliss. Now, if there be such love between God and us
let us live in the influence and sweetness of it, and use the
privilege of our position. Do not let us approach our Lord as
though we were strangers, or as though He were unwilling to hear
us--for we are greatly beloved by our loving Father. "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Come
boldly, O believer, for despite the whisperings of Satan and the
doubtings of thine own heart, thou art greatly beloved. Meditate
on the exceeding greatness and faithfulness of divine love this
evening, and so go to thy bed in peace.

* 10/03/PM


"He Himself hath suffered being tempted."
                                                  --Hebrews 2:18

   It is a common-place thought, and yet it tastes like nectar
to the weary heart--Jesus I was tempted as I am. You have heard
that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to
the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus
from our common manhood. It is a dark room which you are going
through, but Jesus went through it before. It is a sharp fight
which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the
same enemy. Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the load
before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory
may be seen along the road which we traverse at this hour. There
is something sweeter yet--Jesus was tempted, but Jesus never
sinned. Then, my soul, it is not needful for thee to sin, for
Jesus was a man, and if one man endured these temptations and
sinned not, then in His power His members may also cease from
sin. Some beginners in the divine life think that they cannot be
tempted without sinning, but they mistake; there is no sin in
being tempted, but there is sin in yielding to temptation.
Herein is comfort for the sorely tempted ones. There is still
more to encourage them if they reflect that the Lord Jesus,
though tempted, gloriously triumphed, and as He overcame, so
surely shall His followers also, for Jesus is the representative
man for His people; the Head has triumphed, and the members
share in the victory. Fears are needless, for Christ is with us,
armed for our defence. Our place of safety is the bosom of the
Saviour. Perhaps we are tempted just now, in order to drive us
nearer to Him. Blessed be any wind that blows us into the port
of our Saviour's love! Happy wounds, which make us seek the
beloved Physician. Ye tempted ones, come to your tempted
Saviour, for He can be touched with a feeling of your
infirmities, and will succour every tried and tempted one.

* 10/04/PM

"If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous."
                                                    --1 John 2:1

   "If any man sin, we have an advocate." Yes, though we sin,
we have Him still. John does not say, "If any man sin he has
forfeited his advocate," but "we have an advocate," sinners
though we are. All the sin that a believer ever did, or can be
allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus
Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is
suggestive. "Jesus." Ah! then He is an advocate such as we
need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight it
is to save. "They shall call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins." His sweetest name implies His
success. Next, it is "Jesus Christ"--Christos, the anointed.
This shows His authority to plead. The Christ has a right to
plead, for He is the Father's own appointed advocate and elected
priest. If He were of our choosing He might fail, but if God
hath laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our
trouble where God has laid His help. He is Christ, and therefore
authorized; He is Christ, and therefore qualified, for the
anointing has fully fitted Him for His work. He can plead so as
to move the heart of God and prevail. What words of tenderness,
what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when He
stands up to plead for me! One more letter of His name remains,
"Jesus Christ the righteous." This is not only His character
BUT His plea. It is His character, and if the Righteous One be
my advocate, then my cause is good, or He would not have
espoused it. It is His plea, for He meets the charge of
unrighteousness against me by the plea that He is righteous.
He declares Himself my substitute and puts His obedience to my
account. My soul, thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine
advocate, He cannot but succeed; leave thyself entirely in His
hands.

* 10/05/PM

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
                                                    --Mark 16:16

   Mr. MacDonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St.
Kilda how a man must be saved. An old man replied, "We shall be
saved if we repent, and forsake our sins, and turn to God."
"Yes," said a middle-aged female, "and with a true heart too."
"Ay," rejoined a third, "and with prayer"; and, added a fourth,
"It must be the prayer of the heart." "And we must be diligent
too," said a fifth, "in keeping the commandments." Thus, each
having contributed his mite, feeling that a very decent creed
had been made up, they all looked and listened for the
preacher's approbation, but they had aroused his deepest pity.
The carnal mind always maps out for itself a way in which self
can work and become great, but the Lord's way is quite the
reverse. Believing and being baptized are no matters of merit to
be gloried in--they are so simple that boasting is excluded, and
free grace bears the palm. It may be that the reader is
unsaved--what is the reason? Do you think the way of salvation
as laid down in the text to be dubious? How can that be when God
has pledged His own word for its certainty? Do you think it too
easy? Why, then, do you not attend to it? Its ease leaves those
without excuse who neglect it. To believe is simply to trust, to
depend, to rely upon Christ Jesus. To be baptized is to submit
to the ordinance which our Lord fulfilled at Jordan, to which
the converted ones submitted at Pentecost, to which the jailer
yielded obedience the very night of his conversion. The outward
sign saves not, but it sets forth to us our death, burial, and
resurrection with Jesus, and, like the Lord's Supper, is not to
be neglected. Reader, do you believe in Jesus? Then, dear
friend, dismiss your fears, you shall be saved. Are you still an
unbeliever, then remember there is but one door, and if you will
not enter by it you will perish in your sins.

* 10/06/PM

"He had married an Ethiopian woman."
                                                  --Numbers 12:1

   Strange choice of Moses, but how much more strange the choice
of Him who is a prophet like unto Moses, and greater than he!
Our Lord, who is fair as the lily, has entered into marriage
union with one who confesses herself to be black, because the
sun has looked upon her. It is the wonder of angels that the
love of Jesus should be set upon poor, lost, guilty men. Each
believer must, when filled with a sense of Jesus' love, be also
overwhelmed with astonishment that such love should be lavished
on an object so utterly unworthy of it. Knowing as we do our
secret guiltiness, unfaithfulness, and black-heartedness, we are
dissolved in grateful admiration of the matchless freeness and
sovereignty of grace. Jesus must have found the cause of His
love in His own heart, He could not have found it in us, for it
is not there. Even since our conversion we have been black,
though grace has made us comely. Holy Rutherford said of himself
what we must each subscribe to--"His relation to me is, that I
am sick, and He is the Physician of whom I stand in need. Alas!
how often I play fast and loose with Christ! He bindeth, I
loose; He buildeth, I cast down; I quarrel with Christ, and He
agreeth with me twenty times a day!" Most tender and faithful
Husband of our souls, pursue Thy gracious work of conforming us
to Thine image, till Thou shalt present even us poor Ethiops
unto Thyself, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Moses
met with opposition because of his marriage, and both himself
and his spouse were the subjects of an evil eye. Can we wonder
if this vain world opposes Jesus and His spouse, and especially
when great sinners are converted? for this is ever the
Pharisee's ground of objection, "This man receiveth sinners."
Still is the old cause of quarrel revived, "Because he had
married an Ethiopian woman."

* 10/07/PM

"Now on whom dost thou trust?"
                                                   --Isaiah 36:5

   Reader, this is an important question. Listen to the
Christian's answer, and see if it is yours. "On whom dost thou
trust?" "I trust," says the Christian, "in a triune God. I trust
the Father, believing that He has chosen me from before the
foundations of the world; I trust Him to provide for me in
providence, to teach me, to guide me, to correct me if need be,
and to bring me home to His own house where the many mansions
are. I trust the Son. Very God of very God is He--the man
Christ Jesus. I trust in Him to take away all my sins by His own
sacrifice, and to adorn me with His perfect righteousness. I
trust Him to be my Intercessor, to present my prayers and
desires before His Father's throne, and I trust Him to be my
Advocate at the last great day, to plead my cause, and to
justify me. I trust Him for what He is, for what He has done,
and for what He has promised yet to do. And I trust the Holy
Spirit--He has begun to save me from my inbred sins; I trust
Him to drive them all out; I trust Him to curb my temper, to
subdue my will, to enlighten my understanding, to check my
passions, to comfort my despondency, to help my weakness, to
illuminate my darkness; I trust Him to dwell in me as my life,
to reign in me as my King, to sanctify me wholly, spirit, soul,
and body, and then to take me up to dwell with the saints in
light for ever."

   Oh, blessed trust! To trust Him whose power will never be
exhausted, whose love will never wane, whose kindness will never
change, whose faithfulness will never fail, whose wisdom will
never be nonplussed, and whose perfect goodness can never know a
diminution! Happy art thou, reader, if this trust is thine! So
trusting, thou shalt enjoy sweet peace now, and glory hereafter,
and the foundation of thy trust shall never be removed.

* 10/08/PM

"Praying in the Holy Ghost."
                                                       --Jude 20

   Mark the grand characteristic of true prayer--"In the Holy
Ghost." The seed of acceptable devotion must come from heaven's
storehouse. Only the prayer which comes from God can go to God.
We must shoot the Lord's arrows back to Him. That desire which
He writes upon our heart will move His heart and bring down a
blessing, but the desires of the flesh have no power with Him.

   Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in fervency. Cold
prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not plead
with fervency, plead not at all. As well speak of lukewarm fire
as of lukewarm prayer--it is essential that it be red hot. It is
praying perseveringly. The true suppliant gathers force as he
proceeds, and grows more fervent when God delays to answer. The
longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently does he use the
knocker, and the longer the angel lingers the more resolved is
he that he will never let him go without the blessing. Beautiful
in God's sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity.
It means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up
with pride. It is His office to convince of sin, and so to bow
us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We shall never
sing Gloria in excelsis except we pray to God De profundis:
out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in
the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed
with love, saturated with love--love to our fellow saints, and
love to Christ. Moreover, it must be a prayer full of faith. A
man prevails only as he believes. The Holy Spirit is the author
of faith, and strengthens it, so that we pray believing God's
promise. O that this blessed combination of excellent graces,
priceless and sweet as the spices of the merchant, might be
fragrant within us because the Holy Ghost is in our hearts! Most
blessed Comforter, exert Thy mighty power within us, helping our
infirmities in prayer.

* 10/09/PM

"But He answered her not a word."
                                                 --Matthew 15:23

   Genuine seekers who as yet have not obtained the blessing,
may take comfort from the story before us. The Saviour did not
at once bestow the blessing, even though the woman had great
faith in Him. He intended to give it, but He waited awhile. "He
answered her not a word." Were not her prayers good? Never
better in the world. Was not her case needy? Sorrowfully needy.
Did she not feel her need sufficiently? She felt it
overwhelmingly. Was she not earnest enough? She was intensely
so. Had she no faith? She had such a high degree of it that even
Jesus wondered, and said, "O woman, great is thy faith." See
then, although it is true that faith brings peace, yet it does
not always bring it instantaneously. There may be certain
reasons calling for the trial of faith, rather than the reward
of faith. Genuine faith may be in the soul like a hidden seed,
but as yet it may not have budded and blossomed into joy and
peace. A painful silence from the Saviour is the grievous trial
of many a seeking soul, but heavier still is the affliction of a
harsh cutting reply such as this, "It is not meet to take the
children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." Many in waiting upon
the Lord find immediate delight, but this is not the case with
all. Some, like the jailer, are in a moment turned from darkness
to light, but others are plants of slower growth. A deeper sense
of sin may be given to you instead of a sense of pardon, and in
such a case you will have need of patience to bear the heavy
blow. Ah! poor heart, though Christ beat and bruise thee, or
even slay thee, trust Him; though He should give thee an angry
word, believe in the love of His heart. Do not, I beseech thee,
give up seeking or trusting my Master, because thou hast not yet
obtained the conscious joy which thou longest for. Cast thyself
on Him, and perseveringly depend even where thou canst not
rejoicingly hope.

* 10/10/PM

"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I
will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible."
                                                --Jeremiah 15:21

   Note the glorious personality of the promise. I will, I
will. The Lord Jehovah Himself interposes to deliver and redeem
His people. He pledges Himself personally to rescue them. His
own arm shall do it, that He may have the glory. Here is not a
word said of any effort of our own which may be needed to assist
the Lord. Neither our strength nor our weakness is taken into
the account, but the lone I, like the sun in the heavens,
shines out resplendent in all-sufficience. Why then do we
calculate our forces, and consult with flesh and blood to our
grievous wounding? Jehovah has power enough without borrowing
from our puny arm. Peace, ye unbelieving thoughts, be still, and
know that the Lord reigneth. Nor is there a hint concerning
secondary means and causes. The Lord says nothing of friends
and helpers: He undertakes the work alone, and feels no need of
human arms to aid Him. Vain are all our lookings around to
companions and relatives; they are broken reeds if we lean upon
them--often unwilling when able, and unable when they are
willing. Since the promise comes alone from God, it would be
well to wait only upon Him; and when we do so, our expectation
never fails us. Who are the wicked that we should fear them? The
Lord will utterly consume them; they are to be pitied rather
than feared. As for terrible ones, they are only terrors to
those who have no God to fly to, for when the Lord is on our
side, whom shall we fear? If we run into sin to please the
wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold fast our
integrity, the rage of tyrants shall be overruled for our good.
When the fish swallowed Jonah, he found him a morsel which he
could not digest; and when the world devours the church, it is
glad to be rid of it again. In all times of fiery trial, in
patience let us possess our souls.

* 10/11/PM

"Whom He did predestinate, them He also called."
                                                   --Romans 8:30

   In the second epistle to Timothy, first chapter, and ninth
verse, are these words--"Who hath saved us, and called us with
an holy calling." Now, here is a touchstone by which we may
try our calling. It is "an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace." This calling
forbids all trust in our own doings, and conducts us to Christ
alone for salvation, but it afterwards purges us from dead works
to serve the living and true God. As He that hath called you is
holy, so must you be holy. If you are living in sin, you are not
called, but if you are truly Christ's, you can say, "Nothing
pains me so much as sin; I desire to be rid of it; Lord, help me
to be holy." Is this the panting of thy heart? Is this the tenor
of thy life towards God, and His divine will? Again, in
Philippians, 3:13, 14, we are told of "The high calling of God
in Christ Jesus." Is then your calling a high calling? Has it
ennobled your heart, and set it upon heavenly things? Has it
elevated your hopes, your tastes, your desires? Has it upraised
the constant tenor of your life, so that you spend it with God
and for God? Another test we find in Hebrews 3:1--"Partakers of
the heavenly calling." Heavenly calling means a call from
heaven. If man alone call thee, thou art uncalled. Is thy
calling of God? Is it a call to heaven as well as from heaven?
Unless thou art a stranger here, and heaven thy home, thou hast
not been called with a heavenly calling; for those who have been
so called, declare that they look for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and they themselves
are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. Is thy calling thus
holy, high, heavenly? Then, beloved, thou hast been called of
God, for such is the calling wherewith God doth call His people.


* 10/12/PM

"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost."
                                                    --John 14:26

   This age is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit,
in which Jesus cheers us, not by His personal presence, as He
shall do by-and-by, but by the indwelling and constant abiding
of the Holy Ghost, who is evermore the Comforter of the church.
It is His office to console the hearts of God's people. He
convinces of sin; He illuminates and instructs; but still the
main part of His work lies in making glad the hearts of the
renewed, in confirming the weak, and lifting up all those that
be bowed down. He does this by revealing Jesus to them. The Holy
Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use
the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the
medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy
ointment of Christ's name and grace. He takes not of His own
things, but of the things of Christ. So if we give to the Holy
Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then
our heart confers on our blessed Lord Jesus the title of
Paraclesis. If the one be the Comforter, the other is the
Comfort. Now, with such rich provision for his need, why should
the Christian be sad and desponding? The Holy Spirit has
graciously engaged to be thy Comforter: dost thou imagine, O
thou weak and trembling believer, that He will be negligent of
His sacred trust? Canst thou suppose that He has undertaken what
He cannot or will not perform? If it be His especial work to
strengthen thee, and to comfort thee, dost thou suppose He has
forgotten His business, or that He will fail in the loving
office which He sustains towards thee? Nay, think not so hardly
of the tender and blessed Spirit whose name is "the Comforter."
He delights to give the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Trust thou in Him, and He
will surely comfort thee till the house of mourning is closed
for ever, and the marriage feast has begun.

* 10/13/PM

"Love is strong as death."
                                           --Song of Solomon 8:6

   Whose love can this be which is as mighty as the conqueror of
monarchs, the destroyer of the human race? Would it not sound
like satire if it were applied to my poor, weak, and scarcely
living love to Jesus my Lord? I do love Him, and perhaps by His
grace, I could even die for Him, but as for my love in itself,
it can scarcely endure a scoffing jest, much less a cruel death.
Surely it is my Beloved's love which is here spoken of--the love
of Jesus, the matchless lover of souls. His love was indeed
stronger than the most terrible death, for it endured the trial
of the cross triumphantly. It was a lingering death, but love
survived the torment; a shameful death, but love despised the
shame; a penal death, but love bore our iniquities; a forsaken,
lonely death, from which the eternal Father hid His face, but
love endured the curse, and gloried over all. Never such love,
never such death. It was a desperate duel, but love bore the
palm. What then, my heart? Hast thou no emotions excited within
thee at the contemplation of such heavenly affection? Yes, my
Lord, I long, I pant to feel Thy love flaming like a furnace
within me. Come Thou Thyself and excite the ardour of my
spirit.

               "For every drop of crimson blood
               Thus shed to make me live,
               O wherefore, wherefore have not I
               A thousand lives to give?"

Why should I despair of loving Jesus with a love as strong as
death? He deserves it: I desire it. The martyrs felt such love,
and they were but flesh and blood, then why not I? They mourned
their weakness, and yet out of weakness were made strong. Grace
gave them all their unflinching constancy--there is the same
grace for me. Jesus, lover of my soul, shed abroad such love,
even Thy love in my heart, this evening.

* 10/14/PM

"And be not conformed to this world."
                                                   --Romans 12:2

   If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms
to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare
salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader,
would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a
desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner
climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be
mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp
bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as
well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints
what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance
into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them,
and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you
attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you
commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? your
love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You
cannot become a great Christian--you may be a babe in grace, but
you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield
yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of
the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend
with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too
intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies
are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths
destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little
rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too
little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by
your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your
strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for
your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in
grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked
and distinct one.

* 10/15/PM

"But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and
if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck."
                                                  --Exodus 34:20

   Every firstborn creature must be the Lord's, but since the
ass was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice. What
then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By
no means. God admits of no exceptions. The ass is His due, but
He will not accept it; He will not abate the claim, but yet He
cannot be pleased with the victim. No way of escape remained but
redemption--the creature must be saved by the substitution of a
lamb in its place; or if not redeemed, it must die. My soul,
here is a lesson for thee. That unclean animal is thyself; thou
art justly the property of the Lord who made thee and preserves
thee, but thou art so sinful that God will not, cannot, accept
thee; and it has come to this, the Lamb of God must stand in thy
stead, or thou must die eternally. Let all the world know of thy
gratitude to that spotless Lamb who has already bled for thee,
and so redeemed thee from the fatal curse of the law. Must it
not sometimes have been a question with the Israelite which
should die, the ass or the lamb? Would not the good man pause to
estimate and compare? Assuredly there was no comparison between
the value of the soul of man and the life of the Lord Jesus, and
yet the Lamb dies, and man the ass is spared. My soul, admire
the boundless love of God to thee and others of the human race.
Worms are bought with the blood of the Son of the Highest! Dust
and ashes redeemed with a price far above silver and gold! What
a doom had been mine had not plenteous redemption been found!
The breaking of the neck of the ass was but a momentary penalty,
but who shall measure the wrath to come to which no limit can be
imagined? Inestimably dear is the glorious Lamb who has redeemed
us from such a doom.

* 10/16/PM

"With Thee is the fountain of life."
                                                    --Psalm 36:9

   There are times in our spiritual experience when human
counsel or sympathy, or religious ordinances, fail to comfort or
help us. Why does our gracious God permit this? Perhaps it is
because we have been living too much without Him, and He
therefore takes away everything upon which we have been in the
habit of depending, that He may drive us to Himself. It is a
blessed thing to live at the fountain head. While our skin-
bottles are full, we are content, like Hagar and Ishmael, to go
into the wilderness; but when those are dry, nothing will serve
us but "Thou God seest me." We are like the prodigal, we love
the swine-troughs and forget our Father's house. Remember, we
can make swine-troughs and husks even out of the forms of
religion; they are blessed things, but we may put them in God's
place, and then they are of no value. Anything becomes an idol
when it keeps us away from God: even the brazen serpent is to be
despised as "Nehushtan," if we worship it instead of God. The
prodigal was never safer than when he was driven to his father's
bosom, because he could find sustenance nowhere else. Our Lord
favours us with a famine in the land that it may make us seek
after Himself the more. The best position for a Christian is
living wholly and directly on God's grace--still abiding where
he stood at first--"Having nothing, and yet possessing all
things." Let us never for a moment think that our standing is in
our sanctification, our mortification, our graces, or our
feelings, but know that because Christ offered a full atonement,
therefore we are saved; for we are complete in Him. Having
nothing of our own to trust to, but resting upon the merits of
Jesus--His passion and holy life furnish us with the only sure
ground of confidence. Beloved, when we are brought to a
thirsting condition, we are sure to turn to the fountain of life
with eagerness.

* 10/17/PM

"He shall gather the lambs with His arm."
                                                  --Isaiah 40:11

   Our good Shepherd has in His flock a variety of experiences,
some are strong in the Lord, and others are weak in faith, but
He is impartial in His care for all His sheep, and the weakest
lamb is as dear to Him as the most advanced of the flock. Lambs
are wont to lag behind, prone to wander, and apt to grow weary,
but from all the danger of these infirmities the Shepherd
protects them with His arm of power. He finds new-born souls,
like young lambs, ready to perish--He nourishes them till life
becomes vigorous; He finds weak minds ready to faint and die--He
consoles them and renews their strength. All the little ones He
gathers, for it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one
of them should perish. What a quick eye He must have to see them
all! What a tender heart to care for them all! What a far-
reaching and potent arm, to gather them all! In His lifetime on
earth He was a great gatherer of the weaker sort, and now that
He dwells in heaven, His loving heart yearns towards the meek
and contrite, the timid and feeble, the fearful and fainting
here below. How gently did He gather me to Himself, to His
truth, to His blood, to His love, to His church! With what
effectual grace did He compel me to come to Himself! Since my
first conversion, how frequently has He restored me from my
wanderings, and once again folded me within the circle of His
everlasting arm! The best of all is, that He does it all Himself
personally, not delegating the task of love, but condescending
Himself to rescue and preserve His most unworthy servant. How
shall I love Him enough or serve Him worthily? I would fain make
His name great unto the ends of the earth, but what can my
feebleness do for Him? Great Shepherd, add to Thy mercies this
one other, a heart to love Thee more truly as I ought.

* 10/18/PM

"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."
                                                --1 Samuel 15:22

   Paul had been commanded to slay utterly all the Amalekites
and their cattle. Instead of doing so, he preserved the king,
and suffered his people to take the best of the oxen and of the
sheep. When called to account for this, he declared that he did
it with a view of offering sacrifice to God; but Samuel met him
at once with the assurance that sacrifices were no excuse for an
act of direct rebellion. The sentence before us is worthy to be
printed in letters of gold, and to be hung up before the eyes of
the present idolatrous generation, who are very fond of the
fineries of will-worship, but utterly neglect the laws of God.
Be it ever in your remembrance, that to keep strictly in the
path of your Saviour's command is better than any outward form
of religion; and to hearken to His precept with an attentive ear
is better than to bring the fat of rams, or any other precious
thing to lay upon His altar. If you are failing to keep the
least of Christ's commands to His disciples, I pray you be
disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make of
attachment to your Master, and all the devout actions which you
may perform, are no recompense for disobedience. "To obey," even
in the slightest and smallest thing, "is better than sacrifice,"
however pompous. Talk not of Gregorian chants, sumptuous robes,
incense, and banners; the first thing which God requires of His
child is obedience; and though you should give your body to be
burned, and all your goods to feed the poor, yet if you do not
hearken to the Lord's precepts, all your formalities shall
profit you nothing. It is a blessed thing to be teachable as a
little child, but it is a much more blessed thing when one has
been taught the lesson, to carry it out to the letter. How many
adorn their temples and decorate their priests, but refuse to
obey the word of the Lord! My soul, come not thou into their
secret.

* 10/19/PM

"God, my Maker, who giveth songs in the night."
                                                     --Job 35:10

   Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws
inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him,
any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest or
sends home a loaded argosy. It is easy enough for an Aeolian
harp to whisper music when the winds blow--the difficulty is for
music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to
sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skilful
who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by--who sings
from his heart. No man can make a song in the night of himself;
he may attempt it, but he will find that a song in the night
must be divinely inspired. Let all things go well, I can weave
songs, fashioning them wherever I go out of the flowers that
grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing
grows, and wherewith shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How
shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord where no jewels
are? Let but this voice be clear, and this body full of health,
and I can sing God's praise: silence my tongue, lay me upon the
bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God's high
praises, unless He Himself give me the song? No, it is not in
man's power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar-coal
shall touch his lip. It was a divine song, which Habakkuk sang,
when in the night he said, "Although the fig-tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the
olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in
the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the
God of my salvation." Then, since our Maker gives songs in the
night, let us wait upon Him for the music. O Thou chief
musician, let us not remain songless because affliction is upon
us, but tune Thou our lips to the melody of thanksgiving.

* 10/20/PM

"Keep not back."
                                                   --Isaiah 43:6

   Although this message was sent to the south, and referred to
the seed of Israel, it may profitably be a summons to ourselves.
Backward we are naturally to all good things, and it is a lesson
of grace to learn to go forward in the ways of God. Reader, are
you unconverted, but do you desire to trust in the Lord Jesus?
Then keep not back. Love invites you, the promises secure you
success, the precious blood prepares the way. Let not sins or
fears hinder you, but come to Jesus just as you are. Do you
long to pray? Would you pour out your heart before the Lord?
Keep not back. The mercy-seat is prepared for such as need
mercy; a sinner's cries will prevail with God. You are invited,
nay, you are commanded to pray, come therefore with boldness to
the throne of grace.

   Dear friend, are you already saved? Then keep not back from
union with the Lord's people. Neglect not the ordinances of
baptism and the Lord's Supper. You may be of a timid
disposition, but you must strive against it, lest it lead you
into disobedience. There is a sweet promise made to those who
confess Christ--by no means miss it, lest you come under the
condemnation of those who deny Him. If you have talents keep
not back from using them. Hoard not your wealth, waste not
your time; let not your abilities rust or your influence be
unused. Jesus kept not back, imitate Him by being foremost in
self-denials and self-sacrifices. Keep not back from close
communion with God, from boldly appropriating covenant
blessings, from advancing in the divine life, from prying into
the precious mysteries of the love of Christ. Neither, beloved
friend, be guilty of keeping others back by your coldness,
harshness, or suspicions. For Jesus' sake go forward yourself,
and encourage others to do the like. Hell and the leaguered
bands of superstition and infidelity are forward to the fight.
O soldiers of the cross, keep not back.

* 10/21/PM

"Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?"
                                                    --Luke 24:38

   "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, My way is
hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?"
The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share
in His universal providence, but His particular providence is
over His saints. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them that fear Him." "Precious shall their blood be in His
sight." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints." "We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them that are the called according to His
purpose." Let the fact that, while He is the Saviour of all men,
He is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and
comfort you. You are His peculiar care; His regal treasure which
He guards as the apple of His eye; His vineyard over which He
watches day and night. "The very hairs of your head are all
numbered." Let the thought of His special love to you be a
spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: "I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee." God says that as much to you
as to any saint of old. "Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward." We lose much consolation by the habit
of reading His promises for the whole church, instead of taking
them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word
with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus
say, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Think
you see Him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for He is
there, and He is saying, "Fear not, it is I; be not afraid." Oh,
those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel
them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile--accept the
voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, "Jesus whispers
consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under His shadow
with great delight."

* 10/22/PM

"He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you."
                                                    --John 16:15

   There are times when all the promises and a doctrines of the
Bible are of no avail, unless a gracious hand shall apply them
to us. We are thirsty, but too faint to crawl to the water-
brook. When a soldier is wounded in battle it is of little use
for him to know that there are those at the hospital who can
bind up his wounds, and medicines there to ease all the pains
which he now suffers: what he needs is to be carried thither,
and to have the remedies applied. It is thus with our souls, and
to meet this need there is one, even the Spirit of truth, who
takes of the things of Jesus, and applies them to us. Think not
that Christ hath placed His joys on heavenly shelves that we may
climb up to them for ourselves, but He draws near, and sheds His
peace abroad in our hearts. O Christian, if thou art to-night
labouring under deep distresses, thy Father does not give thee
promises and then leave thee to draw them up from the Word like
buckets from a well, but the promises He has written in the Word
He will write anew on your heart. He will manifest His love to
you, and by His blessed Spirit, dispel your cares and troubles.
Be it known unto thee, O mourner, that it is God's prerogative
to wipe every tear from the eye of His people. The good
Samaritan did not say, "Here is the wine, and here is the oil
for you"; he actually poured in the oil and the wine. So Jesus
not only gives you the sweet wine of the promise, but holds the
golden chalice to your lips, and pours the life-blood into your
mouth. The poor, sick, way-worn pilgrim is not merely
strengthened to walk, but he is borne on eagles' wings. Glorious
gospel! which provides everything for the helpless, which draws
nigh to us when we cannot reach after it--brings us grace before
we seek for grace! Here is as much glory in the giving as in the
gift. Happy people who have the Holy Ghost to bring Jesus to
them.

* 10/23/PM

"Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."
                                                    --Luke 22:46

   When is the Christian most liable to sleep? Is it not when
his temporal circumstances are prosperous? Have you not found
it so? When you had daily troubles to take to the throne of
grace, were you not more wakeful than you are now? Easy roads
make sleepy travellers. Another dangerous time is when all
goes pleasantly in spiritual matters. Christian went not to
sleep when lions were in the way, or when he was wading through
the river, or when fighting with Apollyon, but when he had
climbed half way up the Hill Difficulty, and came to a
delightful arbour, he sat down, and forthwith fell asleep, to
his great sorrow and loss. The enchanted ground is a place of
balmy breezes, laden with fragrant odours and soft influences,
all tending to lull pilgrims to sleep. Remember Bunyan's
description: "Then they came to an arbour, warm, and promising
much refreshing to the weary pilgrims; for it was finely wrought
above head, beautified with greens, and furnished with benches
and settles. It had also in it a soft couch, where the weary
might lean." "The arbour was called the Slothful's Friend, and
was made on purpose to allure, if it might be, some of the
pilgrims to take up their rest there when weary." Depend upon
it, it is in easy places that men shut their eyes and wander
into the dreamy land of forgetfulness. Old Erskine wisely
remarked, "I like a roaring devil better than a sleeping devil."
There is no temptation half so dangerous as not being tempted.
The distressed soul does not sleep; it is after we enter into
peaceful confidence and full assurance that we are in danger of
slumbering. The disciples fell asleep after they had seen Jesus
transfigured on the mountain top. Take heed, joyous Christian,
good frames are near neighbours to temptations: be as happy as
you will, only be watchful.

* 10/24/PM

"He began to wash the disciples' feet."
                                                     --John 13:5

   The Lord Jesus loves His people so much, that every day He is
still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their
soiled feet. Their poorest actions He accepts; their deepest
sorrow He feels; their slenderest wish He hears, and their every
transgression He forgives. He is still their servant as well as
their Friend and Master. He not only performs majestic deeds for
them, as wearing the mitre on His brow, and the precious jewels
glittering on His breastplate, and standing up to plead for
them, but humbly, patiently, He yet goes about among His people
with the basin and the towel. He does this when He puts away
from us day by day our constant infirmities and sins. Last
night, when you bowed the knee, you mournfully confessed that
much of your conduct was not worthy of your profession; and even
tonight, you must mourn afresh that you have fallen again into
the selfsame folly and sin from which special grace delivered
you long ago; and yet Jesus will have great patience with you;
He will hear your confession of sin; He will say, "I will, be
thou clean"; He will again apply the blood of sprinkling, and
speak peace to your conscience, and remove every spot. It is a
great act of eternal love when Christ once for all absolves the
sinner, and puts him into the family of God; but what
condescending patience there is when the Saviour with much
long-suffering bears the oft recurring follies of His wayward
disciple; day by day, and hour by hour, washing away the
multiplied transgressions of His erring but yet beloved child!
To dry up a flood of rebellion is something marvellous, but to
endure the constant dropping of repeated offences--to bear with
a perpetual trying of patience, this is divine indeed! While we
find comfort and peace in our Lord's daily cleansing, its
legitimate influence upon us will be to increase our
watchfulness, and quicken our desire for holiness. Is it so?

* 10/25/PM


"She gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to
light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the
kindred of Elimelech."
                                                      --Ruth 2:3

   Her hap was. Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but
how divinely was it overruled! Ruth had gone forth with her
mother's blessing, under the care of her mother's God, to humble
but honourable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her
every step. Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would
find a husband, that he should make her the joint owner of all
those broad acres, and that she a poor foreigner should become
one of the progenitors of the great Messiah. God is very good to
those who trust in Him, and often surprises them with unlooked
for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us
to-morrow, but this sweet fact may cheer us, that no good thing
shall be withheld. Chance is banished from the faith of
Christians, for they see the hand of God in everything. The
trivial events of to-day or to-morrow may involve consequences
of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with Thy
servants as Thou didst with Ruth.

   How blessed would it be, if, in wandering in the field of
meditation to-night, our hap should be to light upon the place
where our next Kinsman will reveal Himself to us! O Spirit of
God, guide us to Him. We would sooner glean in His field than
bear away the whole harvest from any other. O for the footsteps
of His flock, which may conduct us to the green pastures where
He dwells! This is a weary world when Jesus is away--we could
better do without sun and moon that without Him--but how
divinely fair all things become in the glory of His presence!
Our souls know the virtue which dwells in Jesus, and can never
be content without Him. We will wait in prayer this night until
our hap shall be to light on a part of the field belonging to
Jesus wherein He will manifest Himself to us.

* 10/26/PM

"All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto
the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return
again."
                                              --Ecclesiastes 1:7

   Everything sublunary is on the move, time knows nothing of
rest. The solid earth is a rolling ball, and the great sun
himself a star obediently fulfilling its course around some
greater luminary. Tides move the sea, winds l stir the airy
ocean, friction wears the rock: change and death rule
everywhere. The sea is not a miser's storehouse for a wealth of
waters, for as by one force the waters flow into it, by another
they are lifted from it. Men are born but to die: everything is
hurry, worry, and vexation of spirit. Friend of the unchanging
Jesus, what a joy it is to reflect upon thy changeless heritage;
thy sea of bliss which will be for ever full, since God Himself
shall pour eternal rivers of pleasure into it. We seek an
abiding city beyond the skies, and we shall not be disappointed.
The passage before us may well teach us gratitude. Father Ocean
is a great receiver, but he is a generous distributor. What the
rivers bring him he returns to the earth in the form of clouds
and rain. That man is out of joint with the universe who takes
all but makes no return. To give to others is but sowing seed
for ourselves. He who is so good a steward as to be willing to
use his substance for his Lord, shall be entrusted with more.
Friend of Jesus, art thou rendering to Him according to the
benefit received? Much has been given thee, what is thy fruit?
Hast thou done all? Canst thou not do more? To be selfish is to
be wicked. Suppose the ocean gave up none of its watery
treasure, it would bring ruin upon our race. God forbid that any
of us should follow the ungenerous and destructive policy of
living unto ourselves. Jesus pleased not Himself. All fulness
dwells in Him, but of His fulness have all we received. O for
Jesu's spirit, that henceforth we may live not unto ourselves!

* 10/27/PM

"We are all as an unclean thing."
                                                   --Isaiah 64:6

   The believer is a new creature, he belongs to a holy
generation and a peculiar people--the Spirit of God is in him,
and in all respects he is far removed from the natural man; but
for all that the Christian is a sinner still. He is so from the
imperfection of his nature, and will continue so to the end of
his earthly life. The black fingers of sin leave smuts upon our
fairest robes. Sin mars our repentance, ere the great Potter has
finished it, upon the wheel. Selfishness defiles our tears, and
unbelief tampers with our faith. The best thing we ever did
apart from the merit of Jesus only swelled the number of our
sins; for when we have been most pure in our own sight, yet,
like the heavens, we are not pure in God's sight; and as He
charged His angels with folly, much more must He charge us with
it, even in our most angelic frames of mind. The song which
thrills to heaven, and seeks to emulate seraphic strains, hath
human discords in it. The prayer which moves the arm of God is
still a bruised and battered prayer, and only moves that arm
because the sinless One, the great Mediator, has stepped in to
take away the sin of our supplication. The most golden faith or
the purest degree of sanctification to which a Christian ever
attained on earth, has still so much alloy in it as to be only
worthy of the flames, in itself considered. Every night we look
in the glass we see a sinner, and had need confess, "We are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags." Oh, how precious the blood of Christ to such hearts as
ours! How priceless a gift is His perfect righteousness! And
how bright the hope of perfect holiness hereafter! Even now,
though sin dwells in us, its power is broken. It has no
dominion; it is a broken-backed snake; we are in bitter conflict
with it, but it is with a vanquished foe that we have to deal.
Yet a little while and we shall enter victoriously into the city
where nothing defileth.

* 10/28/PM

"His head is as the most fine gold, His locks are bushy, and
black as a raven."
                                          --Song of Solomon 5:11

   Comparisons all fail to set forth the Lord Jesus, but the
spouse uses the best within her reach. By the head of Jesus we
may understand His deity, "for the head of Christ is God" and
then the ingot of purest gold is the best conceivable metaphor,
but all too poor to describe one so precious, so pure, so dear,
so glorious. Jesus is not a grain of gold, but a vast globe of
it, a priceless mass of treasure such as earth and heaven cannot
excel. The creatures are mere iron and clay, they all shall
perish like wood, hay, and stubble, but the everliving Head of
the creation of God shall shine on for ever and ever. In Him is
no mixture, nor smallest taint of alloy. He is for ever
infinitely holy and altogether divine. The bushy locks depict
His manly vigour. There is nothing effeminate in our Beloved. He
is the manliest of men. Bold as a lion, laborious as an ox,
swift as an eagle. Every conceivable and inconceivable beauty is
to be found in Him, though once He was despised and rejected of
men.

                "His head the finest gold;
                With secret sweet perfume,
                His curled locks hang all as black
                As any raven's plume."

The glory of His head is not shorn away, He is eternally crowned
with peerless majesty. The black hair indicates youthful
freshness, for Jesus has the dew of His youth upon Him. Others
grow languid with age, but He is for ever a Priest as was
Melchisedek; others come and go, but He abides as God upon His
throne, world without end. We will behold Him to-night and adore
Him. Angels are gazing upon Him--His redeemed must not turn away
their eyes from Him. Where else is there such a Beloved? O for
an hour's fellowship with Him! Away, ye intruding cares! Jesus
draws me, and I run after Him.

* 10/29/PM

"But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him."
                                                    --Luke 24:16

   The disciples ought to have known Jesus, they had heard His
voice so often, and gazed upon that marred face so frequently,
that it is wonderful they did not discover Him. Yet is it not so
with you also? You have not seen Jesus lately. You have been to
His table, and you have not met Him there. You are in a dark
trouble this evening, and though He plainly says, "It is I, be
not afraid," yet you cannot discern Him. Alas! our eyes are
holden. We know His voice; we have looked into His face; we
have leaned our head upon His bosom, and yet, though Christ is
very near us, we are saying "O that I knew where I might find
Him!" We should know Jesus, for we have the Scriptures to
reflect His image, and yet how possible it is for us to open
that precious book and have no glimpse of the Wellbeloved! Dear
child of God, are you in that state? Jesus feedeth among the
lilies of the word, and you walk among those lilies, and yet you
behold Him not. He is accustomed to walk through the glades of
Scripture, and to commune with His people, as the Father did
with Adam in the cool of the day, and yet you are in the garden
of Scripture, but cannot see Him, though He is always there. And
why do we not see Him? It must be ascribed in our case, as in
the disciples', to unbelief. They evidently did not expect to
see Jesus, and therefore they did not know Him. To a great
extent in spiritual things we get what we expect of the Lord.
Faith alone can bring us to see Jesus. Make it your prayer,
"Lord, open Thou mine eyes, that I may see my Saviour present
with me." It is a blessed thing to want to see Him; but oh! it
is better far to gaze upon Him. To those who seek Him He is
kind; but to those who find Him, beyond expression is He dear!

* 10/30/PM

"Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to
Thy voice: cause me to hear it."
                                          --Song of Solomon 8:13

   My sweet Lord Jesus remembers well the garden of Gethsemane,
and although He has left that garden, He now dwells in the
garden of His church: there He unbosoms Himself to those who
keep His blessed company. That voice of love with which He
speaks to His beloved is more musical than the harps of heaven.
There is a depth of melodious love within it which leaves all
human music far behind. Ten of thousands on earth, and millions
above, are indulged with its harmonious accents. Some whom I
well know, and whom I greatly envy, are at this moment
hearkening to the beloved voice. O that I were a partaker of
their joys! It is true some of these are poor, others bedridden,
and some near the gates of death, but O my Lord, I would
cheerfully starve with them, pine with them, or die with them,
if I might but hear Thy voice. Once I did hear it often, but I
have grieved Thy Spirit. Return unto me in compassion, and once
again say unto me, "I am thy salvation." No other voice can
content me; I know Thy voice, and cannot be deceived by another,
let me hear it, I pray thee. I know not what Thou wilt say,
neither do I make any condition, O my Beloved, do but let me
hear Thee speak, and if it be a rebuke I will bless Thee for it.
Perhaps to cleanse my dull ear may need an operation very
grievous to the flesh, but let it cost what it may I turn not
from the one consuming desire, cause me to hear Thy voice. Bore
my ear afresh; pierce my ear with Thy harshest notes, only do
not permit me to continue deaf to Thy calls. To-night, Lord,
grant Thine unworthy one his desire, for I am Thine, and Thou
hast bought me with Thy blood. Thou hast opened mine eye to see
Thee, and the sight has saved me. Lord, open Thou mine ear. I
have read Thy heart, now let me hear Thy lips.

* 10/31/PM


"I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great
drought."
                                                    --Hosea 13:5

   Yes, Lord, Thou didst indeed know me in my fallen state,
and Thou didst even then choose me for Thyself. When I was
loathsome and self-abhorred, Thou didst receive me as Thy child,
and Thou didst satisfy my craving wants. Blessed for ever be Thy
name for this free, rich, abounding mercy. Since then, my
inward experience has often been a wilderness; but Thou hast
owned me still as Thy beloved, and poured streams of love and
grace into me to gladden me, and make me fruitful. Yea, when my
outward circumstances have been at the worst, and I have
wandered in a land of drought, Thy sweet presence has solaced
me. Men have not known me when scorn has awaited me, but Thou
hast known my soul in adversities, for no affliction dims the
lustre of Thy love. Most gracious Lord, I magnify Thee for all
Thy faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I deplore
that I should at any time have forgotten Thee and been exalted
in heart, when I have owed all to Thy gentleness and love. Have
mercy upon Thy servant in this thing!

   My soul, if Jesus thus acknowledged thee in thy low estate,
be sure that thou own both Himself and His cause now that thou
art in thy prosperity. Be not lifted up by thy worldly successes
so as to be ashamed of the truth or of the poor church with
which thou hast been associated. Follow Jesus into the
wilderness: bear the cross with Him when the heat of persecution
grows hot. He owned thee, O my soul, in thy poverty and
shame--never be so treacherous as to be ashamed of Him. O for
more shame at the thought of being ashamed of my best Beloved!
Jesus, my soul cleaveth to Thee.

              "I'll turn to Thee in days of light,
              As well as nights of care,
              Thou brightest amid all that's bright!
              Thou fairest of the fair!"
* 11/01/PM

"And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
                                                 --Matthew 24:39

   Universal was the doom, neither rich nor poor escaped: the
learned and the illiterate, the admired and the abhorred, the
religious and the profane, the old and the young, all sank in
one common ruin. Some had doubtless ridiculed the patriarch--
where now their merry jests? Others had threatened him for his
zeal which they counted madness--where now their boastings and
hard speeches? The critic who judged the old man's work is
drowned in the same sea which covers his sneering companions.
Those who spoke patronizingly of the good man's fidelity to his
convictions, but shared not in them, have sunk to rise no more,
and the workers who for pay helped to build the wondrous ark,
are all lost also. The flood swept them all away, and made no
single exception. Even so, out of Christ, final destruction is
sure to every man of woman born; no rank, possession, or
character, shall suffice to save a single soul who has not
believed in the Lord Jesus. My soul, behold this wide-spread
judgment and tremble at it.

   How marvellous the general apathy! they were all eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the awful
morning dawned. There was not one wise man upon earth out of the
ark. Folly duped the whole race, folly as to self-preservation--
the most foolish of all follies. Folly in doubting the most true
God--the most malignant of fooleries. Strange, my soul, is it
not? All men are negligent of their souls till grace gives them
reason, then they leave their madness and act like rational
beings, but not till then.

   All, blessed be God, were safe in the ark, no ruin entered
there. From the huge elephant down to the tiny mouse all were
safe. The timid hare was equally secure with the courageous
lion, the helpless cony as safe as the laborious ox. All are
safe in Jesus. My soul, art thou in Him?

* 11/02/PM

"Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that
forsake Thy law."
                                                  --Psalm 119:53

   My soul, feelest thou this holy shuddering at the sins of
others? for otherwise thou lackest inward holiness. David's
cheeks were wet with rivers of waters because of prevailing
unholiness; Jeremiah desired eyes like fountains that he might
lament the iniquities of Israel, and Lot was vexed with the
conversation of the men of Sodom. Those upon whom the mark was
set in Ezekiel's vision, were those who sighed and cried for the
abominations of Jerusalem. It cannot but grieve gracious souls
to see what pains men take to go to hell. They know the evil of
sin experimentally, and they are alarmed to see others flying
like moths into its blaze. Sin makes the righteous shudder,
because it violates a holy law, which it is to every man's
highest interest to keep; it pulls down the pillars of the
commonwealth. Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it
puts him in mind of the baseness of his own heart: when he sees
a transgressor he cries with the saint mentioned by Bernard, "He
fell to-day, and I may fall to-morrow." Sin to a believer is
horrible, because it crucified the Saviour; he sees in every
iniquity the nails and spear. How can a saved soul behold that
cursed kill-Christ sin without abhorrence? Say, my heart, dost
thou sensibly join in all this? It is an awful thing to insult
God to His face. The good God deserves better treatment, the
great God claims it, the just God will have it, or repay His
adversary to his face. An awakened heart trembles at the
audacity of sin, and stands alarmed at the contemplation of its
punishment. How monstrous a thing is rebellion! How direful a
doom is prepared for the ungodly! My soul, never laugh at sin's
fooleries, lest thou come to smile at sin itself. It is thine
enemy, and thy Lord's enemy--view it with detestation, for so
only canst thou evidence the possession of holiness, without
which no man can see the Lord.

* 11/03/PM

"Their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto
heaven."
                                            --2 Chronicles 30:27

   Prayer is the never-failing resort of the Christian in any
case, in every plight. When you cannot use your sword you may
take to the weapon of all-prayer. Your powder may be damp, your
bow-string may be relaxed, but the weapon of all-prayer need
never be out of order. Leviathan laughs at the javelin, but he
trembles at prayer. Sword and spear need furbishing, but prayer
never rusts, and when we think it most blunt it cuts the best.
Prayer is an open door which none can shut. Devils may surround
you on all sides, but the way upward is always open, and as long
as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy's
hand. We can never be taken by blockade, escalade, mine, or
storm, so long as heavenly succours can come down to us by
Jacob's ladder to relieve us in the time of our necessities.
Prayer is never out of season: in summer and in winter its
merchandize is precious. Prayer gains audience with heaven in
the dead of night, in the midst of business, in the heat of
noonday, in the shades of evening. In every condition, whether
of poverty, or sickness, or obscurity, or slander, or doubt,
your covenant God will welcome your prayer and answer it from
His holy place. Nor is prayer ever futile. True prayer is
evermore true power. You may not always get what you ask, but
you shall always have your real wants supplied. When God does
not answer His children according to the letter, He does so
according to the spirit. If thou askest for coarse meal, wilt
thou be angered because He gives thee the finest flour? If thou
seekest bodily health, shouldst thou complain if instead thereof
He makes thy sickness turn to the healing of spiritual maladies?
Is it not better to have the cross sanctified than removed? This
evening, my soul, forget not to offer thy petition and request,
for the Lord is ready to grant thee thy desires.

* 11/04/PM

"In Thy light shall we see light."
                                                    --Psalm 36:9

   No lips can tell the love of Christ to the heart till Jesus
Himself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat and tame
unless the Holy Ghost fills them with life and power; till our
Immanuel reveals Himself within, the soul sees Him not. If you
would see the sun, would you gather together the common means of
illumination, and seek in that way to behold the orb of day? No,
the wise man knoweth that the sun must reveal itself, and only
by its own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is so with
Christ. "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona:" said He to Peter,
"for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee." Purify
flesh and blood by any educational process you may select,
elevate mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual
power, yet none of these can reveal Christ. The Spirit of God
must come with power, and overshadow the man with His wings, and
then in that mystic holy of holies the Lord Jesus must display
Himself to the sanctified eye, as He doth not unto the purblind
sons of men. Christ must be His own mirror. The great mass of
this blear-eyed world can see nothing of the ineffable glories
of Immanuel. He stands before them without form or comeliness, a
root out of a dry ground, rejected by the vain and despised by
the proud. Only where the Spirit has touched the eye with
eye-salve, quickened the heart with divine life, and educated
the soul to a heavenly taste, only there is He understood. "To
you that believe He is precious"; to you He is the chief
corner-stone, the Rock of your salvation, your all in all; but
to others He is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence."
Happy are those to whom our Lord manifests Himself, for His
promise to such is that He will make His abode with them. O
Jesus, our Lord, our heart is open, come in, and go out no more
for ever. Show Thyself to us now! Favour us with a glimpse of
Thine all-conquering charms.

* 11/05/PM

"Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name."
                                                   --Psalm 100:4

   Our Lord would have all His people rich in high and happy
thoughts concerning His blessed person. Jesus is not content
that His brethren should think meanly of Him; it is His pleasure
that His espoused ones should be delighted with His beauty. We
are not to regard Him as a bare necessary, like to bread and
water, but as a luxurious delicacy, as a rare and ravishing
delight. To this end He has revealed Himself as the "pearl of
great price" in its peerless beauty, as the "bundle of myrrh" in
its refreshing fragrance, as the "rose of Sharon" in its lasting
perfume, as the "lily" in its spotless purity.

   As a help to high thoughts of Christ, remember the estimation
that Christ is had in beyond the skies, where things are
measured by the right standard. Think how God esteems the Only
Begotten, His unspeakable gift to us. Consider what the angels
think of Him, as they count it their highest honour to veil
their faces at His feet. Consider what the blood-washed think of
Him, as day without night they sing His well deserved praises.
High thoughts of Christ will enable us to act consistently with
our relations towards Him. The more loftily we see Christ
enthroned, and the more lowly we are when bowing before the foot
of the throne, the more truly shall we be prepared to act our
part towards Him. Our Lord Jesus desires us to think well of
Him, that we may submit cheerfully to His authority. High
thoughts of Him increase our love. Love and esteem go together.
Therefore, believer, think much of your Master's excellencies.
Study Him in His primeval glory, before He took upon Himself
your nature! Think of the mighty love which drew Him from His
throne to die upon the cross! Admire Him as He conquers all the
powers of hell! See Him risen, crowned, glorified! Bow before
Him as the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, for only
thus will your love to Him be what it should.

* 11/06/PM

"Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined unto you."
                                                  --Hebrews 9:20

   There is a strange power about the very name of blood, and
the sight of it is always affecting. A kind heart cannot bear to
see a sparrow bleed, and unless familiarized by use, turns away
with horror at the slaughter of a beast. As to the blood of men,
it is a consecrated thing: it is murder to shed it in wrath, it
is a dreadful crime to squander it in war. Is this solemnity
occasioned by the fact that the blood is the life, and the
pouring of it forth the token of death? We think so. When we
rise to contemplate the blood of the Son of God, our awe is yet
more increased, and we shudder as we think of the guilt of sin,
and the terrible penalty which the Sin-bearer endured. Blood,
always precious, is priceless when it streams from Immanuel's
side. The blood of Jesus seals the covenant of grace, and
makes it for ever sure. Covenants of old were made by sacrifice,
and the everlasting covenant was ratified in the same manner.
Oh, the delight of being saved upon the sure foundation of
divine engagements which cannot be dishonoured! Salvation by the
works of the law is a frail and broken vessel whose shipwreck is
sure; but the covenant vessel fears no storms, for the blood
ensures the whole. The blood of Jesus made His testament
valid. Wills are of no power unless the testators die. In this
light the soldier's spear is a blessed aid to faith, since it
proved our Lord to be really dead. Doubts upon that matter there
can be none, and we may boldly appropriate the legacies which He
has left for His people. Happy they who see their title to
heavenly blessings assured to them by a dying Saviour. But has
this blood no voice to us? Does it not bid us sanctify ourselves
unto Him by whom we have been redeemed? Does it not call us to
newness of life, and incite us to entire consecration to the
Lord? O that the power of the blood might be known, and felt in
us this night!

* 11/07/PM

"And ye shall be witnesses unto Me."
                                                      --Acts 1:8

   In order to learn how to discharge your duty as a witness for
Christ, look at His example. He is always witnessing: by the
well of Samaria, or in the Temple of Jerusalem: by the lake of
Gennesaret, or on the mountain's brow. He is witnessing night
and day; His mighty prayers are as vocal to God as His daily
services. He witnesses under all circumstances; Scribes and
Pharisees cannot shut His mouth; even before Pilate He witnesses
a good confession. He witnesses so clearly, and distinctly that
there is no mistake in Him. Christian, make your life a clear
testimony. Be you as the brook wherein you may see every stone
at the bottom--not as the muddy creek, of which you only see the
surface--but clear and transparent, so that your heart's love to
God and man may be visible to all. You need not say, "I am
true:" be true. Boast not of integrity, but be upright. So shall
your testimony be such that men cannot help seeing it. Never,
for fear of feeble man, restrain your witness. Your lips have
been warmed with a coal from off the altar; let them speak as
like heaven-touched lips should do. "In the morning sow thy
seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand." Watch not the
clouds, consult not the wind--in season and out of season
witness for the Saviour, and if it shall come to pass that for
Christ's sake and the gospel's you shall endure suffering in any
shape, shrink not, but rejoice in the honour thus conferred upon
you, that you are counted worthy to suffer with your Lord; and
joy also in this--that your sufferings, your losses, and
persecutions shall make you a platform, from which the more
vigorously and with greater power you shall witness for Christ
Jesus. Study your great Exemplar, and be filled with His Spirit.
Remember that you need much teaching, much upholding, much
grace, and much humility, if your witnessing is to be to your
Master's glory.

* 11/08/PM

"The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat
the passover with My disciples?"
                                                    --Mark 14:14

   Jerusalem at the time of the passover was one great inn; each
householder had invited his own friends, but no one had invited
the Saviour, and He had no dwelling of His own. It was by His
own supernatural power that He found Himself an upper room in
which to keep the feast. It is so even to this day--Jesus is not
received among the sons of men save only where by His
supernatural power and grace He makes the heart anew. All doors
are open enough to the prince of darkness, but Jesus must clear
a way for Himself or lodge in the streets. It was through the
mysterious power exerted by our Lord that the householder raised
no question, but at once cheerfully and joyfully opened his
guestchamber. Who he was, and what he was, we do not know, but
he readily accepted the honour which the Redeemer proposed to
confer upon him. In like manner it is still discovered who are
the Lord's chosen, and who are not; for when the gospel comes to
some, they fight against it, and will not have it, but where men
receive it, welcoming it, this is a sure indication that there
is a secret work going on in the soul, and that God has chosen
them unto eternal life. Are you willing, dear reader, to receive
Christ? then there is no difficulty in the way; Christ will be
your guest; His own power is working with you, making you
willing. What an honour to entertain the Son of God! The heaven
of heavens cannot contain Him, and yet He condescends to find a
house within our hearts! We are not worthy that He should come
under our roof, but what an unutterable privilege when He
condescends to enter! for then He makes a feast, and causes us
to feast with Him upon royal dainties, we sit at a banquet where
the viands are immortal, and give immortality to those who feed
thereon. Blessed among the sons of Adam is he who entertains the
angels' Lord.

* 11/09/PM

"His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread
shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."
                                                  --Isaiah 33:16

  Do you doubt, O Christian, do you doubt as to whether God will
fulfil His promise? Shall the munitions of rock be carried by
storm? O Shall the storehouses of heaven fail? Do you think
that your heavenly Father, though He knoweth that you have need
of food and raiment, will yet forget you? When not a sparrow
falls to the ground without your Father, and the very hairs of
your head are all numbered, will you mistrust and doubt Him?
Perhaps your affliction will continue upon you till you dare to
trust your God, and then it shall end. Full many there be who
have been tried and sore vexed till at last they have been
driven in sheer desperation to exercise faith in God, and the
moment of their faith has been the instant of their deliverance;
they have seen whether God would keep His promise or not. Oh, I
pray you, doubt Him no longer! Please not Satan, and vex not
yourself by indulging any more those hard thoughts of God. Think
it not a light matter to doubt Jehovah. Remember, it is a sin;
and not a little sin either, but in the highest degree criminal.
The angels never doubted Him, nor the devils either: we alone,
out of all the beings that God has fashioned, dishonour Him by
unbelief, and tarnish His honour by mistrust. Shame upon us for
this! Our God does not deserve to be so basely suspected; in our
past life we have proved Him to be true and faithful to His
word, and with so many instances of His love and of His kindness
as we have received, and are daily receiving, at His hands, it
is base and inexcusable that we suffer a doubt to sojourn within
our heart. May we henceforth wage constant war against doubts of
our God--enemies to our peace and to His honour; and with an
unstaggering faith believe that what He has promised He will
also perform. "Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief."

* 11/10/PM

"It is enough for the disciple that he be as His Master."
                                                 --Matthew 10:25

   No one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly
for the servant to be exalted above his Master. When our Lord
was on earth, what was the treatment He received? Were His
claims acknowledged, His instructions followed, His perfections
worshipped, by those whom He came to bless? No; "He was despised
and rejected of men." Outside the camp was His place:
cross-bearing was His occupation. Did the world yield Him solace
and rest? "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have
nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." This
inhospitable country afforded Him no shelter: it cast Him out
and crucified Him. Such--if you are a follower of Jesus, and
maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation--you
must expect to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life
which, in its outward development, comes under the observation
of men. They will treat it as they treated the Saviour--they
will despise it. Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or
that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more
peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the
polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough? "If
they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much
more shall they call them of His household?" If we were more
like Christ, we should be more hated by His enemies. It were a
sad dishonour to a child of God to be the world's favourite. It
is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and
shout "Well done" to the Christian man. He may begin to look to
his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong,
when the unrighteous give him their approbation. Let us be true
to our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base
world which scorns and rejects Him. Far be it from us to seek a
crown of honour where our Lord found a coronet of thorn.

* 11/11/PM

"He shall choose our inheritance for us."
                                                    --Psalm 47:4

   Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be
satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured
that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your
lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship
of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part
of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why
does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and
deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer would be,
"Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did
not keep to the deep channel." So, it may be, you would run
aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not
steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble
follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they
have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you
get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman,
because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto
perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better
for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have
put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable
circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you
would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my
self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows." Be content
with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all
things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the
burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most
effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the
glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not
for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

                "Trials must and will befall--
                But with humble faith to see
                Love inscribed upon them all;
                This is happiness to me."

* 11/12/PM

"And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a
mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."
                                                     --Luke 6:12

   If ever one of woman born might have lived without prayer, it
was our spotless, perfect a Lord, and yet none was ever so much
in supplication as He! Such was His love to His Father, that He
loved much to be in communion with Him: such His love for His
people, that He desired to be much in intercession for them.
The fact of this eminent prayerfulness of Jesus is a lesson
for us--He hath given us an example that we may follow in His
steps. The time He chose was admirable, it was the hour of
silence, when the crowd would not disturb Him; the time of
inaction, when all but Himself had ceased to labour; and the
season when slumber made men forget their woes, and cease their
applications to Him for relief. While others found rest in
sleep, He refreshed Himself with prayer. The place was also
well selected. He was alone where none would intrude, where none
could observe: thus was He free from Pharisaic ostentation and
vulgar interruption. Those dark and silent hills were a fit
oratory for the Son of God. Heaven and earth in midnight
stillness heard the groans and sighs of the mysterious Being in
whom both worlds were blended. The continuance of His
pleadings is remarkable; the long watches were not too long; the
cold wind did not chill His devotions; the grim darkness did not
darken His faith, or loneliness check His importunity. We
cannot watch with Him one hour, but He watched for us whole
nights. The occasion for this prayer is notable; it was after
His enemies had been enraged--prayer was His refuge and solace;
it was before He sent forth the twelve apostles--prayer was the
gate of His enterprise, the herald of His new work. Should we
not learn from Jesus to resort to special prayer when we are
under peculiar trial, or contemplate fresh endeavours for the
Master's glory? Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.

* 11/13/PM

"Men ought always to pray."
                                                     --Luke 18:1

   If men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more
Christian men. Jesus has sent His church into the world on the
same errand upon which He Himself came, and this mission
includes intercession. What if I say that the church is the
world's priest? Creation is dumb, but the church is to find a
mouth for it. It is the church's high privilege to pray with
acceptance. The door of grace is always open for her petitions,
and they never return empty-handed. The veil was rent for her,
the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her, God constantly
invites her to ask what she wills. Will she refuse the privilege
which angels might envy her? Is she not the bride of Christ? May
she not go in unto her King at every hour? Shall she allow the
precious privilege to be unused? The church always has need for
prayer. There are always some in her midst who are declining, or
falling into open sin. There are lambs to be prayed for, that
they may be carried in Christ's bosom? the strong, lest they
grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If
we kept up prayer-meetings four-and-twenty hours in the day, all
the days in the year, we might never be without a special
subject for supplication. Are we ever without the sick and the
poor, the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without those
who seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of
back-sliders, or the salvation of the depraved? Nay, with
congregations constantly gathering, with ministers always
preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in trespasses and
sins; in a country over which the darkness of Romanism is
certainly descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties,
devilries, if the church doth not pray, how shall she excuse her
base neglect of the commission of her loving Lord? Let the
church be constant in supplication, let every private believer
cast his mite of prayer into the treasury.

* 11/14/PM

"And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give
the younger before the firstborn."
                                                 --Genesis 29:26

   We do not excuse Laban for his dishonesty, but we scruple not
to learn from the custom which he quoted as his excuse. There
are some things which must be taken in order, and if we would
win the second we must secure the first. The second may be the
more lovely in our eyes, but the rule of the heavenly country
must stand, and the elder must be married first. For instance,
many men desire the beautiful and well-favoured Rachel of joy
and peace in believing, but they must first be wedded to the
tender-eyed Leah of repentance. Every one falls in love with
happiness, and many would cheerfully serve twice seven years to
enjoy it, but according to the rule of the Lord's kingdom, the
Leah of real holiness must be beloved of our soul before the
Rachel of true happiness can be attained. Heaven stands not
first but second, and only by persevering to the end can we win
a portion in it. The cross must be carried before the crown can
be worn. We must follow our Lord in His humiliation, or we shall
never rest with Him in glory.

   My soul, what sayest thou, art thou so vain as to hope to
break through the heavenly rule? Dost thou hope for reward
without labour, or honour without toil? Dismiss the idle
expectation, and be content to take the ill-favoured things for
the sake of the sweet love of Jesus, which will recompense thee
for all. In such a spirit, labouring and suffering, thou wilt
find bitters grow sweet, and hard things easy. Like Jacob, thy
years of service will seem unto thee but a few days for the love
thou hast to Jesus; and when the dear hour of the wedding feast
shall come, all thy toils shall be as though they had never
been--an hour with Jesus will make up for ages of pain and
labour.

             Jesus, to win Thyself so fair,
             Thy cross I will with gladness bear:
             Since so the rules of heaven ordain,
             The first I'll wed the next to gain.

* 11/15/PM

"Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us."
                                                   --Psalm 68:28

   It is our wisdom, as well as our necessity, to beseech God
continually to strengthen that which He has wrought in us. It is
because of their neglect in this, that many Christians may blame
themselves for those trials and afflictions of spirit which
arise from unbelief. It is true that Satan seeks to flood the
fair garden of the heart and make it a scene of desolation, but
it is also true that many Christians leave open the sluice-gates
themselves, and let in the dreadful deluge through carelessness
and want of prayer to their strong Helper. We often forget that
the Author of our faith must be the Preserver of it also. The
lamp which was burning in the temple was never allowed to go
out, but it had to be daily replenished with fresh oil; in like
manner, our faith can only live by being sustained with the oil
of grace, and we can only obtain this from God Himself. Foolish
virgins we shall prove, if we do not secure the needed
sustenance for our lamps. He who built the world upholds it, or
it would fall in one tremendous crash; He who made us Christians
must maintain us by His Spirit, or our ruin will be speedy and
final. Let us, then, evening by evening, go to our Lord for the
grace and strength we need. We have a strong argument to plead,
for it is His own work of grace which we ask Him to
strengthen--"that which Thou hast wrought for us." Think you
He will fail to protect and sustain that? Only let your faith
take hold of His strength, and all the powers of darkness, led
on by the master fiend of hell, cannot cast a cloud or shadow
over your joy and peace. Why faint when you may be strong? Why
suffer defeat when you may conquer? Oh! take your wavering
faith and drooping graces to Him who can revive and replenish
them, and earnestly pray, "Strengthen, O God, that which thou
hast wrought for us."

* 11/16/PM

"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty."
                                                  --Isaiah 33:17

   The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied
with superficial views of Him; and the more deeply you study His
transactions in the eternal covenant, His engagements on your
behalf as the eternal Surety, and the fulness of His grace which
shines in all His offices, the more truly will you see the King
in His beauty. Be much in such outlooks. Long more and more to
see Jesus. Meditation and contemplation are often like windows
of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which we behold the
Redeemer. Meditation puts the telescope to the eye, and enables
us to see Jesus after a better sort than we could have seen Him
if we had lived in the days of His flesh. Would that our
conversation were more in heaven, and that we were more taken up
with the person, the work, the beauty of our incarnate Lord.
More meditation, and the beauty of the King would flash upon us
with more resplendence. Beloved, it is very probable that we
shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had
before, when we come to die. Many saints in dying have looked
up from amidst the stormy waters, and have seen Jesus walking on
the waves of the sea, and heard Him say, "It is I, be not
afraid." Ah, yes! when the tenement begins to shake, and the
clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and between
the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in. But if we
want to see face to face the "King in His beauty" we must go to
heaven for the sight, or the King must come here in person. O
that He would come on the wings of the wind! He is our Husband,
and we are widowed by His absence; He is our Brother dear and
fair, and we are lonely without Him. Thick veils and clouds hang
between our souls and their true life: when shall the day break
and the shadows flee away? Oh, long-expected day, begin!

* 11/17/PM

"He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby."
                                             --Ecclesiastes 10:9

   Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily
as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it
is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often
killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint,
and He is mighty to avenge His beloved ones. Success in treading
down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there
be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger
hereafter.

   To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it
has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected
with your calling and daily life which it will be well for you
to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or
by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort.
Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the
devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm
labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from
temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do
you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the
rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion.
Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor
man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's bosom;
uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and
envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural
abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a
little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of
temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the
beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be
secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only Thou
Thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread
Thy wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down
beneath Thee, and feel ourselves safe!

* 11/18/PM

"Thou art from everlasting."
                                                    --Psalm 93:2

   Christ is EVERLASTING. Of Him we may sing with David, "Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever." Rejoice, believer, in
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Jesus
always was. The Babe born in Bethlehem was united to the Word,
which was in the beginning, by whom all things were made. The
title by which Christ revealed Himself to John in Patmos was,
"Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." If He were
not God from everlasting, we could not so devoutly love Him; we
could not feel that He had any share in the eternal love which
is the fountain of all covenant blessings; but since He was from
all eternity with the Father, we trace the stream of divine love
to Himself equally with His Father and the blessed Spirit. As
our Lord always was, so also He is for evermore. Jesus is not
dead; "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." Resort to
Him in all your times of need, for He is waiting to bless you
still. Moreover, Jesus our Lord ever shall be. If God should
spare your life to fulfil your full day of threescore years and
ten, you will find that His cleansing fountain is still opened,
and His precious blood has not lost its power; you shall find
that the Priest who filled the healing fount with His own blood,
lives to purge you from all iniquity. When only your last battle
remains to be fought, you shall find that the hand of your
conquering Captain has not grown feeble--the living Saviour
shall cheer the dying saint. When you enter heaven you shall
find Him there bearing the dew of His youth; and through
eternity the Lord Jesus shall still remain the perennial spring
of joy, and life, and glory to His people. Living waters may you
draw from this sacred well! Jesus always was, He always is, He
always shall be. He is eternal in all His attributes, in all
His offices, in all His might, and willingness to bless,
comfort, guard, and crown His chosen people.

* 11/19/PM

"O that I knew where I might find Him!"
                                                      --Job 23:3

   In Job's uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The
longing desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see
his Father's face. His first prayer is not "O that I might be
healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my
body!" nor even "O that I might see my children restored from
the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from
the hand of the spoiler!" but the first and uppermost cry is, "O
that I knew where I might find HIM, who is my God! that I might
come even to His seat!" God's children run home when the storm
comes on. It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul to
seek shelter from all ills beneath the wings of Jehovah. "He
that hath made his refuge God," might serve as the title of a
true believer. A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the
infliction, and, like a slave, would run from the Master who has
scourged him; but not so the true heir of heaven, he kisses the
hand which smote him, and seeks shelter from the rod in the
bosom of the God who frowned upon him. Job's desire to commune
with God was intensified by the failure of all other sources of
consolation. The patriarch turned away from his sorry friends,
and looked up to the celestial throne, just as a traveller turns
from his empty skin bottle, and betakes himself with all speed
to the well. He bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O
that I knew where I might find my God!" Nothing teaches us so
much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the
emptiness of all besides. Turning away with bitter scorn from
earth's hives, where we find no honey, but many sharp stings, we
rejoice in Him whose faithful word is sweeter than honey or the
honeycomb. In every trouble we should first seek to realize
God's presence with us. Only let us enjoy His smile, and we can
bear our daily cross with a willing heart for His dear sake.

* 11/20/PM

"The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in
the rocks."
                                                --Proverbs 30:26

   Conscious of their own natural defenselessness, the conies
resort to burrows in the rocks, and are secure from their
enemies. My heart, be willing to gather a lesson from these
feeble folk. Thou art as weak and as exposed to peril as the
timid cony, be as wise to seek a shelter. My best security is
within the munitions of an immutable Jehovah, where His
unalterable promises stand like giant walls of rock. It will be
well with thee, my heart, if thou canst always hide thyself in
the bulwarks of His glorious attributes, all of which are
guarantees of safety for those who put their trust in Him.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, I have so done, and have found
myself like David in Adullam, safe from the cruelty of my enemy;
I have not now to find out the blessedness of the man who puts
his trust in the Lord, for long ago, when Satan and my sins
pursued me, I fled to the cleft of the rock Christ Jesus, and in
His riven side I found a delightful resting-place. My heart,
run to Him anew to-night, whatever thy present grief may be;
Jesus feels for thee; Jesus consoles thee; Jesus will help thee.
No monarch in his impregnable fortress is more secure than the
cony in his rocky burrow. The master of ten thousand chariots is
not one whit better protected than the little dweller in the
mountain's cleft. In Jesus the weak are strong, and the
defenceless safe; they could not be more strong if they were
giants, or more safe if they were in heaven. Faith gives to men
on earth the protection of the God of heaven. More they cannot
need, and need not wish. The conies cannot build a castle, but
they avail themselves of what is there already: I cannot make
myself a refuge, but Jesus has provided it, His Father has given
it, His Spirit has revealed it, and lo, again to-night I enter
it, and am safe from every foe.

* 11/21/PM

"Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him."
                                                     --John 12:2

   He is to be envied. It was well to be Martha and serve, but
better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each
purpose, and each is comely in its season, but none of the trees
of the garden yield such clusters as the vine of fellowship. To
sit with Jesus, to hear His words, to mark His acts, and receive
His smiles, was such a favour as must have made Lazarus as happy
as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast with our
Beloved in His banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a
sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could
have bought them.

   He is to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if
Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was, for he had
been dead, and Jesus had raised him. For the risen one to be
absent when the Lord who gave him life was at his house, would
have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once dead, yea, and
like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and
by His life we live--can we be content to live at a distance
from Him? Do we omit to remember Him at His table, where He
deigns to feast with His brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves
us to repent, and do as He has bidden us, for His least wish
should be law to us. To have lived without constant intercourse
with one of whom the Jews said, "Behold how He loved him," would
have been disgraceful to Lazarus, is it excusable in us whom
Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to
Him who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great
brutishness in Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the
Saviour has not only wept, but bled? Come, brethren, who read
this portion, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom, and
ask for His Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy
with Him, and henceforth sit at the table with Him.

* 11/22/PM

"The power of His resurrection."
                                              --Philippians 3:10

   The doctrine of a risen Saviour is exceedingly precious. The
resurrection is the corner-stone of the entire building of
Christianity. It is the key-stone of the arch of our salvation.
It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living
water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection
of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but to know that He
has risen, and to have fellowship with Him as such--communing
with the risen Saviour by possessing a risen life--seeing Him
leave the tomb by leaving the tomb of worldliness ourselves,
this is even still more precious. The doctrine is the basis of
the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root,
so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Saviour more
lovely than the doctrine itself. I would have you believe that
Christ rose from the dead so as to sing of it, and derive all
the consolation which it is possible for you to extract from
this well-ascertained and well-witnessed fact; but I beseech
you, rest not contented even there. Though you cannot, like the
disciples, see Him visibly, yet I bid you aspire to see Christ
Jesus by the eye of faith; and though, like Mary Magdalene, you
may not "touch" Him, yet may you be privileged to converse with
Him, and to know that He is risen, you yourselves being risen in
Him to newness of life. To know a crucified Saviour as having
crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to
know a risen Saviour as having justified me, and to realize that
He has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new
creature through His own newness of life, this is a noble style
of experience: short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. May
you both "know Him, and the power of His resurrection." Why
should souls who are quickened with Jesus, wear the
grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is
risen.

* 11/23/PM

"Get thee up into the high mountain."
                                                   --Isaiah 40:9

   Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living
God, and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face
to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley
when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsteth to drink
deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the
mountain's brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are
the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich
the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New
Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal
mines, who see not the sun; they eat dust like the serpent when
they might taste the ambrosial meat of angels; they are content
to wear the miner's garb when they might put on king's robes;
tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial
oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when
he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and
Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast
away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever
interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ, thy soul's
Husband. Make Him the source, the centre, and the circumference
of all thy soul's range of delight. What enchants thee into such
folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayst sit on a throne?
Live not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is
conferred upon thee. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish
attainments, but press forward to things more sublime and
heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to
heaven! Nearer to God!

             "When wilt Thou come unto me, Lord?
             Oh come, my Lord most dear!
             Come near, come nearer, nearer still,
             I'm blest when Thou art near."

* 11/24/PM

"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the
hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that
travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."
                                            --Proverbs 24:33, 34

   The  worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they
would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A
little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they
have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very
proper one. Yet by these littles the day ebbs out, and the time
for labour is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns.
It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They
have no intention to delay for years--a few months will bring
the more convenient season--to-morrow if you will, they will
attend to serious things; but the present hour is so occupied
and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like
sands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by
driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers. Oh, to
be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments on the
wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a
poverty of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty which shall
want even a drop of water, and beg for it in vain. Like a
traveller steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the
slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour brings
the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is
on his master's business and must not tarry. As an armed man
enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle,
and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that
men were wise be-times, and would seek diligently unto the Lord
Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late
to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In
harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected.
As yet, faith and holy decision are timely. May we obtain them
this night.

* 11/25/PM

"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion."
                                                   --Romans 9:15

   In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the
right to give or to withhold His mercy according to His own
sovereign will. As the prerogative of life and death is vested
in the monarch, so the Judge of all the earth has a right to
spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem best in His sight. Men
by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to
perish for their sins--and if they all do so, they have no
ground for complaint. If the Lord steps in to save any, He may
do so if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but if He judges
it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence,
none may arraign Him at their bar. Foolish and impudent are all
those discourses about the rights of men to be all placed on the
same footing; ignorant, if not worse, are those contentions
against discriminating grace, which are but the rebellions of
proud human nature against the crown and sceptre of Jehovah.
When we are brought to see our own utter ruin and ill desert,
and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer
cavil at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do
not murmur if He chooses to save others, as though He were doing
us an injury, but feel that if He deigns to look upon us, it
will be His own free act of undeserved goodness, for which we
shall for ever bless His name.

   How shall those who are the subjects of divine election
sufficiently adore the grace of God? They have no room for
boasting, for sovereignty most effectually excludes it. The
Lord's will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human
merit is cast out to everlasting contempt. There is no more
humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election, none more
promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more
sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly
rejoice in it.

* 11/26/PM

"They shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel."
                                                --Zechariah 4:10

   Small things marked the beginning of the work in the hand of
Zerubbabel, but none might despise it, for the Lord had raised
up one who would persevere until the headstone should be brought
forth with shoutings. The plummet was in good hands. Here is the
comfort of every believer in the Lord Jesus; let the work of
grace be ever so small in its beginnings, the plummet is in
good hands, a master builder greater than Solomon has
undertaken the raising of the heavenly temple, and He will not
fail nor be discouraged till the topmost pinnacle shall be
raised. If the plummet were in the hand of any merely human
being, we might fear for the building, but the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in Jesus' hand. The works did not proceed
irregularly, and without care, for the master's hand carried a
good instrument. Had the walls been hurriedly run up without
due superintendence, they might have been out of the
perpendicular; but the plummet was used by the chosen overseer.
Jesus is evermore watching the erection of His spiritual temple,
that it may be built securely and well. We are for haste, but
Jesus is for judgment. He will use the plummet, and that which
is out of line must come down, every stone of it. Hence the
failure of many a flattering work, the overthrow of many a
glittering profession. It is not for us to judge the Lord's
church, since Jesus has a steady hand, and a true eye, and can
use the plummet well. Do we not rejoice to see judgment left to
Him?

   The plummet was in active use--it was in the builder's
hand; a sure indication that he meant to push on the work to
completion. O Lord Jesus, how would we indeed be glad if we
could see Thee at Thy great work. O Zion, the beautiful, thy
walls are still in ruins! Rise, Thou glorious Builder, and make
her desolations to rejoice at Thy coming.

* 11/27/PM

"The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."
                                                 --Ephesians 1:7

   Could there be a sweeter word in any language than that word
"forgiveness," when it sounds in a guilty sinner's ear, like the
silver notes of jubilee to the captive Israelite? Blessed, for
ever blessed be that dear star of pardon which shines into the
condemned cell, and gives the perishing a gleam of hope amid the
midnight of despair! Can it be possible that sin, such sin as
mine, can be forgiven, forgiven altogether, and for ever? Hell
is my portion as a sinner--there is no possibility of my
escaping from it while sin remains upon me--can the load of
guilt be uplifted, the crimson stain removed? Can the adamantine
stones of my prison-house ever be loosed from their mortices, or
the doors be lifted from their hinges? Jesus tells me that I may
yet be clear. For ever blessed be the revelation of atoning love
which not only tells me that pardon is possible, but that it is
secured to all who rest in Jesus. I have believed in the
appointed propitiation, even Jesus crucified, and therefore my
sins are at this moment, and for ever, forgiven by virtue of His
substitutionary pains and death. What joy is this! What bliss to
be a perfectly pardoned soul! My soul dedicates all her powers
to Him who of His own unpurchased love became my surety, and
wrought out for me redemption through His blood. What riches of
grace does free forgiveness exhibit! To forgive at all, to
forgive fully, to forgive freely, to forgive for ever! Here is a
constellation of wonders; and when I think of how great my sins
were, how dear were the precious drops which cleansed me from
them, and how gracious was the method by which pardon was sealed
home to me, I am in a maze of wondering worshipping affection.
I bow before the throne which absolves me, I clasp the cross
which delivers me, I serve henceforth all my days the Incarnate
God, through whom I am this night a pardoned soul.

* 11/28/PM

"Seeking the wealth of his people."
                                                   --Esther 10:3

   Mordecai was a true patriot, and therefore, being exalted to
the highest position under Ahasuerus, he used his eminence to
promote the prosperity of Israel. In this he was a type of
Jesus, who, upon His throne of glory, seeks not His own, but
spends His power for His people. It were well if every Christian
would be a Mordecai to the church, striving according to his
ability for its prosperity. Some are placed in stations of
affluence and influence, let them honour their Lord in the high
places of the earth, and testify for Jesus before great men.
Others have what is far better, namely, close fellowship with
the King of kings, let them be sure to plead daily for the weak
of the Lord's people, the doubting, the tempted, and the
comfortless. It will redound to their honour if they make much
intercession for those who are in darkness and dare not draw
nigh unto the mercy seat. Instructed believers may serve their
Master greatly if they lay out their talents for the general
good, and impart their wealth of heavenly learning to others, by
teaching them the things of God. The very least in our Israel
may at least seek the welfare of his people; and his desire,
if he can give no more, shall be acceptable. It is at once the
most Christlike and the most happy course for a believer to
cease from living to himself. He who blesses others cannot fail
to be blessed himself. On the other hand, to seek our own
personal greatness is a wicked and unhappy plan of life, its way
will be grievous and its end will be fatal.

   Here is the place to ask thee, my friend, whether thou art to
the best of thy power seeking the wealth of the church in thy
neighbourhood? I trust thou art not doing it mischief by
bitterness and scandal, nor weakening it by thy neglect. Friend,
unite with the Lord's poor, bear their cross, do them all the
good thou canst, and thou shalt not miss thy reward.

* 11/29/PM

"Spices for anointing oil."
                                                   --Exodus 35:8

   Much use was made of this anointing oil under the law, and
that which it represents is of primary importance under the
gospel. The Holy Spirit, who anoints us for all holy service, is
indispensable to us if we would serve the Lord acceptably.
Without His aid our religious services are but a vain oblation,
and our inward experience is a dead thing. Whenever our ministry
is without unction, what miserable stuff it becomes! nor are the
prayers, praises, meditations, and efforts of private Christians
one jot superior. A holy anointing is the soul and life of
piety, its absence the most grievous of all calamities. To go
before the Lord without anointing is as though some common
Levite had thrust himself into the priest's office--his
ministrations would rather have been sins than services. May we
never venture upon hallowed exercises without sacred anointings.
They drop upon us from our glorious Head; from His anointing we
who are as the skirts of His garments partake of a plenteous
unction. Choice spices were compounded with rarest art of the
apothecary to form the anointing oil, to show forth to us how
rich are all the influences of the Holy Spirit. All good things
are found in the divine Comforter. Matchless consolation,
infallible instruction, immortal quickening, spiritual energy,
and divine sanctification all lie compounded with other
excellencies in that sacred eye-slave, the heavenly anointing
oil of the Holy Spirit. It imparts a delightful fragrance to the
character and person of the man upon whom it is poured. Nothing
like it can be found in all the treasuries of the rich, or the
secrets of the wise. It is not to be imitated. It comes alone
from God, and it is freely given, through Jesus Christ, to every
waiting soul. Let us seek it, for we may have it, may have it
this very evening. O Lord, anoint Thy servants.

* 11/30/PM

"Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and
the dragon fought and his angels."
                                               --Revelation 12:7

   War always will rage between the two great sovereignties
until one or other be crushed. Peace between good and evil is
an impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the
triumph of the powers of darkness. Michael will always fight;
his holy soul is vexed with sin, and will not endure it. Jesus
will always be the dragon's foe, and that not in a quiet sense,
but actively, vigorously, with full determination to exterminate
evil. All His servants, whether angels in heaven or messengers
on earth, will and must fight; they are born to be warriors--at
the cross they enter into covenant never to make truce with
evil; they are a warlike company, firm in defence and fierce in
attack. The duty of every soldier in the army of the Lord is
daily, with all his heart, and soul, and strength, to fight
against the dragon.

   The dragon and his angels will not decline the affray; they
are incessant in their onslaughts, sparing no weapon, fair or
foul. We are foolish to expect to serve God without opposition:
the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be assailed by
the myrmidons of hell. The church may become slothful, but not
so her great antagonist; his restless spirit never suffers the
war to pause; he hates the woman's seed, and would fain devour
the church if he could. The servants of Satan partake much of
the old dragon's energy, and are usually an active race. War
rages all around, and to dream of peace is dangerous and futile.

   Glory be to God, we know the end of the war. The great dragon
shall be cast out and for ever destroyed, while Jesus and they
who are with Him shall receive the crown. Let us sharpen our
swords to-night, and pray the Holy Spirit to nerve our arms for
the conflict. Never battle so important, never crown so
glorious. Every man to his post, ye warriors of the cross, and
may the Lord tread Satan under your feet shortly!
* 12/01/PM

"O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His
wonderful works to the children of men."
                                                  -- Psalm 107:8

   If we complained less, and praised more, we should be
happier, and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise
God for common mercies--common as we frequently call them, and
yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to
perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the
sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread
we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise Him that we are
not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty;
let us thank Him for liberty, for friends, for family
associations and comforts; let us praise Him, in fact, for
everything which we receive from His bounteous hand, for we
deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. But,
beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of
praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts
towards His chosen are for ever the favourite themes of their
praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold
our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the
power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in
which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross
of Christ--our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no
longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate
the period when we shall be presented before the throne without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the
palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which
is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly
give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou
be silent? Awake, awake, ye heritors of glory, and lead your
captivity captive, as ye cry with David, "Bless the Lord, O my
soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Let the
new month begin with new songs.

* 12/02/PM

"Behold, all is vanity."
                                             --Ecclesiastes 1:14

   Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord's love and
the Lord's own self. Saints have tried to anchor in other
roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges.
Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments
for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for
ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words: "So I was
great, and increased more than all that were before me in
Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine
eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from
any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my
portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my
hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do:
and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there
was no profit under the sun." "Vanity of vanities, all is
vanity." What! the whole of it vanity? O favoured monarch, is
there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion
reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra's
glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon?
In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there
nothing? "Nothing," he says, "but weariness of spirit." This was
his verdict when he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. To
embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in His love, and be fully
assured of union with Him--this is all in all. Dear reader, you
need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they
are better than the Christian's: if you roam the world around,
you will see no sights like a sight of the Saviour's face; if
you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your
Saviour, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then
should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise;
should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet
be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.

* 12/03/PM

"The Lord mighty in battle."
                                                    --Psalm 24:8

   Well may our God be glorious in the eyes of His people,
seeing that He has wrought such wonders for them, in them, and
by them. For them, the Lord Jesus upon Calvary routed every
foe, breaking all the weapons of the enemy in pieces by His
finished work of satisfactory obedience; by His triumphant
resurrection and ascension He completely overturned the hopes of
hell, leading captivity captive, making a show of our enemies
openly, triumphing over them by His cross. Every arrow of guilt
which Satan might have shot at us is broken, for who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Vain are the sharp swords
of infernal malice, and the perpetual battles of the serpent's
seed, for in the midst of the church the lame take the prey, and
the feeblest warriors are crowned.

   The saved may well adore their Lord for His conquests in
them, since the arrows of their natural hatred are snapped, and
the weapons of their rebellion broken. What victories has grace
won in our evil hearts! How glorious is Jesus when the will is
subdued, and sin dethroned! As for our remaining corruptions,
they shall sustain an equally sure defeat, and every temptation,
and doubt, and fear, shall be utterly destroyed. In the Salem of
our peaceful hearts, the name of Jesus is great beyond compare:
He has won our love, and He shall wear it. Even thus securely
may we look for victories by us. We are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. We shall cast down the powers of
darkness which are in the world, by our faith, and zeal, and
holiness; we shall win sinners to Jesus, we shall overturn false
systems, we shall convert nations, for God is with us, and none
shall stand before us. This evening let the Christian warrior
chant the war song, and prepare for to-morrow's fight. Greater
is He that is in us than he that is in the world.

* 12/04/PM

"Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
                                                   --Romans 8:23

   This groaning is universal among the saints: to a greater or
less extent we all feel it. It is not the groan of murmuring or
complaint: it is rather the note of desire than of distress.
Having received an earnest, we desire the whole of our portion;
we are sighing that our entire manhood, in its trinity of
spirit, soul, and body, may be set free from the last vestige of
the fall; we long to put off corruption, weakness, and
dishonour, and to wrap ourselves in incorruption, in
immortality, in glory, in the spiritual body which the Lord
Jesus will bestow upon His people. We long for the manifestation
of our adoption as the children of God. "We groan," but it is
"within ourselves." It is not the hypocrite's groan, by which
he would make men believe that he is a saint because he is
wretched. Our sighs are sacred things, too hallowed for us to
tell abroad. We keep our longings to our Lord alone. Then the
apostle says we are "waiting," by which we learn that we are
not to be petulant, like Jonah or Elijah, when they said, "Let
me die"; nor are we to whimper and sigh for the end of life
because we are tired of work, nor wish to escape from our
present sufferings till the will of the Lord is done. We are to
groan for glorification, but we are to wait patiently for it,
knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies
being ready. We are to stand at the door expecting the Beloved
to open it and take us away to Himself. This "groaning" is a
test. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men
groan after wealth--they worship Mammon; some groan continually
under the troubles of life--they are merely impatient; but the
man who sighs after God, who is uneasy till he is made like
Christ, that is the blessed man. May God help us to groan for
the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection which He will bring
to us.

* 12/05/PM

"And the Lord shewed me four carpenters."
                                                --Zechariah 1:20

   In the vision described in this chapter, the prophet saw four
terrible horns. They were pushing this way and that way, dashing
down the strongest and the mightiest; and the prophet asked,
"What are these?" The answer was, "These are the horns which
have scattered Israel." He saw before him a representation of
those powers which had oppressed the church of God. There were
four horns; for the church is attacked from all quarters. Well
might the prophet have felt dismayed; but on a sudden there
appeared before him four carpenters. He asked, "What shall
these do?" These are the men whom God hath found to break those
horns in pieces. God will always find men for His work, and He
will find them at the right time. The prophet did not see the
carpenters first, when there was nothing to do, but first the
"horns," and then the "carpenters." Moreover, the Lord finds
enough men. He did not find three carpenters, but four;
there were four horns, and there must be four workmen. God finds
the right men; not four men with pens to write; not four
architects to draw plans; but four carpenters to do rough work.
Rest assured, you who tremble for the ark of God, that when the
"horns" grow troublesome, the "carpenters" will be found. You
need not fret concerning the weakness of the church of God at
any moment; there may be growing up in obscurity the valiant
reformer who will shake the nations: Chrysostoms may come forth
from our Ragged Schools, and Augustines from the thickest
darkness of London's poverty. The Lord knows where to find His
servants. He hath in ambush a multitude of mighty men, and at
His word they shall start up to the battle; "for the battle is
the Lord's," and He shall get to Himself the victory. Let us
abide faithful to Christ, and He, in the right time, will raise
up for us a defence, whether it be in the day of our personal
need, or in the season of peril to His Church.

* 12/06/PM

"Girt about the paps with a golden girdle."
                                               --Revelation 1:13

   One like unto the Son of Man" appeared to John in Patmos, and
the beloved disciple marked that He wore a girdle of gold. A
girdle, for Jesus never was ungirt while upon earth, but stood
always ready for service, and now before the eternal throne He
stays not is holy ministry, but as a priest is girt about with
"the curious girdle of the ephod." Well it is for us that He has
not ceased to fulfil His offices of love for us, since this is
one of our choicest safeguards that He ever liveth to make
intercession for us. Jesus is never an idler; His garments are
never loose as though His offices were ended; He diligently
carries on the cause of His people. A golden girdle, to
manifest the superiority of His service, the royalty of His
person, the dignity of His state, the glory of His reward. No
longer does He cry out of the dust, but He pleads with
authority, a King as well as a Priest. Safe enough is our cause
in the hands of our enthroned Melchisedek.

   Our Lord presents all His people with an example. We must
never unbind our girdles. This is not the time for lying down at
ease, it is the season of service and warfare. We need to bind
the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It
is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we
greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the
truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought
of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this
life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain
that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us
like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part
of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole
man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we
upon earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with
truth.

* 12/07/PM

"I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save
some."
                                            --1 Corinthians 9:22

   Paul's great object was not merely to instruct and to
improve, but to save. Anything short of this would have
disappointed him; he would have men renewed in heart, forgiven,
sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been
aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our
ways, for of what avail will it be at the last great day to have
taught and moralized men if they appear before God unsaved?
Blood-red will our skirts be if through life we have sought
inferior objects, and forgotten that men needed to be saved.
Paul knew the ruin of man's natural state, and did not try to
educate him, but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and
did not talk of refining them, but of saving from the wrath to
come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with
untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and
beseeching men to be reconciled to God. His prayers were
importunate and his labours incessant. To save souls was his
consuming passion, his ambition, his calling. He became a
servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within
him if he preached not the gospel. He laid aside his
preferences to prevent prejudice; he submitted his will in
things indifferent, and if men would but receive the gospel, he
raised no questions about forms or ceremonies: the gospel was
the one all-important business with him. If he might save some
he would be content. This was the crown for which he strove, the
sole and sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials.
Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls at this noble
rate? Are we possessed with the same all-absorbing desire? If
not, why not? Jesus died for sinners, cannot we live for them?
Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek
not His honour in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would
saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the
souls of men.

* 12/08/PM

"Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor."
                                                   --Psalm 68:10

   All God's gifts are prepared gifts laid up in store for wants
foreseen. He anticipates our needs; and out of the fulness which
He has treasured up in Christ Jesus, He provides of His goodness
for the poor. You may trust Him for all the necessities that can
occur, for He has infallibly foreknown every one of them. He can
say of us in all conditions, "I knew that thou wouldst be this
and that." A man goes a journey across the desert, and when he
has made a day's advance, and pitched his tent, he discovers
that he wants many comforts and necessaries which he has not
brought in his baggage. "Ah!" says he, "I did not foresee this:
if I had this journey to go again, I should bring these things
with me, so necessary to my comfort." But God has marked with
prescient eye all the requirements of His poor wandering
children, and when those needs occur, supplies are ready. It is
goodness which He has prepared for the poor in heart, goodness
and goodness only. "My grace is sufficient for thee." "As thy
days, so shall thy strength be."

   Reader, is your heart heavy this evening? God knew it would
be; the comfort which your heart wants is treasured in the sweet
assurance of the text. You are poor and needy, but He has
thought upon you, and has the exact blessing which you require
in store for you. Plead the promise, believe it and obtain its
fulfillment. Do you feel that you never were so consciously vile
as you are now? Behold, the crimson fountain is open still, with
all its former efficacy, to wash your sin away. Never shall you
come into such a position that Christ cannot aid you. No pinch
shall ever arrive in your spiritual affairs in which Jesus
Christ shall not be equal to the emergency, for your history has
all been foreknown and provided for in Jesus.

* 12/09/PM

"My people shall dwell in quiet resting places."
                                                  --Isaiah 32:18

   Peace and rest belong not to the unregenerate, they are the
peculiar possession of the Lord's people, and of them only. The
God of Peace gives perfect peace to those whose hearts are
stayed upon Him. When man was unfallen, his God gave him the
flowery bowers of Eden as his quiet resting places; alas! how
soon sin blighted the fair abode of innocence. In the day of
universal wrath when the flood swept away a guilty race, the
chosen family were quietly secured in the resting-place of the
ark, which floated them from the old condemned world into the
new earth of the rainbow and the covenant, herein typifying
Jesus, the ark of our salvation. Israel rested safely beneath
the blood-besprinkled habitations of Egypt when the destroying
angel smote the first-born; and in the wilderness the shadow of
the pillar of cloud, and the flowing rock, gave the weary
pilgrims sweet repose. At this hour we rest in the promises of
our faithful God, knowing that His words are full of truth and
power; we rest in the doctrines of His word, which are
consolation itself; we rest in the covenant of His grace, which
is a haven of delight. More highly favoured are we than David
in Adullam, or Jonah beneath his gourd, for none can invade or
destroy our shelter. The person of Jesus is the quiet
resting-place of His people, and when we draw near to Him in the
breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the word, the searching
of the Scriptures, prayer, or praise, we find any form of
approach to Him to be the return of peace to our spirits.

   "I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood,
   I see the mighty sacrifice, and I have peace with God.
   'Tis everlasting peace, sure as Jehovah's name,
   'Tis stable as His steadfast throne, for evermore the same:
   The clouds may go and come, and storms may sweep my sky,
   This blood-sealed friendship changes not, the cross is ever
      nigh."

* 12/10/PM

"Whose heart the Lord opened."
                                                    --Acts 16:14

   In Lydia's conversion there are many points of interest. It
was brought about by providential circumstances. She was a
seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, but just at the right
time for hearing Paul we find her at Philippi; providence, which
is the handmaid of grace, led her to the right spot. Again,
grace was preparing her soul for the blessing--grace preparing
for grace. She did not know the Saviour, but as a Jewess, she
knew many truths which were excellent stepping-stones to a
knowledge of Jesus. Her conversion took place in the use of the
means. On the Sabbath she went when prayer was wont to be made,
and there prayer was heard. Never neglect the means of grace;
God may bless us when we are not in His house, but we have the
greater reason to hope that He will when we are in communion
with His saints. Observe the words, "Whose heart the Lord
opened." She did not open her own heart. Her prayers did not do
it; Paul did not do it. The Lord Himself must open the heart, to
receive the things which make for our peace. He alone can put
the key into the hole of the door and open it, and get
admittance for Himself. He is the heart's master as He is the
heart's maker. The first outward evidence of the opened heart
was obedience. As soon as Lydia had believed in Jesus, she
was baptized. It is a sweet sign of a humble and broken heart,
when the child of God is willing to obey a command which is not
essential to his salvation, which is not forced upon him by a
selfish fear of condemnation, but is a simple act of obedience
and of communion with his Master. The next evidence was love,
manifesting itself in acts of grateful kindness to the apostles.
Love to the saints has ever been a mark of the true convert.
Those who do nothing for Christ or His church, give but sorry
evidence of an "opened" heart. Lord, evermore give me an opened
heart.

* 12/11/PM

"Ye serve the Lord Christ."
                                               --Colossians 3:24

  To what choice order of officials was this word spoken? To
kings who proudly boast a right divine? Ah, no! too often do
they serve themselves or Satan, and forget the God whose
sufferance permits them to wear their mimic majesty for their
little hour. Speaks then the apostle to those so-called "right
reverend fathers in God," the bishops, or "the venerable the
archdeacons"? No, indeed, Paul knew nothing of these mere
inventions of man. Not even to pastors and teachers, or to the
wealthy and esteemed among believers, was this word spoken, but
to servants, ay, and to slaves. Among the toiling multitudes,
the journeymen, the day labourers, the domestic servants, the
drudges of the kitchen, the apostle found, as we find still,
some of the Lord's chosen, and to them he says, "Whatsoever ye
do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing
that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:
for ye serve the Lord Christ." This saying ennobles the weary
routine of earthly employments, and sheds a halo around the most
humble occupations. To wash feet may be servile, but to wash His
feet is royal work. To unloose the shoe-latchet is poor employ,
but to unloose the great Master's shoe is a princely privilege.
The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy become temples
when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then "divine
service" is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all
life becomes holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing,
as consecrated as the tabernacle and its golden candlestick.

  "Teach me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see;
  And what I do in anything to do it as to Thee.
  All may of Thee partake, nothing can be so mean,
  Which with this tincture, for Thy sake, will not grow bright
     and clean.

  A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine;
  Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, makes that and the
     action fine.

* 12/12/PM

"They have dealt treacherously against the Lord."
                                                     --Hosea 5:7

   Believer, here is a sorrowful truth! Thou art the beloved of
the Lord, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in
Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and
yet, "thou hast dealt treacherously" with God, thy best friend;
treacherously with Jesus, whose thou art; treacherously with the
Holy Spirit, by whom thou hast been quickened unto life eternal!
How treacherous you have been in the matter of vows and
promises. Do you remember the love of your espousals, that happy
time--the springtide of your spiritual life? Oh, how closely did
you cling to your Master then! saying, "He shall never charge me
with indifference; my feet shall never grow slow in the way of
His service; I will not suffer my heart to wander after other
loves; in Him is every store of sweetness ineffable. I give all
up for my Lord Jesus' sake." Has it been so? Alas! if conscience
speak, it will say, "He who promised so well has performed most
ill. Prayer has oftentimes been slurred--it has been short, but
not sweet; brief, but not fervent. Communion with Christ has
been forgotten. Instead of a heavenly mind, there have been
carnal cares, worldly vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of
service, there has been disobedience; instead of fervency,
lukewarmness; instead of patience, petulance; instead of faith,
confidence in an arm of flesh; and as a soldier of the cross
there has been cowardice, disobedience, and desertion, to a very
shameful degree." "Thou hast dealt treacherously." Treachery to
Jesus! what words shall be used in denouncing it? Words little
avail: let our penitent thoughts execrate the sin which is so
surely in us. Treacherous to Thy wounds, O Jesus! Forgive us,
and let us not sin again! How shameful to be treacherous to Him
who never forgets us, but who this day stands with our names
engraven on His breastplate before the eternal throne.

* 12/13/PM

"I will make thy windows of agates."
                                                  --Isaiah 54:12

   The church is most instructively symbolized by a building
erected by heavenly power, and designed by divine skill. Such a
spiritual house must not be dark, for the Israelites had light
in their dwellings; there must therefore be windows to let the
light in and to allow the inhabitants to gaze abroad. These
windows are precious as agates: the ways in which the church
beholds her Lord and heaven, and spiritual truth in general, are
to be had in the highest esteem. Agates are not the most
transparent of gems, they are but semi-pellucid at the best:

             "Our knowledge of that life is small,
             Our eye of faith is dim."

Faith is one of these precious agate windows, but alas! it is
often so misty and beclouded, that we see but darkly, and
mistake much that we do see. Yet if we cannot gaze through
windows of diamonds and know even as we are known, it is a
glorious thing to behold the altogether lovely One, even though
the glass be hazy as the agate. Experience is another of these
dim but precious windows, yielding to us a subdued religious
light, in which we see the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows,
through our own afflictions. Our weak eyes could not endure
windows of transparent glass to let in the Master's glory, but
when they are dimmed with weeping, the beams of the Sun of
Righteousness are tempered, and shine through the windows of
agate with a soft radiance inexpressibly soothing to tempted
souls. Sanctification, as it conforms us to our Lord, is
another agate window. Only as we become heavenly can we
comprehend heavenly things. The pure in heart see a pure God.
Those who are like Jesus see Him as He is. Because we are so
little like Him, the window is but agate; because we are
somewhat like Him, it is agate. We thank God for what we have,
and long for more. When shall we see God and Jesus, and heaven
and truth, face to face?

* 12/14/PM

"I am crucified with Christ."
                                                --Galatians 2:20

   The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what He did as a great public
representative person, and His dying upon the cross was the
virtual dying of all His people. Then all His saints rendered
unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine
vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles
delighted to think that as one of Christ's chosen people, he
died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this
doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon
it. He believed that by virtue of Christ's death, he had
satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God.
Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it
were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am
dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its
power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the
person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way
of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified
with Christ."

   But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in
Christ's death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its
power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt
nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, "I cannot
enjoy these: I am dead to them." Such is the experience of every
true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as
one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the
world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle,
"Nevertheless I live." He is fully alive unto God. The
Christian's life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can
comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it.
Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time
risen with Christ in newness of life! Union with the suffering,
bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are
soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!

* 12/15/PM

"And lay thy foundations with sapphires."
                                                  --Isaiah 54:11

   Not only that which is seen of the church of God, but that
which is unseen, is fair and precious. Foundations are out of
sight, and so long as they are firm it is not expected that they
should be valuable; but in Jehovah's work everything is of a
piece, nothing slurred, nothing mean. The deep foundations of
the work of grace are as sapphires for preciousness, no human
mind is able to measure their glory. We build upon the covenant
of grace, which is firmer than adamant, and as enduring as
jewels upon which age spends itself in vain. Sapphire
foundations are eternal, and the covenant abides throughout the
lifetime of the Almighty. Another foundation is the person of
the Lord Jesus, which is clear and spotless, everlasting and
beautiful as the sapphire; blending in one the deep blue of
earth's ever rolling ocean and the azure of its all embracing
sky. Once might our Lord have been likened to the ruby as He
stood covered with His own blood, but now we see Him radiant
with the soft blue of love, love abounding, deep, eternal. Our
eternal hopes are built upon the justice and the faithfulness
of God, which are clear and cloudless as the sapphire. We are
not saved by a compromise, by mercy defeating justice, or law
suspending its operations; no, we defy the eagle's eye to detect
a flaw in the groundwork of our confidence--our foundation is of
sapphire, and will endure the fire.

   The Lord Himself has laid the foundation of His people's
hopes. It is matter for grave enquiry whether our hopes are
built upon such a basis. Good works and ceremonies are not a
foundation of sapphires, but of wood, hay, and stubble; neither
are they laid by God, but by our own conceit. Foundations will
all be tried ere long: woe unto him whose lofty tower shall come
down with a crash, because based on a quicksand. He who is built
on sapphires may await storm or fire with equanimity, for he
shall abide the test.

* 12/16/PM

"Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that
time that thine ear was not opened."
                                                   --Isaiah 48:8

   It is painful to remember that, in a certain degree, this
accusation may be laid at the door of believers, who too often
are in a measure spiritually insensible. We may well bewail
ourselves that we do not hear the voice of God as we ought,
"Yea, thou heardest not." There are gentle motions of the Holy
Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us: there are
whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are
alike unobserved by our leaden intellects. Alas! we have been
carelessly ignorant--"Yea, thou knewest not." There are
matters within which we ought to have seen, corruptions which
have made headway unnoticed; sweet affections which are being
blighted like flowers in the frost, untended by us; glimpses of
the divine face which might be perceived if we did not wall up
the windows of our soul. But we "have not known." As we think of
it we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement. How must we
adore the grace of God as we learn from the context that all
this folly and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown by God,
and, notwithstanding that foreknowledge, He yet has been pleased
to deal with us in a way of mercy! Admire the marvellous
sovereign grace which could have chosen us in the sight of all
this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew
what we should be! He who hung upon the cross foresaw us as
unbelieving, backsliding, cold of heart, indifferent, careless,
lax in prayer, and yet He said, "I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Saviour . . . Since thou wast precious in My
sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life"! O
redemption, how wondrously resplendent dost thou shine when we
think how black we are! O Holy Spirit, give us henceforth the
hearing ear, the understanding heart!

* 12/17/PM

"I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
                                                     --John 10:9

   Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church,
and the way of access to God Himself. He gives to the man who
comes to God by Him four choice privileges.

   1. He shall be saved. The fugitive manslayer passed the
gate of the city of refuge, and was safe. Noah entered the door
of the ark, and was secure. None can be lost who take Jesus as
the door of faith to their souls. Entrance through Jesus into
peace is the guarantee of entrance by the same door into heaven.
Jesus is the only door, an open door, a wide door, a safe door;
and blessed is he who rests all his hope of admission to glory
upon the crucified Redeemer.

   2. He shall go in. He shall be privileged to go in among
the divine family, sharing the children's bread, and
participating in all their honours and enjoyments. He shall go
in to the chambers of communion, to the banquets of love, to the
treasures of the covenant, to the storehouses of the promises.
He shall go in unto the King of kings in the power of the Holy
Spirit, and the secret of the Lord shall be with him.

   3. He shall go out. This blessing is much forgotten. We go
out into the world to labour and suffer, but what a mercy to go
in the name and power of Jesus! We are called to bear witness to
the truth, to cheer the disconsolate, to warn the careless, to
win souls, and to glorify God; and as the angel said to Gideon,
"Go in this thy might," even thus the Lord would have us proceed
as His messengers in His name and strength.

   4. He shall find pasture. He who knows Jesus shall never
want. Going in and out shall be alike helpful to him: in
fellowship with God he shall grow, and in watering others he
shall be watered. Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all
in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden, and as a well
of water whose waters fail not.

* 12/18/PM

"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well
to thy herds."
                                                --Proverbs 27:23

   Every wise merchant will occasionally hold a stock-taking,
when he will cast up his accounts, examine what he has on hand,
and ascertain decisively whether his trade is prosperous or
declining. Every man who is wise in the kingdom of heaven, will
cry, "Search me, O God, and try me"; and he will frequently set
apart special seasons for self-examination, to discover whether
things are right between God and his soul. The God whom we
worship is a great heart-searcher; and of old His servants knew
Him as "the Lord which searcheth the heart and trieth the reins
of the children of men." Let me stir you up in His name to make
diligent search and solemn trial of your state, lest you come
short of the promised rest. That which every wise man does,
that which God Himself does with us all, I exhort you to do with
yourself this evening. Let the oldest saint look well to the
fundamentals of his piety, for grey heads may cover black
hearts: and let not the young professor despise the word of
warning, for the greenness of youth may be joined to the
rottenness of hypocrisy. Every now and then a cedar falls into
our midst. The enemy still continues to sow tares among the
wheat. It is not my aim to introduce doubts and fears into your
mind; nay, verily, but I shall hope the rather that the rough
wind of self-examination may help to drive them away. It is not
security, but carnal security, which we would kill; not
confidence, but fleshly confidence, which we would overthrow;
not peace, but false peace, which we would destroy. By the
precious blood of Christ, which was not shed to make you a
hypocrite, but that sincere souls might show forth His praise, I
beseech you, search and look, lest at the last it be said of
you, "Mene, Mene, Tekel: thou art weighed in the balances, and
art found wanting."

* 12/19/PM

"And there was no more sea."
                                               --Revelation 21:1

   Scarcely could we rejoice at the thought of losing the
glorious old ocean: the new heavens and the new earth are none
the fairer to our imagination, if, indeed, literally there is to
be no great and wide sea, with its gleaming waves and shelly
shores. Is not the text to be read as a metaphor, tinged with
the prejudice with which the Oriental mind universally regarded
the sea in the olden times? A real physical world without a sea
it is mournful to imagine, it would be an iron ring without the
sapphire which made it precious. There must be a spiritual
meaning here. In the new dispensation there will be no
division--the sea separates nations and sunders peoples from
each other. To John in Patmos the deep waters were like prison
walls, shutting him out from his brethren and his work: there
shall be no such barriers in the world to come. Leagues of
rolling billows lie between us and many a kinsman whom to-night
we prayerfully remember, but in the bright world to which we go
there shall be unbroken fellowship for all the redeemed family.
In this sense there shall be no more sea. The sea is the emblem
of change; with its ebbs and flows, its glassy smoothness and
its mountainous billows, its gentle murmurs and its tumultuous
roarings, it is never long the same. Slave of the fickle winds
and the changeful moon, its instability is proverbial. In this
mortal state we have too much of this; earth is constant only in
her inconstancy, but in the heavenly state all mournful change
shall be unknown, and with it all fear of storm to wreck our
hopes and drown our joys. The sea of glass glows with a glory
unbroken by a wave. No tempest howls along the peaceful shores
of paradise. Soon shall we reach that happy land where partings,
and changes, and storms shall be ended! Jesus will waft us
there. Are we in Him or not? This is the grand question.

* 12/20/PM

"Call thy labourers, and give them their hire."
                                                  --Matthew 20:8

   God is a good paymaster; He pays His servants while at work
as well as when they have done it; and one of His payments is
this: an easy conscience. If you have spoken faithfully of
Jesus to one person, when you go to bed at night you feel happy
in thinking, "I have this day discharged my conscience of that
man's blood." There is a great comfort in doing something for
Jesus. Oh, what a happiness to place jewels in His crown, and
give Him to see of the travail of His soul! There is also very
great reward in watching the first buddings of conviction in a
soul! To say of that girl in the class, "She is tender of
heart, I do hope that there is the Lord's work within." To go
home and pray over that boy, who said something in the afternoon
which made you think he must know more of divine truth than you
had feared! Oh, the joy of hope! But as for the joy of
success! it is unspeakable. This joy, overwhelming as it is, is
a hungry thing--you pine for more of it. To be a soul-winner is
the happiest thing in the world. With every soul you bring to
Christ, you get a new heaven upon earth. But who can conceive
the bliss which awaits us above! Oh, how sweet is that sentence,
"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" Do you know what the
joy of Christ is over a saved sinner? This is the very joy which
we are to possess in heaven. Yes, when He mounts the throne, you
shall mount with Him. When the heavens ring with "Well done,
well done," you shall partake in the reward; you have toiled
with Him, you have suffered with Him, you shall now reign with
Him; you have sown with Him, you shall reap with Him; your face
was covered with sweat like His, and your soul was grieved for
the sins of men as His soul was, now shall your face be bright
with heaven's splendour as is His countenance, and now shall
your soul be filled with beatific joys even as His soul is.

* 12/21/PM

"I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with
badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I
covered thee with silk."
                                                 --Ezekiel 16:10

   See with what matchless generosity the Lord provides for His
people's apparel. They are so arrayed that the divine skill is
seen producing an unrivalled broidered work, in which every
attribute takes its part and every divine beauty is revealed. No
art like the art displayed in our salvation, no cunning
workmanship like that beheld in the righteousness of the saints.
Justification has engrossed learned pens in all ages of the
church, and will be the theme of admiration in eternity. God has
indeed "curiously wrought it." With all this elaboration there
is mingled utility and durability, comparable to our being shod
with badgers' skins. The animal here meant is unknown, but its
skin covered the tabernacle, and formed one of the finest and
strongest leathers known. The righteousness which is of God by
faith endureth for ever, and he who is shod with this divine
preparation will tread the desert safely, and may even set his
foot upon the lion and the adder. Purity and dignity of our holy
vesture are brought out in the fine linen. When the Lord
sanctifies His people, they are clad as priests in pure white;
not the snow itself excels them; they are in the eyes of men and
angels fair to look upon, and even in the Lord's eyes they are
without spot. Meanwhile the royal apparel is delicate and rich
as silk. No expense is spared, no beauty withheld, no
daintiness denied.

   What, then? Is there no inference from this? Surely there is
gratitude to be felt and joy to be expressed. Come, my heart,
refuse not thy evening hallelujah! Tune thy pipes! Touch thy
chords!

              "Strangely, my soul, art thou arrayed
              By the Great Sacred Three!
              In sweetest harmony of praise
              Let all thy powers agree."

* 12/22/PM

"The spot of His children."
                                              --Deuteronomy 32:5

   What is the secret spot which infallibly betokens the child
of God? It were vain presumption to decide this upon our own
judgment; but God's word reveals it to us, and we may tread
surely where we have revelation to be our guide. Now, we are
told concerning our Lord, "to as many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to as many as
believed on His name." Then, if I have received Christ Jesus
into my heart, I am a child of God. That reception is described
in the same verse as believing on the name of Jesus Christ.
If, then, I believe on Jesus Christ's name--that is, simply from
my heart trust myself with the crucified, but now exalted,
Redeemer, I am a member of the family of the Most High. Whatever
else I may not have, if I have this, I have the privilege to
become a child of God. Our Lord Jesus puts it in another shape.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
Here is the matter in a nutshell. Christ appears as a shepherd
to His own sheep, not to others. As soon as He appears, His own
sheep perceive Him--they trust Him, they are prepared to follow
Him; He knows them, and they know Him--there is a mutual
knowledge--there is a constant connection between them. Thus the
one mark, the sure mark, the infallible mark of regeneration and
adoption is a hearty faith in the appointed Redeemer. Reader,
are you in doubt, are you uncertain whether you bear the secret
mark of God's children? Then let not an hour pass over your head
till you have said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart."
Trifle not here, I adjure you! If you must trifle anywhere, let
it be about some secondary matter: your health, if you will, or
the title deeds of your estate; but about your soul, your
never-dying soul and its eternal destinies, I beseech you to be
in earnest. Make sure work for eternity.

* 12/23/PM

"The night also is Thine."
                                                   --Psalm 74:16

   Yes, Lord, Thou dost not abdicate Thy throne when the sun
goeth down, nor dost Thou leave the world all through these long
wintry nights to be the prey of evil; Thine eyes watch us as the
stars, and Thine arms surround us as the zodiac belts the sky.
The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are
in Thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally
with Thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the
midnight hours, or tossing to and fro in anguish. There are
precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun: may
my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.

   The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and
control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all
is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night
about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe
is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even
unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints,
and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for His people's
highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil
contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah
saying, "I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do
all these things."

   Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are
not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth
are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord's servants
weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the
darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their
end at His bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to
Him.

              "Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
              We perceive no ray of light;
              Since the Lord Himself is here,
              'Tis not meet that we should fear."

* 12/24/PM

"The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together."
                                                   --Isaiah 40:5

   We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be
converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast
to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and
the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its
baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before
the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer
blessed. Some despair of this. They look upon the world as a
vessel breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We
know that the world and all that is therein is one day to be
burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new
earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction
that--

                 "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
                 Does his successive journeys run."

We are not discouraged by the length of His delays; we are not
disheartened by the long period which He allots to the church in
which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We
believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once
seen Christ's blood shed upon it, to be always the devil's
stronghold. Christ came hither to deliver this world from the
detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout shall that
be when men and angels shall unite to cry "Hallelujah,
hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" What a
satisfaction will it be in that day to have had a share in the
fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to
have aided in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are they
who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight
side by side with Him, doing their little in His name and by His
strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a
losing side, and it is a matter wherein to lose is to lose and
to be lost for ever. On whose side are you?

* 12/25/PM

"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about,
that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the
morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of
them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and
cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."
                                                       --Job 1:5

   What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family
festivities, it will be well for the believer to do for himself
ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household
gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to
forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be
so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days
of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into
unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying
as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude
should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our
poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is
better than the house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have
you sinned to-day? Have you been forgetful of your high calling?
Have you been even as others in idle words and loose speeches?
Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice
sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the
guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance
and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day--to
wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this
sacrifice continually; if it be so good to-night, it is good
every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal
priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no
cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the
sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead
works.

              Gladly I close this festive day,
              Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn;
              My slips and faults are washed away,
              The Lamb has all my trespass borne.

* 12/26/PM

"Lo, I am with you alway."
                                                 --Matthew 28:20

   The Lord Jesus is in the midst of His church; He walketh
among the golden candlesticks; His promise is, "Lo, I am with
you alway." He is as surely with us now as He was with the
disciples at the lake, when they saw coals of fire, and fish
laid thereon and bread. Not carnally, but still in real truth,
Jesus is with us. And a blessed truth it is, for where Jesus is,
love becomes inflamed. Of all the things in the world that
can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the presence of
Jesus! A glimpse of Him so overcomes us, that we are ready to
say, "Turn away Thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me."
Even the smell of the aloes, and the myrrh, and the cassia,
which drop from His perfumed garments, causes the sick and the
faint to grow strong. Let there be but a moment's leaning of the
head upon that gracious bosom, and a reception of His divine
love into our poor cold hearts, and we are cold no longer, but
glow like seraphs, equal to every labour, and capable of every
suffering. If we know that Jesus is with us, every power will
be developed, and every grace will be strengthened, and we
shall cast ourselves into the Lord's service with heart, and
soul, and strength; therefore is the presence of Christ to be
desired above all things. His presence will be most realized
by those who are most like Him. If you desire to see Christ,
you must grow in conformity to Him. Bring yourself, by the power
of the Spirit, into union with Christ's desires, and motives,
and plans of action, and you are likely to be favoured with His
company. Remember His presence may be had. His promise is as
true as ever. He delights to be with us. If He doth not come, it
is because we hinder Him by our indifference. He will reveal
Himself to our earnest prayers, and graciously suffer Himself to
be detained by our entreaties, and by our tears, for these are
the golden chains which bind Jesus to His people.

* 12/27/PM

"And the LORD shall guide thee continually."
                                                  --Isaiah 58:11

   "The Lord shall guide thee." Not an angel, but JEHOVAH
shall guide thee. He said He would not go through the wilderness
before His people, an angel should go before them to lead them
in the way; but Moses said, "If Thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence." Christian, God has not left you in your
earthly pilgrimage to an angel's guidance: He Himself leads the
van. You may not see the cloudy, fiery pillar, but Jehovah will
never forsake you. Notice the word shall--"The Lord shall
guide thee." How certain this makes it! How sure it is that God
will not forsake us! His precious "shalls" and "wills" are
better than men's oaths. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee." Then observe the adverb continually. We are not merely
to be guided sometimes, but we are to have a perpetual monitor;
not occasionally to be left to our own understanding, and so to
wander, but we are continually to hear the guiding voice of the
Great Shepherd; and if we follow close at His heels, we shall
not err, but be led by a right way to a city to dwell in. If you
have to change your position in life; if you have to emigrate to
distant shores; if it should happen that you are cast into
poverty, or uplifted suddenly into a more responsible position
than the one you now occupy; if you are thrown among strangers,
or cast among foes, yet tremble not, for "the Lord shall guide
thee continually." There are no dilemmas out of which you shall
not be delivered if you live near to God, and your heart be kept
warm with holy love. He goes not amiss who goes in the company
of God. Like Enoch, walk with God, and you cannot mistake your
road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable love
to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. "Jehovah"--mark
the word--"Jehovah shall guide thee continually."

* 12/28/PM

"I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword."
                                                 --Matthew 10:34

   The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of
his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe
the I true, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he
will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven
will be yet more friendly, and reveal Himself to him more
graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up His cross, know ye
not what your Master said? "I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother; and a
man's foes shall be they of his own household." Christ is the
great Peacemaker; but before peace, He brings war. Where the
light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie
must flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict,
for the truth cannot and will not lower its standard, and the
lie must be trodden under foot. If you follow Christ, you shall
have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels. If you
would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend
upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the
friendship of the world is an enemy to God; but if you are true
and faithful to the Most High, men will resent your unflinching
fidelity, since it is a testimony against their iniquities.
Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You will
need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course
which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but
for the love of Jesus you must thus be courageous. For the
truth's sake to hazard reputation and affection, is such a deed
that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral
principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn
not your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right
manfully in your Master's steps, for He has traversed this rough
way before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than
false peace and everlasting torment.

* 12/29/PM

"What think ye of Christ?"
                                                 --Matthew 22:42

   The great test of your soul's health is, What think you of
Christ? Is He to you "fairer than the children of men"--"the
chief among ten thousand"--the "altogether lovely"? Wherever
Christ is thus esteemed, all the faculties of the spiritual man
exercise themselves with energy. I will judge of your piety by
this barometer: does Christ stand high or low with you? If you
have thought little of Christ, if you have been content to live
without His presence, if you have cared little for His honour,
if you have been neglectful of His laws, then I know that your
soul is sick--God grant that it may not be sick unto death! But
if the first thought of your spirit has been, How can I honour
Jesus? If the daily desire of your soul has been, "O that I knew
where I might find Him!" I tell you that you may have a thousand
infirmities, and even scarcely know whether you are a child of
God at all, and yet I am persuaded, beyond a doubt, that you are
safe, since Jesus is great in your esteem. I care not for thy
rags, what thinkest thou of His royal apparel? I care not for
thy wounds, though they bleed in torrents, what thinkest thou of
His wounds? are they like glittering rubies in thine esteem? I
think none the less of thee, though thou liest like Lazarus on
the dunghill, and the dogs do lick thee--I judge thee not by thy
poverty: what thinkest thou of the King in His beauty? Has He a
glorious high throne in thy heart? Wouldst thou set Him higher
if thou couldst? Wouldst thou be willing to die if thou couldst
but add another trumpet to the strain which proclaims His
praise? Ah! then it is well with thee. Whatever thou mayst think
of thyself, if Christ be great to thee, thou shalt be with Him
ere long.

            "Though all the world my choice deride,
            Yet Jesus shall my portion be;
            For I am pleased with none beside,
            The fairest of the fair is He"

* 12/30/PM

"Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?"
                                                 --2 Samuel 2:26

   If, O my reader! thou art merely a professor, and not a
possessor of the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the following
lines are a true ketch of thine end.

   You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go
because others go, not because your heart is right with God.
This is your beginning. I will suppose that for the next twenty
or thirty years you will be spared to go on as you do now,
professing religion by an outward attendance upon the means of
grace, but having no heart in the matter. Tread softly, for I
must show you the deathbed of such a one as yourself. Let us
gaze upon him gently. A clammy sweat is on his brow, and he
wakes up crying, "O God, it is hard to die. Did you send for my
minister?" "Yes, he is coming." The minister comes. "Sir, I fear
that I am dying!" "Have you any hope?" "I cannot say that I
have. I fear to stand before my God; oh! pray for me." The
prayer is offered for him with sincere earnestness, and the way
of salvation is for the ten-thousandth time put before him, but
before he has grasped the rope, I see him sink. I may put my
finger upon those cold eyelids, for they will never see anything
here again. But where is the man, and where are the man's true
eyes? It is written, "In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in
torment." Ah! why did he not lift up his eyes before? Because he
was so accustomed to hear the gospel that his soul slept under
it. Alas! if you should lift up your eyes there, how bitter will
be your wailings. Let the Saviour's own words reveal the woe:
"Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this
flame." There is a frightful meaning in those words. May you
never have to spell it out by the red light of Jehovah's wrath!

* 12/31/PM

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved."
                                                 --Jeremiah 8:20

   Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight?
Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life,
and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of
salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the
pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect
it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without
excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy
Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which
has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have
come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ.
All these hopeful seasons have come and gone--your summer and
your harvest have past--and yet you are not saved. Years have
followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon
be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not
saved. Let me ask you--will you ever be saved? Is there any
likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left
you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means
have failed with you--the best of means, used perseveringly and
with the utmost affection--what more can be done for you?
Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you;
tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren
heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being
saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you
are till death for ever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil
from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is
not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy
to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it
ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will arrive, and
that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till you are
in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread
probability that you will soon be cast into it!

   Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words
can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood,
talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be
punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the
Lord, and from the glory of His power. A brother's voice would
fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time,
and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to
save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely
thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well;
and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of
all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an
unforgiven spirit. Let not the new year's midnight peals sound
upon a joyless spirit! Now, NOW, NOW believe, and live.

                    "ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE;
                    LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE,
                      NEITHER STAY THOU
                      IN ALL THE PLAIN;
                   ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN,
                   LEST THOU BE CONSUMED."
*