Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t29550

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29551
 October 16                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29552
 October 17                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29553
 October 18                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29554
 October 19                                               Evening

 \\"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.
29555
 October 20                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29556
 October 21                                               Evening

 \\"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."

29557
 October 22                                               Evening

 \\"He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you."\\
                                                     --John 16:15

    There are times when all the promises and 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.
29558
 October 23                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29559
 October 24                                               Evening

 \\"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\\?

29560
 October 25                                               Evening


 \\"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.

29561
 October 26                                               Evening

 \\"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 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
 Jesus' spirit, that henceforth we may live not unto ourselves!
29562
 October 27                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29563
 October 28                                               Evening

 \\"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 ever living 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
 Melchizedek; 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.

29564
 October 29                                               Evening

 \\"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!

29565
 October 30                                               Evening

 \\"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.

29566
 October 31                                               Evening


 \\"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!"

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