_THE LORD IS AT HAND!_
"_Ye know not what hour your Lord doth come._"
--MATTHEW xxiv. 42-51.
Then let me always live as though my Lord were at the gate! Let me arrange
my affairs on the assumption that the next to lift the latch will be the
King. When I am out with my friend, walking and talking, let me assume
that just round the corner I may meet the Lord.
And so let me practise meeting Him! Said a mother to me one day concerning
her long-absent boy: "I lay a place for him at every meal! His seat is
always ready!" May I not do this for my Lord? May I not make a place for
Him in all my affairs--my choices, my pleasures, my times of business, my
season of rest? He may come just now; let His place be ready!
If He delay, I must not become careless. If He give me further liberty, I
must not take liberties with it. Here is the golden principle, ever to
live, ever to think, ever to work as though the Lord had already arrived.
For indeed, He has, and when the veil is rent I shall find Him at my
side.