You can furnish one Christian life. You can furnish a life so faithful
to every duty, so ready for every service, so determined not to commit
every sin, that the great Christian church shall be the stronger for
your living in it, and the problem of the world be answered, and a
certain great peace come into this poor, perplexed, phase of our
humanity as it sees that new revelation of what Christianity
is.--_Phillips Brooks._
=June 16th.=
_I know whom I have believed. 2 Tim. i. 12._
Personal acquaintance with Christ is a living thing. Like a tree that
uses every hour for growth, it thrives in sunshine, it is refreshed by
rain--even the storm drives it to fasten its grip more firmly in the
earth for its support. So, troubled heart, in all experience, say, "This
comes that I may make closer acquaintance with my Lord."--_Selected._
=June 17th.=
_Wait for the promise of the Father. Acts i. 4._
_When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place . . . and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost. Acts ii. 1, 4._
Obedience to a divine prompting transforms it into a permanent
acquisition.--_F. B. Meyer._
=June 18th.=
_We have known and believed the love that God hath to
us. 1 John iv. 16._
The secret of walking closely with Christ, and working successfully for
Him, is to fully realize that we are His beloved. Let us but feel that
He has set His heart upon us, that He is watching us from those heavens
with tender interest, that He is working out the mystery of our lives
with solicitude and fondness, that He is following us day by day as a
mother follows her babe in his first attempt to walk alone, that He has
set His love upon us, and, in spite of ourselves, is working out for us
His highest will and blessing, as far as we will let Him, and then
nothing can discourage us. Our hearts will glow with responsive love.
Our faith will spring to meet His mighty promises, and our sacrifices
shall become the very luxuries of love for one so dear. This was the
secret of John's spirit. "We have known and believed the love that God
hath to us." And the heart that has fully learned this has found the
secret of unbounded faith and enthusiastic service.--_A. B. Simpson._
=June 19th.=
_Endure . . . as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Tim.
ii. 3._
Life is not victory, but battle. Be patient a little longer. By and by,
each in his turn, we shall hear the sunset gun.--_Selected._
=June 20th.=
_Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me,
cannot be my disciple. Luke xiv. 27._
There is always the shadow of the cross resting upon the Christian's
path. Is that a reason why you should avoid or not undertake the duty?
Have you made up your mind that you will follow your Master everywhere
else, save when he ascends the path that leads to the cross? Is that
your religion? The sooner you change it, the better. The religion of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the religion of the cross, and unless we take up
our cross, we can never follow Him.--_W. Hay Aitken._
=June 21st.=
_These . . . have turned the world upside down. Acts
xvii. 6._
The serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the
world next to the might of God.--_Pascal._
=June 22nd.=
_What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know
hereafter. John xiii. 7._
God keeps a school for His children here on earth and one of His best
teachers is Disappointment. My friend, when you and I reach our Father's
house, we shall look back and see that the sharp-voiced, rough; visaged
teacher, Disappointment, was one of the best guides to train us for it.
He gave us hard lessons; he often used the rod; he often led us into
thorny paths; he sometimes stripped off a load of luxuries; but that
only made us travel the freer and the faster on our heavenward way. He
sometimes led us down into the valley of the death-shadow; but never did
the promises read so sweetly as when spelled out by the eye of faith in
that very valley. Nowhere did he lead us so often, or teach us such
sacred lessons, as at the cross of Christ. Dear, old, rough-handed
teacher! We will build a monument to thee yet, and crown it with
garlands, and inscribe on it: _Blessed be the memory of
Disappointment!_--_Theodore Cuyler._
=June 23rd.=
_As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii.
25._
_I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me. Phil. iv. 13._
He will not impose upon you one needless burden. He will not exact more
than He knows your strength will bear. He will ask no Peter to come to
Him on the water, unless He impart at the same time strength and support
on the unstable waves. He will not ask you to draw water if the well is
too deep, or to withdraw the stone if too heavy. But neither at the
same time will He admit as an impossibility that which, as a free and
responsible agent, it is in your power to avert. He will not regard as
your misfortune what is your crime.--_Macduff._
=June 24th.=
_Thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Acts
viii. 21._
The worst of all mockeries is a religion that leaves the heart
unchanged: a religion that has _everything_ but the love of Christ
enshrined in the soul.--_F. Whitfield._
=June 25th.=
_The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them. Acts xiii.
2._
We have such a nice little quiet, shady corner in the vineyard, down
among the tender grapes, with such easy little weedings and waterings to
attend to. And then the Master comes and draws us out into the thick of
the work, and puts us in a part of the field where we never should have
thought of going, and puts larger tools into our hands, that we may do
more at a stroke. And we know we are not sufficient for these things,
and the very tools seem too heavy for us, and the glare too dazzling and
the vines too tall. Ah! but would we dally, go back? He would not be in
the shady corner with us now; for when He put us forth He went before
us, and it is only by closer following that we can abide with
Him.--_Frances Ridley Havergal._
=June 26th.=
_Small things. Zech. iv. 10._
It is the little words you speak, the little thoughts you think, the
little things you do or leave undone, the little moments you waste or
use wisely, the little temptations which you yield to or overcome--the
little things of every day that are making or marring your future
life.--_Selected._
=June 27th.=
_Be perfect, be of good comfort. 2 Cor. xiii. 11._
A glance at the words is enough to make us feel how contradictory they
are. _Be perfect_--that is a word that strikes us with despair; at once
we feel how far away we are from our own poor ideal, and alas! how much
further from God's ideal concerning us. _Be of good comfort_--ah, that
is very different! That seems to say, "Do not fret; do not fear. If you
are not what you would be, you must be thankful for what you are."
Now the question is this--How can these two be reconciled?
It is only the religion of Jesus Christ that reconciles them. He stands
in our midst, and with the right hand of His righteousness He pointeth
us upward, and saith, "Be perfect." There is no resting-place short of
that. Yet with the left hand of His love He doth encompass us, as He
saith, "Soul, be of good comfort; for that is what I came to do for
thee."--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=June 28th.=
_Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect. Matt. v. 48._
Seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit, let us aim at perfection. Let every
day see some sin crucified, some battle fought, some good done, some
victory won; let every fall be followed by a rise, and every step gained
become, not a resting-place, but a new starting-point for further and
higher progress.--_Guthrie._
=June 29th.=
_Sleep on now, and take your rest. Mark xiv. 41._
Never did that sacred opportunity to watch with Christ return to His
disciples. Lost then, it was lost forever. And now when Jesus is still
beholding the travail of His soul in the redemption of the world, if you
fail to be with Him watching for souls as they that must give account,
remember that the opportunity will never return. "Watch, therefore,"
says your Lord, "lest coming suddenly, He may find you sleeping."--_A.
J. Gordon._
=June 30th.=
_Let us not sleep, as do others. 1 Thess. v. 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."
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.--_Spurgeon._
[Illustration: JULY]
=July 1st.=
_He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear
not. Rev. i. 17._
One of Wellington's officers, when commanded to go on some perilous
duty, lingered a moment as if afraid, and then said:
"Let me have one clasp of your all-conquering hand before I go; and then
I can do it."
Seek the clasp of Christ's hand before every bit of work, every hard
task, every battle, every good deed. Bend your head in the dewy
freshness of every morning, ere you go forth to meet the day's duties
and perils, and wait for the benediction of Christ, as He lays His hands
upon you. They are hands of blessing. Their touch will inspire you for
courage and strength and all beautiful and noble living.--_J. R.
Miller._
=July 2nd.=
_Being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Acts i. 3._
This lingering for forty days is the crowning proof of Christ's tender
regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is
loath to leave them. Though they had forsaken Him, and doubted Him, they
had not wearied, much less had they worn out, His love. He stays to look
again, and yet again, and yet again, upon them, as if turning back and
lingering to bless them. It is all of a piece with His life of love.
Everywhere He meets them without a touch of upbraiding, without
recalling a single memory of all His bitter suffering, revealing Himself
to the disciples with a tenderness and blessedness indescribably
beautiful.
How can He go till He has healed the Magdalene's broken heart? He must
linger till poor Peter can venture near to have his forgiveness assured.
He must stay to strengthen Thomas' faith. He must tarry with them till
He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus
that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with
a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth, and to cook
the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.--_Mark Guy
Pearse._
=July 3rd.=
_Jesus, . . . being wearied with His journey, sat thus
on the well. . . . (For His disciples were gone away unto
the city to buy meat.) . . . And many of the Samaritans
of that city believed on Him for the saying of the
woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I
did. John iv. 6, 8, 39._
The bits of wayside work are very sweet. Perhaps the odd bits, when
all is done, will really come to more than the seemingly greater
pieces! . . . It is nice to know that the King's servants are always
really on duty, even while some can only stand and wait.--_Frances
Ridley Havergal._
=July 4th.=
_Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you . . .
let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. John xiv. 27._
Dark hours come to us all; and if we have no clew to a peace that can
pass unbroken through their murky gloom, we shall be in a state of
continual dread. Any stone flung by a chance passer-by may break the
crystal clearness of the Lake of Peace and send disturbing ripples
across it, unless we have learnt to trust in the perpetual presence of
Him who can make and keep a "great calm" within the soul. Only let
nothing come to you which you shall not instantly hand over to Him--all
petty worries, all crushing difficulties, all inability to believe.--_F.
B. Meyer._
=July 5th.=
_Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi. Gen. xxv. 11._
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. 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! Glorious Lord, constrain us that we may never leave Thee, but
dwell by the well of the living God!--_Spurgeon._
=July 6th.=
_Judas Iscariot . . . was a thief, and had the bag, and
bore what was put therein. John xii. 4, 6._
_Freely ye have received, freely give. Matt. x. 8._
Ah, but if we should go thoroughly into this matter, should we not
probably find that many of us are guilty, in some modified and yet
sufficiently alarming sense, of treachery to the poor? Are we not, some
of us, sent to them with benefactions which never reach them, and are
only unconscious of guilt because so long accustomed to look upon the
goods as bestowed on us, whereas the light of God's word would plainly
reveal upon those goods the names of the poor and needy?--_George
Bowen._
=July 7th.=
_Let every man take heed how he buildeth. 1 Cor. iii.
10._
Our business is not to build quickly, but to build upon a right
foundation, and in a right spirit. Life is more than a mere competition
as between man and man; it is not who can be done first, but who can
work best; it is not who can rise highest in the shortest time, but who
is working most patiently and lovingly in accordance with the designs of
God.--_Joseph Parker._
=July 8th.=
_As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii.
25._
No day without its duty; no duty without strength to perform
it.--_Selected._
=July 9th.=
_Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.
Gen. xxviii. 16._
"Surely the Lord was in this place, and I knew it not." My soul, this is
also thine experience! How often hast thou said in thy sorrow, "Verily
thou art a God that hidest Thyself!" How often hast thou slept for very
heaviness of heart, and desired not to wake again! And when thou didst
wake again, lo, the darkness was all a dream! Thy vision of yesterday
was a delusion. God had been with thee all the night with that radiance
which has no need of the sun.
O my soul, it is not only after the future thou must aspire; thou must
aspire to see the glory of thy past. Thou must find the glory of that
way by which thy God has led thee, and be able even of thy sorrow to
say, "This was the gate of heaven!"--_George Matheson._
=July 10th.=
_My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. John
iv. 34._
The real secret of an unsatisfied life lies too often in an
unsurrendered will.--_J. Hudson Taylor._
=July 11th.=
_Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. 2
Pet. i. 5._
You will find it less easy to unroot faults than to choke them by
gaining virtues. Do not think of your faults, still less of others'
faults; in every person who comes near you look for what is good and
strong; honor that; rejoice in it, and, as you can, try to imitate it;
and your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time
comes.--_John Ruskin._
=July 12th.=
_Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon
my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Song
of Sol. iv. 16._
Sometimes God sends severe blasts of trial upon His children to develop
their graces. Just as torches burn most brightly when swung violently to
and fro; just as the juniper plant smells sweetest when flung into the
flames; so the richest qualities of a Christian often come out under the
north wind of suffering and adversity. Bruised hearts often emit the
fragrance that God loveth to smell. Almost every true believer's
experience contains the record of trials which were sent for the purpose
of shaking the spice tree.--_Theodore Cuyler._
=July 13th.=
_Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon
my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Song
of Sol. iv. 16._
There are two winds mentioned in this beautiful prayer. God may send
either or both, as seemeth Him good. He may send the north wind of
conviction, to bring us to repentance, or He may send the south wind of
love, to melt us into gratitude and holy joy. If we often require the
sharp blasts of trial to develop our graces, do we not also need the
warm south breezes of His mercy? Do we not need the new sense of
Christ's presence in our hearts and the joys of the Holy Ghost? Do we
not need to be melted, yes, to be overpowered by the love of
Jesus?--_Theodore Cuyler._
=July 14th.=
_Behold the man! John xix. 5._
"Behold the man!" was Pilate's jeer. That is what all the ages have been
doing since, and the vision has grown more and more glorious. As they
have looked, the crown of thorns has become a crown of golden radiance,
and the cast-off robe has glistened like the garments He wore on the
night of the transfiguration. Martyrs have smiled in the flames at that
vision. Sinners have turned at it to a new life. Little children have
seen it, and have had awakened by it dim recollections of their
heaven-home. Toward it the souls of men yearn ever.--_Robert E. Speer._
=July 15th.=
_He (John) saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two
disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
John i. 36, 37._
To be a Christian means to know the presence of a true personal Christ
among us, and to follow.--_Phillips Brooks._
=July 16th.=
_Ye shall not eat of it. Gen. iii. 3._
The Sin of Paradise was eating the tree of knowledge before the tree of
life. Life must ever be first. Knowing and not being, hearing and not
doing, admiring and not possessing, all are light without
life.--_Selected._
=July 17th.=
_Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James i. 4._
Are you where God would have you be? If not, come out, and at once, for
you certainly ought not to be there. If you are, then be afraid to
complain of circumstances which God has ordained on purpose to work out
in you the very image and likeness of His Son.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=July 18th.=
_Sow beside all waters. Isa. xxxii. 20._
Never mind whereabouts your work is. Never mind whether it be visible or
not. Never mind whether your name is associated with it. You may never
see the issues of your toils. You are working for eternity. If you
cannot see results here in the hot working day, the cool evening hours
are drawing near, when you may rest from your labors and then they will
follow you. So do your duty, and trust God to give the seed you sow "a
body as it hath pleased Him,"--_Alex. McLaren._
=July 19th.=
_Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Psa. cxix.
117._
Do not spoil the chime of this morning's bells by ringing one half a
peal! Do not say, "Hold thou me up," and stop there, or add, "But all
the same I shall stumble and fall!" Finish the peal with God's own
music, the bright words of faith that He puts into your mouth: "Hold
thou me up, _and I shall be safe!_"--_Frances Ridley Havergal._
=July 20th.=
_Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy.
Matt. viii. 6._
We, in this age of the church, are in the position of that sick servant
at Capernaum. To the eye of sense we are separated from the Savior. We
see Him not--we can touch Him not--the hand cannot steal amid the crowd
to catch His garment hem--we cannot hear His loved footsteps as of old
on our threshold; but faith penetrates the invisible; the
messenger--prayer--meets Him in the streets of the New Jerusalem; and
faith and prayer together, the twin delegates from His church below, He
has never yet sent empty away.--_Macduff._
=July 21st.=
_Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling:
for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. Phil. ii. 12, 13._
What a staggering weight of thought is excited by these words! Stay, my
soul, and wonder that the Eternal God should stoop to work within thy
narrow limits. Is it not a marvel indeed, that He, whom the heavens
cannot contain, and in whose sight they are not clean, should trouble
Himself to work on such material, so unpromising, and amidst
circumstances so uncongenial?
How careful should we be to make Him welcome, and to throw no hindrance
in His way! How eager to garner up all the least movements of His
gracious operation, as the machinist conserves the force of his engine;
and as the goldsmith, with miserly care, collects every flake of gold
leaf! Surely we shall be sensible of the _fear_ of holy reverence and
the _trembling_ of eager anxiety; as we "work out," into daily act and
life, all that God our Father is "working in."--_F. B. Meyer._
=July 22nd.=
_. . . Sinners of whom I am chief. . . . Now unto the
King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Tim. i.
15, 17._
Only those who have struck the deepest note of penitence can reach the
highest note of praise.--_A. J. Gordon._
=July 23rd.=
_Blessed is the man . . . that keepeth the Sabbath. Isa.
lvi. 2._
The Sabbath is the savings-bank of human life, into which we deposit one
day in seven to be repaid in the autumn of life with compound
interest.--_Selected._
=July 24th.=
_Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Psa. xix. 12._
The world wants men who are saved from secret faults. The world can put
on an outside goodness and go very far in uprightness and morality, and
it expects that a Christian shall go beyond it, and be free from secret
faults. A little crack will spoil the ring of the coin. . . . The world
expects, and rightly, that the Christian should be more gentle, and
patient, and generous, than he who does not profess to be a disciple of
the Lord Jesus. For the sake of those who take their notion of religion
from our lives, we need to put up this prayer earnestly, "Cleanse thou
me from secret faults."--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=July 25th.=
_Do thou that which is good. 2 Kings x. 5._
Keep as few good intentions hovering about as possible. They are like
ghosts haunting a dwelling. The way to lay them is to find bodies for
them. When they are embodied in substantial deeds they are no longer
dangerous.--_William Arnot._
=July 26th.=
_Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. iii. 18._
Grace has its dawn as well as day; grace has its green blade, and
afterwards its ripe corn in the ear; grace has its babes and its men in
Christ. With God's work there, as with all His works, "in all places of
His dominion," progress is both the prelude and the path to perfection.
Therefore we are exhorted to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to go on to perfection, saying with Paul,
"I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus."--_Guthrie._
=July 27th.=
_Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived,
and by it slew me. Rom. vii. 11._
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
Savior, and you will see it to be "exceeding sinful."--_Spurgeon._
=July 28th.=
_Your heavenly Father knoweth. Matt. vi. 32._
The Master judges by the result, but our Father judges by the effort.
Failure does not always mean fault. He knows how much things cost, and
weighs them where others only measure. Your Father! Think how great
store His love sets by the poor beginnings of the little ones, clumsy
and unmeaning as they may be to others. All this lies in this blessed
relationship, and infinitely more. Do not fear to take it all as your
own.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=July 29th.=
_Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col. iii. 3._
It is neither talent, nor power, nor gifts that do the work of God, but
it is that which lies within the power of the humblest; it is the
simple, earnest life hid with Christ in God.--_F. W. Robertson._
=July 30th.=
_The mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no
wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do
with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith
unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do
it. John ii. 3, 4, 5._
In asking for temporal blessings, true wisdom lies in putting the matter
into the Lord's hand, and leaving it there. He knows our sorrows, and,
if He sees it is good for us that the water should be turned into wine,
He will do it. It is not for us to dictate: He sees what is best for us.
When we ask for prosperity, perhaps the thing which we should have is
trial. When we want to be relieved of a "thorn in the flesh," He knows
what we should have is an apprehension of the fact that His grace is
sufficient for us. So we are put into His school, and have to learn the
lessons He has to teach us.--_W. Hay Aitken._
=July 31st.=
_Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall. 1 Cor x. 12._
Angels fell in heaven, Adam in paradise, Peter in Christ's
presence.--_Theophilus Polwheile._
[Illustration: AUGUST]
=August 1st.=
_Continue in prayer. Col. iv. 2._
The greatest and the best talent that God gives to any man or woman in
this world is the talent of prayer. And the best usury that any man or
woman brings back to God when He comes to reckon with them at the end
of this world is a life of prayer. And those servants best put their
Lord's money to the exchangers who rise early and sit late, as long as
they are in this world, ever finding out, and ever following after
better and better methods of prayer, and ever forming more secret, more
steadfast, and more spiritually fruitful habits of prayer, till they
literally pray without ceasing, and till they continually strike out
into new enterprises in prayer, and new achievements, and new
enrichments.--_Alex. Whyte._
=August 2nd.=
_He entered into one of the ships . . . and . . . sat
down. Luke v. iii._
When Jesus sits in the ship everything is in its right place. The cargo
is in the hold, _not in the heart_. Cares and gains, fears and losses,
yesterday's failure and today's success do not thrust themselves in
between us and His presence. The heart cleaves to _Him_. "Goodness and
mercy shall _follow_ me," sang the psalmist. Alas, when the goodness and
mercy come before us, and our blessings shut Jesus from view! Here is
the blessed order--the Lord ever first, I following Him, His goodness
and mercy following me.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=August 3rd.=
_Now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of
light. Eph. v. 8._
We do not realize the importance of the unconscious part of our life
ministry. It goes on continually. In every greeting we give to another
on the street, in every moment's conversation, in every letter we write,
in every contact with other lives, there is a subtle influence that goes
from us that often reaches further, and leaves a deep impression than
the things themselves that we are doing at the time. It is not so much
what we _do_ in this world as what we _are_, that tells in spiritual
results and impressions.--_J. R. Miller._
=August 4th.=
_Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Eph. ii.
10._
Let us ask Him to work in us to _will_ those good works, so that our
_will_, without being impaired in its free operation, may be permeated
and moulded by His will, just as light suffuses the atmosphere without
displacing it. And let us also expect that He will infuse into us
sufficient strength that we may be able to _do_ His will unto all
pleasing. Thus, day by day, our life will be a manifestation of those
holy volitions and lovely deeds which shall attest the indwelling and
inworking of God. And men shall see our good works, and glorify our
Father which is in heaven.--_F. B. Meyer._
=August 5th.=
_Go in this thy might . . . have not I sent thee? Judges
vi. 14._
God never leaves His child to fail when in the path of
obedience.--_Theodore Cuyler._
=August 6th.=
_Set your affection on things above, not on things on
the earth. Col. iii. 2._
_Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might. Eccles. ix. 10._
If we are to live separate from the world, how, since men only do well
what they do with a will, are we, with affections fixed on things above,
to perform aright the secular, ordinary duties of life? If our hearts
are engrossed with heavenly things, how are we to obey this other, and
equally divine, commandment, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
with thy might"?
The two are perfectly consistent. Man standing between the celestial and
terrestrial worlds is related to both; and resembling neither a flower,
which, springing from the dust and returning to it, belongs altogether
to the earth, nor a star which, shining far remote from its lower
sphere, belongs altogether to the heavens, our hearts may be fitly
likened to the rainbow that, rising into heaven but resting on earth,
is connected both with the clods of the valley and the clouds of the
sky.--_Guthrie._
=August 7th.=
_Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Heb.
xii. 1, 2._
Think, as you sit here, of anything that you are doing that is wrong, of
any habit of your life, of your self-indulgence, or of that great,
pervasive habit of your life which makes you a creature of the present
instead of the eternities, a creature of the material earth instead of
the glorious skies. Ask yourself of any habit that belongs to your own
personal life, and bring it face to face with Jesus Christ.--_Phillips
Brooks._
=August 8th.=
_They took knowledge of them, that they had been with
Jesus. Acts iv. 13._
If I think of the world, I get the impress of the world; if I think of
my trials and sorrows, I get the impress of my trials and sorrows; if I
think of my failures, I get the impress of my failures; if I think of
Christ, I get the impress of Christ.--_Selected._
=August 9th.=
_Ye call me Teacher, and Lord: and ye say well; for so
I am. John xiii. 13. (R. V. margin)._
How wonderful a Teacher we have! Sometimes we seek Him in the house, but
He is not there. We go forth seeking Him and find Him perhaps in the
wilderness or on a mountain praying, or leading some poor blind man by
the hand, or eating with publicans or sinners, or asleep in a storm or
conversing with a Samaritan woman, or surrounded by wrathful men, or
bearing a cross. It is not merely His words that instruct. His place,
His occupation, His companions, His environment, His garment, His
silence, His submission--all teem with instruction. And they that learn
of Him are made like unto Him.--_George Bowen._
=August 10th.=
_The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the
world. 1 John iv. 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 Savior of men. . . . 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
Savior see the love of the great I AM. Let every thought of Jesus be
also connected with the eternal, ever-blessed God.--_Spurgeon._
=August 11th.=
_They that wait upon the Lord shall change their
strength. Isa. xl. 31. (R. V.)_
Lord, what a change within us one short hour
Spent in Thy presence will prevail to make!
What heavy burdens from our bosoms take!
What parched grounds refresh as with a shower!
We kneel--and all around us seems to lower.
We rise--and all the distant and the near
Stand forth in sunny outline, brave and clear.
We kneel--how weak: we rise--how full of power.
Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong
Or others--that we are not always strong;
That we are ever overborne with care;
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, while with _us_ is prayer,
And joy and strength and courage are with _Thee_?
--_Archbishop Trench._
=August 12th.=
_As for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee
so to do. Deut. xviii. 14._
What a stepping-stone! We give thanks, often with a tearful, doubtful
voice, for our spiritual mercies _positive_; but what an almost infinite
field there is for mercies _negative_! We cannot even imagine all that
God has suffered us _not_ to do, _not_ to be.--_Frances Ridley
Havergal._
=August 13th.=
_Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was
moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their
sick. . . . And when He had sent the multitudes away,
He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the
evening was come He was there alone. Matt. xiv. 14, 23._
Do we, like Him, combine the two great elements of human character? Are
our _public_ duties, the cares, and business, and engrossments of the
world, finely tempered and hallowed by a _secret_ walk with God? If the
world were to follow us from its busy thoroughfares, would it trace us
to our family altars and our closet devotions?
Action and meditation are the two great components of Christian life,
and the perfection of the religious character is to find the two in
unison and harmony.--_Macduff._
=August 14th.=
_Leaving you an example, that ye should follow His
steps. 1 Pet. ii. 21. (R. V.)_
I have long since ceased to pray, "Lord Jesus, have compassion on a lost
world!" I remember the day and the hour when I seemed to hear the Lord
rebuking me for making such a prayer. He seemed to say to me, "I have
had compassion upon a lost world, and now it is for you to have
compassion."--_A. J. Gordon._
=August 15th.=
_Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Ex. xx. 3._
If you find yourself beginning to love any pleasure better than your
prayers, any book better than your Bible, any house better than God's,
any table better than the Lord's, any person better than your Savior,
any one better than your soul, a present indulgence better than the hope
of heaven--take alarm!--_Guthrie._
=August 16th.=
_Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 1
Cor. xi. 1._
When in the Mexican war the troops were wavering, a general rose in his
stirrups and dashed into the enemy's line, shouting, "Men, follow!"
They, seeing his courage and disposition, dashed on after him, and
gained the victory.
What men want to rally them for God is an example to lead them. All your
commands to others to advance amount to nothing so long as you stay
behind. To effect them aright, you need to start for heaven yourself,
looking back only to give the stirring cry of "Men, follow!"--_T. DeWitt
Talmage._
=August 17th.=
_Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Acts xx.
19._
There is a legend of an artist who long sought for a piece of
sandalwood, out of which to carve a Madonna. He was about to give up in
despair, leaving the vision of his life unrealized, when in a dream he
was bidden to carve his Madonna from a block of oak wood, which was
destined for the fire. He obeyed, and produced a masterpiece from a log
of common fire-wood.
Many of us lose great opportunities in life by waiting to find
sandalwood for our carvings, when they really lie hidden in the common
logs that we burn.--_Orison Swett Marden._
=August 18th.=
_My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor. xii. 9._
God's way of answering His people's prayers is not by removing the
pressure, but by increasing their strength to bear it. The pressure is
often the fence between the narrow way of life and the broad road to
ruin; and if our Heavenly Father were to remove it, it might be at the
sacrifice of heaven. Oh, if God had removed that thorny fence in answer,
often to earnest prayers, how many of us would now be castaways! How the
song of many a saint now in glory would be hushed! How many a harp would
be unstrung! How many a place in the mansions of the redeemed would be
unfilled! If God answered all the prayers we put up to heaven, we should
need no other scourge. Blessed it is that we have One who is too loving
to grant what we too often so rashly ask.--_F. Whitfield._
=August 19th.=
_Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more
can ye, except ye abide in me. John xv. 4._
From moment to moment, and from hour to hour, the inner nature of man is
to be continuously sustained with the life of God. Only as I am
constantly receiving His fulness into my emptiness am I really living in
the true, full, deep sense of the word, that life of eternity, which is
my privilege now, and will be my glory hereafter.--_W. Hay Aitken._
=August 20th.=
_By faith Noah . . . prepared an ark to the saving of
his house. Heb. xi. 7._
What a humble, what a modest sphere for the exercise of faith! One would
have said that the purpose was quite disproportionate to the work. The
ark was a great undertaking, but what was it undertaken for? To save his
own family. Is so narrow a sphere worthy to be the object of faith? Is
so commonplace a scene as the life of the family circle fit to be a
temple for the service of God? . . . My soul, when thou hast finished
thy prayers and ended thy meditations, do not say that thou hast left
the house of God. God's house shall to thee be everywhere, and thine own
house shall be a part of it. Thou shalt feel that all the duties of
this place are consecrated; that it is none other than the house of God
and one of the gates to heaven. Thou shalt feel that every one of its
duties is an act of high communion. Therefore be it thine to make thy
house _His_ house. Be it thine to consecrate each word and look and deed
in the social life of home. Be it thine to build thine ark of refuge for
the wants of common day; verily, thy labor of love shall be called an
act of faith.--_George Matheson._
=August 21st.=
_We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. Eph. ii. 10._
No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him. There is
always work, and tools to work withal, for those who will.--_J. B.
Lowell._
=August 22nd.=
_He . . . began to wash the disciples' feet. John xiii.
5._
We forget that Jesus Christ is the same to-day, when He is sitting on
the throne, as He was yesterday, when He trod the pathway of our world.
And in this forgetfulness how much we miss! What He was, that He is.
What He said, that He says. The Gospels are simply specimens of the life
that He is ever living; they are leaves torn out of the diary of His
unchangeable Being. To-day He is engaged in washing the feet of His
disciples, soiled with their wilderness journeyings. Yes, that charming
incident is having its fulfilment in thee, my friend, if only thou dost
not refuse the lowly loving offices of Him whom we call Master and Lord,
but who still girds Himself and comes forth to serve. And we must have
this incessant cleansing if we would keep right. It is not enough to
look back to a certain hour when we first knelt at the feet of the Son
of God for pardon; and heard Him say, "Thy sins, which are many, are all
forgiven." We need daily, hourly cleansing--from daily, hourly sin.--_F.
B. Meyer._
=August 23rd.=
_I am the Lord, I change not. Mal. iii. 6._
Our hope is not hung upon such untwisted thread as "I imagine so," or
"it is likely"; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor,
is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is
fastened with God's own hand and Christ's own strength to the strong
stake of God's unchanging nature.--_William Rutherford._
=August 24th.=
_I will cause the shower to come down in his season;
there shall be showers of blessing. Ezek. xxxiv. 26._
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." "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 blessings."
Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a
heavenly watering.--_Spurgeon._
=August 25th.=
_Nevertheless, at thy word. Luke v. 5._
Oh, what a blessed formula for us! This path of mine is dark,
mysterious, perplexing; _nevertheless, at Thy word_ I will go forward.
This trial of mine is cutting, sore for flesh and blood to bear. It is
hard to breathe through a broken heart, Thy will be done. But,
_nevertheless, at Thy word_ I will say, Even so, Father! This besetting
habit, or infirmity, or sin of mine, is difficult to crucify. It has
become part of myself--a second nature; to be severed from it would be
like the cutting off of a right hand, or the plucking out of a right
eye; _nevertheless, at Thy word_ I will lay aside every weight; this
idol I will utterly abolish. This righteousness of mine it is hard to
ignore; all these virtues, and amiabilities, and natural graces, it is
hard to believe that they dare not in any way be mixed up in the matter
of my salvation; and that I am to receive all from first to last as the
gift of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord. _Nevertheless, at Thy word_ I
will count all but loss for the excellency of His knowledge.--_Macduff._
=August 26th.=
_If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. 2 Tim.
ii. 12._
The photographer must have a negative, as he calls it, in order to
furnish you with a picture. Now, the earthly cross is the negative from
which the heavenly crown is to be made; the suffering and sorrow of the
present time determining the glory, honor and immortality of the life to
come.--_A. J. Gordon._
=August 27th.=
_The word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. 1
Pet. i. 23._
The Word abideth. The Jew hated it--but it lived on, while the veil was
torn away from the shrine which the Shekinah had forsaken, and while
Jerusalem itself was destroyed. The Greek derided it--but it has seen
his philosophy effete and his Acropolis in ruins. The Romans threw it
into the flames--but it rose from its ashes, and swooped down upon the
falling eagle. The reasoner cast it into the furnace, which his own
negligence had heated "seven times hotter than its wont"--but it came
out without the smell of fire. The formalist fastened serpents around it
to poison it--but it shook them off and felt no harm. The infidel cast
it overboard in a tempest of sophistry and sarcasm--but it rode
gallantly upon the crest of the proud waters. And it is living
still--yet heard in the loudest swelling of the storm--it has been
speaking all the while--it is speaking now!--_Punshon._
=August 28th.=
_Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Col. iii.
15._
Years ago one of our fleets was terribly shattered by a violent
gale--but it was found that some of the ships were unaffected by its
violence. They were in what mariners call "the eye of the storm." While
all around was desolation, they were safe. So it is with him who has the
peace of God in his heart.--_Pilkington._
=August 29th.=
_Ye serve the Lord Christ. Col. iii. 24._
Our business as Christians is to serve the Lord in every business of
life.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=August 30th.=
_Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. 1 John ii. 15._
If you will go to the banks of a little stream, and watch the flies that
come to bathe in it, you will notice that, while they plunge their
_bodies_ into the water, they keep their _wings_ high out of the water;
and, after swimming about a little while, they fly away with their wings
unwet through the sunny air. Now, that is the lesson for us. Here we are
immersed in the cares and business of the world; but let us keep the
wings of our soul, our faith and our love, out of the world, that, with
these unclogged, we may be ready to take our flight to heaven.--_J.
Inglis._
=August 31st.=
_I would have you without carefulness. 1 Cor. vii.
32._
Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear.
Rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you
are, will deliver you out of them. He has kept you hitherto--do you but
hold fast to His dear hand, and He will lead you safely through all
things; and when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His arms. Do not
look forward to what may happen to-morrow. The same everlasting Father
who cares for you to-day will take care of you to-morrow, and every day.
Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing
strength to bear it. Be at peace then, and put aside all anxious
thoughts and imaginations.--_Francis de Sales._
[Illustration: September]
=September 1st.=
_Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be
inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.
Ezek. xxxvi. 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. 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.--_Spurgeon._
=September 2nd.=
_Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season
we shall reap if we faint not. Gal. vi. 9._
The hours of this present life are the ages in embryo of the life to
come.--_A. J. Gordon._
=September 3rd.=
_My presence shall go with thee. Ex. xxxiii. 14._
We should never leave our prayer closets in the morning without having
concentrated our thoughts deeply and intensely on the fact of the actual
presence of God there with us, encompassing us, and filling the room as
literally as it fills heaven itself. It may not lead to any distinct
results at first, but, as we make repeated efforts to realize the
presence of God, it will become increasingly real to us. And, as the
habit grows upon us, when alone in a room, or when treading the sward of
some natural woodland temple, or when pacing the stony street--in the
silence of night, or amid the teeming crowds of daylight--we shall often
find ourselves whispering the words, "Thou art near; thou art here, O
Lord."--_F. B. Meyer._
=September 4th.=
_To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness.
Dan. ix. 9._
As a spring lock closes itself, but cannot be unlocked without a key, so
we ourselves may run into sin, but cannot return without the key of
God's grace.--_Cawdray._
=September 5th.=
_It is high time to awake out of sleep. Rom. xiii.
11._
I have heard of a painter who loved to work by the morning light. He
said that the colors were better understood by the light of the early
day, and so he was wont to be in his studio waiting for the rising of
the sun. Then every moment it grew lighter, and he found he could
accomplish things which he could not reach if he waited till the day had
advanced.
Is there not work waiting for us--work that no one else can do--work,
too, that the Master has promised to help us perform? Shall He come and
find that we still sleep? Or shall the Son of Righteousness, when He
appears, find us waiting, as that painter waited, looking and longing
for the first gleam of day? Surely those of us who thus wait on the Lord
shall renew our strength, and, eagle-like, rise to greet the
Sun.--_Thomas Champness._
=September 6th.=
_The church of God, which He hath purchased with His
own blood. Acts xx. 28._
Surely He may do what He will with His own. The price He has paid to
make them His own is a sufficient guarantee that He will never make
light of anything in which their welfare is at all concerned. We are
precious to Him by the virtue of the blood which He has shed for us, and
for Him to be found at any time wanting in solicitude for our happiness
would be for Him to treat that blood of His as the sinners of this world
treat it. The persuasion of Christ's love must be graven in our hearts
so deeply that no semblance of indifference on His part will ever make
the slightest impression upon us. This is the victory which overcometh
the world.--_George Bowen._
=September 7th.=
_The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the
power of the Holy Ghost. Rom. xv. 13._
In spiritual as in earthly things there is great strength in hope, and,
therefore, God's people are carefully to cultivate that grace. A
well-grounded hope that, having been made new creatures in Jesus Christ,
we are His; that with our names, though unknown to fame, written in the
Book of Life, we have grace in possession and heaven in prospect; that
after a few more brief years, pure as the angels that sing before the
throne, we shall be brought with gladness into the palace of the King,
to be like Christ and with Christ, seeing Him eye to eye and face to
face--such hopes are powerful springs of action.--_Guthrie._
=September 8th.=
_He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him, even
length of days or ever and ever. Psa. xxi. 4._
When poor men make requests of us we usually answer them as the echo
does the voice--the answer cuts off half the petition. We shall seldom
find among men Jael's courtesy, giving milk to those that ask water,
except it be as this was, an entangling benefit, the better to introduce
a mischief. There are not many Naamans among us, that, when you beg of
them one talent, will force you to take two; but God's answer to our
prayers is like a multiplying glass, which renders the request much
greater in the answer than it was in the prayer.--_Bishop Reynolds._
=September 9th.=
_This beginning of miracles did Jesus. John ii. 11._
It was out of the common thing that the precious thing was brought; and
it is out of the common things of daily life, presented obediently to
Jesus and laid at His feet, that He brings His own glorious gifts, so
that our whole lives become one great sacrament.--_W. Hay Aitken._
=September 10th.=
_In the daytime . . . He led them with a cloud, and all
the night with a light of fire. Psa. lxxviii. 14._
My day is my prosperity; it is the time when the sun of fortune is
bright above me, and, therefore, it is the time when I need a shade. If
my sunshine were not chequered I would forget Thee, O my God.
But I have nights to meet as well as days. The night is my adversity; it
is the time when the sun of fortune has gone down behind the hills, and
I am left alone, and then it is, O my Father, that I need the light of
Thy fire! My light of fire for the night is the vision of Calvary--the
vision of Thy love in the Cross. I need the light of Thy fire "_all_ the
night."--_George Matheson._
=September 11th.=
_Now are we the sons of God: and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be; but we know that when He
shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. 1 John iii. 2._
"Now are we the sons of God." That is the pier upon one side of the
gulf. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when He shall appear
we shall be like Him." That is the pier on the other. How are the two to
be connected? There is only one way by which the present sonship will
blossom and fruit into the future perfect likeness, and that is, if we
throw across the gulf, by God's help day by day, the bridge of growing
likeness to Himself, and purity therefrom.--_Alex. McLaren._
=September 12th.=
_Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. Matt. xx. 18._
Never had there been such a going up to Jerusalem as that which Jesus
here proposes to His disciples. He goes up voluntarily. The act was not
enforced by any external compulsion. Jerusalem might at this time have
been avoided. It was deliberately sought. It was a going up to a triumph
to be reached through defeat, a coronation to be attained through
ignominy and humiliation.
O believer, in your walk through the world to-day, be strengthened, be
comforted, be inspired, by the spectacle of the Captain of your
salvation thus going up to Jerusalem! And remember, in all those
apparently _downward_ passages of life, where sorrow, and it may be
death, lie before you, that all such descents, made or endured in the
Spirit of Jesus, are really _upgoing_ steps, leading you to the mount of
God and the resurrection glory.--_J. B. Stratton._
=September 13th.=
_These were the potters, and those that dwelt among
plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for
his work. 1 Chron. iv. 23._
Anywhere and everywhere we may dwell "with the King for His work." We
may be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for this; it may be in a
little country life, with little enough to be seen of the "goings" of
the King around us; it may be among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in
all directions; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full of all
manner of pottery for our daily task. No matter! The King who placed us
"there" will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are all right, or
He would soon do away with them; and it does not follow that what seems
to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the
pottery, why, this is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our
hands, and therefore it is, for the present, "His work."--_Frances
Ridley Havergal._
=September 14th.=
I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which
thou shalt go; _I will guide thee with mine eye. Psa.
xxxii. 8._
When God does the directing, our life is useful and full of promise,
whatever it is doing; and discipline has its perfecting work.--_H. E.
Cobb._
=September 15th.=
_The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Matt. xx. 28._
We are so to surrender ourselves to Christ that this great purpose of
His coming shall claim and possess the whole life. We are to live, like
God, to bless others. This is His will, His purpose concerning us. This
is what His power waits to do for us. And this too, is the claim of His
great love upon us.
Do not sigh a poor assent to the truth of it, and then pass by
neglectfully on the other side. Do not think about it and pray about it
without even a passing hope that the prayer will be answered. Do not
gather yourself up in great resolutions to be good and useful. Kneel in
sight of the Crucified. In the cross of Christ spell out His great
purpose and yearning love to men. Let the heart feel all the might of
the appeal that comes to us from those torn hands and feet and bleeding
brow, from all the dreadful shame and agony of our dear Lord. And,
bought and bound by all this, surrender yourself to Him for His great
purpose. Take Him as your strength for this life-work.--_Mark Guy
Pearse._
=September 16th.=
_Jesus . . . went about doing good. Acts x. 38._
The finest of all fine arts is the art of doing good; and yet it is the
least cultivated.--_T. DeWitt Talmage._
=September 17th.=
_And the angel of the Lord said unto her [Hagar],
Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her
hands. Gen. xvi. 9._
SUBMISSION is a great Christian law, but we find it early in Genesis,
early in the history of mankind, and angel-given.--_Selected._
=September 18th.=
_Then spake Solomon . . . I have surely built thee an
house to dwell in. 1 Kings viii. 12, 13._
Solomon, the prince of peace, alone could build the temple. If we would
be soul-winners and build up the church, which is God's temple, let us
note this; not by discussion nor by argument, but by lifting up Christ
shall we draw men unto Him.--_J. Hudson Taylor._
=September 19th.=
_I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Isa.
xlviii. 10._
Does not the word come like a soft shower, assuaging the fury of the
flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armor, against which the heat hath no
power? Let affliction come--God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayest
stride in at my door--but God is in the house already, and He has chosen
me. Sickness, thou mayest 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. 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."--_Spurgeon._
=September 20th.=
_Base things of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen. 1 Cor. i. 28._
In some of the great halls of Europe may be seen pictures not painted
with the brush, but mosaics, which are made up of small pieces of stone,
glass, or other material. The artist takes these little pieces, and,
polishing and arranging them, he forms them into the grand and beautiful
picture. Each individual part of the picture may be a little worthless
piece of glass or marble or shell; but, with each in its place, the
whole constitutes the masterpiece of art.
So I think it will be with humanity in the hands of the great Artist.
God is picking up the little worthless pieces of stone and brass that
might be trodden under foot unnoticed, and is making of them His great
masterpiece.--_Bishop Simpson._
=September 21st.=
_Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His
presence with singing. Psa. c. 2._
God wants our life to be a song. He has written the music for us in His
Word and in the duties that come to us in our places and relations in
life. The things we ought to do are the notes set upon the staff. To
make our life beautiful music we must be obedient and submissive. Any
disobedience is the singing of a false note, and yields discord.--_J. R.
Miller._
=September 22nd.=
_When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when
thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is
in secret. Matt. vi. 6._
This is faith's stronghold; here she weapons herself for the daily
conflict. Silence in that closet of prayer bespeaks death throughout all
the house. When that door is suffered to rust on its hinges, and that
chamber is deserted, then the heart-house is soon retaken by Satan, and
evil spirits come in and dwell there.--_Theodore Cuyler._
=September 23rd.=
_Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Pet. i. 16._
The highway of holiness is along the commonest road of life--along your
very way. In wind and rain, no matter how it beats--it is only going
hand in hand with Him.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=September 24th.=
_And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that
thing which I do? Gen. xviii. 17._
Abraham, in communion with God, knew long before Lot, in Sodom, of the
destruction of that city. Oh for more communion!--_Selected._
=September 25th.=
_The life which I now live in the flesh. Gal. ii. 20._
I expect to pass through this world but once--therefore, if there be any
kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow human
being, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not
pass this way again.--_Marcus Aurelius._
=September 26th.=
_So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom. Psa. xc. 12._
Every day is a little life; and our whole life is but a day repeated:
whence it is that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires
to be taught this point of holy arithmetic--to number not his years, but
his days. Those, therefore, that dare lose a day, are dangerously
prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate.--_Bishop Hall._
=September 27th.=
_Christ in you the hope of glory. Col. i. 27._
Religion is not the simple fire-escape that you build in anticipation of
a possible danger, upon the outside of your dwelling, and leave there
until danger comes. You go to it some morning when a fire breaks out in
your house, and the poor old thing that you built up there, and thought
that you could use some day, is so rusty and broken, and the weather has
so beaten upon it and the sun so turned its hinges, that it will not
work. That is the condition of a man who has built himself what seems a
creed of faith, a trust in God in anticipation of the day when danger is
to overtake him, and has said to himself, I am safe, for I will take
refuge in it then. But religion is the house in which we live, it is the
table at which we sit, it is the fireside at which we draw near, the
room that arches its graceful and familiar presence over us; it is the
bed on which we lie and think of the past, and anticipate the future,
and gather our refreshment.--_Phillips Brooks._
=September 28th.=
_Wait for the promise of the Father. Acts i. 4._
Tarry at a promise till God meets you there. He always returns by way of
His promises.--_Selected._
=September 29th.=
_This is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. 1 John v. 4._
The world conquers me when it succeeds in hindering me from seeing,
loving, holding communion with, and serving my Father, God. I conquer it
when I lay my hand upon it and force it to help me to get nearer Him, to
get more like Him, to think oftener of Him, to do His will more gladly
and more constantly. The one victory over the world is to bend it to
serve me in the highest things--the attainment of a clearer vision of
the divine nature, the attainment of a deeper love to God Himself, and a
more glad consecration and service to Him. That is the victory--when you
can make the world a ladder to lift you to God. When the world comes
between you and God as an obscuring screen, it has conquered you. When
the world comes between you and God as a transparent medium you have
conquered it. To win victory is to get it beneath your feet and stand
upon it, and reach up thereby to God.--_Alex. McLaren._
=September 30th.=
_He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep
thee in all thy ways. Psa. xci. 11._
Count no duty too little, no round of life too small, no work too low,
if it come in thy way, since God thinks so much of it as to send His
angels to guard thee in it.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
[Illustration: October]
=October 1st.=
_At Jesus' feet. Luke x. 39._
At Jesus' feet--that is our place of privilege and of blessing, and here
it is that we are to be educated and fitted for the practical duties of
life. Here we are to renew our strength while we wait on Him, and to
learn how to mount on wings as eagles; and here we are to become
possessed of that true knowledge which is power. Here we are to learn
how real work is to be done, and to be armed with the true motive power
to do it. Here we are to find solace amidst both the trials of work--and
they are not few--and the trials of life in general; and here we are to
anticipate something of the blessedness of heaven amidst the days of
earth; for to sit at His feet is indeed to be in heavenly places, and to
gaze upon His glory is to do what we shall never tire of doing
yonder.--_W. Hay Aitken._
=October 2nd.=
_God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in
God, and God in him. 1 John iv. 16._
_God is love_; and it is good, as it is true, to think that every
sun-ray that touches the earth has the sun at the other end of it; so
every bit of love upon God's earth has God at the other end of
it.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
_October 3rd._
_They took knowledge of them that they had been with
Jesus. Acts iv. 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 would 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."--_Spurgeon._
=October 4th.=
_Be not afraid, only believe. Mark v. 36._
Be not downcast if difficulties and trials surround you in your heavenly
life. They may be purposely placed there by God to train and discipline
you for higher developments of faith. If He calls you to "toiling in
rowing," it may be to make you the hardier seaman, to lead you to lift
up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and, above all, to
drive you to a holier trust in Him who has the vessel and its destinies
in His hand, and who, amid gathering clouds and darkened horizon and
crested billows is ever uttering the mild rebuke to our
misgivings--"Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou
shouldst see the glory of God."--_Macduff._
=October 5th.=
_Happy is the man whom God correcteth. Job v. 17._
Happy, because the correction is designed to bring him into paths of
blessedness and peace.
Happy, because there is no unnecessary severity in it.
Happy, because the chastisement is not so much against us, as against
our most cruel enemies--our sins.
Happy, because we have abundant words of consolation.
Happy, because whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.
Happy, because our light affliction is but for a moment.--_George
Bowen._
=October 6th.=
_When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding
great joy. Matt. ii. 10._
We who look for Jesus ought to be joyful; it is no credit to our Lord
when we look as though we were seeking His grave. The dull looks of
Christ's followers have injured Him in the sight of the world. Let us,
then, smile as we go, for we have the star if we will look up and put
ourselves in the right path.--_Thos. Champness._
=October 7th.=
_When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto
me. Micah vii. 8._
If you are willing to choose the seeming darkness of faith instead of
the illumination of reason, wonderful light will break out upon you from
the Word of God.--_A. J. Gordon._
=October 8th.=
_I (Daniel) was left alone, and saw this great vision.
Dan. x. 8._
Solitude is the antechamber of God; only one step more and you can be
in His immediate presence.--_Landor._
=October 9th.=
_Come and dine. John xxi. 12._
This morning the voice of the Beloved of our soul is heard giving us His
invitation.
"Children," He asks, "have ye any meat?"
We answer, "No; of ourselves we have nothing but hunger and starvation.
O God, we cannot feed ourselves!"
Then it is that His own sweet voice replies, "Come and dine!"--_W. Hay
Aitken._
=October 10th.=
_O Lord God, Thou knowest! Ezek. xxxvii. 3._
Here is the response of faith. "Thou knowest!"--what a pillow for the
heart to repose upon! "Thou knowest!"--what few but comprehensive words
to sum up and express the heart's difficulties and perplexities and
trials. "Thou knowest!"--what an inexpressibly sweet resting-place in
the midst of life's tumultuous heavings; in the midst of a sea that
knows no calm; in the midst of a scene in which tossings to and fro are
the hourly history! What an answer they contain for every heart that can
find no words to express its big emotions; for a heart whose sorrows are
too deep for language to find its way to God! Oh, that they were ever
uppermost in the soul, as the response to every difficulty in our path!
They are God's answer to everything we cannot fathom; God's answer for
our hearts to rest upon, and our lips to utter, when every way is hedged
up so that we cannot pass. "O Lord God, thou knowest!" Rest here,
believer. Lean thy soul on these words. Repose calmly on the bosom of
thy God, and carry them with thee into every scene of life. "O Lord God,
thou knowest."--_F. Whitfield._
=October 11th.=
_Behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of
it reached to heaven. Gen. xxviii. 12._
Think of that mystic ladder, which descends from the throne of God to
the spot, however lowly, where you may be. It may be a moorland waste; a
humble cottage; a ship's cabin; a settler's hut; a bed of pain; but
Jesus Christ finds you out, and comes just where you are. The one pole
of this ladder is the gold of His deity; the other is the silver of His
manhood; the rungs are the series of events from the cradle of Bethlehem
to the right hand of power, where He sits. That ladder sways beneath a
weight of blessing for you. Oh, that you would send away your burdens of
sin, and care, and fear, by the hands of the ascending angels of prayer
and faith!--so as to be able to receive into your heart the trooping
angels of peace, and joy, and love, and glory.--_F. B. Meyer._
=October 12th.=
_Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not. Gen.
xxviii. 16._
The Parish Priest, of austerity,
Climbed up in the high church steeple
To be nearer God, that he might hand
His word down to the people.
And in sermon script he daily wrote
What he thought was sent from heaven;
And he dropped it down on the people's heads
Two times one day in seven.
In his age God said, "Come down and die."
And he cried out from the steeple:
"Where art thou, Lord?" And the Lord replied:
"Down here among My people."--_Selected._
=October 13th.=
_Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes
and unto the judgments which I teach you, for to do
them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land
which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Deut.
iv. 1._
"Hearken" and "do," that ye may "live" and "possess." This is a
universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true
for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple
obedience to the holy commandments of God. We see this all through the
inspired volume, from cover to cover. God has given us His Word, not to
speculate upon it or discuss it, but that we may obey it. And it is as
we, through grace, yield a hearty and happy obedience to our Father's
statutes and judgments, that we tread the bright pathway of life, and
enter into the reality of all that God has treasured up for us in
Christ.--_C. H. M._
=October 14th.=
_I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for
me. Gal. ii. 20._
The man who lives in God knows no life except the life of
God.--_Phillips Brooks._
=October 15th.=
_Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the
hope of salvation. 1 Thess. v. 8._
_Faith, love, hope_--these three form the defensive armor that guards
the soul; and these three make self-control possible. Like a diver in
his dress who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering
ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and charity, and whose head is
covered with the helmet of hope, may be dropped down into the wildest
sea of temptation and of worldliness, and yet will walk dry and unharmed
through the midst of its depths, and breathe air that comes from a world
above the restless surges. _Faith_ will bring you into communication
with all the power of God. _Love_ will lead you into a region where all
the temptations round you will be touched as by Ithuriel's spear, and
will show their own foulness. And _Hope_ will turn away your eyes from
looking at the tempting splendor around, and fix them upon the glories
that are above. And so the reins will come into your hands in an
altogether new manner, and you will be able to be king over your own
nature in a fashion that you did not dream of before, if only you will
trust in Christ and love Him, and fix your desires on the things above.
Then you will be able to govern yourself, when you let Christ govern
you.--_Alex. McLaren._
=October 16th.=
_The word of our God shall stand forever. Isa. xl. 8._
The Word of God is the water of life; the more ye lave it forth, the
fresher it runneth. It is the fire of God's glory; the more ye blow it,
the clearer it burneth. It is the corn of the Lord's field; the better
ye grind it, the more it yieldeth. It is the bread of heaven; the more
it is broken and given forth, the more it remaineth. It is the sword of
the Spirit; the more it is scoured, the brighter it shineth.--_Bishop
Jewel._
=October 17th.=
_I spake unto thee in thy prosperity. Jer. xxii. 21._
We shade our eyes with the hand to shut out the glare of the strong
daylight when we want to see far away. God thus puts, as it were, His
hand upon our brows, and tempers the glow of prosperity, that we may
take in the wider phases of His goodness. It is a common experience
that, looking out from the gloom of some personal affliction, men have
seen for the first time beyond the earth plane, and caught glimpses of
the Beulah Land. Let us not shrink from the Hand which we know is heavy
only with blessing.--_Ludlow._
=October 18th.=
_Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the
fowler. Psa. xci. 3._
_He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler._ That is, from the
little things, the hidden traps and nets that are set for us. Great sins
frighten where little snares entangle. It is easier to escape the
huntsman's arrow than the crafty lure.
And where are they not set? Riches and poverty, sickness and strength,
prosperity and adversity, friendship and loneliness, the work and the
want of it--each has its snare, wherein not only are the unwary caught,
but the wise and the watchful sometimes fall a prey. Little things, mere
threads, hardly worth guarding against--yet they are strong enough to
hold us and hinder us, and may be the beginning of our destruction.--_Mark
Guy Pearse._
=October 19th.=
_The Lord set a mark upon Cain. Gen. iv. 15._
We speak of the mark of Cain as if it was the mark of a curse. In
reality it was the mark of God's mercy, a defence against his
enemies.--_D. J. Burrell._
=October 20th.=
_Who is among you that feareth the Lord . . . that
walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust
in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Isa.
l. 10._
"In fierce storms," said an old seaman, "we can do but one thing, there
is only one way; we must put the ship in a certain position and keep her
there."
This, Christian, is what you must do. Sometimes, like Paul, you can see
neither sun nor stars, and no small tempest lies on you; and then you
can do but one thing; there is only one way. Reason cannot help you.
Past experiences give you no light. Even prayer fetches no consolation.
Only a single course is left. You must put your soul in one position and
keep it there. You must stay upon the Lord; and, come what may--winds,
waves, cross seas, thunder, lightning, frowning rocks, roaring
breakers--no matter what, you must lash yourself to the helm, and hold
fast your confidence in God's faithfulness, His covenant engagement, His
everlasting love in Christ Jesus.--_Richard Fuller._
=October 21st.=
_Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a
crown of life. Rev. ii. 10._
There is a heaven at the end of every faithful Christian's
journey.--_Cuyler._
=October 22nd.=
_Flee into Egypt. Matt. ii. 13._
Why? Because there is a cruel king who will seek the young child's life.
Is Christ born in thee? Is thy life like that manger--precious as a
casket, because of what it holds? Then have a care; for, craftier and
more unscrupulous than Herod, the destroyer of souls will seek to
destroy thee.
There is a day coming when they shall say, "They are dead which sought
the young child's life." Grace shall survive the foe, and we shall yet
return to enjoy the comforts of life, with no Herod to threaten us.
After all, it is sin which is short-lived, for goodness shall flourish
when the evil one is chained up for ever.--_Thos. Champness._
=October 23rd.=
_As my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant
do. 1 Kings ii. 38._
There is something infinitely better than doing a great thing for God,
and the infinitely better thing is to be where God wants us to be, to do
what God wants us to do, and to have no will apart from His.--_G.
Campbell Morgan._
=October 24th.=
_Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven. Matt. v. 16._
They say the world has an eagle eye for anything inconsistent, an eye
sharp to discover the vagaries and inconsistencies in the defaulty and
the unworthy. It has an eagle eye; but the eagle winks before the sun,
and the burning iris of its eye shrinks abashed before the unsullied
purity of noon. Let your light so shine before men, that others, awed
and charmed by the consistency of your godly life, may come to enquire,
and to say you have been with Jesus.--_Punshon._
=October 25th.=
_The eleven disciples went . . . into a mountain where
Jesus had appointed them . . . Jesus came and spake
unto them saying . . . Go ye and teach all nations.
Matt. xxviii. 16, 18, 19._
The considerable actions in the world have usually very small
beginnings. Of a few letters, how many thousand words are made! Of ten
figures, how many thousand numbers! A point is the beginning of all
geometry. A little stone flung into a pond makes a little circle, then a
greater, till it enlarges itself to both the sides. So from small
beginnings God doth cause an efflux through the whole world.--_Charnock._
=October 26th.=
_Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. Luke ii. 10._
It is true that these good tidings of great joy were to be "for all
people," but not _first_. The message falls on our own ears, and is
first for our own souls.
Oh, ponder this well! Take all God's truths home _first_ to thine own
heart. Ask in earnest prayer that the Spirit may write them with the pen
of heaven on thine own conscience. Then wilt thou be a vessel fitted for
the Master's use, and carry His message with spiritual power to the
souls of others.--_F. Whitfield._
=October 27th.=
_Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Heb. xii. 6._
Earthly prosperity is no sign of the special love of heaven: nor are
sorrow and care any mark of God's disfavor, but the reverse. God's love
is robust, and true, and eager--not for our comfort, but for our lasting
blessedness; it is bent on achieving this, and it is strong enough to
bear misrepresentation and rebuke in its attempts to attune our spirits
to higher music. It therefore comes instructing us. Let us enter
ourselves as pupils in the school of God's love. Let us lay aside our
own notions of the course of study; let us submit ourselves to be led
and taught; let us be prepared for any lessons that may be given from
the blackboard of sorrow: let us be so assured of the inexhaustible
tenacity of His love as to dare to trust Him, though He slay us. And let
us look forward to that august moment when He will give us a reason for
all life's discipline, with a smile that shall thrill our souls with
ecstasy, and constrain sorrow and sighing to flee away forever.--_F. B.
Meyer._
=October 28th.=
_Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He
will give it you. John xvi. 23._
Prayer must be based upon promise, but, thank God, His promises are
always broader than our prayers! No fear of building inverted pyramids
here, for Jesus Christ is the foundation.--_Frances Ridley Havergal._
=October 29th.=
_He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments;
and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He
poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith He was girded. John xiii. 4, 5._
Acts are common and mean because they are ordinarily expressive of the
common and mean thoughts of men. Let us not accuse the acts that make up
our daily life of meanness, but our ignoble souls that reveal themselves
so unworthily through those acts. The same act may successively mount up
through every intermediate stage from the depth of unworthiness to a
transcendent height of excellence, according to the soul that is
manifested by it. One of the glorious ends of our Lord's incarnation was
that He might propitiate us with the details of life, so that we should
not disdain these as insignificant, but rather disdain ourselves for our
inability to make these details interpreters of a noble nature. Oh, let
us then look with affectionateness and gratitude upon the daily details
of life, seeing the sanctifying imprint of the hand of Jesus upon them
all!--_George Bowen._
=October 30th.=
_He placed . . . cherubims, and a flaming sword . . .
to keep the way of the tree of life. Gen. iii. 24._
_Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they
may have right to the tree of life. Rev. xxii. 14._
How remarkable and how beautiful it is that the last page of the
Revelation should come bending round to touch the first page of Genesis.
The history of man began with angels with frowning faces and flaming
swords barring the way to the Tree of Life. It ends with the guard of
cherubim withdrawn; or rather, perhaps, sheathing their swords and
becoming guides to the no longer forbidden fruit, instead of being its
guards. That is the Bible's grand symbolical way of saying that all
between--the sin, the misery, the death--is a parenthesis. God's purpose
is not going to be thwarted. The end of His majestic march through
history is to be men's access to the Tree of Life, from which, for the
dreary ages--that are but as a moment in the great eternities--they were
barred out by their sin,--_Alex. McLaren._
=October 31st.=
_That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened. Eph. i. 17, 18._
We were coming down a mountain in Switzerland one evening, when a black
thunder-storm blotted out the day, and all things were suddenly plunged
into darkness. We could only dimly see the narrow, dusty footpaths, and
the gloomy sides that were swallowed up in deeper gloom. What, then, of
the majesty all about us, heights, and depths, and wonders? All was
darkness. Then came the lightning--not flashes, but the blazing of the
whole sky, incessant, and on every side. What recesses of glory we gazed
into! What marvels of splendor shone out of the darkness!
Think how with us, in us, is One who comes to make the common, dusty
ways of life resplendent, illuminating our dull thoughts by the light of
the glory of God; clearing the vision of the soul, and then revealing
the greatness of the salvation that is ours in Christ.--_Mark Guy
Pearse._
[Illustration: November]
=November 1st.=
_Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the
midst. John viii. 9._
Alone with Jesus! What a sweet and holy spot! What a blessed refuge to
which the soul may betake itself from the charges of Satan, the
accusations of the world, and the sorrows of life! Sweet spot for the
heart to unfold itself, to tell its hidden tale in the ear of Infinite
love, tenderness, and compassion!
Alone with Jesus! How different a front would Christianity present to
the world if the Lord's people were oftener there! What humility, and
gentleness, and love, would characterize all their dealings! What
holiness stamped on the very brow, that all might read! What few
judgments passed on others, how many more on ourselves! What calmness
and resignation and joyful submission to all the Lord's dealings!
Be much "alone with Jesus!" Then will the passage to glory be one of
sunshine, whether it be through the portals of the grave or through the
clouds of heaven.--_F. Whitfield._
=November 2nd.=
_Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence
is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore. Psa. xvi. 11._
The man who walks along the path of life lives in the presence of the
joy-giving God. Just in so far as he is true to that path of life, and
wanders neither to the right hand nor to the left, his joy becomes
deeper, nay! he becomes partaker of that very fullness of joy in which
God Himself lives, and moves, and has His being. And while such is his
experience in the midst of all the trials of life, he has also the
privilege of looking forward to grander things yet in store for him,
when that higher world shall be reached, and the shadows of time have
passed away forever. "At Thy right hand," exclaims the psalmist, "there
are pleasures for evermore."--_W. Hay Aitken._
=November 3rd.=
_Be clothed with humility. 1 Pet. v. 5._
Is it not one of the difficulties of church work that we have more
officers than men? We need more of the rank and file, who are willing to
march anywhere, and to do the lowliest of tasks. We shall succeed in
doing greater things when we are all of us willing to be subject. It is
the bayonet rather than the gold lace which is wanted when the enemy is
to be subdued.--_Thomas Champness._
=November 4th.=
_Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold,
Esau came, and with him four hundred men. Gen. xxxiii.
1._
Do not lift up your eyes and look for Esaus. Those who look for troubles
will not be long without finding trouble to look at. Lift them
higher--to Him from whom our help cometh. Then you will be able to meet
your troubles with an unperturbed spirit. Those who have seen the face
of God need not fear the face of man that shall die. To have power with
God is to have power over all the evils that threaten us.--_F. B.
Meyer._
=November 5th.=
_Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God. 2 Cor. vii. 1._
The Tree of Life, according to some of the old rabbinical legends,
lifted its branches, by an indwelling motion, high above impure hands
that were stretched to touch them; and until our hands are cleansed
through faith in Jesus Christ, its richest fruit hangs unreachable,
golden above our heads. The fullness of the life of heaven is only
granted to those who, drawing near Jesus Christ by faith on earth, have
thereby cleansed themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
spirit.--_Alex. McLaren._
=November 6th.=
_The pillar of the cloud went from before their face,
and stood behind them. Ex. xiv. 19._
It is not always guidance that we most need. Many of our dangers come
upon us from behind. They are stealthy, insidious, assaulting us when we
are unaware of their nearness. The tempter is cunning and shrewd. He
does not meet us full front. It is a comfort to know that Christ comes
behind us when it is there we need the protection.--_J. R. Miller._
=November 7th.=
_Iniquities prevail against me: as for our
transgressions, Thou shall purge them away. Psa. lxv.
3._
There is much earnest religion that lives in the dreary compass of these
first four words, "Iniquities prevail against me," and never gets a
glimpse beyond it. But do not put a full stop there. Fetch in One who
can help. "As for our transgressions, THOU shalt purge them away." The
moment we bring the Lord in, that moment defeat is turned to triumphant
deliverance!
Write that up in golden letters--THOU! And do not find in this word only
a trembling hope, or a wondering wish. Listen to its full
assurance--THOU SHALT!
There is but one result that can warrant the agony of Calvary; there is
but one result that can satisfy either our blessed Savior or ourselves;
and that is our being conquerors over sin.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=November 8th.=
_Speaking the truth in love. Eph. iv. 15._
The best way of eradicating error is to publish and practice truth.--_W.
Arnot._
=November 9th.=
_So he arose, and went to Zarephath. 1 Kings xvii.
10._
Let it be equally said of you to whatever duty the Lord may call you
away, "He arose and went." Be the way ever so laborious or dangerous,
still arise, like Elijah, and go. Go cheerfully, in faith, keeping your
heart quietly dependent on the Lord, and in the end you will surely
behold and sing of His goodness. Though tossed on a sea of troubles you
may anchor on the firm foundation of God, which standeth sure. You have
for your security His exceeding great and precious promises, and may say
with the psalmist, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou
disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who
is the health of my countenance, and my God."--_F. W. Krummacher._
=November 10th.=
_A daily rate for every day. 2 Kings xxv. 30._
The acts of breathing which I performed yesterday will not keep me alive
to-day; I must continue to breathe afresh every moment, or animal life
ceases. In like manner yesterday's grace and spiritual strength must be
renewed, and the Holy Spirit must continue to breathe on my soul from
moment to moment in order to my enjoying the consolations, and to my
working the works of God.--_Toplady._
=November 11th.=
_And when the vessel that he made of the clay was
marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again
another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make
it. Jer. xviii. 4. (R. V.)_
God's fairest, highest place of service in the land that lies beyond
will be filled by the men and women who have been broken upon the wheel
on earth.--_G. Campbell Morgan._
=November 12th.=
_Examine yourselves. 2 Cor. xiii. 5._
If your state be good, searching into it will give you that comfort of
it. If your state be bad, searching into it cannot make it worse; nay,
it is the only way to make it better, for conversion begins with
conviction.--_Bishop Hopkins._
=November 13th.=
_Choose you this day whom ye will serve. Josh. xxiv.
15._
CHOICE AND SERVICE--these were demanded of the Israelites; these are
demanded of you, these only. Choice and service--in these are the whole
of life.--_Mark Hopkins._
=November 14th.=
_Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all
generations. Psa. xc. 1._
You cannot detain the eagle in the forest. You may gather around him a
chorus of the choicest birds; you may give him a perch on the goodliest
pine; you may charge winged messengers to bring him choicest dainties;
but he will spurn them all. Spreading his lordly wings, and with his eye
on the Alpine cliff, he will soar away to his own ancestral halls amid
the munitions of rocks and the wild music of tempest and waterfall.
The soul of man, in its eagle soarings, will rest with nothing short of
the Rock of Ages. Its ancestral halls are the halls of heaven. Its
munitions of rocks are the attributes of God. The sweep of its majestic
flight is Eternity! "Lord, THOU hast been our dwelling place in all
generations!"--_Macduff._
=November 15th.=
_He hath said. Heb. xiii. 5._
If we can only grasp these words of faith, we have an all-conquering
weapon in our hand. What doubt is there that 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? "He hath
said!" Yes; whether for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our
conflict, "He hath said!" must be our daily resort.
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.--_Spurgeon._
=November 16th.=
_Not I, but Christ liveth in me. Gal. ii. 20._
The wonder of the life in Jesus is this--and you will find it so, and
you have found it so, if you have ever taken your New Testament and
tried to make it the rule of your daily life--that there is not a single
action that you are called upon to do of which you need be, of which you
will be, in any serious doubt for ten minutes as to what Jesus Christ,
if He were here, Jesus Christ being here, would have you do under those
circumstances and with the material upon which you are called to act.
The soul that takes in Jesus' word, the soul that through the words of
Jesus enters into the very person of Jesus, the soul that knows Him as
its daily presence and its daily law--it never hesitates.--_Phillips
Brooks._
=November 17th.=
_Who is my neighbor? Luke x. 29._
"Who is thy neighbor?" It is the sufferer, wherever, whoever, whatsoever
he be. Wherever thou hearest the cry of distress, wherever thou seest
anyone brought across thy path by the chances and changes of life (that
is, by the Providence of God), whom it is in thy power to help--he,
stranger or enemy though he be--_he_ is thy neighbor.--_A. P. Stanley._
=November 18th.=
_He which stablisheth us . . . in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2 Cor.
i. 21, 22._
When a Christian is "sealed" by the Holy Ghost, "sealed" as the property
of his Master, there will be no need to ask, "Whose image and
superscription is this" upon the "sealed" one? The King's, of course.
Anyone can see the image.
Of what use is a "seal" if it cannot be seen?
Is the King's image visibly, permanently, stamped upon us? It is on
every Spirit-filled, "sealed" believer.--_John McNeil._
=November 19th.=
_They shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the
hand of Zerubbabel. Zech. iv. 10._
It is joy to the Christian to know that the plummet is now in the hands
of our great Zerubbabel, and that when He comes forth, the world's
misrule shall be over. The false standards and false estimates of men
shall be swept away. The standards of "expediency," of "conscience," of
"every man thinking as he likes, if he is only _sincere_"--these, and
all similar refuges of lies shall be like a spider's web. The measure of
all things will be Christ, and Christ the Measurer of all things.
How everything will be reversed! What a turning upside down of all that
now exists!
Blessed day, and longed for--the world's great jubilee, the earth's
long-looked-for Sabbath, groaning creation's joy, and nature's calm
repose! Who would not cry, "Come, Lord Jesus, and end this troubled
dream! Shatter the shadows of the long, dark night of sin and sorrow,
sighing and tears, despair and death!"--_F. Whitfield._
=November 20th.=
_In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world. John xvi. 33._
Tribulation is God's threshing--not to destroy us, but to get what is
good, heavenly, and spiritual in us separated from what is wrong,
earthly, and fleshly. Nothing less than blows of pain will do this. The
evil clings so to the good, the golden wheat of goodness in us is so
wrapped up in the strong chaff of the old life that only the heavy flail
of suffering can produce the separation.--_J. R. Miller._
=November 21st.=
_I . . . heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
saying . . . Write. Rev. i. 10, 11._
It is very sweet to note that a voice from heaven said to John, "Write."
Does not that voice come to us? Are there not those who would taste the
joys of heaven if we wrote them words of forgiveness and affection? Are
there not others who would dry their tears if we would remind them of
past joys, when we were poor as they are now? Nay, could not some, who
read these plain words, place inside the envelope something bearing
their signature which would make the widow's heart dance for joy?
What is our pen doing? Is it adding joy to other men's lives? If so,
then angels may tune their harps when we sit at our desk. They are sent
to minister to the heirs of salvation, and would be glad to look upon
our pen as writing music for them to sing, because what we write makes
their client's joy to be full.--_Thomas Champness._
=November 22nd.=
_Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Heb. xii. 6._
We should ever bear in mind that the discipline of our heavenly Father's
hand is to be interpreted in the light of our Father's countenance; and
the deep mysteries of His moral government to be contemplated through
the medium or His tender love.--_Selected._
=November 23rd.=
_Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.
1 Thess. v. 24._
Earthly faithfulness is possible only by the reception of heavenly
gifts. As surely as every leaf that grows is mainly water that the plant
has got from the clouds, and carbon that it has got out of the
atmosphere, so surely will all our good be mainly drawn from heaven and
heaven's gifts. As certainly as every lump of coal that you put upon
your fire contains in itself sunbeams that have been locked up for all
these millenniums that have passed since it waved green in the forest,
so certainly does every good deed embody in itself gifts from above. And
no man is pure except by impartation; and every good thing and every
perfect thing cometh from the Father of lights.--_Alex. McLaren._
=November 24th.=
_Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col.
iii. 16._
Remember your life is to be a singing life. This world is God's grand
cathedral for you. You are to be one of God's choristers, and there is
to be a continual eucharistic sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving going
up from your heart, with which God shall be continually well pleased.
And there should be not only the offering of the lips, but the surrender
of the life with joy. Yes, with _joy_, and not with _constraint_. Every
faculty of our nature should be presented to Him in gladsome service,
for the Lord Jehovah is my song as well as my strength.--_W. Hay
Aitken._
=November 25th.=
_Call to remembrance the former days. Heb. x. 32._
_The former days_--times of trial, conflict, discouragement, temptation.
Did we oftener call these to remembrance, with how much more delight
would we make the covert of God's faithfulness our refuge, exclaiming
with the psalmist, "Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the
shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice."--_R. Fuller._
=November 26th.=
_The Lord . . . thy habitation. Psa. xci. 9._
We go home without arrangement. We plan our visits, and then go home
because they are over. Duty, want, a host of things, lead us forth
elsewhere; but the heart takes us home. Blessed, most blessed is he
whose thoughts pass up to God, not because they are driven like a
fisherman's craft swept by the fierceness of the storm, not because they
are forced by want or fear, not because they are led by the hand of
duty, but because God is in his habitation and his home. Loosed from
other things, the thoughts go home for rest.
In God the blessed man finds the love that welcomes. There is the sunny
place. There care is loosed and toil forgotten. There is the joyous
freedom, the happy calm, the rest, and renewing of our strength--at home
with God.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=November 27th.=
_These have turned the world upside down. Acts xvii.
6._
_None of these things move me. Acts xx. 24._
The men that move the world are the ones who do not let the world move
them.--_Selected._
=November 28th.=
_He touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew
that shrank. Gen. xxxii. 32._
Whatever it is that enables a soul, whom God designs to bless, to stand
out against Him, God will touch. It may be the pride of wealth, or of
influence, or of affection; but it will not be spared--God will touch
it. It may be something as _natural_ as a sinew; but if it robs a man of
spiritual blessing God will touch it. It may be as _small_ a thing as a
sinew; but its influence in making a man strong in his resistance of
blessing will be enough to condemn it--and God will touch it. And
beneath that touch it will shrink and shrivel, and you will limp to the
end of life.
Remember that the sinew never shrinks save beneath the touch of the
angel hand--the touch of tender love.--_F. B. Meyer._
=November 29th.=
_With God all things are possible. Mark x. 27._
Unbelief says, "How can such and such things be?" It is full of "hows";
but faith has one great answer to the ten thousand "hows," and that
answer is--GOD!--_C. H. M._
=November 30th.=
_Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them. 2 Cor.
vi. 16._
These temples were reared for Him. Let Him fill them so completely that,
like the oriental temple of glass in the ancient legend, the temple
shall not be seen, but only the glorious sunlight, which not only shines
into it, but through it, and the transparent walls are all unseen.--_A.
B. Simpson._
[Illustration: DECEMBER]
=December 1st.=
_Without Christ. Eph. ii. 12._
Without a hope to cheer, a Pilot to steer, a Friend to counsel, grace to
sustain, heaven to welcome us, and God to console!--_Selected._
=December 2nd.=
_When I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Cor. xii. 10._
This is God's way. We advance by going backwards, we become strong by
becoming weak, we become wise by being fools.--_F. Whitfield._
=December 3rd.=
_Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. 2 Pet. i. 21._
The Bible is the writing of the living God. Each letter was penned with
an almighty finger. Each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips.
Each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit. Albeit that Moses was
employed to write his histories with his fiery pen, God guided that pen.
It may be that David touched his harp, and let sweet psalms of melody
drop from his fingers; but God moved his hands over the living strings
of his golden harp. Solomon sang canticles of love and gave forth words
of consummate wisdom; but God directed his lips, and made the preacher
eloquent. If I follow the thundering Nahum, when his horses plough the
waters; or Habakkuk, when he sees the tents of Cushan in affliction; if
I read Malachi, when the earth is burning like an oven; if I turn to the
smooth page of John, who tells of love; or the rugged chapters of Peter,
who speaks of fire devouring God's enemies; if I turn aside to Jude, who
launches forth anathemas upon the foes of God--everywhere I find God
speaking; it is God's voice, not man's; the words are God's words; the
words of the Eternal, the Invisible, the Almighty, the Jehovah of ages.
This Bible is God's Bible; and when I see it, I seem to hear a voice
springing up from it, saying, "I am the Book of God. Man, read me. I am
God's writing. Study my page, for I was penned by God. Love me, for He
is my Author, and you will see Him visible and manifest
everywhere."--_Spurgeon._
=December 4th.=
_They all forsook Him, and fled. Mark xiv. 50._