=December 14th.=
_Having therefore these promises. 2 Cor. vii. 1._
The forests in summer days are full of birds' nests. They are hidden
among the leaves. The little birds know where they are; and when a storm
arises, or when night draws on, they fly, each to his own nest. So the
promises of God are hidden in the Bible, like nests in the great
forests; and thither we should fly in any danger or alarm, hiding there
in our soul's nest until the storm be overpast. There are no castles in
this world so impregnable as the words of Christ.--_J. R. Miller._
=December 15th.=
_Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the
greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. xiii. 13. (R. V.)_
Love is the greatest thing that God can give us: for Himself is Love;
and it is the greatest thing we can give to God: for it will give
ourselves, and carry with it all that is ours.--_Jeremy Taylor._
=December 16th.=
_He (Thomas) . . . said, Except I shall see . . . I
will not believe. . . . Jesus . . . said . . . Be not
faithless, but believing. John xx. 25, 27._
Every doubt in the heart of a Christian is a dishonor done to the Word
of God, and the sacrifice of Christ.--_Selected._
=December 17th.=
_Lot . . . pitched his tent toward Sodom. Gen. xiii.
12._
And soon Lot moved into Sodom; and before long Sodom moved into
him.--_Theodore Cuyler._
=December 18th.=
_Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Psa. xix. 12._
The world needs men who are free from secret faults. Most men are free
from gross, public faults.--_Selected._
=December 19th.=
_A hearer of the word . . . a doer of the work. Jas. i.
23, 25._
Religion may be learned on Sunday, but it is lived in the week-day's
work. The torch of religion may be lit in the church, but it does its
burning in the shop and on the street. Religion seeks its life in
prayer, but it lives its life in deeds. It is planted in the closet, but
it does its growing out in the world. It plumes itself for flight in
songs of praise, but its actual flights are in works of love. It
resolves and meditates on faithfulness as it reads its Christian lesson
in the Book of Truth, but "faithful is that faithful does." It puts its
armor on in all the aids and helps of the sanctuary as its
dressing-room, but it combats for the right, the noble, and the good in
all the activities of practical existence, and its battle ground is the
whole broad field of life.--_John Doughty._
=December 20th.=
_Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. James iv.
14._
"To-morrow" is the devil's great ally--the very Goliath in whom he
trusts for victory. "Now" is the stripling sent forth against him. . . .
The world will freely agree to be Christians to-morrow if Christ will
permit them to be worldly to-day.--_William Arnot._
=December 21st.=
_The sea wrought, and was tempestuous. Jonah i. 11._
Sin in the soul is like Jonah in the ship. It turns the smoothest water
into a tempestuous sea.--_Selected._
=December 22nd.=
_Be not doubtful, but followers of them also, through
faith and patience, inherit the promises. Heb. vi.
12._
God makes a promise. Faith believes it. Hope anticipates it. Patience
quietly awaits it.--_Selected._
=December 23rd.=
_Go and sit down in the lowest room. Luke xiv. 10._
He who is willing to take the lowest place will always find sitting
room; there is no great crush for the worst places. There is nothing
like the jostling at the back there is at the front; so if we would be
comfortable, we shall do well to keep behind.--_Thomas Champness._
=December 24th.=
_Continue in prayer. Col. iv. 2._
Our prayers often resemble the mischievous tricks of town children, who
knock at their neighbor's houses and then run away; we often knock at
heaven's door and then run off into the spirit of the world; instead of
waiting for entrance and answer, we act as if we were afraid of having
our prayers answered.--_Williams._
=December 25th.=
_A multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and
saying, Glory to God in the highest. Luke ii. 13, 14._
Angels had been present on many august occasions, and they had joined in
many a solemn chorus to the praise of their Almighty Creator. They were
present at the creation: "The morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy." They had seen many a planet fashioned
between the palms of Jehovah, and wheeled by His eternal hands through
the infinitude of space. They had sung solemn songs over many a world
which the Great One had created. We doubt not, they had often chanted,
"Blessing and honor, and glory, and majesty, and power, and dominion,
and might, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne," manifesting Himself
in the work of creation. I doubt not, too, that their songs had gathered
force through ages. As when first created, their first breath was song,
so when they saw God create new worlds, then their song received another
note; they rose a little higher in the gamut of adoration. But this
time, when they saw God stoop from His throne and become a babe hanging
upon a woman's breast, they lifted their notes higher still; and
reaching to the uttermost stretch of angelic music, they gained the
highest notes of the divine scale of praise and they sang, "Glory to God
_in the highest_," for higher in goodness they felt God could not go.
Thus their highest praise they gave to Him in the highest act of His
Godhead.--_Spurgeon._
=December 26th.=
_God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. vi. 14._
The cross is the great center of God's moral universe! To this center
God ever pointed, and the eye of faith ever looked forward, until the
Savior came. And now we must ever turn to that cross as the center of
all our blessing, and the basis of all our worship, both on earth and in
heaven--in time and throughout all eternity.
=December 27th.=
_He ever liveth. Heb. vii. 25._
It is our hope for ourselves, and for His truth, and for mankind. Men
come and go. Leaders, teachers, thinkers, speak and work for a season,
and then fall silent and impotent. He abides. They die, but He lives.
They are lights kindled, and therefore, sooner or later quenched, but He
is the true Light from which they draw all their brightness, and He
shines for evermore.--_Alex. McLaren._
=December 28th.=
_The friendship of the world is enmity with God. James
iv. 4._
It is like the ivy with the oak. The ivy may give the oak a grand,
beautiful appearance, but all the while it is feeding on its vitals. Are
we compromising with the enemies of God? Are we being embraced by the
world by its honors, its pleasures, its applause? This may add to us in
the world's estimation, but our strength becomes lost.--_Denham Smith._
=December 29th.=
_She (Hannah) . . . prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore
. . . she spake in her heart. 1 Sam. i. 10, 13._
For real business at the mercy-seat give me a home-made prayer, a prayer
that comes out of the depths of my heart, not because I invented it, but
because God the Holy Ghost, put it there, and gave it such living force
that I could not help letting it out. Though your words are broken, and
your sentences disconnected, if your desires are earnest, if they are
like coals of juniper, burning with a vehement flame, God will not mind
how they find expression. If you have no words, perhaps you will pray
better without them than with them. There are prayers that break the
backs of words; they are too heavy for any human language to
carry.--_Spurgeon._
=December 30th.=
_Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Gen. vi.
8._
Noah found grace in the same way that Paul obtained mercy (1 Tim. 1:
16), namely, by mercy's taking hold of him.--_Selected._
=December 31st.=
_Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul. Heb. vi.
19._