May

May 1st.

Our conversation is in heaven.—Philippians iii. 20. COME one asked a Scotchman if he was on the way to heaven, and he said: "Why man, I live there; I am not on the way." That is just it. We want to live in heaven; while we are walking in this world it is our privilege to have our hearts and affections there.

May 2d.

It is high time to awake out of sleep.—Romans xiii. 11. AS I have said, there are a great many in the church who make one profession, and that is about all you hear of them; and when they come to die you have to go and hunt up some musty old church records to know whether they were Christians or not. God won't do that. What we want is men with a little courage to stand up for Christ. When Christianity wakes up, and every child that belongs to the Lord is willing to speak for Him, is willing to work for Him, and, if need be, willing to die for Him, then Christianity will advance, and we shall see the work of the Lord prosper.

May 3d.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath, everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.—John v. 24.

T WOULD a thousand times rather stand on that verse than all the frames and feelings I ever had. I took my stand there twenty years ago. Since then the dark waves of hell have come dashing up against me; the waves of persecution have broken all around me; doubts, fears, and unbelief in turn have assailed me ; but I have been able to stand firm on this short word of God. It is a sure footing for eternity.

May 4th.

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.—Luke xv. 10.

⁶⁶ T O Y in the presence of the angels?" Per^ haps the friends who have left the shores of time may be looking down upon us 5 and when they see one they prayed for while on earth turning to God, it sends a thrill of joy to their very hearts. Even now, some mother who has gone up yonder may be looking down upon a son or daughter, and if that child should say: "I will meet that mother of mine; I will decide for God," the news, with the speed of a sunbeam, reaches heaven, and that mother may then rejoice, as we read, " In the presence of the angels."

May 5th.

All . . . all . . . all.—Matthew xxviii. 17-20. A LL power is given unto Me ; go teach all nations. Teach them what? To observe all things. There are a great many people now that are willing to observe what they like about Christ, but the things that they don't like they turn away from. But His commission to His disciples was, " Go teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." And what right has a messenger who has been sent of God to change the message?

May 6th.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.—Acts ii. 4.

TN Exodus we read that when Moses had finished the Tabernacle in the desert, the Shekinah came and filled it with the presence of God—that was the Holy Spirit. The moment the tabernacle was ready it was filled. And when the Temple was built, and the priests and the Levites were there singing with one accord, the cloud came and filled the Temple; the moment the Temple was ready it was filled.

These were two of His dwelling places; but where does He dwell now? Ye are the temples for the Holy Spirit to dwell in, and the moment the heart is ready, the Spirit of God will fill it.

May 7th.

Will ye also go away? . . . Lord, to whom shall we go ?—John vi. 67, 68.

THE sun is thousands of years old, but gas is new. Shall we then use gas in place of the sun? Block up all the windows of your houses, and have nothing to do with the sun! You might as well do that as give up the Bible. Outgrown it! Why, there is no book to be compared with it. No other book will lift up the world. If you could go into a town where men were trying to live without that good book, you would flee from it as they who left Sodom and Gomorrah. Have infidels ever produced a Knox, a Bunyan, or a Milton?

May 8th. Have not I sent thee ?—Judges vi. 14. f~* OD knows and you know what He has sent you to do. God sent Moses to Egypt to bring three millions of bondmen up out of the house of bondage into the promised land. Did he fail? It looked, at first, as if he were going to. But did he? God sent Elijah to stand before Ahab, and it was a bold thing for him to say there should be neither dew nor rain: but did He not lock up the heavens for three years and six months?

But did he fail? And you cannot find any place in Scripture where a man was ever sent by God to do a work in which he failed.

May 9th.

He being dead, yet speaketh.—Hebrews xi. 4. DUT there is one thing you cannot bury with a good man; his influence still lives. They have not buried Daniel yet; his influence is as great to-day as ever it was. Do you tell me that Joseph is dead? His influence still lives and will continue to live on and on. You may bury the frail tenement of clay that a good man lives in, but you cannot get rid of his influence and example. Paul was never more powerful than he is to-day.

May ioth. Your joy no man taketh from you.—John xvi. 22. TN the second century, they brought a martyr * before a king, and the king wanted him to recant and give up Christ, but the man spurned the thought. The king said: "If you don't do it, I will banish you." The man smiled and answered: "You can't banish me from Christ. He says He will never leave me nor forsake me." The king got angry, and said: "Well, I will confiscate your property and take it all from you." And the man replied: "My treasures are laid up on high; you cannot get them." The king became still more angry, and said: "I will kill you." "Why," the man answered, "I have been dead forty years; I have been dead with Christ; dead to the world. My life is hid with Christ in God, and you cannot touch it." And so we can rejoice, because we are resurrection ground, having risen with Christ. Let persecution and opposition come. "Your joy no man taketh from you."

May nth. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?—Acts ix. 6. A MAN at sea was once very seasick. If there is a time when a man feels that he cannot do any work it is then. But he heard that a man had fallen overboard. He couldn't do much, but he laid hold of a light and held it up to the porthole. The light fell on the drowning man's hand, and a man caught him, and pulled him into the lifeboat. It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the man's life. We can do as much as that. If we cannot do some great thing we can hold the light for some poor, perishing soul, who is out in the dark waters of sin.

May 12th.

/ believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.—Acts xxvii. 25.

CAITH is a belief in testimony. It is not a leap in the dark. God does not ask any man to believe without giving him something to believe. You might as well ask a man to see without eyes, as to bid him believe without giving him something to believe.

May 13th.

God is Love.—1 John iv. 8. T F I could only make men understand the real meaning of the words of the Apostle John— "God Is Love.'— I would take that single text, and would go up and down the world proclaiming this glorious truth. If you can convince a man that you love him you have won his heart. If we could really make people believe that God loves rlaem, how we should find them crowding into the kingdom of heaven! The trouble is that men think God hates them; and so they are continually turning their backs on Him.

May 14th. What is that in thine hand?—Exodus iv. 2. T T ERE was Moses a weak solitary man going down to Egypt, to meet a monarch who had the power of life and death. And all he had with which to deliver the people from bondage was this rod! Yet see how famous that rod became. God's servant had but to stretch it out, and the water of the country was turned into blood. He had only to lift up the rod and the waters of the Red Sea separated, so that the people could pass through dry-shod. He lifted this rod and struck the flinty rock, when the water burst forth, and they drank and were refreshed. That contemptible rod became mighty indeed. But it was not the rod; it was the God of Moses, who condescended to use it.

May 15th.

The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.— Galatians iii. 24.

DOCTRINES are to the soul what the streets *~^J which lead to the house of a friend who has invited me to dinner are to the body. They will lead me there if I take the right one; but if I remain in the streets my hunger will never

be satisfied. Feeding on doctrines is like trying to live on dry husks; and lean indeed must the soul remain which will not partake of the Bread sent down from heaven.

May 16th. There shall be no more death.—Revelation xxi. 4. COME one said to a person dying: "Well, ^ you are in the land of the living yet." "No," said he, " I am in the land of the dying, but I am going to the land of the living; they live there and never die." This is the land of sin and death and tears, but up yonder they never die. It is perpetual life; it is unceasing

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May 17th.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.—Isaiah Ixiv. 4.

But God hath revealed them unto us by His spirit.— 1 Corinthians ii. 10.

All OST people say "eye hath not seen, nor * ¹ ear heard," and they stop there. But see what the New Testament says, "God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." You see the Lord hath revealed them unto us: "For the Spirit searches all things—yea, the deep things of God."

May I 8th.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name. Ask and ye shall receive.—John xvi. 24.

TT is related of Alexander that he gave one of his generals, who had pleased him, permission to draw on his treasurer for any sum. When the draft came in, the treasurer was scared, and would not pay it till he saw his master. And when the treasurer told him what he had done, Alexander said, " Don't you know that he has honored me and my kingdom by making a large draft?" So we honor God by making a large draft on Him.

May 19th.

Which is the earnest of our inheritance.—Ephesiani i. 14.

A POOR woman once told Rowland Hill that **■ the way to heaven was short, easy and simple; comprising only three steps—out of self, into Christ, and into glory. We have a shorter way now—out of self and into Christ. That is heaven begun below—a little of what waits us over there.

May 20th. Now then, do it.—2 Samuel ill. 18. T REMEMBER hearing of a man in one of the hospitals who received a bouquet of flowers from the Flower Mission. He looked at the beautiful bouquet and said: "Well, if I had known that a bunch of flowers could do a fellow so much good, I would have sent some myself when I was well." If people only knew how they might cheer some lonely heart and lift up some drooping spirit, or speak some word that shall be lasting in its effects for all coming time, they would be up and about it.

May 21 st. Our Father.—Matthew vi. 9. T F you ask me why God should love us, I can*■ not tell. I suppose it is because He is a true Father. It is His nature to love; just as it is the nature of the sun to shine.

May 22d.

I will fasten Him as a nail in a sure place; . . . and they shall hang upon Him all the glory of His Father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.—Isaiah xxii. 23, 24.

""THERE is one nail, fastened in a sure place;

and on it hang all the flagons and all the cups. "Oh," says one little cup, " I am so small and so black, suppose I were to drop!" "Oh," says a flagon, "there is no fear of you; but I am so heavy, so very weighty, suppose I were to drop!" And a little cup says, "Oh,

if I were only like the gold cup there, I should never fear falling." But the gold cup answers, "It is not because I am a gold cup that I keep up; but because I hang upon the nail."

May 23d.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.—Matthew v. 16.

IF a man has not grace to keep his temper, he

* is not fit to work for God. If he cannot live uprightly at home, he is not fit for God's service; and the less he does the better. But he can keep his temper, he can live uprightly at home, by the grace of God.

May 24th. / have fought a good fight.—2 Timothy iv. 7. DOME never had such a conqueror as Paul

* * within her walls. Rome never had such a mighty man as Paul within her boundaries. Although the world looked down upon him, and perhaps he looked very small and contemptible, yet in the sight of heaven he was the mightiest man who ever trod the streets of Rome. Probably there will never be another one like him travelling those streets. The Son of God walked with him, and the form of the fourth was with him.

May 25th.

The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, ckanseth us from all sin.—1 John i. 7.

YOU may pile up your sins till they rise like a dark mountain, and then multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of: and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me bring this one verse in, and that mountain will melt away.

May 26th. Not without food.—Hebrews ix. 7. T OOK at the Roman soldier as he pushed his spear into the very heart of the God-man. What a hellish deed! But what was the next thing that took place? Blood covered the spear! Oh! thank God, the blood covers sin. The very crowning act of sin brought out the crowning act of love; the crowning act of wickedness was the crowning act of grace.

May 27th.

Nor idolaters . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God. —1 Corinthians vi. 9, 10.

TT is clear that idolaters are not going to enter the kingdom of God. I may make an idol of my business; I may make an idol of the wife of my bosom; I may make idols of my children. I do not think you need go to heathen countries to find men guilty of idolatry. Anything that comes between me and God is an idol—anything, I don't care what it is; business is all right in its place, and there is no danger of my loving my family too much if I love God more; but God must have the first place; and if He has not, then the idol is set up.

May 28th.

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.—John i. 1 2.

DY receiving Him you get power, and not *-* otherwise. Many persons have tried to be Christians, and have failed. A man may as well try to jump to Europe, as to try to serve God before he is born of God. He has not the power. But when he receives Christ, Christ is the power of God unto salvation. We take Him: and He is our salvation.

May 29th.

I will seek that which was lost.—Ezekiel xxxiv. 16. I DO not believe there is a man that the Spirit of God has not striven with at some period of his life. Bear in mind, Christ takes the place of the seeker. Every man who has ever been saved through these six thousand years was sought after by God. No sooner did Adam fall, than God sought him. He had gone away frightened, and hid himself away among the

bushes in the garden, but God sought him; and from that day to this, God has always had the place of the Seeker.

May 30th.

O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?— Matthew xiv. 31.

COME one has said: "There are three ways to look. If you want to be wretched, look within j if you wish to be distracted, look around; but if you would have peace, look up." Peter looked away from Christ, and he immediately began to sink. He had God's eternal word, which was sure footing, and better than either marble, granite or iron; but the moment he took his eyes off Christ down he went.

May 31st. Ye shine as lights.—Philippians ii. 15. IF we cannot be a lighthouse, let us be a tallow candle. In the old times, people used to come to the evening meetings, bringing their candles with them. The first one would not make a great illumination, but as more came there was more light. Suppose all Christians to-day were burning with even a candle light, would not God be more glorified? If we cannot be a lighthouse let us be a tallow candle. Or even a farthing rushlight! That is well enough if it is all you can be. Be all you can.