December

December 1st

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December 2nd

December 3rd

Holy men of Qod spake as they were m,oved by the Holy Ghost. 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; iDut 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 sx3eaking; 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

Ill Separation never corned from His side. J. Hudson Taylor.

December 5th

December 6th

December 7th

December 8th

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits . . . who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Ps, ciii. 2, 4. W© talk about the telescope of faith, but I think we want even more the microscope of watchful and grateful love. Apply this to the little bits of our daily lives, in the light of the Spirit, and how wonderfully they come out! Frances Ridley Havergal.

December 9th

When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee. Is. xliii. 2. God's presence in the trial is much better than exemption from the trial. The sympathy of His heart with us is sweeter far than the power of His hand for us. Selected.

December 10th

Then shall ye discern between the righ teous and the wicked, Mai. iii. 18. Said Anne of Austria to Cardinal Richelieu: "God does not pay at the end of every week, but He pays at \2isiV'—Selected.

December 11th

December 12th

He (Jesus) . . . looked up to heaven, Mark vi. 41. In working for God, first look to heaven. It is a grand plan. Over and over again our Lord Jesus Christ looked to heaven and said, "Father." Let us imitate Him; although standing on the earth, let us have our conversation in heaven. Before you go out, if you would feed the world, if you would be a blessing in the midst of spiritual dearth and famine, lift up your head to heaven. Then your very face will shine, your very garments will smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces where you have been with your God and Savior. There will be stamped upon you the dignity and power of the service of the Most High God. —3fcNeil.

December 13th

The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Acts xi.26. This name suggests that the clear impression made by our character, as well as by our words, should be that we belong to Jesus Christ. He should manifestly be the center and the guide, the impulse and the pattern, the strength and reward, of our lives. We are Christians. That should be plain for all folks to see, whether we speak or be silent. Is it so with you? Alex. Maclaren.

December 14th

Having therefore these promises. 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. 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

December 17th

December 18th

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

December 22nd

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. Maclaren.

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 comjpromising 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. Sam. i. 10^ 13. For real business at the mercy-seat give me a homemade 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

December 31st