September

September 1st

Thus saith the Lord G&d, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for th-em. Ez-ek. xxxvi. S7. 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 hlessing^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

September 3rd

We should never leave our prayer closets in the morning without having concentrated our deeply and intensely on the fact of the actual presence of G-od there with us, eneompassing 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 efP'orts 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 shal-l often find ourselves whispering the words, "Thou art near; thou art here, O Lord."—i^. B. Meyer,

September 4th

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 ligkt. He said thf?.t 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 acsomplish 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 Mas-ter has promised to help us perform? Shall He come and find that we still sleep? Or shall the Sen of Righteousness, when He appears, find us waiting, as that painter waited, looking and longing for the first gleam of day? Surely those ®f 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 OCX. 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. Giitlirie.

September 8th

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 Eeynolds.

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 f-eet, 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. Ixxviii. 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 G®d. 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 iDehind 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."—G^eor^e Matheson.

September 11th

gi 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 tiie gulf, by Grod's help day by day, the bridge of growing likeness to Himself, and purity therefrom. —Alex. Maclaren.

September 12th

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, Matt. xx. 18. Never had there been such a going up to Jerusalem as that which Jg'Sus here proposes to His disciples. He goes up voluntarily. The act was not enforeed by any extern-al 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 <s>f 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 npgoing steps, leading you t-o the mount of God and the resurrection glory. —J. B. Straiton.

September 13th

These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges : there they dwelt with the king for his work. 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, furtkermore, 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 nt-t be for its very protraction; and as for the pottery, why, this is just exactly what He has seen j&t to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, " His work." Frances Ridley Havergal,

September 14th

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 siij^ht 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

September 17th

September 18th

Then spake Solomon . . . I have surely built thee an house to dwell in. 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. 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 ivith 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. B. 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.

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September 23rd

September 24th

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

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

September 29th

This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, 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. Maclaren.

September 30th