_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, G.o.d, 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._
[Ill.u.s.tration: September]
=September 1st.=
_Thus saith the Lord G.o.d, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.
Ezek. x.x.xvi. 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 G.o.d"s mercies rises upon our necessities it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the plain. Or, to use another ill.u.s.tration, when G.o.d 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. x.x.xiii. 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 G.o.d there with us, encompa.s.sing 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d"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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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, G.o.d"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 pet.i.tion. 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 G.o.d"s answer to our prayers is like a multiplying gla.s.s, 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 G.o.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 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.=