April 24.

"Unto you therefore which believe He is precious."—1 Pet. ii. 7.

Here is a text by which men may try themselves, and ask, "Is Christ precious to me?" The question is not, Is religion precious? is salvation precious? is a holy life precious? "We may desire all these, and feel them to be precious, without looking up to Christ himself, and saying, "He is precious"-—the living, personal, ever-present Saviour! How are we to gain clearer views of His preciousness? This is an important question for all: for I suppose no one will say that he knows enough of the value of Christ. "Unto you which believe He is precious." We must believe if we would love. A faithless heart cannot lay hold of the beauty of Christ—a careless, worldly heart passes by this great sight; it is too full of other guests to have room for Jesus. But where there is that faith which is the work of God's Spirit in the heart, there cannot but be a spirit of love to Him who is the object of such a faith. Without Him the sinner sees himself lost. In Him, and in His finished work, is the beginning and the ending of every good hope that can support him in this life by leading him to a better. Let us believe in Him now, and He will be precious; let us believe in Him more and more, and He will be more precious.

"Revive our drooping faith,
Our doubts and fears remove;
And kindle in our breasts the flame
Of never-dying love!"

April 25.

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?"—Ps. cxvi. 12.

This is that outpouring of the heart, under the sense of God's great mercy, which leads to new obedience. The man no longer seeks to render something that may win for him the favour of the Lord, as if any human effort could win pardon and salvation! But because God has first loved him, and has given him the unspeakable gift of His own dear Son, the heart is changed in its whole nature, and longs to become a living sacrifice of love to its God; the power of new life is given, with the faith of what Christ is to us; and it is the work of the Holy Spirit to renew, and raise, and sanctify the soul, so that it may be enabled to glorify God. We ought often to ask ourselves the question, ''What shall I render, what do I render unto the Lord?" Are we rendering Him returns of ingratitude, of coldness and carelessness in His service ? or are we rendering Him the service of willing hearts and devoted minds? Our best is all unworthy of His acceptance, and we can but ask Him for more benefits—more faith, more love, more grace, more zeal in His work. Then may we say, "Of Thine own have we rendered unto Thee!"

"Cleansed in Thine own all-purifying Hood,
Forgive their evil and accept their good;
I cast them at Thy feet, my only plea
Is what it was—dependence upon Thee!"

April 26.

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." —Ps. xxvii. 13.

Many a Christian may use these words of David, and say, as he looks back on the rough places of his pilgrimage, "There, because of my sins, I had fainted; there again, through fears of the future, I had fainted; through bereavements, through afflictions, through spiritual darkness, through sore temptations, a hundred times I had fainted, unless I had believed! Not only I had fainted, I would even have died in the way, but for this belief that I would yet see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" Faith cures fainting; faith holds fast by the goodness of the Lord; none of our own sins or sorrows can touch that; and faith believes that it will be yet displayed, not in heaven only, but now, even here, "in the land of the living." Let me remember this when trouble comes, wave upon wave, so that it seems as if there was never more to be happiness in this world. Then is the time for faith to speak, and to tell of changeless love and boundless goodness, which, though hidden for a time, shall yet shine out from behind the clouds, and, even in the land of the living, shall be seen and enjoyed by the believing soul.

"Paint not, Christian, though the road
Leading to thy blest abode Darksome be, and dangerous too,
Christ, thy Guide, shall bear thee through."

April 27.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."—Matt. vi. 34.

Our Lord repeatedly warns His followers against taking anxious thought for the morrow. He points to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and draws from them the sweet lesson of simple trust which, alas ! we are so slow to learn—"Take no thought for the morrow." "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things;" therefore by anxious care we dishonour our Lather, and doubt either His power or His willingness to provide for His children. Our Saviour's exhortations are necessary not for those only who gain their daily bread with difficulty, for the rich as well as the poor are far too prone to take anxious thought for the morrow, and heap to themselves cares of various kinds, which engross them to the exclusion of due care for their souls; and thus the thorns spring up and choke the seed of the Word in the field of their hearts. Lord, deliver us from those thorns ! May we remember that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" and if inclined to fear that the evil will be more than sufficient, may we remember the other word of promise, "As thy day so shall thy strength be!" Alas! how many have lost the blessing of quiet peace all their lives, merely by anticipating evil! They have suffered not from what actually came, but from what they feared might one day come.

"Does each day upon its wing
Its allotted burden bring?
Load it not besides with sorrow
That belongeth to the morrow.

Strength is promised, strength is given,
Where the heart by God is riven;
But foredate the day of woe,
And alone thou bear'st the blow."

April 28.

"He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man : for He knew what was in man."—John ii. 24, 25.

And He knows now what is in man! Every thought, every motive, every passion, every feeling is known to Him; and yet He bears with us, listens to us, and answers our prayers! Nay, bestows ten thousand bless-ings we neither asked nor acknowledged. How marvellous is the long-suffering, how wonderful the patience and the forbearance of the Holy One! Conscience tells me that I have thought far too much of the human eyes that were upon me—far too little of the divine eye, the all-seeing eye of the holy God. It was the sin of the Pharisees that they did their good deeds to be seen of men. May the Lord deliver me from this spirit! There are many things to foster it in the present day, when there is much outward action and zealous effort in the cause of religion; for these may draw the soul away from that communion with God in secret in which its true life consists. Let me beware of distractions in that secret service of God which no eye sees but His own; and, remembering that He knows what is in man, let me seek to be without guile before Him. ''I know thy works."

April 29.

"Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me."— Ps. xxxviii. 4.

"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."—Isa. liii. 6.

I have observed that Christians differ very much from each other, and vary at different times themselves in the feeling of the load of sin. Not that a child of God can ever be indifferent, or have no sorrow for sin, but the sense of it as a burden is different in different minds, and in the same mind at different times. Sometimes the Lord shews us what is in our hearts in a fearful manner, and we start back appalled with the dark sight; so that, unless the Lord also shews how He has laid on Christ the iniquity of our sins, we would sink in despair. Such minds as those of the holy Henry Martyn and David Brainerd were deeply exercised in this way; and the record of their searchings of heart and profound humiliation for sin ought to be very instructive to us, in shewing us how hateful to a holy mind the presence of sin is. But sometimes such records produce a hurtful effect. They may make those who have never felt such deep sorrows fear that they have never gone to Christ at all; while it may be that the constitution of their minds is naturally different, and they may be of those who, like Bunyan's pilgrim, having once got sight of the Cross, their burden has fallen from them into the sepulchre, to be seen no more. The more we know Christ, and truly love Him, the more we shall truly know ourselves and hate our sin. O Lord, grant that my confessions may be genuine and my sorrow for sin real before Thee; and when I see my guilt, may I also see it forgiven through Christ's atoning blood!

April 30.

"A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."—John xvi. 16.