March 26.

"And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."—Exod. iii. 5.

Our faith in God is not a right faith, unless it is reverential, for reverence is seeing Him who is invisible. Though He has now " in these last days spoken to us by His Son," and has granted unto us a revelation of His glory, "the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," He is still to be worshipped with the same depth of awe and reverence, as when He said to Moses, "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground." And let us remember this when we approach the mercy-seat—the place where we seek to meet with God in prayer, whether in the sanctuary, or in the closet, or under the blue canopy of the heavens which He has made, or on a sick-bed, or on a journey, where-ever it may be, it is a place where we must stand with reverence and godly fear, putting away earthly thoughts, as the shoes from our feet, and striving to attain worthy thoughts of Him in whose presence we stand. "Thy mansion is the Christian's heart, O Lord, Thy dwelling-place secure! Bid the unruly throng depart, And leave the consecrated door."

March 27.

"Whoso hearkeneth unto mo shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."—Prov. i. 33.

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."—Ps. cxii. 7.

There are some persons whose minds are of so anxious a cast, that the fear of evil is to them as great a trial as evil itself. Apprehensions of some approaching calamity disturb their peace; they take affliction home to themselves before God sends it; and, therefore, they do not receive the strength to bear it, which He has promised to His people in the day, but not before the day of their distress. In the verses quoted above, we have the cure for this spirit given to us—"Whoso hearkeneth unto me"—unto heavenly Wisdom—"shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Resting in God he is safe, and he knows it; trusting in the Lord, "he shall not be afraid of evil tidings," he need not be afraid, and he feels that he need not, for he has learned by experience that if sorrow does come, and evil tidings do reach him, his God will be with him still, and he knows that He can sustain him, whatever may be the lot He appoints for him, or the trials He sends him on earth.

"Then, whate'er the future prove,
Let not fear my spirit move;
Let me never doubt Thy love,
O my Father!

"On Thy wisdom let me rest,
Sure Thy way is ever best,
So shall peace possess my breast,
From my Father!"

March 28.

"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."—Matt. vi. 22. "This one thing T. do."—Phil. iii. 13.

Singleness of aim gives great power to the character, and this is as true of the Christian as of the man of the world. The man whose heart is divided by various interests and aims brings "forth no fruit to perfection;" but he whose "eye is single," and directed to the glory of God, sees his way plainly and clearly, and follows it with a cheerful decision to which the divided heart can never attain. The Psalmist says, " Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness," he is not left a prey to uncertainty and perplexity, he is seeking to do God's will, not his own, and this simplifies every question of duty to him; God gives him light enough to do His will, when he seeks it in uprightness. The apostle says, " this one thing I do," he concentrated his soul upon the great work, therefore he was enabled to do so much. Lord, do Thou so free us from selfish aims and worldly interests, that we may have that single eye to which Thou hast promised to give light!

"I want a true regard,
A single, steady aim,
Unmoved by threatening or reward,
To Thee and Thy great name.
A jealous, just concern
For Thine immortal praise,
A pure desire that all may learn
And glorify Thy grace!"

March 29.

"His name shall be called Wonderful."—Isa. ix. 6. "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him ! "—Matt, viii. 27.

"Never man spake like this man."—John vii. 46. We know nothing of Jesus if we do not yet know that "His name is called Wonderful!" Those who saw His works, and heard His words when He was on earth, could not find words strong enough to express their wonder; far more cause have we to wonder, adore, and admire, knowing, as we do, not only the works done in the course of His ministry, but the death that He died, and the resurrection from the dead which sealed, with a Divine stamp, all His mission to this world of ours. Wonderful He was—in His birth—in His holy infancy —in His miracles—in His temptations—in His teaching; wonderful in His Divine condescension, wonderful in His perfect humanity. His character was wonderful, as our example; His death wonderful, as our atonement. Wonderful was His rising from the dead, and ascending up into glory; and, oh, not less wonderful is He in His dealings with His Church now ! How marvellous His grace in calling us to the knowledge of Himself ! How wondrous the change which He works by His Spirit in the hearts of His people ! How excellent His long-suffering in bearing with them! And how amazing is His promise, that they shall at last reign with Him in glory, world without end! Yes, Lord Jesus! Thy name is wonderful!

"Oh, who can all His grace proclaim?
What tongue His glory tell?
It pleased the Father that in Him
Should all His fulness dwell!"

March 30.

"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."—Gal. ii. 20.
"He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."—2 Cor. v. 15.

Life and death! How little we know what these words mean! There may be spiritual death where the body lives; there may be spiritual life when the body -dies. May He, who is the Lord and Giver of life, grant us to know more and more of that life of which St Paul speaks—life by the faith of the Son of God, life by union with Him who died and rose again! How boldly does the apostle speak! He knew he had passed from death unto life, and was not afraid to say, Christ liveth in me. It is our consciousness of languor in spiritual life that makes us afraid to declare what God has done for our souls. Thus we rob Christ of His glory, and ourselves of that fulness of life which He is ready and waiting to bestow.

"Our flesh He took, our sins He bore,
Himself for us He gave;
His cross was ours, and we with Him
Were buried in one grave.

"With Him we rose, with Him we live,
With Him we sit above,
With Him for ever we shall share
The Father's boundless love."

March 31.

"For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."—Job xix. 25, 26.

How wonderful is it that Job, in those far remote days should have seen so clearly and grasped so firmly the great doctrine of the resurrection, a doctrine which required to be defended, in our Lord's time, by His own voice against its Sadducee assailants, and, even after His. resurrection, needed to be maintained by all the arguments of St Paul; and that even among professing believers—"How say some among you that there is no resurrection?" "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes;" Job, in the Church's infancy, had this truth revealed to him, to his infinite comfort; and many a babe in Christ, since Job's time, has received it in simplicity, and held it in lowly confidence, and, believing that his "Redeemer liveth," has lain down to sleep in Jesus, in the full faith that the morning would not fail to dawn when his Lord would stand upon the earth, and in his flesh he should see God. Let us comfort one another, and comfort ourselves with these words, rejoicing, with Job, in the thought of our living Redeemer!

"Christ, my Rock, my sure Defence,
Jesus, my Redeemer, liveth!
Oh, what blessed hope from thence
My believing heart receiveth!
Death itself shall never part
Me from my Redeemer's heart!"