June 13.

"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage."- Psalm xvi. 6.

Those who can say ''The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance," may well say, "The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places," whatever may be their outward condition or lot in life. The contrast is often very striking between the Christian's inward peace and outward struggle, for how often are " waters of a full cup wrung out to him," and yet by the grace of God he is enabled to say, " None of these things move me." It is of God's great mercy that we are often in circumstances to say that even in this life " the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places;" but when it is otherwise with us, when sorrow, pain, or anxiety darken our days, let us consider what it is to have the Lord for our portion, and say if we would change our lot with that of the most prosperous worldling whom we know ? He who is the Almighty God is our Father and our Friend, and can more than make up to us for the want of earthly joys. Let us repose in the thought of His love; what portion can be so rich as this ? what earthly hopes so glorious as those which He sets before us? Oh, may He so reveal Himself to our souls, that we may be filled with joy and thankfulness for all that He has done for us, and desire to give ourselves up unreservedly to His service!

"My soul's Restorer, let me learn
In Thy deep love to live and rest,
Let me the precious thing discern
Of which I am indeed possest.
My treasure let me feel and see;
And may my moments as they flee,
Unfold my endless life in Thee."

June 14.

"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself."—John xiii. 3, 4.

This marvellous act is prefaced by marvellous words, most touching in their calm dignity; may the Lord enable us to feel them, and to look aright upon Jesus in " the form of a servant." It would be wonderful to see a king perform so lowly an office; but what is an earthly king to Him, the King of kings, into whose hands the Father hath given all things? And why did He stoop thus low? Not to teach the lesson of humility alone, but to write upon the inmost hearts of all who, like Peter, start back amazed at the sight, that other great lesson, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Yes, Lord, this is indeed my case; I need Thy daily, Thine hourly washing—that washing which Thou only canst bestow, and without which I can have no part with Thee. Leave me not, in my guilty ignorance, to forget my continual need of Thy cleansing blood. The work is finished, it is perfect, but unless Thou apply it to me by Thy Spirit I can never be found among those who have "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

"There is a fountain fill'd with blood,
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains."

June 15.

"He shall sit as the refiner and purifier of silver." —Malachi iii. 3.

"I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin."— Isaiah i. 25.

That which the Lord promises to do for His Church, He will do for individual Christians also; and this consideration is truly comforting to those who mourn their state, as all must do who look into their own hearts and see how much dross is mingled with the gold, and how much sin cleaves to their best thoughts and actions. The Lord is faithful; "He shall sit as the Refiner"—He will work His own work in them by His Holy Spirit, taking away, though it be by a fiery ordeal of suffering, that which is so displeasing in His sight, that evil thing sin. Oh, may we have courage and faith to ask Him to work thus in our hearts; not sparing the "sin which doth so easily beset us," but enabling us to learn all the self-denying lessons of holiness which He would have us to learn! Let us believe firmly in His love, when He sees it good for us that He should chasten us; the furnace may be hot, but He will not leave us too long in it, nor try us beyond measure, for "the trial of our faith is much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried in the fire." He watches while He tries us, and is never so near as when He is taking away from us all those evils which separate us from Himself! "

Love divine has seen and counted
Every tear it caused to fall;
And the storm which Love appointed
Was the choicest gift of all."

June 16.

"Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick."—John xi. 3.

It is so still; many of those whom He loves are sick. "We see them suffering, sorrowing, groaning, dying, yet we cannot doubt either His love to them or His power to heal them; why, then, are they thus? We think that if we had the power none of those whom we love would ever be sick, and when they are so we do all we can to heal them ; and we are right in so doing. But the love of Jesus is deeper than ours, and it is a far-seeing love. He knows, and those who have been taught by Him know, how often the sickness of the body is the health of the soul, and the weakness of the flesh the strength of the spirit; and if we could ask the saints in glory what they now feel with regard to their earthly sufferings, how many voices would cry, "It was good for me that I was afflicted!" Let me learn faith and submission from the example of those sisters, who were both, like their brother, loved of Jesus. They tell Him their case in lowly confidence. They appeal to His love. They believe in that Divine power to heal of which they had seen so many proofs, but they do not say, "He is God, and knows all, why need we tell Him ?" for they know that it is their part to go to Him with all their wants; nor is their faith in His love shaken by this sickness. Let me, like them, have faith for others as well as myself, and believe that whether He sends sickness or health to His loved ones, "He doeth all things well."

June 17.

"And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath."—Luke vi. 5.

This saying is given by three of the Evangelists, shewing the importance they attached to it (as well they might) from its containing the true Sabbath law. In St Mark it is accompanied with the remarkable expression given as the reason for it—"He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath : therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath," (Mark ii. 27.) Yes! it was made for man, not for the Jews only, but for man everywhere; made for him, not he for it; it is his privilege, his great blessing; he is not to be its slave, as the Pharisees were. And because it was made for man, "therefore, the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath;" it is His day, the Lord's day; He may take what day of the week it pleases Him, and He has taken the first day of the week, and He has made it the day of rest for man, and He himself is Lord of it. Shall we not thank him for it? Shall we not bless Him and praise Him for this blessed day, and seek Him to come and make it to our souls all that He meant it to be for man when He made it for man—no day of bondage, but a day of holy freedom from the world and sin, a foretaste to us of the " rest that remaineth for the people of God?"

"How welcome to the saints, when press'd
"With six days' noise, and care, and toil,
Is the returning day of rest
Which hides them from the world awhile?'

June 18.

"He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel."— Psalm cvi. 10, 12, 13.

How faithless and fickle is the human heart! How soon do even the favoured Israelites forget what God has done. We might have thought that such a deliverance as they had experienced would have at once and for ever put to silence all unbelieving doubts concerning God's power and will to bring them into the promised land; but we see that it was far otherwise—"They soon forgat his works." Experience is not faith, and will not stand in stead of faith. We are no better than those Israelites by nature. What God does for us in merciful preservations, unlooked-for recoveries from illness, escapes from great dangers, is not sufficient to establish our hearts in His faith and fear. Our faith requires a deeper foundation than this, or we shall be found on the first moment of trial to have "forgotten His works, and waited not for His counsel." His word of promise is a surer foundation than anything in our past experience can be, though this too may well afford us cause to praise Him, and such knowledge of His love as ought to incline us to trust in Him.

"Shew me what I have to do,
Every hour my strength renew;
Let me live a life of faith,
Let me die Thy people's death."

June 19.

"To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."—Isa. lxvi. 2.

"Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified : but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed."—Ver. 5.

A holy and reverent regard for the Word of God is here the mark by which His people are described. It is pointed out as the distinction between them and then-persecutors, who yet have the name of the Lord on their lips, and say, even while hating their brethren, and casting them out, " Let the Lord be glorified." May I be ever found on the side of those who tremble at Thy Word, O my God! May I fear to speak, or write, or think one slight or irreverent thought or word concerning that holy Word of Thine whereby I shall be judged. And may I not only fear, but love it. May I, like David, esteem it " better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." It is not for me to cavil at difficulties. Strange would it be were there none in a book sent from the Infinite God to finite creatures so ignorant as we are ! The poor and contrite spirit is too much in earnest to cavil. Be it mine not to doubt but to tremble at Thy Word!

June 20.

"Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."—Isa. Ivii. 15.

Our God is infinite. We cannot understand what that means, but this we may know, and understand, and exceedingly rejoice to believe, that high as He is, He is not too high to behold us; holy as He is, He is not too holy to pity us! There are heights in His glory that the highest angels have never yet seen, "which things the angels desire to look into," even the glories of His infinite grace in the salvation of sinners. Let us think of His greatness, that we may be lost in wonder at His condescension; "What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?" Even because He is so great, so infinitely exalted, we may rest secure that He will fulfil all His promises,—" God is not a man that he should lie." Oh that He may find in me that contrite and humble spirit which He loves—a heart emptied of self and sin, lifting up its gates that the King of glory may enter in !. Then, as the ocean tide which heaves the broad Atlantic, and yet does not forget to fill all the crystal pools by the shore, so shall He who "inhabiteth eternity" come in His abundant grace to '' revive the spirit of the humble!"

"Come then Thyself! To every heart
The glory of Thy name make known;
The means are our appointed part,
The power and grace are Thine alone."

June 21.

"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass."—Deut. xxxii. 2.

"As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, .... so shall my word be."—Isa. lv. 10, 11.