to fall, the lowly make the Lord alone their confidence, and their daily prayer is, "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe;" whereas, vainly self-reliant, the proud almost disdain to seek guiding or upholding of any kind. Finally, they differ in motive. The grand animating motive of the lowly is not their own glory, but the Lord's: "He must increase; I must decrease;" whereas the things ever uppermost with the proud are their own name, and fame, and exaltation.

"He that has much grace," said Jonathan Edwards, apprehends much more than others that great height to which his love ought to ascend; and he sees better than others how little a way he has risen towards that height. And therefore, estimating his love by the whole height of his duty, he appears astonishingly low and little in his own eyes."

"Here is my heart; it trembles to draw near

The glory of thy throne.

Give it thy shining robe thy servants wear

Of righteousness thine own;

Its pride and folly chase away,

And all its vanity, I pray."

"I can never," says George Herbert, "do too much for Him that hath done so much for me. And I will labour to be like my Saviour, by making humility lovely in the eyes of all men."

:

Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off.-Ps. cxxxviii. 6.

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.-JAMES iv. 6. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant.-GEN. xxxii. 10.

THE

March 3.

A HUMBLING EXPERIENCE OFTEN BECOMES

A HELPFUL MERCY.

HE Twelve frankly allowed that what the demoniac's father said of them was true: "I brought my son to thy disciples, and they could not cure him." Still the failure was very perplexing to them. If they had been always thus helpless, and had never on any occasion cast out an unclean spirit, they would not have wondered. But it was not so; for wherever they had gone hitherto, this was their uniform testimony, "Lord, even the devils are subject to us." Yet now, though in all likelihood they tried hard and tried long, and tried separately and tried unitedly, they could do nothing whatever, but were completely baffled. What made this all the more painful was the publicity of it. Every one in the neighbourhood knew of the failure, and some, it may be, laughed them to scorn.

No experience could have been more humbling than this; nevertheless it was both a needful and helpful one, and afterwards, doubtless, when riper in grace and wisdom, they would not fail to regard it as such. It would teach much that otherwise they might never have learned. In particular it would give a decisive blow to any rising pride or self-complacency, or any over-trustfulness in their own strength, and make them lean more simply and exclusively on the power and grace of their Lord and Master.

Occasionally, when favourite plans are baffled, and the most cherished hopes are seemingly blighted for ever, the depressing fear arises, that because there has been such

ruin."

marked failure once, there will be marked failure always. But not so; for these very failures in the beginning are often, under God, the very things that prove the best preventives of all like failures in time to come. An eminently prosperous merchant, when referring to a business event in the past, once said: "That heavy loss in early life was the very making of me. It checked in time the overspeculativeness that might have been So has it often been with believers. Under God, their failures have humbled them, their stumblings have steadied them, and their losses have enriched them. Indeed, but for these varied and seemingly adverse things, they might never have been such lights and blessings in their day and generation. God cannot work with proud instruments, but never does he refuse to employ lowly ones.

my

Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me...For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.— 2 COR. xii. 7-9.

March 4.

IF SAINTS LOVED MORE, THEY WOULD DOUBT LESS.

IN days of declining love to Christ, we see little in pro

fessing Christians of the holy confidence and boldness of the early Church. In spite of divine utterances, both clear and unmistakable, they never get beyond a maybe. They think, they desire, they hope, but that is all; and therefore they can rarely say, with blessed assuredness, "I know that Redeemer liveth"my I know whom

I have believed." What makes this the more sad is, that with some it was once very different. Indeed, not till over-intimacy with the world and over-cleaving to earthly things had turned them from their first love, did darkness and doubt gain any mastery. But now, even with an opened Bible before them, they can neither see the promises as once they saw them, nor take firm hold of them. On this account, though in offer it is the held-out privilege of all believers to know the safety and blessedness of their relationship to God, yet instead of enjoying it, they are always seemingly in Doubting Castle, and full of discomfort and fear. "Such doubts and fears," says Thomas Boston, "are no friends to holiness of heart and life. It is little faith that breeds them, and little faith always makes little holiness." And as doubts hinder holiness, so they hinder usefulness.

"A man," says Martin Luther, "can never move the world that lets the world move him. If he is not certain about something, let him step forth; we cannot have 'if's' and 'and's' where the soul is concerned, and heaven or hell at issue." What is needed in such cases is a renewed application to the blood of sprinkling, a fresh baptism of the Spirit, a thorough coming out from the world, and a resolute return to first love and obedience. This would speedily dispel a thousand doubts and fears, and change cloud into sunshine.

The early Christians, having no chilled affection, had no doubting hesitancy. They believed and were sure that Christ was the Son of the living God, and gladly received the word, and continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Faith like this, as it is ever honouring to God, is ever honoured by him in turn.

It often secures blessed secrets for its possessor, and Pisgah glimpses of the coming glory, of which others know nothing.

"Faith can sing through days of sorrow,

'All, all is well!'

On our Father's love relying,
Jesus every need supplying,

Or in living, or in dying,

All must be well."

Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.-1 JOHN iii. 24.

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.-1 JOHN iii. 14.

Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.-1 JOHN iii. 2.

March 5.

THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IS A MYSTERY TO THE WORLD.

IN

N all ages true believers have been "men wondered at," and often so strangely misunderstood, that their wisdom of grace has been declared to be folly, and their loving earnestness, insane fanaticism. In apostolic times, when the great preacher in bonds was proceeding to set forth the truth as it is in Jesus, with illustrative confirmations from Christian life, his utterances seemed so wildly delusive, that Festus, in the excitement of the moment, exclaimed, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad."

Like thoughts and feelings are common still. Indeed, there are in Christian experience such contrasts and opposites, that it is always a mystery to the world, and not unfrequently also to believers themselves. When