The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.-1 COR. iii. 19, 20.

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.— 1 COR. i. 21.

THAT

March 13.

CONTENTED LUKEWARMNESS.

AT speech cost him dear who uttered it: "Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Yet, in spirit and aim, how many are like him! Instead of being loyally zealous for truth and righteousness, they sit at ease even when both are imperilled. Nay, worse still, what is manifestly sin they change into virtue by calling it moderation. They go to no extremes, they allege, and take no side. They are friendly to truth, but they are not with any keenness unfriendly to error; and while giving one hand to Christ, they yet do not refuse to give the other to the world. In fine, they try in vain to serve two masters. John Trapp, the commentator, was wont quaintly to say: "They resolve to keep on the warm side of the hedge, to sleep in a whole skin, to suffer nothing and do nothing that may interfere with their hopes and preferments."

This by many may be deemed prudence, but the Lord condemns it as a heartless lukewarmness which he utterly loathes. "I would thou wert cold or hot," he says. "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Need we

wonder at the sternness of such rebuke, when we remember the greatness of the love wherewith he loved us, in

that he laid down his life to save us; and consider also what grievous dishonour such coldness brings on his name and cause.

We cannot possibly serve both God and mammon. "When you see a dog following two men," says Ralph Erskine, "you know not to which of them he belongs while they walk together; but let them come to a parting-road, and one go one way, and the other another way, then will you know which is the dog's master. So while a man may have the world and a religious profession too, we cannot tell which is the man's master, God or the world; but stay till the man come to a parting-road. God calls him this way, and the world calls him that way. Well, if God be his master, he follows truth and righteousness, and lets the world go; but if the world be his master, then he follows the flesh and the lusts thereof, and lets God and conscience go." It is always so. lukewarm can never be trusted, but the heartily-loving are ever loyal.

The.

Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.-1 KINGS Xviii. 21.

Ye cannot serve God and mammon.-MATT. vi. 24.

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.-MATT. xii. 30.

IT

March 14.

WE MUST BOTH TAKE HOLD AND HOLD FAST.

T is not more necessary to come to Christ than to cleave to him; and if for any reason we fail to do so, we not only imperil our comfort and usefulness, but our

very salvation. It is emphatically written, "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him;" "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." This was the sin of Lot's wife: she was on the very brink of being saved, but looked back, and perished. There must therefore be neither a looking back on our part nor a going back, but a steady, resolute holding on.

Doubtless this is no easy thing, just because there are so many snares, difficulties, and temptations on every side; but why should any of us fail on this account, or let go the profession we have been privileged to make? We may be weak and our adversary mighty, but what of that when we have One to uphold who is mightier far? The battle is not ours, but the Lord's, and we know that, through him, in the end victory is sure. Those who have Jesus for them and Jesus in them have nothing whatever to fear, though encompassed by enemies on every side.

In the persecuting days of the English Queen Mary, a good man of the name of Palmer, when condemned to die, was earnestly persuaded to recant, and among other things, a friend said to him, "Take pity on thy golden years and pleasant flowers of youth, before it is too late." His reply was not more conclusive than beautiful: “Sir, I long for those springing flowers which shall never fade away." When in the midst of the flames, he exhorted his companions to constancy, saying, "We shall not end our lives in the fire, but make a change for a better life; yea, for coals we shall receive pearls."

And He whom now we trust in
Shall then be seen and known;
And they that know and see Him
Shall have Him for their own."

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.-HEB. X. 23.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.—HEB. iv. 14. The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.2 THESS. iii. 3.

March 15.

IF THE MIGHT of the LORD IS MARVELLOUS,
STILL MORE IS HIS MERCY.

ONE

NE of the briefest prayers in the Word, and one of the best, is that of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner," just because it so emphatically expresses what every one needs, and what, too, every one may find who truly seeks it. However much men may differ in other respects, yet as sinners needing mercy they are all on an equality, and must inevitably perish without it.

When this need begins to be felt-and every truly awakened sinner feels it-it is a frequent fear that divine mercy may not prove ample enough to meet their case, and cover iniquities so great and manifold. In cherishing any such feeling, they forget all the wondrous light that Bethlehem and Calvary throw on the character and mercy of God, and the words so solemnly proclaimed in the hearing of Moses, "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin," and they forget the multitudes unnumbered who are already monuments of the mercy that redeems.

When referring to the well-known words of the Psalmist, "He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy,” an old writer once said: "Here are four properties in God, and all so necessary that we could not miss one of them. If he were no more than merciful, we could hope for no more but pardon; but when, besides being merciful, he is also gracious, this gives us further hope of a donative, not what we are worthy to receive, but what it is fit for him to give. If he were not so slow to anger, we could expect no patience; but when, besides his slowness to anger, he is full of compassion, this makes us expect that he will be the Good Samaritan, and not only bind up our wounds, but take care also for our further curing."

"My soul, repeat His praise

Whose mercies are so great,
Whose anger is so slow to rise,
So ready to forgive."

God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.EPH. ii. 4, 5.

I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.-HEB. viii. 12.

Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.-Ps. cxxx. 7.

March 16.

AIMLESS WORKING IS USELESS WORKING.

AUL was too intensely set on the salvation of men to

PAUL

be satisfied with the mere preaching of the truth, apart from a direct and personal application of it. He therefore combined admonition with exposition-"warning