Jesus at once graciously replied, "Bring him hither to me." And rebuking the devil, and casting him out, the child was cured from that very hour. Verily, nothing is too hard for our blessed Lord to do. Here was a

desperate case. The father could do nothing; the very disciples could do nothing; and it was instinctively felt by every onlooker that vain was the help of man. Yet the very instant that Jesus took him in hand, he was healed, and so effectually and visibly that all men marvelled.

Now the main interest of this to us lies in its typicalness. In ordinary circumstances, the more a benefactor does for one the less he is able to do for another; and when a fresh application is made, he often excuses himself on this very ground. But here it is the very reverse. What was done by our Lord on that occasion emphatically intimates what can be done by him on any and every occasion; for, as the Lord of life—the Seed of the woman, the Stronger than the strong man armed-he can save to the uttermost, for there is no limit whatever to his redeeming power.

As a foe Satan is mighty, and we are weak; but our Lord being mightier far, and ever near in times of conflict, we have nothing whatever to fear. "It is," says

one, "a narrow and straight path between overrating and underrating Satan. Underrate him not, for thou art no match for him; overrate him not, for he is no match for Christ. Remember he is a resistible foe; his power, great as it is, is not omnipotence, his cunning is not omniscience." In our time of need, therefore, we cannot either too trustfully or too hopefully say, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me."

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.— LUKE Xi. 21, 22.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.-Isa. liii. 12.

I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.-JOHN x. 28.

IN

August 10.

LITTLE SUCCESS AND LARGE.

N our gardens, what is our hope in spring is not always our joy in autumn: there is the early blossom, but not the after fruit. So is it often in the Church of God. Even in the worst of times his servants have usually some success; but often, alas! it is sadly mingled with disappointment. Some are their hope in the beginning who fail to be their joy in the end: like Felix, they tremble, but never repent; or like Agrippa, they are almost persuaded, but never altogether; or like the young man in the Gospel, they have many good thoughts about Christ, yet go away sorrowful. Nay, even believers are not always the joy to them they might be: the root of the matter, indeed, is in them, but their backslidings are so frequent and their love so cold that they are rather a grief than a gladness.

Now, labourers in God's vineyard must neither yield to unbelieving despondency, nor sluggish contentedness in such a state of things, but rather prayerfully strive to have the little success turned into the large. In so doing, they may find, if they are to be used by the Lord, that he empties before he fills, and weakens before he strengthens; just the more deeply to impress the great truth that suc

cess is not by might or by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. The most lowly, therefore, if only heartily trustful, are usually the most likely to be greatly honoured in the Lord's service.

Not long before his death, William Grimshaw stood with John Newton on a hill near Haworth, surveying the romantic prospect. He then said, that at the time he first came into that part of the country, he might have gone half a day's journey on horseback, towards east, west, north, and south, without meeting one truly serious person, or even hearing of one. But now, through the blessing of God, not fewer than twelve hundred were in communion with him; most of whom, in the judgment of charity, he could not but believe to be one in Christ. But such was his humility, that when nearing his end he said: "When I die I shall then know my greatest grief and my greatest joy: my greatest grief, that I have done so little for Jesus; and my greatest joy, that Jesus has done so much for me. My last words shall be, 'Here goes an unprofitable servant!'"

Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?— Ps. lxxxv. 6.

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 2 COR. ii. 14.

August 11.

THE WORTHLESSNESS OF WILL-WORSHIP.

NOTHING

OTHING seems to have surprised or saddened the great apostle of the Gentiles more than the readiness of the Galatians to revert to Judaism. It gave clear

evidence to him that they had come under the power of some fatally bewitching influence: for just as their spiritual life became feeble, outward rites increased; as faith decayed and the truth lost hold, mere carnal ordinances and beggarly elements became all in all. The Colossians showed not a little of a similar tendency; for, ignoring the true and the spiritual, they began to make religion very much a thing of times and seasons, and meats and drinks, and to confound the willing worship of grateful love with the mere will-worship of slavish fear. They forgot entirely what is so expressly taught in the Word: "Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse." "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

"There is no end," says an old writer, "to the scruples of superstition. If it regulate your eating to-day, tomorrow it will give you laws for your clothing, and afterwards for each part of your life, not leaving so much as your looks and breathing free. It is a labyrinth in which poor consciences go on intricating themselves without any issue; and a snare which first takes them, then binds them fast, and in the end strangles them. The apostle sums the matter up in these words: Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.""

God delights in a humility that is genuine and true, but loathes a humility that is pretended and false. He honours the self-denial that shows itself in sobriety and temperance, and all chasteness and purity; but not the self-denial that neglects the body and degrades it by

sackcloth and scourgings. The essence of will-worship is virtually a refusing to do in religion what the Lord asks, and a perverse eagerness to do what he asks not. Such self-willed service, however varied or abundant, never can be pleasing to the Lord.

What though a child eagerly brought many gifts to its father, if yet it wilfully refused to bring the only thing the father asked? So, do or bring what we may, we cannot please God till we believe on his Son. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." This, however, is the very thing that mere will-worshippers entirely forget. Though with much zeal they may do and bring many things to the Lord, they yet do not, as God requires, first and before all, believe and rest on Christ alone for salvation.

Their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.-Matt. xv. 8, 9.

Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.-ISA. xxix. 13. Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.-1 Cor. x. 31.

August 12.

SPECIAL GRACE PREPARING FOR SPECIAL TRIAL.

FEW

NEW have been called to bear or suffer more than the Hebrew believers who lived in early days. They were buffeted, tempted, and impoverished, and made a public gazing-stock by manifold reproaches. Nevertheless, instead of letting go the faith, or denying their Lord, or yielding to despondency, they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance.