Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Part 27

Does not that voice come to us? Are there not those who would taste the joys of heaven if we wrote them words of forgiveness and affection? Are there not others who would dry their tears if we would remind them of past joys, when we were poor as they are now? Nay, could not some, who read these plain words, place inside the envelope something bearing their signature which would make the widow's heart dance for joy?

What is our pen doing? Is it adding joy to other men's lives? If so, then angels may tune their harps when we sit at our desk. They are sent to minister to the heirs of salvation, and would be glad to look upon our pen as writing music for them to sing, because what we write makes their client's joy to be full.--_Thomas Champness._

=November 22nd.=

_Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Heb. xii. 6._

We should ever bear in mind that the discipline of our heavenly Father's hand is to be interpreted in the light of our Father's countenance; and the deep mysteries of His moral government to be contemplated through the medium or His tender love.--_Selected._

=November 23rd.=

_Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.

1 Thess. v. 24._

Earthly faithfulness is possible only by the reception of heavenly gifts. As surely as every leaf that grows is mainly water that the plant has got from the clouds, and carbon that it has got out of the atmosphere, so surely will all our good be mainly drawn from heaven and heaven's gifts. As certainly as every lump of coal that you put upon your fire contains in itself sunbeams that have been locked up for all these millenniums that have pa.s.sed since it waved green in the forest, so certainly does every good deed embody in itself gifts from above. And no man is pure except by impartation; and every good thing and every perfect thing cometh from the Father of lights.--_Alex. McLaren._

=November 24th.=

_Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col.

iii. 16._

Remember your life is to be a singing life. This world is G.o.d's grand cathedral for you. You are to be one of G.o.d's choristers, and there is to be a continual eucharistic sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving going up from your heart, with which G.o.d shall be continually well pleased.

And there should be not only the offering of the lips, but the surrender of the life with joy. Yes, with _joy_, and not with _constraint_. Every faculty of our nature should be presented to Him in gladsome service, for the Lord Jehovah is my song as well as my strength.--_W. Hay Aitken._

=November 25th.=

_Call to remembrance the former days. Heb. x. 32._

_The former days_--times of trial, conflict, discouragement, temptation.

Did we oftener call these to remembrance, with how much more delight would we make the covert of G.o.d's faithfulness our refuge, exclaiming with the psalmist, "Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice."--_R. Fuller._

=November 26th.=

_The Lord . . . thy habitation. Psa. xci. 9._

We go home without arrangement. We plan our visits, and then go home because they are over. Duty, want, a host of things, lead us forth elsewhere; but the heart takes us home. Blessed, most blessed is he whose thoughts pa.s.s up to G.o.d, not because they are driven like a fisherman's craft swept by the fierceness of the storm, not because they are forced by want or fear, not because they are led by the hand of duty, but because G.o.d is in his habitation and his home. Loosed from other things, the thoughts go home for rest.

In G.o.d the blessed man finds the love that welcomes. There is the sunny place. There care is loosed and toil forgotten. There is the joyous freedom, the happy calm, the rest, and renewing of our strength--at home with G.o.d.--_Mark Guy Pea.r.s.e._

=November 27th.=

_These have turned the world upside down. Acts xvii.

6._

_None of these things move me. Acts xx. 24._

The men that move the world are the ones who do not let the world move them.--_Selected._

=November 28th.=

_He touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. Gen. x.x.xii. 32._

Whatever it is that enables a soul, whom G.o.d designs to bless, to stand out against Him, G.o.d will touch. It may be the pride of wealth, or of influence, or of affection; but it will not be spared--G.o.d will touch it. It may be something as _natural_ as a sinew; but if it robs a man of spiritual blessing G.o.d will touch it. It may be as _small_ a thing as a sinew; but its influence in making a man strong in his resistance of blessing will be enough to condemn it--and G.o.d will touch it. And beneath that touch it will shrink and shrivel, and you will limp to the end of life.

Remember that the sinew never shrinks save beneath the touch of the angel hand--the touch of tender love.--_F. B. Meyer._

=November 29th.=

_With G.o.d all things are possible. Mark x. 27._

Unbelief says, "How can such and such things be?" It is full of "hows"; but faith has one great answer to the ten thousand "hows," and that answer is--G.o.d!--_C. H. M._

=November 30th.=

_Ye are the temple of the living G.o.d; as G.o.d hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them. 2 Cor.

vi. 16._

These temples were reared for Him. Let Him fill them so completely that, like the oriental temple of gla.s.s in the ancient legend, the temple shall not be seen, but only the glorious sunlight, which not only shines into it, but through it, and the transparent walls are all unseen.--_A.

B. Simpson._

[Ill.u.s.tration: DECEMBER]

=December 1st.=

_Without Christ. Eph. ii. 12._

Without a hope to cheer, a Pilot to steer, a Friend to counsel, grace to sustain, heaven to welcome us, and G.o.d to console!--_Selected._

=December 2nd.=

_When I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Cor. xii. 10._

This is G.o.d's way. We advance by going backwards, we become strong by becoming weak, we become wise by being fools.--_F. Whitfield._