Let not Hope be lacking in the characteristics that mark us. Our God is "The God of Hope;" and Christ Jesus is "our Hope." And while these facts lead our hearts on to the final fruition, yet they also serve for the pathway thither. Love "hopeth all things." Nothing is more depressing than a discouraged spirit. It causes the hands to hang down, and makes the knees feeble. Many things are against us-our circumstances, our prospects, and above all, ourselves. But God is for us:therefore who can be against us? Even the malignant enemy of our souls can do naught but by the permission of our Father, who will even turn the sufferings through which we pass into blessing. Then let us gird up the loins of our mind, and hope to the end. Soon the happy consummation will be reached, and we will be ashamed to think how we have allowed ourselves to be so easily discouraged. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God:for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God."
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend." Perhaps nothing is more difficult than to administer wise and helpful reproof. In the first place, we must ourselves be in the right state of soul. Sharp words spoken in anger but stir up resentment, and lead to strife, alienation and enmity. We must be in the attitude of a "friend," one whose love compels him to speak, if we are to find an entrance into our brother's heart. Then we must be clear ourselves as to the matter for which we would rebuke others. How sad it is to see one whose own life is not above reproach, administering reproof to another. We must also use wisdom, and seek to find the suited occasion to speak to our brother. This should be chiefly done in private; the object being not to humiliate, but to restore our brother. "Thou hast gamed thy brother." Is that what we desire? Or are we trying to wound him? This is not after the manner of Him who smites that He may heal. What need there is for prayer-neither to be indifferent to a condition that needs reproof, nor unwise and heedless in giving it. May the Lord guide into what He approves.
The Unity of the Spirit. "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body… and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." The grace which has wrought for and in us is the work of the one Spirit, who is the seal of that finished redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our experiences are varied, but the vital principle in all our souls is the same-the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He leads into all truth; He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us; He gives us thus a common Object, Center and Lord. He has inspired God's Word, is its author, and the infallible unfolder of that Word-applying it to mind, heart and conscience. He is the leader in all government; and nothing but what is the fruit of His guidance and control can be owned of God. How careful, then, how diligent we should be not to grieve Him by strife, or quench Him by our own expedients and wills. May He strengthen the bond of peace amongst us.
"Thou Holy One and True,
Our hearts in Thee confide;
And in the circle of Thy love
As brethren we abide."
"When the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him." How quiet, how holy was the scene! We love to go back in thought to it, though now by the Spirit introduced into a fuller realization of all that has been wrought for us, and the place of nearness-in the holiest-into which we have been brought. Without being in the least legal, is it not fitting that we all should be in our places when "the hour" has come? If we are silently and expectantly waiting on Him even a few minutes before, will it not be pleasing to Him? Of course, there may be providential hindrances, but these are the exception. We go to meet our train at the appointed time; we are careful to keep business and other engagements; shall we be indifferent with this, the most blessed of all engagements? May His love constrain us as to this.
How to use the Telephone. It is with many of us difficult to forget distance when we are speaking through the telephone. This last phrase indeed may explain the reason. We are not really speaking through the instrument, as though it were a tube, but to it, for the electric current brings us in immediate contact with our auditor. So instead of raising the voice to reach persons at a distance, we are simply to remember they are just at hand. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him -to all that call upon Him in truth" (Ps. 145:18). He is in heaven, dwelling in light unapproachable, and yet in Christ we are "made nigh by the blood of Christ." "Through Him we have access by one Spirit to the Father." Therefore we do not have to speak aloud, as it were, or as if afar off, to reach heaven. It is a precious lesson to know this. "Loud speaking" may be a subtle form of self-occupation. There are various ways of speaking thus to God. If we seek to stir up our feelings into something unnatural or intense; if we have to wait till we feel in "a prayerful mood," we may be merely "speaking loud." Simplicity, reality, a knowledge of our needs- these are the only requirements for speaking to God in prayer. Have we personal needs? Are there persons for whom we should intercede? Are there matters of great importance calling for God's intervention? Let us not defer praying until we are in a mood for it, nor stir up our feelings to intensity, but rather in the simplicity of child-like faith, "let our requests be made known unto God." Those who have learned of God in His school do not wait for such stimuli as we have indicated, but "come boldly to the throne of grace."What gives value to prayer is the blessed instrument of nearness-our spiritual "Telephone," the Lord Jesus; and the power, or current, is the Holy Spirit. So may we learn to use this priceless privilege aright, in the simplicity of faith. S. R.
'THE LITTLE FOXES'