yet the world does
not discover your true life. With Christ it is hid in God. The world
knows nothing of you except as they see you in the life you live in the
flesh. You have a higher life to which they are as insensible as the
inanimate stone is to the life of the bird. You are one of God's "hidden
ones," and a stranger on the earth, because you are unknown. You are not
found in the halls of worldly pleasure, but instead are to be found by
the bedside of the sick, reading the Bible, praying, or speaking words
of cheer and comfort, and the world wonders how you can enjoy yourself
in such a way. You have a joy that is unknown to them, because you have
a life that is hidden from them. That life of yours which is hid with
Christ in God finds no enjoyment in the pleasures of the world.

When adversity comes the world does not understand how it is that you
can rejoice; and when circumstances are very unfavorable, how you can be
happy is a mystery to them. It is because you do not live in the things
of the world, but in a much higher realm. If your life is hid with
Christ in God, your heart's longings will be for the things above; all
your affections will be on things above. Those who live upon earth are
seeking the things of earth; but those who live above in God seek the
things which are above. Nothing of earth has any charms for them. Christ
has won their hearts. They love him intensely. They live in him. They
are sojourning here upon earth for a time, but their hearts are with
Christ in heaven. Their home, their love, their treasures, their hopes,
their thoughts, their life,--all are there, and they are seeking with
eagerness for more of that sweet, precious life which is from above.
They walk here almost like one in a dream, as concerning this world;
they know but little of earth, but much of heaven.

This earth is not my home,
I live above,
Where peace and joys abound--
Sweet land of love.

My life is hid in God
With Christ the Son,
Though here on earth I am
By earth unknown.

I dwell in worlds above,
By thought and prayer--
Oh, blest eternal home!
My heart is there.

CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE.

Happy and blessed is the soul that is conscious of God's sweet
indwelling presence. Being conscious of God's presence is what the
Psalmist meant when he said, "O taste and see that the Lord is good."
"Tasting God" is an expression incomprehensible to the unregenerate.
Those who have tasted