"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

18TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast
out."--JOHN vi. 37.

Encouragement to the Desponding.

"Cast out!" My soul! how oft might this have been thy history! Thou
hast cast off thy God,--might He not oft have "cast out" thee? Yes! cast
thee out as fuel for the fire of His wrath,--a sapless, fruitless
cumberer. And yet, notwithstanding all thine ungrateful requital for His
unmerited forbearance, He is still declaring, "As I live, saith the
Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." Thy sins may
be legion-like,--the sand of the sea may be their befitting type,--the
thought of their turpitude and aggravation may be ready to overwhelm
thee; but be still! thy patient God waits to be gracious! Oh! be deeply
humbled and softened because of thy guilt, resolve to dedicate thyself
anew to His service, and so coming, "He will _by no means_ cast thee
out!" Despond not by reason of former shortcomings,--thy sins are great,
but thy Saviour's merits are greater. He is willing to forget all the
past, and sink it in oblivion, if there be present love, and the promise
of future obedience. "Simon, son of Jonas, _lovest thou me_?" Ah! how
different is God's verdict from man's! After such sins as thine, man's
sentence would have been, "_I_ will in nowise receive!" But "it is
better to fall into the hands of God, than into the hands of man;" for
He says, "I will in _nowise_ cast out!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

19TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world
giveth."--JOHN xiv. 27.

Peace in Believing.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
"Perfect peace!"--what a blessed attainment! My soul! is it thine? Sure
I am it is _not_, if thou art seeking it in a perishable world, or in
the perishable creature, or in thy perishable self. Although thou hast
all that the world would call enviable and happy, unless thou hast peace
_in_ God, and _with_ God, all else is unworthy of the name;--a spurious
thing, which the first breath of adversity will shatter, and the hour of
death utterly annihilate! Perfect peace! What is it? It is the peace of
forgiveness. It is the peace arising