ing Friend; and he who
would deny the personal guidance of the Holy Ghost in order that he might
honor the Word of God as our only guide, must dishonor that other word of
promise, that His sheep shall know His voice, and that His hearkening and
obedient children shall hear a voice behind them saying, "This is the way,
walk ye in it."

AUGUST 7.

"Knowing this that our old man is crucified" (Rom. vi. 6).

It is purely a matter of faith, and faith and sight always differ, so that
to your senses it does not seem to be so, but your faith must still reckon
it so. This is a very difficult attitude to hold, and only as we
thoroughly believe God can we thus reckon upon His Word and His working,
but as we do so, faith will convert it into fact, and it will be even so.

These two words, "yield" and "reckon," are passwords into the resurrection
life. They are like the two edges of the "Sword of the Spirit" through
which we enter into crucifixion with Christ.

This act of surrender and this reckoning of faith are recognized in the
New Testament as marking a very definite crisis in the spiritual life. It
does not mean that we are expected to be going through a continual dying,
but that there should be one very definite act of dying, and then a
constant habit of reckoning ourselves as dead, and meeting everything from
this standpoint.

"Reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus
Christ."

AUGUST 8.

"Be like the dove" (Jer. xlviii. 28).

Harmless as a dove, is Christ's interpretation of the beautiful emblem.
And so the Spirit of God is purity itself. He cannot dwell in an unclean
heart. He cannot abide in the natural mind. It was said of the anointing
of old, "On man's flesh it shall not be poured."

The purity which the Holy Spirit brings is like the white and spotless
little plant which grows up out of the heap of manure, or the black soil,
without one grain of impurity adhering to its crystalline surface,
spotless as an angel's wing.

So the Holy Spirit gives a purity of heart which gives its own protection,
for it is essentially unlike the evil things which grow around it. It may
be surrounded on every side with evil, but it is uncontaminated and pure
because its very nature is essentially holy and divine. Like the plumage
of the dove, it cannot be soiled, but comes forth from the miry pool
unstained and unsullied by the dark waters, because it is protected by the
o