nd Bride,
One as the Branch and the Vine.

All that He has shall be mine,
All that He is I shall be;
Robed in His glory divine,
I shall be even as He.

DECEMBER 2.

"Looking diligently lest any man fail" (Heb. xii. 15).

It is not losing all, but coming short we are to fear. We may not lose our
souls, but we may lose something more precious than life--His full
approval, His highest choice, and our incorruptible and star-gemmed crown.
It is the one degree more that counts, and makes all the difference
between hot water--powerless in the boiler--and steam--all alive with power,
and bearing its precious freight across the continent.

I want, in this short life of mine,
As much as can be pressed
Of service true for God and man,
Help me to be my best.

I want to stand when Christ appears
And hear my name confessed
Numbered among the hidden ones,
His holiest and best.

I want, among the victor throng,
To have my name confessed;
And hear my Master say at last,
Well done, you did your best.

Give me, O Lord, Thy highest choice;
Let others take the rest:
Their good things have no charm for me,
For I have got Thy best.

DECEMBER 3.

Thy thoughts are very deep (Ps. xcii. 5).

When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a
certain journey it would probably be fatal he answered, "It is necessary
for me to go, it is not necessary for me to live." That was depth. When we
are convicted like that we shall come to something.

The shallow nature lives in its impulses, its impressions, its intuitions,
its instincts, and very largely in its surroundings. The profound
character looks beyond all these and moves steadily on, sailing past all
the storms and clouds into the clear sunshine which is always on the other
side, and waiting for the afterwards which always brings the reversion of
sorrow and seeming defeat and failure.

When God has deepened us, then He can give us His deeper truths, His
profoundest secrets, and His mightier trusts.

Lord, lead me into the depths of Thy life and save me from a shallow
experience.

On to broader fields of holy vision;
On to loftier heights of faith and love;
Onward, upward, apprehending wholly,
All for which He calls thee from above.

DECEMBER 4.

"From me is thy fruit found" (Hos. xiv. 8).

Nothing keeps us from advancement more than ruts and drifts, and
wheel-tracks into which our chari