v. 5).

This beautiful passage has been unhappily translated in our Revised
Version: "The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." It ought to be,
"The Spirit that dwelleth in us loveth us to jealousy." It is the figure
of a love that suffers because of its intense regard for the loved object.

The Holy Ghost is so anxious to accomplish in us and for us the highest
will of God, and to receive from us the truest love for Christ, our Divine
Husband, that He becomes jealous when in any way we disappoint Him, or
divide His love with others.

Therefore, it is said in the preceding passage, "Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God?"

Oh, shall we grieve so kind a Friend? Shall we disappoint so loving a
Husband? Shall we not meet the blessed Holy Spirit with the love He brings
us, and give in return our undivided and unbounded affection?

Was there ever a Bridegroom so loving seeking our heart to gain?

DECEMBER 27.

"He sent forth the dove which returned not again unto him" (Gen. viii.
12).

First, we have the dove going forth from the ark, and finding no rest upon
the wild and drifting waste of sin and judgment. This represents the Old
Testament period, perhaps, when the Holy Ghost visited this sinful world,
but could find no resting-place, and went back to the bosom of God.

Next, we have the dove going forth and returning with the olive leaf in
her mouth, the symbol and the pledge of peace and reconciliation, the sign
that judgment was passed and peace was returning. Surely this may
beautifully represent the next stage of the Holy Spirit's manifestation,
as going forth in the ministry and death of Jesus Christ, to proclaim
reconciliation to a sinful world.

There is a third stage, when, at length, the dove goes forth from the ark
and returns no more; but it makes the world its home, and builds its nest
amid the habitations of men. This is the third and present stage of the
Holy Spirit's blessed work. Let us welcome the Dove to a nest in our
hearts.

DECEMBER 28.

"The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts v. 32).

We can only know and prove the fulness of the Spirit as we step out into
the larger purposes and plans of Christ for the world.

Perhaps the chief reason why the Holy Spirit has been so limited in His
work in the hearts of Christians, is the shameful neglect of the unsaved
and unevangelized worl