k,
and to "minister in holy things."

I can be His priest in the home. He will anoint me as one who is to engage
in holy ministries, and I shall be serving at the altar even while engaged
in the lowly duties of the house. The humble meal will be sacramental, and
common work will be heavenly sacrifice.

I can be His priest in my class. The Lord will clothe me in "linen clean
and white," and in my consecrated spirit my scholars shall discern the
incense of sacrifice. And woe is me if I attempt to fill the godly office
without my God.

And I can be His priest in my workshop. Yes, in the carpenter's shop I may
wear the radiant robe of the sanctified. And I, too, as one of the priests
of the Lord, can "bear the sin of many, and make intercession for the
transgressor."

APRIL The Seventeenth

_GREAT PRAISE_

1 CHRONICLES xvi. 7-36.

"Great is the Lord!" So many people have such a little God! There is
nothing about Him august and sublime. And so He is not greatly praised.
The worship is thin, the thanksgivings are scanty, the supplications are
indifferent.

All great saints have a great God. He fills their universe. Therefore do
they move about in a fruitful awe, and everywhere there is only a thin
veil between them and His appearing. Everywhere they discern His holy
presence, as the face of a bride is dimly seen beneath her bridal veil.
And so even the common scrub of the wilderness is aflame with sacred fire:
the humble "primrose on the rock" becomes "the court of Deity": and the
"strength of the hills is His also"!

Yes, a great God inspires great praise, and in great praise small cares
and small meannesses are utterly consumed away. When praise is mean,
anxieties multiply. Therefore let me contemplate the greatness of God in
nature and in providence, in His power, and His holiness, and His love.
Let me "stand in awe" before His glory: and in the fruitful reverence the
soul will be moved in acceptable praise.

APRIL The Eighteenth

_MECHANICAL PIETY_

PHILEMON 10-18.

The Apostle Paul declares that benefits may be given in one of two
ways--"_of necessity_" and "_willingly_." One is mechanical, the other is
spontaneous. I once saw a little table-fountain playing in a drawing-room,
but I heard the click of its machinery, and the charm was gone! It had to
be wound up before it would play, and at frequent periods it "ran down." A
little later I saw another fountain playing on a green lawn, and