it was
fed from the deep secret resources of the hills!

There is a generosity which is like the drawing-room fountain. If you
listen you can hear the mechanical click, and a sound of friction, arising
from murmuring and complaint. And there is a generosity which is like the
fountain that is the child of the hills. It is clear, and sweet, and
musical, and flows on through every season! One is "of necessity"; the
other is "willingly." And "God loveth a cheerful giver."

And prayer can be of the same two contrary orders. One prayer is
mechanical, it is hard, formal, metallic. The other is spontaneous,
forceful, and irresistible. Listen to the Pharisee--"Lord, I thank Thee
that I am not as other men are." It is the click of the machine! Listen to
the publican--"God be merciful to me, a sinner!" It is the voice of the
deeps.

APRIL The Ninteenth

_UNION IN HARMONY_

"_Be ye all of one mind._"
--1 PETER iii. 8-17.

But this is not unison: it is harmony. When an orchestra produces some
great musical masterpiece, the instruments are all of one mind, but each
makes its own individual contribution. There is variety with concordance:
each one serves every other, and the result is glorious harmony. "By love
serve one another." It is love that converts membership into fraternity:
it is love that binds sons and daughters into a family.

Look at a field of wild-flowers. What a harmony of colour! And yet what a
variety of colours! Nothing out of place, but no sameness! All drawing
resource from the same soil, and breathing the vitalizing substance from
the same air!

"And ye, being rooted and grounded in love," will grow up, a holy family
in the Lord. If love be the common ground the varieties in God's family
may be infinite!

And so the unity which the apostle seeks is a unity of mood and
disposition. It is not a unity which repeats the exact syllables of a
common creed, but a unity which is built of common trust, and love, and
hope. It is not sameness upon the outer lips, but fellowship in the secret
place.

APRIL The Twentieth

_THE JOY OF THE LOVER_

ROMANS xii. 9-18.

Love finds her joy in seeing others crowned. Envy darkens when she sees
the garland given to another. Jealousy has no festival except when she is
"Queen of the May." But love thrills to another's exaltation. She feels
the glow of another's triumph. When another basks in favour her own "time
of singing of birds is come!"

And all