y season beautiful. "Everything shall live
whither the river cometh."

But without the river my soul shall be "as an unwatered garden." My life
shall be a realm of perpetual drought. Things may begin to grow, but they
shall speedily droop and die. The heavenly Husbandman shall find no fruit
when He walks amid the garden in the cool of the day. And therefore, my
soul, look to the river which flows from the throne! "There is a river,
the streams whereof make glad the city of God," and that river is for
thee!

AUGUST The Eighth

_THE SCARLET SIN_

ISAIAH i. 10-20.

How can we deal with glaring sin, with sin that is "scarlet," that is "red
like crimson"? And when the red stain has soaked into the very texture of
the character, and every fibre is stupefied, what can we do then? Let me
listen.

"_Wash you._" But ordinary washings will not suffice. The ministry of
education will fail. Art, and literature, and music will leave the
internal stain undisturbed. They may impart a polish, but the polish shall
be like the gloss on badly-washed linen. And the ministry of work will
fail. Work never yet made a foul soul clean. There is "a fountain opened
for all uncleanness." I must wash "in the blood of the Lamb." That red
sacrifice can wash out the deep red stain.

"_Cease to do evil._" Yes, I must turn my back on the roads of defilement.
There must be a sharp decision, and an immediate reversal of my ways.
"Halt!" "Right about turn!" "Quick march!"

"_Learn to do well!_" Yes, let me diligently learn, like a child at
school, until the deliberative becomes the instructive, and "practice
makes perfect."

AUGUST The Ninth

_GOD'S REQUIREMENTS_

"_What doth the Lord require of thee?_"
--MICAH vi. 1-8.

"To do justly." Then I must not be so eager about my rights as to forget
my duties. For my duties are just the observance of my neighbour's rights.
And to see my neighbour's rights I must cultivate his "point of view." I
must look out of his windows! "Look not every man on his own things, but
every man also on the things of others."

"_And to love mercy._" And mercy is justice _plus_! And it is the "plus"
which makes the Christian. His cup "runneth over." He gives, like his
Lord, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." There
is always "a little extra" for Christ's sake! And "blessed are the
merciful."

"_And to walk humbly with thy God._" And there I am at the root of the two
graces