the shower to come down in his season._" We are to have mystic allies in
sky and field. Nature sides with the man who sides with God. Our very
garden becomes our helpmeet when we are cultivating the fruits of the
Spirit. The heavens assume a friendly aspect when we are "marching to
beautiful Zion." But when we are against the Lord all these forces appear
to be hostile. "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera."

And we are to have a joyful assurance of the companionship of our God.
"_This shall they know, that I, the Lord their God, am with them._" And
in that precious assurance every other treasure is found! Only be sure of
that, and we shall walk about as kings and queens!

JANUARY the Twenty-first

_THE VALUE OF ONE SOUL_

MATTHEW xviii. 7-14.

What an infinite value the Lord attaches to one soul! "And _one of them_
be gone astray!" I thought He might never have missed the one! And yet the
Eastern shepherd says that out of his great flock he can miss the
individual face. A face is missing, as though a child were absent from the
family circle. When a soul is wandering in the far country there is an
awful gap in the Father's house! Is thy place empty? Is mine?

And mark the pangs of the Shepherd's quest. He "_goeth into the mountain
and seeketh!_" The Eastern shepherd goes out in tempest, and in rocky
ravine, or in thorny scrub that tears the hands and feet, he seeks and
finds his sheep. And my Lord sought me, in stony and thorny places, in the
darkness of Gethsemane, and in the awful desolations of The Hill.

And the Shepherd found His sheep, and He returns across the hills singing
the song of the triumph of grace--

"And up from the mountains, thunder-riven,
And up from the rocky steep,
A cry arose to the gates of heaven,
'Rejoice! I have found My sheep!'
And the angels echo around the throne,
'Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own!'"

JANUARY The Twenty-second

_MY OWN SHEPHERD_

PSALM xxiii.

How shall we touch this lovely psalm and not bruise it? It is exquisite as
"a violet by a mossy stone!" Exposition is almost an impertinence, its
grace is so simple and winsome.

There is the ministry of rest. "_He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures._" The Good Shepherd knows when my spirit needs relaxation. He
will not have me always "on the stretch." The bow of the best violin
sometimes requires to have its strings "let down." And so my Lord g