th in me to will!" The gracious Lord ever strengthens the will
that is willing. He transforms the frail reed into an iron pillar, and
makes trembling timidity bold as a lion.

"Mighty Spirit, dwell with me,
I myself would mighty be."

AUGUST The Twelfth

_MY LIFE AND HOPE_

JOHN v. 19-30.

Here is my reservoir. "_The Son hath life in Himself._" All vitality has
its source in Him. He is the enemy of death and the deadly. I can paint
the dead to look like life; I can use rouge for blood, and make the white
lips red, but it all remains clammy and cold. I can galvanize, but I
cannot vitalize. I can "break the ball of nard," and make perfume, "but
still the sleeper sleeps." "In Him is life." "In Christ shall all be made
alive!"

And here is my hope. "_The Son also quickeneth._" He is not only a
reservoir, He is a river. He is "the river of water of life." And His
blessed purpose is to flow into desolate places, converting deserts into
gardens, and making wildernesses to blossom as the rose.

And He will come my way if only I will "hear" and "believe." There is a
flippant hearing which, while it listens, laughs Him to scorn. There is a
cheap hearing which will venture nothing on His counsel. And there is the
hearing of faith, which simply "takes Him at His word," and in the
glorious venture experiences the unsealing of the fountain of eternal
life. "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."

AUGUST The Thirteenth

_THE INNER ROOMS_

JOHN v. 31-47.

What should I think of a man who was contented to remain in the outer
halls and passages of Windsor Castle, when he was invited into the royal
precincts to have gracious communion with the King? And what shall I think
of men who are contented to "search the Scriptures" and "will not come" to
the Lord? They spend their life exploring the lobbies, when the Host and
the feast are waiting in the upper room!

And some men spend their days in criticism and they never advance to
worship. They are like unto one who should give his strength to the
deciphering of some time-worn inscription on the outer wall of some grand
cathedral, and who never treads the sacred floor in fruitful and enriching
awe.

And some men live in the senses, and not in the conscience, in the awful
presence of the great white throne. They are for ever seeking sensations,
and avoid the fellowship of duty. They ride about in the channel, and they
never come to