of the Lord. Therefore must I watch, and ever watch. But here is my
hope and inspiration. Every day I spend with my Good Shepherd sharpens my
discernments, enables me to see through the outer show of things, and to
discriminate between the false and the true.

AUGUST The Twenty-fourth

_THE LORD'S BODY_

"_I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do._"
--JOHN xvii. 1-11.

This quiet confession is in itself a token of our Lord's divinity. The
serenity in which He makes His claims is as stupendous as the claims
themselves. "Finished," perfected in the utmost refinement, to the last,
remotest detail! Nothing scamped, nothing overlooked, nothing forgotten!
Everything which concerns thy redemption and my redemption has been
accomplished. "It is finished!"

"_And now ... I come to Thee._" The visible Presence is withdrawn. There
is no longer in our midst a Jesus whose body we can bruise and crucify.
"_But these are in the world._" Yes, and His disciples are now His body.
He becomes reincarnated in them. If they refuse Him a body, He has none!
He looks through their eyes, listens through their ears, speaks through
their lips, ministers through their hands, goes on sacred pilgrimages with
their feet! "Know ye not that ye are the body?"

Does my discipleship offer my Lord a limb? Can He communicate with the
world through me? Does my discipleship multiply His powers of expression?
Has He more eyes, more ears, more hands because I am a member of His
Church? Or----?

AUGUST The Twenty-fifth

_IMPOTENT ENEMIES_

"_Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?_"
--ROMANS viii. 31-39.

Who can get between the love of Christ and me? What sharp dividing
minister can cleave the two in twain, and leave me like a dismembered and
dying branch?

Terrible experiences cannot do it. "_Tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine, nakedness, peril, or sword!_" All these may come about my house,
but they cannot reach the inner sanctuary where my Lord and I are closeted
in loving communion and peace. They may bruise my skin, nay, they may give
my body to be burned, but no flame can destroy the love of Jesus which
enswathes my soul with invisible defence.

And terrible ministers cannot do it. "_Angels, nor principalities, nor
powers._" These mysterious agents of darkness, for they must be the
legions of the evil one, are unable to quench the light and fire of my
Saviour's love. The devil can never blow out the