out of his own experience. How much grace can our unbelief
withstand? The Lord had made the rock like unto a spring of water, and yet
these people believed not! What has He done for thee and me? Let us
retrace the pilgrimage of our own years. Let us recall the blessings by
the way--the streams in the desert, the pillar of fire that led us in the
night. And yet what is the quality of our faith? It is often weak and
reluctant, riddled with timidities, or moth-eaten with worldly ease. It is
not mighty and daring, riding forth every morning like a chivalrous knight
to inevitable conquest. It creeps along, like Mr. Halting, and Miss
Much-Afraid, and Mr. Little-Faith.

"He marvelled at their unbelief." The Lord Jesus wondered that men and
women, seeing what they had seen, did not immediately spring to the life
and service of faith. Perhaps we do not give time for faith to be born!
Perhaps we do not see because we do not look. Perhaps we are blind to His
mercies and are therefore dead to the faith. And therefore, perhaps, our
first prayer should be, "Lord, that I might receive my sight," and then
the prayer, "Lord, increase my faith."

OCTOBER The Second

_HUMBLING OUR PRIDE_

JOB xxxviii. 1-15.

"I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me." When our God begins to ask
questions our pride is soon humbled, for the limits of our knowledge and
power are speedily reached. The mist is very close to our doors, and in a
very few steps we are lost on a trackless moor. Who can trace the real
springs of a tear and lay his hand on the emotion that gave it birth? Who
can lead us into the bright realm where smiles are born? Who knoweth the
way of a frown, or who can uncover the secrets of fear? No living man can
explain his own breathing, or can unravel the mysterious decree which
moves his own finger!

And as there is so much mystery, it must be surely true that mystery is a
very gracious thing. Uncertainty is the divine ministry of blessedness. If
it were not so, He would have told us! "I have many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now." If it were best for us that the mist
should be removed, He would roll it up like a garment and give us the
light of unclouded day. But the mist remains, the home of blessing. "He
cometh in a thick cloud." "The clouds drop fatness."

OCTOBER The Third

_WATCHING THE CREATOR_

JEREMIAH x. 10-16.

"He hath made the earth by His power." And He is making it still. Even