ght corner, and He will bring my feet into "a large place."

OCTOBER The Thirty-first

_TWO GREAT MYSTERIES_

PSALM lxxxi.

This is an unutterable mystery, that a man can close his life against God.
"_Israel would have none of Me._" We can shut out God as we can shut out
the pure air. We can bar His entrance just as we can exclude the light
from the chamber. And then the pity is, we can deceive ourselves into
believing that the air is perfectly fresh and that the room is flooded
with light. We lose our fine discernment, and we call evil good, and the
darkness we call day. If we "refuse to have God" in our thoughts God gives
us over to a "reprobate mind."

And it is an equally unutterable mystery that a man can open his life to
the entertainment of Almighty God. "I will dwell with them!" That is my
supreme honour, that the Lord will be my guest. I can "hearken" to Him,
and "talk" to Him, and "walk" with Him. And He offers me protection. He
will "subdue my enemies." And He offers me unfailing provision. The Guest
becomes the Host! I put my little upon the table, and lo! I find that "the
cruse of oil fails not, and the meal in the barrel is not consumed!"

NOVEMBER The First

_IN THE DAYS OF YOUTH_

ECCLESIASTES xii. 1-7.

In my university days at Edinburgh there was a young medical student named
Macfarlane. He was one of our finest athletes, and everybody liked him.
One day he was stricken with typhoid, which proved fatal. Macfarlane in
his days of boisterous health had neglected his Lord, and when one of his
friends, visiting him in his sickness, led his thoughts to the Saviour, he
turned and said, "But wouldn't it be a shabby thing to turn to Christ
now?" "Yes," replied his friend, "it will be a shabby thing, but it will
be shabbier not to turn to Him at all!" And I believe that poor Macfarlane
turned his shame-filled soul to the Lord.

But it is shabby to offer our Lord the mere dregs in life's cup. It is
shabby to offer Him the mere hull of the boat when the storms of passion
have carried its serviceableness away. Let me offer Him my best, my finest
equipment, my youth! Let me offer Him the best, and give Him the helm when
I am just setting sail and life abounds in golden promise! "Remember now
thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

NOVEMBER The Second

_LEADING TO CHRIST_

"_Suffer little children to come unto Me._"
--MARK x. 13-22.

"Unto _Me_!" We must not keep them at any