that proceed from us. "The Lord was with Samuel,
and did let none of his words fall to the ground." It is ours to keep
in company with the risen Lord, listening to Him as He opens to us the
Scriptures, until our hearts burn within us; then, as we hasten to tell
what we have seen, tasted, and handled of the Word of Life, there will
be a glow on our faces, whether we know it or not; and men shall say of
us: "They have been with Jesus." If we think only of the shining, we
shall probably miss both it and the burning. But if we devote
ourselves to the burning, even though it involve the hidden work of the
mine, the stoke-hole, and the furnace-room, there will be the raying
forth of a light that cannot be hid. Where there is the burning heat,
there must be the soft, gleaming light. Let there be but summer, and
the flowers cover the land.

_For the burning and the shining, God will provide the fuel_. The fire
which burnt in the bush needed no fuel; "the bush was not consumed."
With us there is perpetual need for the nourishment of the fire of love
and the light of life by the administration of appropriate fuel. The
oil must be supplied to the lamp. The fire cannot be kept burning on
the altar apart from the incessant care and attention of the priests.
But be of good cheer; He who hath begun a good work in you will perfect
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. All grace will be made to abound
towards you, that you may have all sufficiency for all things, and
abound to every good work. The Lord will give grace and glory; no good
thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. God will supply
all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus. It
is especially helpful to ponder the full import of the phrase--"the
supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." It is as though we had access
to one of those oil-wells of the west, which seem practically
inexhaustible.

It is a wonderful thing how often God puts his lighted candles in the
cellar. We would have supposed that He would have placed a man like
John on a pedestal or a throne, that his influence might reach as far
as possible. Instead of that He allowed him to spend the precious
months of his brief life in prison. And the lamp flickered somewhat in
the pestilential damp. It may be that this is your place also. In the
silence of a sick chamber, in the obscurity of some country parish,
amid obloquy and hatred, you are doomed to spend your slowly-mov