can never ripen into
what we are meant to be.' So writes Dr. Hort. I am reading his Life
with great joy. He drank deep of life, and I want to do so also. I
want to live in the present--in the sunshine of eternity. I feel more
and more inclined to thank God for life and all the good things it
brings, and for the friends He has given me, and the measure of
strength and health to use in the service of man.

I had no idea where that Essay had gone. I {144} suppose it is most
immature and unsatisfactory; yet the central idea, however imperfectly
expressed, must surely be true. He took Manhood--in its weakness and
strength--up into God. He was tempted. That thought helps me
immensely. 'It is one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.' We
often accuse ourselves wrongly when foul thoughts spring up within us.
They are temptations from without--from the devil. They only become
sins when entertained as welcome guests. I have lately thought that
Christ's life, like ours, was a life of faith, that it needed a real
and constant effort of faith for Him to realise His relationship with
the unseen Father. Here and hereafter human life is based on faith.
If we get this idea into our minds, Christ's temptations become more
real. They are temptations to faithlessness. I like your idea that
Christ has entered into our manhood, into the phases (if there be such)
'of the life to come.'

Rest in the Lord. This thought comes home to me more than it used to
do. I like to bring all the perplexities of life--the thoughts and
feelings which I can explain to no one--of some of which I cannot say
whether they are right or wrong, or where the right shades into
wrong--and to leave them with Him to develop (if right), to sift, to
correct. What a blank life would be without God! . . .

Easter brings fresh hope and life. It is glorious to begin existence
in a world which has been redeemed. I am sure--since He rose and
defeated death--we ought to trust to life, to delight in it. 'I am the
Life.'

{145}

Breathe in the fresh air. It is one of the best gifts that the good
God has bestowed upon us. We want fresh air not only in our lungs but
all through, if I may say so, our being. I long to be more natural and
happy--not that I wish for 'religious happiness,' but something quite
different--the happiness which comes in the right exercise of power and
in conscious dependence upon Him in whom we live.

_In reply to a