And the "Lord's own" are taken into the inner circle of intimacy, where the deepest secrets dwell. We are not kept on the door-step, or left standing in the hall, or limited to one or two "public rooms"; we are privileged to enter the King's privacy, and be nourished at the King's table, and listen to the King's table-talk concerning "all things" which He has heard of the Father. We have "the glorious liberty of _the children_ of G.o.d."

And the "Lord's own" will experience the world's hatred. "_Therefore the world hateth you._" Our very friendship with the Lord p.r.o.nounces judgment on the world, and its hostility is aroused. If we are "partakers of the glory" we shall most a.s.suredly be "partakers of the sufferings of Christ."

NOVEMBER The Fourth

_THE HOLY SPIRIT AS WITNESS_

JOHN xv. 26--xvi. 11.

The Holy Spirit is to be a witness of Jesus. "_He shall testify of Me._"

He shall be "the Friend of the Bridegroom," and He shall sing the Bridegroom's grace, and goodness, and prowess, in the eager ear of the bride. And the early love of the bride shall become deeper and richer as more and more she enters into "the unsearchable riches of Christ."

And the Holy Spirit is thus to be a strengthener of the friends of the Lord. He will be my "_Comforter_." By His gracious advocacy He will make my faith and hope invincible. The best service which can be rendered me is not to change my circ.u.mstances, but to make me superior to them; not to make a smooth road, but to enable me to "leap like an hart" over any road; not to remove the darkness, but to make me "sing songs in the night." And so I will not pray for less burdens, but for more strength! And this is the gracious ministry of "The Comforter."

Holy Spirit, strengthen me! Transform my frail opinions into firm convictions, and change my fleeting, dissolving views into abiding visions!

NOVEMBER The Fifth

_THE TEMPLE OF THE BODY_

ROMANS xii. 1-9.

The Lord wants my body. He needs its members as ministers of righteousness. He would work in the world through my brain, and eyes, and ears, and lips, and hands, and feet.

And the Lord wants my body as "_a living_ sacrifice." He asks for it when it is thoroughly alive! We so often deny the Lord our bodies until they are infirm and sickly, and sometimes we do not offer them to Him until they are quite "worn out." It is infinitely better to offer them even then than never to offer them at all. But it is best of all to offer our bodies to our Lord when they are strong, and vigorous, and serviceable, and when they can be used in the strenuous places of the field.

And so let me appoint a daily consecration service, and let me every morning present my body "a living sacrifice" unto G.o.d. Let me regard it as a most holy possession, and let me keep it clean. Let me recoil from all abuse of it--from all gluttony, and intemperance, and "riotous living."

Let me look upon my body as a church, and let the service of consecration continue all day long. "Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit?"

NOVEMBER The Sixth

_PEACE IN TRIBULATION_

JOHN xvi. 25-33.

Here is a strange medley of experiences! I am to enjoy the gift of peace, and yet I am to be smarting under tribulation!

When the Holy Spirit is my guest I am to enjoy the gift of peace. "_These things I said unto you that ye might have peace._" The life of the soul is to move without jar or discord. It shall be like a quiet engine-house, in which every wheel co-operates with every other wheel, and there is no waste or friction in the holy place. "All that is within me" blesses G.o.d's holy name.

And yet, while peace reigns within, there may be tribulation without! "_In the world ye shall have tribulation._" Here is a peace which is not broken by the noise and a.s.sault of brutal circ.u.mstance. The most tempestuous wind cannot disturb the quiet serenity of the stars. When the world stones me, not one grain of its gritty dust need enter the delicate workings of my soul. That was the peace of my Lord, and it is my Lord who says to me: "My peace I give unto you!" So "_be of good cheer_," my soul! Thy Lord has "_overcome the world_," and thou shalt share His victory.

NOVEMBER The Seventh

_REJECTED LOVE_

ISAIAH lxiii. 7-14.

If I refuse the friendship of the Holy One I inevitably invite His hostility. "_But they rebelled, and vexed His holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them._"

And so, if I reject the forces of grace I do not turn them from my gate, I convert them into foes. Malachi teaches me that rejected sunshine becomes like a burning oven. The Epistle to the Hebrews teaches me that rejected love becomes "a consuming fire." Holiness nourishes virtue, it withers vice. If I offer my Lord a tender aspiration, His breath wooes it like the balmy air of the spring; if I come before Him with the weeds of ign.o.ble dispositions, He blights them as with the nipping of the frost.

And is it not well, for thee and me, that our Lord is thus fiercely hostile to our sins? Is not this "consuming fire" the friend of my soul?

May I not pray: Burn on, burn on, pure flame, until all the refuse and rubbish of my life are utterly consumed; burn on, burn on, until fierce flame becomes mild light, flinging its genial radiance over a transfigured desert?

NOVEMBER The Eighth

_THE ORGAN OF SPIRITUAL VISION_

1 CORINTHIANS ii. 9-16.

Our finest human instruments fail to obtain for us "_the things which G.o.d hath prepared for them that love Him_."

Art fails! "_Eye hath not seen._" The merely artistic vision is blind to the hidden glories of grace. Philosophy fails! "_Neither hath ear heard._"

We may listen to the philosopher as he spins his subtle theories and weaves his systematic webs, but the meshes he has woven are not fine enough to catch "the deep things of G.o.d." Poetry fails! "_Neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive._" Poetic imagination may stretch her wings, and soar, but she fails to enter the guest-chamber of the Lord, and take an inventory of "the things prepared." All these gracious ministries fail to reach life's glorious and purposed end.

"_But G.o.d hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit._" When art, and poetry, and philosophy all pitiably fail, the Spirit unveils to us the bewildering feast. And so the unlearned has the same ultimate advantage as the learned, and the cottager has equal privilege with the monarch. The greatest things are not the perquisites of culture, but the endowments of humility and holy faith. The poor man has access to the "many mansions,"

and finds a place at the King's feast.

NOVEMBER The Ninth

_THE HOLY SPIRIT AS EMANc.i.p.aTOR_

2 CORINTHIANS iii. 4-18.