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heavenly calling.” The apostles are “call ed” from one place, work, suffering, joy, to another, in the progress o f their apos- tleship. T o “walk worthy o f the vocation” is made the business o f a careful conscience. To make our “calling and election sure” is the grand victory of our warfare. “ Faith ful is he that calleth you.” . —B ishop F. D. H untington . M AY 1 A L ittle S anctuary “ Yet veill I be to them as a little sanc tuary" (Ezek. 11:16). The sanctuary was a place of rest and quietness. It has been said that the stillest place there ever was on earth was the sanctuary—the inner place beyond the vail. It was a place o f absolute silence, o f un broken quiet. Only once a year did even the high priest enter there, and none other was ever allowed to invade the sacred recess. W e are living in days o f stress, and hurry and noise. . . . But amidst it all we may find God to be as “ a little sanctu ary”—a place of peace. His presence can hush the most perturbed spirit, and bring a sense o f repose in the midst of feverish unrest. Anywhere, everywhere, under all circumstances, we shall find God all-suf ficient to keep us and to preserve us in the peace that passeth all understanding, if we will but turn to Him. —F. J. H orsefield . M AY 2 B lessed O bscurity “I am a stranger in the earth" (Psa. 119:19). There is a special fellowship with the Lord Jesus, when we are made to feel that we are strangers in the earth. He who made the world, and all that therein is, trod it as One unknown. The eyes of men were holden that they did not know Him. And if our glorious Lord was in the world as a foreigner, shall we be surprised when people do not know those who are His disciples? When we belong to Christ, we thenceforward are identified with H im ; as He was, so we become. Let not dis may seize upon our hearts when the “cold shoulder” is given u s; when men cast out our name as evil, for Emmanuel’s sake; and when they make us feel in a hundred and one ways that we are regarded as aliens. Hail, strangership! What sweet solace thou dost bring 1 But this truth has its reverse side; for as He is, so we shall be. Both for time and for eternity is this wonderful identification with Christ. If, because we are Christ’s, we must needs be strangers and outcasts during our earthly lifetime, then, by the same divine will, it has been decreed that in the hereafter we shall be conformed to the image o f God’s Son, and be joint heirs with Him o f all that the Father hath given Him, even being invited to a seat upon His throne in the kingdom which He shall receive.— F ranklin F erguson . M AY 3 S purning the T hings of the W orld “ Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people o f God, than to enjoy the pleasures o f sin for a season" (Heb. 11: 25). In the West Indies, there grows a beau tiful and attractive flower; but on being plucked, it ceases to be beautiful and emits
a most unpleasant odor. It is called by the natives “the dead horse,” and this is about the best name that could be given to it. It is like the pleasures o f this world. They appear to be so pleasing and bid fair to give satisfaction; but, alas! if we are tempted to pluck them, we find them most disappointing, and “the end o f these things is death.”—J. T. M awson . Jesus calls u s; o’er the tumult O f our life’s wild, restless sea. Day by day His sweet voice soundeth, Saying, “ Christian, follow Me.” Jesus calls us from the worship O f the vain world’s golden store,
From each idol that would keep us, Saying, “ Christian, love Me more.” —M rs . C. F. A lexander . M AY 4 Two V iews of P rayer “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth het fruit” (Jas. 5:18). The wisdom o f this world says: “It is no use praying; even God Himself is sur rounded—if there be any God at all—by a kind o f inexorable necessity. It may be good self-culture for you to pray, but you do not get on or up any farther, any more than a man gets up farther by pulling at his boot strap, or propels his boat by puf-
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