out of a sense of God reconciled
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,--resting sweetly on the
bosom, and the work of Jesus,--to Him committing thine eternal all. My
soul! stay thyself on God, that so this blessed peace may be thine. Thou
hast tried the world. It has deceived thee. Prop after prop of earthly
scaffolding has yielded, and tottered, and fallen. Has thy God ever done
so? Ah! this false and counterfeit world-peace may do well for the
world's work, and the world's day of prosperity. But test it in the hour
of sorrow; and what can it do for thee when most it is needed? On the
other hand, what though thou hast no other blessing on earth to call
thine own? Thou art rich indeed, if thou canst look upwards to Heaven,
and say with "unpresumptuous smile," "I am at peace with God."

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

20TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."--REV. xiv. 13.

Bliss in Dying.

My Soul! is this blessedness thine in prospect? Art thou ready, if
called this night to lie down on thy death-pillow, sweetly to fall
asleep in Jesus? What is the sting of death? It is sin. Is death, then,
to thee, robbed of its sting, by having listened to the gracious accents
of pardoning love, "Be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are all
forgiven thee?" If thou hast made up thy peace with God, resting on the
work and atoning blood of His dear Son, then is the Last Enemy divested
of all his terror, and thou canst say, in sweet composure, of thy dying
couch and dying hour,--"I will both lay me down in peace and sleep,
because Thou, Lord, makest me to dwell in safety!" Reader! ponder that
solemn question, "Am I ready to die? Am I living as I should wish I had
done when that last hour arrives?" And when shall it arrive? To-morrow
is not thine. "Verily, there may be but a step between thee and death."
Oh! solve the question speedily,--risk no doubts and no peradventure.
Every day is proclaiming anew the lesson, "The race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong." Seek to live, so that that hour cannot
come upon thee too soon, or too unexpectedly. Live a dying life! How
blessed to live,--how blessed to die, with the consciousness, that there
may be but a step between thee and glory!

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"