with cares and flurries that if we had trusted more, would never
have needed to preoccupy our attention. Wise indeed was the testimony of
the dear old saint who said, in review of her past life, "I have had a
great many troubles in my life, especially those that never came."

Trust and rest with heart abiding,
Like a birdling in its nest,
Underneath His feathers hiding,
Fold thy wings and trust and rest.
Trust and rest, trust and rest,
God is working for the best.

MARCH 22.

"Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end"
(Heb. iii. 6).

The attitude of faith is simple trust. It is Elijah saying to Ahab, "There
is a sound of abundance of rain." But then there comes usually a deeper
experience in which the prayer is inwrought; it is Elijah on the mount,
with his face between his knees, travailing, as it were, in birth for the
promised blessing. He has believed for it--and now he must take. The first
is Joash shooting the arrow out of the windows, but the second is Joash
smiting on the ground and following up his faith by perseverance and
victorious testing.

It is in this latter place that many of us come short. We ask much from
God, and when God proceeds to give it to us we are not found equal to His
expectation. We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of
our confidence steadfast to the end, and trust Him through it all.

Fainting soldier of the Lord,
Hear His sweet inspiring word,
"I have conquered all thy foes.
I have suffered all thy woes;
Struggling soldier, trust in Me,
I have overcome for thee."

MARCH 23.

"He is a new creature" (II. Cor. v. 17).

Resurrected, not raised. There is so much in this distinction. The
teaching of human philosophy is that we are to raise humanity to a higher
plane. This is not the Gospel. On the contrary, the teaching of the cross
is that humanity must die and sink out of sight and then be resurrected,
not raised. Resurrection is not improvement. It is not elevation, but it
is a new supernatural life lifting us from nothingness into God and making
us partakers of the Divine nature. It is a new creation. It is an infinite
elevation above the highest plane. Let us not take less than resurrection
life.

I am crucified with Jesus,
And the cross has set me free;
I have ris'n again with Jesus,
And He lives and reigns in me.

This the story of the Master,
Through the cross He reached