uously every day."

"Cups of cold water," simple ministries of refreshment, the love-thought,
the love-prayer, the love-word--these are the privileged services of all
of us. And everybody needs these gentle and gracious services of
refreshment, and often there is greatest need where there seems to be
least.

JUNE The Twenty-fourth

_AT EASE IN ZION_

"_Woe to them that are at ease in Zion!_"
--AMOS vi. 1-7.

I would be delivered from the folly of confusing ease and rest. There is
an infinite difference between comforts and comfort. It is one thing to
lie down on a luxurious couch: it is a very different thing to "lie down
in green pastures" under the gracious shepherdliness of the Lord. The ease
which men covet is so often a fruit of stupefaction, the dull product of
sinful drugs, the wretched sluggishness of carnal gratification and
excess. The rest which God giveth is alive and wakeful, abounding in
tireless and fruitful service. "Oh, rest in the Lord."

But is it not a strange thing that men can be "at ease in Zion"? That they
can play the beast in the holy place? Zion was full of holy memory, and
abounded with suggestions of the Divine Presence. And yet here they could
carouse, and lose themselves in swinish indulgence! A little while ago I
saw a beautiful old church which had been turned into a common
eating-house!

My soul, be on thy guard. Be watchful and diligent, and busy thyself in
the practice of "self-knowledge, self-reverence, self-control."

JUNE The Twenty-fifth

_DESOLATIONS WROUGHT BY SIN_

"_The Lord hath spoken this word._"
--ISAIAH xxiv. 1-12.

"The Lord hath spoken this word," and it is a word of judgment. It unveils
some of the terrible issues of sin.

See the effects of sin upon the spirit of man. "_The merry-hearted do
sigh._" Life loses its wings and its song. The buoyancy and the optimism
die out of the soul. The days move with heavy feet, and duty becomes very
stale and unwelcome. If only our ears were keen enough we should hear many
a place of hollow laughter moaning with troubled and restless sighs. The
soul cannot sing when God is defied.

But see another effect of sin. "_The earth moaneth._" That is a frequent
note in Bible teaching. The forces of nature are mysteriously conditioned
by the character of man. When man is degraded, nature is despoiled. The
beauty of the garden is checked when man has lost his crown. "The whole
creation groaneth in pain," wait