hee, though
thou hast not known Me."

He knew all about Simon. "_Thou art Simon_"--just a _listener_, not yet a
strong, bold doer: a man of many opinions not yet consolidated into the
truth of experimental convictions. "_Thou shalt be called Peter._" Simon
become Peter! Loose gravel become hard rock! Hear-says become the
"verilies" of unshakable experience! The Lord proclaims our glorious
possibilities.

And He knew all about Nathanael. "_When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw
thee._" "In that secret meditation of thine, when thy wishes and desires
were being born, 'I saw thee!'" "When others saw nothing, I had fellowship
with thee in the secret place."

And He knows all about thee and me. "I know My sheep." We do not take Him
by surprise. He does not come in late, and find the performance half over!
He is in at our beginnings, when grave issues are being born. "I am
Alpha."

JULY The Thirteenth

_PLAIN GLASS_

"_They were fishers._"
--MATTHEW iv. 12-22.

And so our Lord went first to the fishing-boats and not to the schools.
Learning is apt to be proud and aggressive, and hostile to the
simplicities of the Spirit. There is nothing like plain glass for letting
in the light! And our Lord wanted transparent media, and so He went to the
simple fishermen on the beach. "God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world."

And by choosing labouring men our Master glorified labour. He Himself had
worn the workman's dress, and the garment which the King wears becomes
regal attire. Yes, the workingman, if he only knew it, is wearing the
imperial robe. He is one of the kinsmen of the Lord of Glory!

Our Lord took the fisherman's humble calling, and made it the symbol of
spiritual service. "_I will make you fishers of men._" And He will do the
same for thee and me. He will turn our daily labour into an apocalypse,
and through its ways and means He will make us wise in the ministry of the
kingdom. He will make the material the handmaid of the spiritual, and
through the letter He will lead us into the secret places of the soul.

JULY The Fourteenth

_THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE UNLIKELY_

MATTHEW ix. 1-13.

A Disciple from among the publicans! In what waste places our Lord Jesus
finds His jewels! What exquisite possibilities Ruskin saw in a pinch of
common dust! What radiant glory the lapidary can see in the rough,
unpolished gem! The Lord loves to go into the unlikely place, and lead
forth His saints.