e King. They are not "abiding" in the Eternal, and
therefore there is no powerful pulse from the Infinite. "Apart from Me ye
can do nothing!"

And my Lord needs me. For the vine has need of the branch! The vine
expresses itself in the branch, and comes to manifestation in leaf, and
flower, and fruit. And my Lord would manifest Himself in me, and cause my
branch to be heavy with the glorious fruits of His grace. And if I deprive
Him of the branch, and deny Him this means of expression, I am "limiting
the Holy One of Israel." "My son, give Me thine heart!"

Lord, help me to abide in Thee! Save me from the follies of a fatal
independence! Good Lord, "Abide in me."

JULY The Seventeenth

_THE DYING OF SELF_

JOHN xii. 12-36.

"Except a corn of wheat ... die!" Yes, it is through death we pass to
life. Discipleship in which there is no death can never be truly alive.
The nipping winter is essential to the green and flowery spring. No tomb,
no resurrection glory! In every life there must be a grave, and self must
be buried within it.

We must die to self _in our prayers_. In many prayers self is obtrusive
and aggressive from end to end. It is self, self, self! That self must be
crucified. We must make more room for others in our supplications. On our
knees the egotist must die, and the altruist be born. And "if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit"! There are multitudes of professing Christians
who would experience a wonderful resurrection if they were more "given to
hospitality" in their communion with the Lord.

And if self die in our prayers, nowhere else will it be seen. That which
is truly slain when we are upon our knees will not reassert itself when we
return to common ways of work and service. And, therefore, let the corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die!

JULY The Eighteenth

_THE MESMERISM OF THE WORLD_

MATTHEW xix. 23-30.

Material possessions multiply our spiritual difficulties. It is hard for a
rich man "_to enter into the kingdom of heaven_." For what is the kingdom?
It is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." It is easy
for a rich man to appear respectable, but how hard is it to be holy! He
may surround himself with comforts, but how hard to get into peace! He may
move in the cold gleam of a glittering happiness, but how hard to get into
the rich, warm quietness of an abiding joy! Yes, our material possessions
so easily range themselves as ramparts between us