roclaims His great Gospel through provincial
dialects, and He fills uncultured mouths with mighty arguments. He turns
common meals into sacraments, and while He breaks ordinary bread He
relates it to the blessing of heaven.

And "this same Jesus" is among us to-day, with the same choices and
delights. He will make a humdrum duty shine like the wayside bush that
burned with fire and was not consumed. He will make our daily business the
channel of His grace. He will take our disappointments, and, just as we
sometimes put banknotes into black-edged envelopes, He will fill them with
treasures of unspeakable consolation. He will use our poor, broken,
stammering speech to convey the wonders of His grace to the weary sinful
souls of men.

OCTOBER The Fifteenth

_THE CALL AND THE EQUIPMENT_

LUKE v. 27-32.

Matthew was very weary, and the all-seeing Lord read the signs of his
spiritual dissatisfaction and unrest. As Jesus "passed by" nothing escaped
His watchful eye. He saw a look in Matthew's eye as of some caged creature
longing for freedom. Matthew's office, the contempt of his fellows, and
perhaps his own self-contempt held him in imprisoning disquietude. The
Lord knew it all, and one word from Him and the iron gate was open, and
the prisoner was free! "Follow Me! And he left all, rose up, and followed
Him." With the Lord's command was conveyed the ability to obey, and
Matthew stepped into "the glorious liberty of the children of God."

And this is the Master's way. His calls are always equipments. Every
received commandment is also the vehicle of requisite grace. God's decrees
are also promises, nay, they are immediate endowments. If we reverently
open one of His callings we shall find it a store-house of needed
strength.

And therefore we need not fear the calls of the Lord. They are not the
harsh commandments of a tyrant, they are the loving invitations of a
friend. If we obey them we shall taste the grace of them, and "His
statutes will become our songs."

OCTOBER The Sixteenth

_THE INSPIRATIONS OF THE PAST_

ISAIAH li. 1-6.

Here is a sentence from Lord Morley: "If a man is despondent about his
work the best remedy I can prescribe for him is to turn to a good
biography." He counsels him to go into the yesterdays to find inspiration
for the life of to-day. Other men's attainments are bugle-calls to me.
"Look unto Abraham, your father." Look unto the blessings which waited
upon his obedien