ost gracious service.

"I dwell in a house of cedar," and yet I am thoughtless about God's poor!
For I must remember that the poor are the arks of the Lord. "I was naked,
and ye clothed Me not."

"I dwell in a house of cedar"; my liberties are many and spacious; and yet
there are tribes of God's people held in the tyranny of dark and hopeless
servitude. I dwell in England, but what about the folk on the Congo? I
dwell in a land of ample religious freedom, but what about Armenia? Do my
sympathies remain confined within my cedar walls, or do they go out to
God's neglected ones in every land and clime?

DECEMBER The Sixth

_THE GRACE OF LOWLINESS_

1 CHRONICLES xvii. 16-27.

It is by such lowliness that we arrive at our true sovereignty. All
spiritual treasures are hidden along the ways of humility, and it is
meekness which discovers them. The uplifted head of pride overlooks them,
and its "finds" are only pleasure of the passing day.

Lowliness is the secret of spiritual perceptiveness. I find my sight in
lowly places. The Sacred Word speaks of "the _valley_ of vision." I
usually associate vision and outlook with mountain summits, but in
spiritual realms the very capacity to use the heights is acquired in the
vale.

Lowliness is the secret of spiritual roominess. It is only the humble man
who has any room for the Lord. All the chambers in the proud man's soul
are thronged with self-conceits, and God is crowded out. Our Lord always
finds ample room for Himself wherever the heart bows in humility and says:
"I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof."

DECEMBER The Seventh

_CHOSEN AS BUILDERS_

"_Take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build._"
--1 CHRONICLES xxviii. 1-10.

And how must he take heed? For it may be that the Lord hath also chosen me
to build, and the counsel given to Solomon may serve me in this later day.
Let me listen.

"_Serve Him with a perfect heart._" God's chosen builders must be
characterized by singleness and simplicity. He can do nothing with
"double" men, who do things only "by half," giving one part to Him and the
other part to Mammon. It is like offering the stock of a gun to one man
and the barrel to another; and the effect is nil. No, the entire gun! The
"perfect heart"!

"_And with a willing mind._" For the willing mind is the ready mind, and
God can do nothing with the unready. I never know just when He will call
me to add another stone t