o the rising walls of the New Jerusalem, and if I
am "otherwise engaged" I am a grievous hindrance to His gracious plans. He
must be willing and ready who would be a builder of the walls of Zion. And
to that man the Lord will entrust the privilege of responsibility.

DECEMBER The Eighth

_JUDGED BY OUR ASPIRATIONS_

"_Thou didst well, it was in thine heart._"
--2 CHRONICLES vi. 1-15.

And this was a purpose which the man was not permitted to realize. It was
a temple built in the substance of dreams, but never established in wood
and stone. And God took the shadowy structure and esteemed it as a
perfected pile. The sacred intention was regarded as a finished work. The
will to build a temple was regarded as a temple built. And hence I discern
the preciousness of all hallowed purpose and desire, even though it never
receive actual accomplishment. "Thou didst well, it was in thine heart."

And so the will to be, and the will to do, is acceptable sacrifice unto
the Lord! "I wish I could be a missionary to the foreign field," but the
duties of home forbid. But as a missionary she is accepted of our God,
even though she never land on distant shore. Our purposes work, as well as
the work itself. Desire is full of holy energy as well as fruition. The
wish to do good is good itself; the very longing is a minister in the
kingdom of our God. If, therefore, we are to be judged by our aspirations,
there are multitudes of apparent failures who will one day be revealed as
clothed in the radiance of spiritual victory.

DECEMBER The Ninth

_NATIONAL BLESSEDNESS_

"_Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound._"
--PSALM lxxxix. 1-18.

Blessed is the people who love the sound of the silver trumpet which calls
to holy convocation! Blessed is the people who are sacredly impatient for
the hour of holy communion! Blessed is the people "in whose heart are the
highways to Zion." And in what shall their blessedness consist?

In illumination. "_They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy
countenance._" The favour of the Lord shall shine upon them when they walk
through rough and troublous places. There shall always be a sunny patch
where the soul is in communion with its Lord.

In exultation. "_In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day._" There is
nothing like sunshine for making the spirits dance! Light is a great
emancipator, a great breaker-up of frozen bondages. It thaws "the genial
currents of the soul," an