ce before whose radiance even
the angels veil their faces, and we shall see things as they are, and we
shall know "the difference between the holy and the profane."

DECEMBER The Fourteenth

_THE SACRED USE OF LIBERTY_

"_Take heed lest this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling-block._"
--1 CORINTHIANS viii. 8-13.

That is a very solemn warning. My liberty may trip someone into bondage.
If life were an affair of one my liberty might be wholesome; but it is an
affair of many, and my liberty may be destructive to my fellows. I am not
only responsible for my life, but for its influence. When a thing has been
lived there is still the example to deal with. If orange peel be thrown
upon the pavement, that is not the end of the feast. The man who slips
over the peel is a factor in the incident, and my responsibility covers
him.

I am, therefore, to consider both my deeds and their influence. How does
my life trend when it touches my brother? In what way does he move because
of the impact of my example? Towards liberty or towards license? To the
swamps of transgression or to the fields of holiness? These are
determining questions, and I must not seek to escape or ignore them. My
brother is a vital part of my life. I must never shut him out of my sight.
How is he influenced by my example? "If meat make my brother to stumble, I
will eat no flesh while the world standeth."

DECEMBER The Fifteenth

_WHAT IS MY TENDENCY?_

"_Whether we live, we live unto_...."
--ROMANS xiv. 7-21.

Unto what? In what direction are we living? Whither are we going? How do
we complete the sentence? "We live unto _money_!" That is how many would
be compelled to finish the record. Money is their goal, and their goal
determines their tendency. "We live unto _pleasure_!" Such would be
another popular company. "We live unto _fame_!" That would be the banner
of another regiment. "We live unto _ease_!" Thus would men and women
describe their quests. "Unto" what? That is the searching question which
probes life to its innermost desire.

"For whether we live, we live _unto the Lord_." That was the apostle's
unfailing tendency, increasing in its momentum every day. He crashed
through obstacles in his glorious quest. He sought the Lord through
everything and in everything. When new circumstances confronted him, his
first question was this--"Where is Christ in all this?" He found the right
way across every trackless moor by simply seeki