see what He has to say to ourselves, the
more we shall have to tell to others. He does not send us out with sealed
despatches, which we know nothing about, and with which we have no
concern.

There seems a seven-fold sequence in His filling the lips of His
messengers. First, they must be purified. The live coal from off the
altar must be laid upon them, and He must say, 'Lo, this hath touched thy
lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.' Then He
will create the fruit of them, and this seems to be the great message of
peace, 'Peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the
Lord; and I will heal him' (see Isa. lvii. 19). Then comes the prayer, 'O
Lord, open Thou my lips,' and its sure fulfilment. For then come in the
promises, 'Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth,' and, 'They shall
withal be fitted in thy lips.' Then, of course, 'the lips of the
righteous feed many,' for the food is the Lord's own giving. Everything
leads up to praise, and so we come next to 'My mouth shall praise Thee
with joyful lips, when I remember Thee.' And lest we should fancy that
'_when_' rather implies that it is not, or cannot be, exactly _always_,
we find that the meditation of Jesus throws this added light upon it, 'By
_Him_, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
_continually_, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to' (margin,
confessing) 'His name.'

Does it seem a coming down from the mount to glance at one of our King's
commandments, which is specially needful and applicable to this matter of
our lips being kept for Him? 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation.' None of His commands clash with or supersede one another.
Trusting does not supersede watching; it does but complete and effectuate
it. Unwatchful trust is a delusion, and untrustful watching is in vain.
Therefore let us not either wilfully or carelessly _enter_ into
temptation, whether of place, or person, or topic, which has any tendency
to endanger the keeping of our lips for Jesus. Let us pray that grace may
be more and more poured into our lips as it was into His, so that our
speech may be _alway_ with grace. May they be pure, and sweet, and
lovely, even as 'His lips, like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.'

We can hardly consider the keeping of our lips without recollecting that
upon them, more than all else (though not exclusively of all else),
depends that greatest of our responsibilit