h some people make with regard to "doing
the first works." Many think that they are to have the same
experience over again, That has kept thousands for months without
peace; because they have been waiting for a renewal of their first
experience. You will never have the same experience as when you first
came to the Lord. God never repeats himself. No two people of all
earth's millions look alike or think alike. You may say that you
cannot tell two people apart; but when you get well acquainted with
them you can very quickly distinguish differences. So, no one person
will have the same experience a second time. If God will restore His
joy to your soul let Him do it in His way. Do not mark out a way for
God to bless you. Do not expect the same experience that you had two
or twenty years ago. You will have a fresh experience, and God will
deal with you in His own way. If you confess your sins and tell Him
that you have wandered from the path of His commandments He will
restore unto you the joy of His salvation.

I want to call your attention to the manner in which Peter fell; and
I think that nearly all fall pretty much in the same way. I want to
lift up a warning note to those who have not fallen. "Let him that
thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. x. 12). Twenty-five
years ago--and for the first five years after I was converted--I
used to think that if I were able to stand for twenty years I need
fear no fall. But the nearer you get to the Cross the fiercer the
battle. Satan aims high. He went amongst the twelve; and singled out
the Treasurer--Judas Iscariot, and the Chief Apostle--Peter. Most men
who have fallen have done so on the strongest side of their
character. I am told that the only side upon which Edinburgh Castle
was successfully assailed was where the rocks were steepest, and
where the garrison thought themselves secure. If any man thinks that
he is strong enough to resist the devil at any one point he needs
special watch there, for the tempter comes that way.

Abraham stands, as it were, at the head of the family of faith; and
the children of faith may be said to trace their descent to Abraham:
and yet down in Egypt he denied his wife. (Gen. xii.) Moses was noted
for his meekness; and yet he was kept out of the promised land
because of one hasty act and speech, when he was told by the Lord to
speak to the rock so that the congregation and their beasts should
have water to drink. "Hear now, ye