h us every day, every hour, every
minute, what a joy it would be to obey! We could not walk in this
consciousness,--My Lord Jesus is with me and around me,--and not obey
Him! Oh, do you not begin to long and say, This is what I must have, the
ever-abiding presence of Jesus! There are some Christians who try not to
be disobedient, who come to their Sunday and week-day duties most
faithfully, and pray for grace and a blessing, and they complain of so
little blessing and power, so little power! And why? Because there is
not enough of the living Jesus in their hearts. I sometimes think of
this as a most solemn truth. There is a great diversity of gifts amongst
ministers and others who speak; but I am sure of this, that a man's
gifts are not the measure of his real power. I am sure of this, that God
can see what neither you nor I can see. Sometimes people feel something
of it; but in proportion as a man has in reality, not as a sentiment or
an aspiration, or a thought, but in reality, the very spirit and
presence of Jesus upon him, there comes out from him an unseen silent
influence. That secret influence is the

_Holy presence of Jesus._

"Lo, I am with you always." And now, if what I have said has sufficed
just to indicate what a desirable thing it is, what a blessed thing it
is to live for, then let me now give you an answer to the question that
arises in more than one heart. I can hear some one say, "Tell me how I
can get this blessed abiding presence of Jesus; and when I have got it,
how I can ever keep it. I think if I have this, I have all. The Lord
Jesus has come very near to me. I have tried to turn away from
everything that can hinder, and have had my Lord very near. But how can
I know that He will be with me always?" If you were to ask the Lord,
"Oh, my blessed Lord Christ, what must I do, how can I enjoy Thy
never-failing presence?" His first answer would be, "Only believe. I
have said it often, and you only partly understood it, but I will say it
again--

_My child, only believe._"

It is by faith. We sometimes speak of faith as trust, and it is a very
helpful thing to tell men that faith is trust: but when people say, as
they sometimes do, that it is nothing else but trust, that is not the
case. It is a far wider word than trust. It is by faith that I learn to
know the invisible One, the invisible God, and that I see Him. Faith is
my spiritual eye-sight for the unseen and heavenly. You often try hard
to tr