“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29.) HOW strong is the snare of the things that are seen, and how necessary for God to keep us in the things that are unseen! If Peter is to walk on the water he must walk; ifRead More …

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.” (Psalm 107:23, 24.) HE is but an apprentice and no master in the art, who has not learned that every wind thatRead More …

“And he went out carrying his own cross.” (John 19:17.) THERE is a poem called “The Changed Cross.” It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose another instead ofRead More …

“There he proved them.” (Exod. 15:25.) I STOOD once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke,Read More …

“And he took him aside from the multitude.” (Mark 7:33.) PAUL not only stood the tests in Christian activity, but in the solitude of captivity. You may stand the strain of the most intense labor, coupled with severe suffering, and yet break down utterly when laid aside from all religiousRead More …

“I have all, and abound.” (Phil. 4:18.) IN one of my garden books there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, “Flowers that Grow in the Gloom.” It deals with those patches in a garden which never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowersRead More …

“He went out, not knowing whither he went.” (Heb. 11:8.) IT is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yetRead More …

“And the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land.” (Acts 27:44.) THE marvelous story of Paul’s voyage to Rome, with its trials and triumphs, is a fine pattern of the lights and shadesRead More …

“He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me; because he delighted in me.” (Psa. 18:19.) AND what is this “large place”? What can it be but God Himself, that infinite Being in whom all other beings and all other streams of life terminate? God is aRead More …

“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” (Gen. 32:24.) GOD is wrestling with Jacob more than Jacob is wrestling with God. It was the Son of man, the Angel of the Covenant. It was God in human form pressingRead More …