righteousness." Ah! how quickly a day's bodily languor and want of appetite is noted and attended to. But how many days have we known in which there has been no relish for the Word of God, no deep, inward craving after that meat which the world knows not of. And have we been so alarmed at this symptom that we have made haste at once to seek its cure?

The fact of the Scriptures furnishing nutriment and upbuilding to the soul, is the most real experience of which we have knowledge. None of us. "by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature." But how many, by taking in God's great thoughts, feeding on them and inwardly digesting them, have added vastly to their spiritual stature. We have noticed especially, in the lives of Christians, how some long-neglected but freshly-revived truth has marvelously quickened and built up the soul. Its newness has created a strong relish in the believer, and so imparted a mighty impulse to his spiritual growth. How true this has been of such doctrines as those of "Justification by Faith," "The Witness of the Spirit," and the "Coming of the Lord." The revival of these doctrines has constituted distinc

eras of reformation in the Church, but previously, also, marked eras of renewal in the individual soul. We may take the last mentioned as the one most recently revived. The biographer of Hewitson says of him : "He not only believed in the speedy appearing, but loved it, waited for it, watched for it. So mighty a motive power did it become that he ever used to speak of it afterward es bringing with it a kind of second conversion.” Yes; and how many Christians of our day know what this means. Such is the vivifying power of truth; so does it come in to repair the waste in our spiritual life, to build up new tissue, and to put new blood into our heavenly man.

The same may be said of prayer and meditation. They have mighty renewing power. They quicken our life, and multiply within us the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.

In these days, when the closet has become so contracted and the Church so expanded; when Christians have learned to find their edification so largely in the public services, in the music, and art, and eloquence of the sanctuary, and so little in the still hour of communion, it is quite hard to believe that the greatest enjoyment is possible in

solitude with God. We read of Columkill bidding farewell to his hermit's cell and homely fare to take the honors and emoluments of the bishopric of Iona, yet exclaiming tearfully: "Farewell, Arran of my heart! Paradise is with thee; the garden of God is within sound of thy bells." And as we read this we say, forsooth, "This is monkish sentimentalism." But what when we find sober Protestant saints like the one just quoted, Hewitson, writing: "Communion with Christ is the only source of satisfaction, the only source of lasting joy. I have enjoyed more even this morning from beholding the loveliness of the glory of Christ, as revealed to me by the Spirit, than I have done from the world during the whole of my life." Or, to rise to a still more incredible altitude, what if we listen to that mighty interceder with God, John Welch, of Scotland, crying in one of his seasons of rapt communion, "O Lord, hold thy hand; it is enough; thy servant is a clay vessel, and can contain no more?" Surely, this is strange language to most of us. But if we turn to the Scriptures of our Lord, we may find a possible key to such alleged experiences; for when we ask our Master why he has revealed such won

derful things concerning our union with him, and our share in the Father's glory, he answers, "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." * And when we ask Him why he has given us this wonderful privilege of prayer in his name, he replies, "Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."† If, at best, we have been able to get only a half measure of this divine joy, let us not discredit those who have exclaimed, "My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

We have spoken of daily renewals, and we are persuaded that no real growth and development in Christian life is possible without these. There is still another kind of renewing to which we would call attention. "The times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," which the Scriptures promise, hold out a very blessed and assuring hope. This expression, of course, has literal reference to the return of the Lord from glory, and his joyful reunion with his Church. But there are even now seasons of extraordinary communion with the Lord, when, through the Holy

* John 15: 11.

↑ John 16: 24.