April 2

20 ¶ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there; go not after them, not follow them.

24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

25 But first must be suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

28 Likewise also as it was in the days of

Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded:

29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed

31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

32 Remember Lot's wife.

33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left

35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left

36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

"The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation"—"God is building up a kingdom that is invisible; a kingdom that cannot be discovered by the outward man; a spiritual kingdom of holy thoughts, of pure feelings, of faith, of hope, of righteousness. This kingdom advances little by little, some here and some there, all over the world. It is carried forward by a million different causes. God administers it Himself, and He means that it shall be perfected. He is determined that the whole world shall be filled with His glory. This kingdom progresses very slowly. It meets with great opposition—so great that sometimes you cannot tell whether it is going backward or forward. But God, who is building this great kingdom, sees that though, on account of its magnitude, it is advancing slowly, yet it is advancing surely. You cannot build a great house so quickly as you can a small one, nor a city as quickly as you can a house. If God was going to build His kingdom in one family, He might do it quickly; but as He is to do it in all the families of every country, the work is so vast that it cannot be done in a day, nor in a year, nor in rolling ages. It takes time to build things that are to be so well built and so glorious as God's kingdom will be when it is completed."—H. W. Beecher.

Closet Promise.—As thy days, so shall thy strength be.—Deut. xxxiii. 25.

We live only a day at a time, and hence only need strength for the day. O, if we could only realize this, how much lighter the burdens of life would be!

STRENGTH FOR THE DAY.

BEFORE

The morning breaks in clouds, the rain is falling. Upon the pillows will I sigh for rest:

But yet I hear so many voices calling To work by which my burdened soul is pressed.

That I can only pray, "Strength for the day."

'Tis not a prayer of faith, but weak repining. For with the words there comes no hope, no light;

In other lives a morning sun is shining.

While mine is but a change from night to night;

So while I weep I pray, "Strength for the day."

For it is hard to work in constant shadow, Climbing with tired feet an uphill road; And so, while my weak heart dreads each to morrow,

And once more I lift my heavy load, Desponding, still I pray, "Strength for the day."

AFTER.

Now, looking back to the long hours ended, I wonder why I feared them as they came; Each brought the strength on which its task depended.

And so the prayer was answered just the same:

Now with new faith I pray "Strength for each day."

For in the one just closed I've learned how truly

God's help is equal to our need; Sufficient for each hour it cometh newly.

If we ant follow where its teachings lead, Believing when we pray, "Strength for the day."

He who has felt the load which we are bearing, Who walked each step along the path we tread.

Is ever for His weary children caring, And keeps the promise made us when He said

He'd give us all the way "Strength for the day." —Selected.