February 13

IN endeavouring to confirm my hold of a personal relation between God and man, and of His personal dealings with man, I find myself helped by realising my own personal individuality. I belong to a race and nature comprehending all human beings, yet I feel myself to be different from them all, and to require a treatment and guidance special to myself. God sees and knows me as a work of His own hands, altogether distinct from all His other works. He intends me to fill a place which no other creature can fill, and is dealing with me in accordance with this special individuality. Thus I feel myself, as it were, alone with God. He only fully understands me, and He meets my need, according to His full understanding of me, by a course of circumstances chosen for my own special education by His fatherly love and wisdom. . . . I feel as face to face continually with one who is watching every change that comes over my spirit, as if He had nothing else to care for in the Universe.

THOMAS ERSKINE OF LAN- LATHEN

THE SOUL OF ALL THINGS