July 6

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.—II COR. xii, 10.

All my life I still have found,

And I will forget it never;

Every sorrow hath its bound,

And no cross endures forever.

All things else have but their day,

God's love only lasts for aye.

P. GERHARDT.

What the woof is to the warp, crosses are to character. Without the latter the former is nothing but limp lines of thread without strength, without usefulness, without susceptibility of being made beautiful. But when crossed by the woof it becomes cloth fit for various uses, and capable of receiving a finish and ornamentation which transforms it into a thing of beauty. In like manner a man's character is limp, weak, unreliable, and unattractive until it has been subjected to many tests and trials. These, like the woof, cross and recross one's natural tendencies until resistance to evil begets strength, endurance, growth, and moral beauty. Why, then, should one fret against one's crosses? They are painful, vexatious, hard to be borne sometimes, but what are these ills, which are but for a moment, when compared with the exceeding and eternal weight of glory with which they are to be rewarded when the last one has been overcome? The brilliants in one's eternal crown will be the crosses of one's present life crystallized in the love and light of Heaven.