April 13

(Ember Day.)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Romans 6:12.

IT is important to remember that there are two parties concerned in temptation—Satan and ourselves. If we had no inclination he would have no power; it is our inward infirmity which gives him the hold within us. We must gradually strive to mortify and weaken self before we must hope to weaken Satan's power.

By the Cross the warrior rises,

By the Cross the foe despises,

Till he gains the heavenly shore.

No self-glorying; the more faith, the less will there be of that. A believer is nothing in himself. All is Christ's, Christ is his all. That treasurer who being called to an account because that out of nothing he had enriched himself suddenly, many thought he would have been puzzled with it; but he, without being much moved, next morning came before the king in an old suit that he wore before he got that office and said, "Sir, this suit on my back is mine, but all the rest is thine." So our old suit is ours, all the rest Christ's.

May I be lost in Thy great Majesty,

Myself no more; to have no cherished thing,

No choice, no hope, no sorrow, but in Thee,

My Shepherd, and my Father and my King!

Nothing is good but what in Thee doth spring,

Nothing is good but what in Thee doth end;

O let me hear Thy Voice, let all things bring

Thy Voice to me; whatever Thou dost send

Shall be my welcome guest, shall be my honoured friend.

Whate'er I have is Thine; my hour of death,

And all the days of life, are in Thine Hand;

My endless portion hangs upon Thy Breath,

My hairs by Thee are numbered, and the sand

That forms beneath my feet the eternal strand.