December 3

Twentieth Tuesday after Trinity

Because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16.

YES, thou wilt find the thought of the Cross of Christ all powerful to save thee from sin. A holy man says "that where the death of Christ is borne about with us sin cannot reign. For such is the power of the Cross of Christ that if it be placed before the eyes, and faithfully retained in the mind, so that the eye of the mind should look intently to the death of Christ itself, no lust, no wrath, no envy can overcome; but at its presence all that army of sin and of the flesh is put to flight." His wounds are more eloquent than words. Thy soul is a part of the price of those sufferings. He died for thee, as much as if there had been none beside to die for. If passion assail thee, think of that tortured Frame, and profane not thine own which He died to redeem and sanctify; if thy temptation would involve others in thy sin, think that for them, with thee, Jesus died. If envy, think of His love; if avarice, of that bared Form; if ambition, of the crown which He wore for thee, with which our sins crowned Him, the piercing thorns. Look to Him now; copy, as thou canst, that pattern of love which He gave thee; give thyself by His grace to the glad and easy service of His love, that in that day of awe thou mayst escape the unutterable misery of the endless loss of God—

Where the fire is never quenched, Where the worm can never die.