April 24

power? Duty is ours; and none of our fellow-creatures are beyond his reach who called by his grace a Saul of Tarsus.

Blessed Jesus! Thou art fairer than the children of men! But while we admire thee we would also resemble. May thy mind be in us! Art thou so long-suffering towards us, and shall we bear with nothing in our brethren? Art thou so ready to forgive, and shall we be re-engeful? Didst thou when rich for our sakes become poor, and shall we be masses of pure selfishness, and never deny ourselves to promote the welfare of others?

APRIL 24.—“And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. And he went on his journeys from the South even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hat; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.”—Genesis 13:1, 3, 4.

In this movement of Abram two things are noticed—whence he came—and whither he went.

“He went up out of Egypt.” But how came he there? He was driven by famine. Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. Abram therefore was justified in going thither. We are not to starve if we can obtain subsistence lawfully. We tempt God if we do not avail ourselves of the means and opportunities of relief and assistance which he affords us in the course of his providence. For though we are to cast our care, we are not to cast our duty upon the Lord; and it is only in the way of duty that we can trust in him. But we may be found in places and conditions at the call of duty or necessity in which we are not to abide. Naomi and the Shunamite, who had fled to Moab in the dearth, returned like true Israelites when they heard that the Lord had visited his people with bread. And Abram did not settle in Egypt, but only sojourned there. He had succeeded while there, so as to increase in wealth, and Egypt was at this time the most famous country on earth: but it had been to him a place of temptation; it was irreligious; and Canaan was the land which the Lord had shown him—the land of promise. And what is this world to us if we are the children of Abram by faith, but a temporary residence. It is not our home—it is not our rest. And we must arise and depart hence now, in thought, affection, and pursuit; and by a readiness to leave it actually whenever our change comes. If we are the heirs of promise, Canaan will draw us out of Egypt.

“And he went on, even to Beth-el.” There he had dwelt before. It is affecting to return to a place where we formerly resided. Who can help reflecting upon his sins there? (for wherever we have lived we have proved ourselves to be sinners,) and the blessings he enjoyed there; and his trials; and the changes which have taken place, and the progress of his time since! But Abram had not only dwelt at Beth-el, but dwelt there as a man of faith, piety, and prayer. What a difference is there between returning to a place where we lived without God in the world; and to one where we loved and served God, and walked with him, and said of many a spot, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”