June 5

"At even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning."—Mark 13:35.

"IT may be in the evening, when the work of the day is done." So it will be well that, in the quiet evening-time, I should accustom myself to prayer and to meditation on the things which are unseen and eternal. I shall be prepared then to welcome my Lord, if in the darkening He should halt at my door and should call for me.

"It may be when the midnight is heavy on the land." So, whenever I awake from my sleep and the gloom is all about me, I should train my mind to turn instinctively towards Christ and heaven, as the magnetic needle quivers back after every deflection to the Pole. I shall not be taken by surprise then, if suddenly, while all the world slumbers, my King should summon me.

"It may be at the cock-crow, when the night is dying slowly in the sky." The dawning, I recollect, was Henry Vaughan's chosen moment for the Lord's return. So I should be up betimes, alert and active. And the first thoughts of the new day should be about my Master and His love and His commandment. Come, my heart, and dedicate thyself afresh to Him. I shall be ready then if He say, Friend, go up higher.

"It may be in the morning, when the sun is bright and strong." So, as I turn again to my earthly tasks, I must see that my spirit is resting and my life hid with Christ in God. I must resolve to toil, as beholding the invisible world and the invisible Lord. I shall be detached then from the present, if, in a happy moment, He take me into the everlasting future.

I cannot tell when He will manifest Himself; I must be always wakeful, for I would not be ashamed before Him at His appearing.