April 28

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes.

ISAIAH v. 21.

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. — LUKE xi. 34, 35.

JUST as the kingdom of nature bears the burden of the kingdom of grace, so the outer man bears the burden of the inner man. The freshness of the Saviour's teachings largely consists in his unfolding of these correspondences between the seen and the unseen. All the light which comes to the body and to every member of it comes through the eye. The eye is made for seeing. To be sure, when there is no sight through the eye, even the ears may become eyes, even the fingers. A blind man walks, guided by the echoes of his own footfalls, guided by the touch of material objects, reads the printed page with his own fingers. But it is nevertheless true that the light-organ of the body is the eye. So light comes to the inner man through the conscience. This is the light that is in us which is so often darkness; that is, holds darkness.

The eye is evil, or untrustworthy, when the light from objects seen comes at different angles. A man with spectacles who looks over them is uncertain in his descent of the stairs. He has a double vision of distances, and is likely to trip and fall. It is so with a man who tries to walk in part by the light he gets from earth, and in part by the light he gets from heaven.

J. C. Rankin.

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty; Hold me with thy powerful hand.

WILLIAM WILLIAMS