August 11

The Lord knoweth them that are his. — 2 TIM. ii. 19.

I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. — REV. ii. 13, 14.

"I KNOW thy works," the Redeemer says to each of the seven angels and to us also. He knows our works and "the thoughts and intents of the heart." He knows that we dwell "where Satan's seat is," in days in which his faithful ones still suffer martyrdom. If by his grace we hold fast his name and do not deny the faith, he is the first to know and to commend it.

"But I have a few things against thee." He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," and cannot "look on iniquity." The angel and the church are rebuked on account of those "that hold the doctrine of Balaam" and "the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes," for evil teaching leads to evil living. Has he "a few," or many "things" against us? "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults!" But few or many, he calls on us to repent.

He knows us, and that we may know him and ourselves, he has given us his Word, "for the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

C. T. L. L.

Yet why, dear Lord, this tender care? Why doth thy hand so kindly rear A useless cumberer of the ground, On which so little fruit is found?

E. SCOTT.