March 21

Watch unto prayer. — I PETER iv. 7.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. — REV. iii. 2, 3.

IN his counsel to his disciples, as he was about to die, Jesus repeatedly used one memorable word, Watch! After sixty years he renews this solemn counsel, Watch! So then, all with us depends upon watchfulness.

Watchfulness remembers. It recalls the two cardinal facts, — our sin, God's grace in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit's office is to stimulate the memory of these central facts. Thus he daily renews the soul.

Watchfulness holds fast its grasp of the faith once delivered to the saints, its conscious clasp of the hand of the Saviour. We ever tend to lose our hold. It needs ever to be renewed.

Watchfulness repents. Life begins anew, as it began at the first, with penitence. Observe the sequence of experiences, — remembrance, a new resolution, repentance.

Watchfulness makes ready for the coming of the Lord. We must be ready at the hour. He comes suddenly to all men; to the watcher as a bridegroom, but to the careless as a thief. What I say unto you, I say unto all: Watch!

George R. Leavitt.

Christian, seek not yet repose;

Cast thy dreams of earth away.

Thou art in the midst of foes;

Watch and pray.

CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT.