June 29

Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.—Matthew 7:14.

DO I always keep in mind the fact, that the way to heaven is narrow and difficult, and that to walk in it demands self-denial and effort? If I would be kept in it, must I not resist temptation, and turn aside from allurement, and engage in duties that at times are painful to flesh and blood? But in it, shall I not enjoy God's favor, which is life; and at the end be sure of everlasting life? Is not this thought a help by the way?

Let us neither despise, nor overvalue the world. While we bless God for its comforts, let us pray him to keep us from its snares. *

The Christian is not ruined by living in the world, which he must needs do while he remains in it, but by allowing the world to live in him.

If this pilgrimage were all the way a way of ease and comfort, then we should not much desire to hasten on in it, or to come to the end of it, or to see God in heaven. Satisfied with the sweetness of the streams, we should stay away from the fountain.—G. B. CHEEVER.

Girt with the love of God on every side,

Breathing that love as heaven's own healing air, I work or wait, still following my guide,

Braving each foe, escaping every snare.

Pressing still onward in the narrow way,

That leads, where Jesus led, to endless day.