December 28

Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.—Luke 12:40.

DO I realize how near, at farthest, death must be; how very near it possibly may be; how suddenly, at any moment, it may come? Do I endeavor to live in constant readiness for its coming? If I would die the death of the righteous, am I daily living his life? By sincere repentance for sin, by faith in Christ as the only and all-sufficient Saviour, by a life conformed to his will and filled with his Spirit, have I the evidence that for me to die shall be gain?

An eccentric minister, stepping one day into the shop of one of his parishioners, asked abruptly, without even waiting for a salutation, "Did you expect me?" "No!" was the reply. "What if I had been death?" he asked; and stepping out, was gone as suddenly as he came in. What a thought for us! Does it not impress the lesson, "Be ye also ready!" *

Death to the Christian, is the funeral of all his sorrows and evils, and the resurrection of all his joys.—J. MASON.

Oh what is death to him who dies, With God's own blessings on his head? A charter, not a sacrifice; A life immortal to the dead. And life is only good and great, When man devotes himself to be, In thought, and aim, and word, and deed, A living sacrifice to thee!