get some lesser good, and fail after all. The greatest good is
certainly ours by that easy road which, however hard it may be
otherwise, is made easy because it is so certain to bring us to what we
want. Holiness is the condition of God's delight in us, and a genuine
faith in Christ, and the love which faith evokes, are the conditions.
So it is a very simple matter You never can be sure of getting the
lower good You can be quite sure of getting the highest. You never can
be certain that the precious things of the earth and the fulness
thereof will be yours, or that if they were, they would be so very
precious; but you can be quite sure that the 'goodwill of Him that
dwelt in the bush' may lie like light upon your hearts, and be strength
to your limbs.

And so I commend to you the words of the Apostle, 'Wherefore we labour
that, whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him.' To
minister to God's delight is the highest glory of man. To have the
favour of Him that dwelt in the bush resting upon us is the highest
blessing for man. He will say 'Well done! good and faithful servant.'
'The Lord taketh pleasure'--wonderful as it sounds--'in them that fear
Him, in them that hope in His mercy,' and that, hoping in His mercy,
live as He would have them live.




SHOD FOR THE ROAD

'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy
strength be.' DEUT. xxxiii. 25.