Thessalonians and himself to bear human untrustworthiness by the
thought that though men are faithless, God 'is faithful, who shall
establish you and keep you from evil' (2 Thess. in. 2, 3). Sometimes it
is put forward to breathe patience into tempted spirits, as when the
Corinthians are comforted by the assurance that 'God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able' (1 Cor. x.
13). Sometimes it is laid as the firm foundation for our assurance of
pardon, as when John tells us that 'If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins' (1 John i. 9). And sometimes
that great attribute of the divine nature is proposed as holding forth
a pattern for us to follow, and the faith in it as tending to make us
in a measure steadfast like Himself, as when Paul indignantly rebuts
his enemies' charge of levity of purpose and vacillation, and avers
that 'as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay' (2
Cor. L 18).




THE LESSON OF MEMORY

'Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
lofty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to
know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His
commandments, or no.'--DEUT. viii.2.


The strand of our lives usually slips away smoothly enough, but days
such as this, the last Sunday in a year, are like the knots on a
sailor's log, which, as they pass through his fingers, tell him how