January 19

“J souijld him, but I found him not.” — Canticles Hi. 1

TELL me where you lost the company of Christ, and 1 will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining Then it is there you must seek and find Dim. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. l“pid you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You mut find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, “Look for a thing where you dropped it; it is there.” So look for CSrist where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But ii is bard work to go back for Christ. Buuyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbor of Easi, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you. How is it that you did not watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully groan, “0 that I knew where I might find Him!” Go on socking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you’are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest — not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart Bcek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself tJioroughly up to the search and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.