_Him they compelled to bear His cross. Matt. xxvii. 32._ There are many Christians of whom this is true. They are compelled to bear the cross, but how does it come? It comes by their running away from it. They make up their minds they won't have Christ's cross; and they find when the cross does come that it comes in a more terrible form, with a more crushing weight than ever it would have come had they only been content to submit themselves to the divine direction; for the cross has to come to all who are to be prepared for glory hereafter.--_W. Hay Aitken._ =May 29th.= _Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. Gal. i. 4._ Attachment to Christ is the only secret of detachment from the world.--_A. J. Gordon._ =May 30th.= _Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matt. v. 14._ Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. A lighthouse sounds no drum, it beats no gong; and yet far over the waters its friendly spark is seen by the mariner. So let your actions shine out your religion. Let the main sermon of your life be illustrated by all your conduct.--_Spurgeon._ =May 31st.= _Without me ye can do nothing. John xv. 5._ _I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil. iv. 13._ Apart from Him we can do nothing. Whilst we are abiding in Him nothing is impossible. The one purpose of our life should therefore be to remain in living and intense union with Christ, guarding against everything that would break it, employing every means of cementing and enlarging it. And just in proportion as we do so, we shall find His strength flowing into us for every possible emergency. We may not feel its presence; but we shall find it present whenever we begin to draw on it. There is no temptation which we cannot master; no privation which we cannot patiently bear; no difficulty with which we cannot cope; no work which we cannot perform; no confession or testimony which we cannot make, if only our souls are living in healthy union with Jesus Christ; for as our day or hour, so shall our strength be.--_F. B. Meyer._ [Illustration: JUNE] =June 1st.= _As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John xx. 21._