The world wants men who are saved from secret faults. The world can put on an outside goodness and go very far in uprightness and morality, and it expects that a Christian shall go beyond it, and be free from secret faults. A little crack will spoil the ring of the coin. . . . The world expects, and rightly, that the Christian should be more gentle, and patient, and generous, than he who does not profess to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. For the sake of those who take their notion of religion from our lives, we need to put up this prayer earnestly, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults."--_Mark Guy Pearse._ =July 25th.= _Do thou that which is good. 2 Kings x. 5._ Keep as few good intentions hovering about as possible. They are like ghosts haunting a dwelling. The way to lay them is to find bodies for them. When they are embodied in substantial deeds they are no longer dangerous.--_William Arnot._ =July 26th.= _Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. iii. 18._ Grace has its dawn as well as day; grace has its green blade, and afterwards its ripe corn in the ear; grace has its babes and its men in Christ. With God's work there, as with all His works, "in all places of His dominion," progress is both the prelude and the path to perfection. Therefore we are exhorted to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to go on to perfection, saying with Paul, "I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."--_Guthrie._ =July 27th.= _Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived, and by it slew me. Rom. vii. 11._ Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little. Sin, a _little_ thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away stones? Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced His heart! It made _Him_ suffer anguish, bitterness and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor _the least appearance of evil_. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be "exceeding sinful."--_Spurgeon._ =July 28th.= _Your heavenly Father knoweth. Matt. vi. 32._