by Octavius Winslow, 1870
"O Jesus! make Yourself to me
A living, bright reality;
More present to Faith's vision keen
Than any outward object seen;
More dear, more intimately near,
Than even the sweetest earthly tie."
–Charlotte Elliott
PREFACE
"Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom
we confess." Hebrews 3:1
It is a great privilege of the believer to live by the
day upon Jesus. He cannot properly or safely go beyond it, nor has he
any especial promise to warrant his so doing. The promise is, "as your
days so shall your strength be." And it is no little achievement of
faith if, indeed, its strength lasts even to this limited period. Each day's
need is enough to task all our energies, and exhaust all our supplies,
without our "taking thought for the morrow."
But what a mercy thus to live upon Christ! To feel that,
when we exchange the morning's dreams for the day's stern and trying
realities, that the prayer of faith may draw large supplies from Jesus; and,
that thus replenished and equipped, we may safely reach its close unscathed
by the fiery ordeal through which we have passed.
To aid the Christian in this daily life, these pages have
been written. The subjects selected are, for the most part, of a doctrinal
and practical nature--subjects, indeed, upon which ponderous tomes have been
written--and yet the plan pursued by the author has necessarily restricted
his meditations to the smallest possible space, and to a mere fragmentary
and elementary unfolding of each topic. But, unpretending as his work is, it
may meet the needs of the weary, the suffering, and the
sorrowing believer not having time or strength for a more elaborate
volume; and thus be as a small casket of perfume, incensing some couch of
languor, and filling some chamber of sickness with the fragrance of that
Name which is above every name, and which, to those who know and love it, is
as ointment poured forth--the divine, the precious, the ever-to-be-adored
name of--JESUS!