June 25 "Get thee up into the high mountain" (Isaiah 40: 9). Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing a mountain. When you are at the base you see very little. The mountain itself appears to be half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles round and are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the scene enlarges; until at last, you are on the summit. The Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ, we see little of Him. The higher we climb, the more we discover of His beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting gray-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, "I know whom I have believed." Each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain. From there he could see the faithfulness and the love of Him to whom he had committed his soul. Get up, dear friend, to the high mountain.