{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13294/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13294","id":"gutenberg_13294","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13294","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Devotional literature"],"text":"FOOD FOR THE LAMBS;\n\nOR,\n\nHELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS.\n\n\nBY CHAS. E. ORR,\n\nAuthor of \"Christian Conduct,\" \"The Gospel Day,\" etc.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Feed my lambs.\"--_Bible_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nReprinted 1980\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThere is much more I should like to write, but I do not think a large\nbook is accepted by the general reader as readily as a smaller one. So\nlest this grows to too great a size, I have concluded to close it with\nwhat I now have written. The selections I have made from other writers\nare \"Spiritual Declension,\" \"Seek First the Kingdom of God,\" \"Stirring\nthe Eagle's Nest,\" \"The Little Foxes,\" \"On Dress,\" \"Victory,\" and the\npoems \"The Solitary Way,\" \"Sometime,\" and the closing.\n\nI pray that the sayings of this little volume will animate many a soul\nto a higher, nobler, holier life. Although it is written to young\nChristians, it may do some good to older saints. I hope it will. I\ncommit it to the public with no other motive than to do good.\n\nCHAS. E. ORR.\n\nFederalsburg, Md., Sept. 15, 1904.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nMortality\n\nFeeding the Lambs\n\nWho Are Christ's Lambs\n\nFood for the Lambs\n\nOn Fruit Bearing\n\nA Gazing-Stock\n\nThe Will\n\nGod Our Guide\n\n  _The Word Our Guide_\n\n  _The Spirit's Impressions_\n\n  _God's Providences_\n\nFragrance\n\nSeek First the Kingdom\n\nPrayer\n\nMeditation\n\nReverie (Poem)\n\nA Theater\n\nRest of the Soul\n\nHappiness of Life (Poem)\n\nThe Hidden Life\n\nConsciousness of God's Presence\n\nReflection\n\nBecoming\n\nLove of Home\n\nVictory\n\nThe First Love\n\nThe Little Foxes\n\nSpiritual Declension\n\nDiligence\n\nLowliness\n\nOn Dress\n\nThe Elixir of Life\n\nRules for Every-Day Life\n\nA Holy Life\n\nA Solitary Way (Poem)\n\nStirring the Eagle's Nest\n\nSome Things You Should Not Do\n\nPurity\n\nMeans for Growth\n\nLay Hold of Eternal Life\n\nCrucifixion of Self\n\nLove Not the World\n\nHave a Care (Poem)\n\nAffinities\n\nThe Guardian Angel\n\nFledging the Wings\n\nSome Time (Poem)\n\nThe Precious Ointment\n\nThe Tree of Life\n\nEternity\n\nNearer to Thee (Poem)\n\nConclusion\n\nClosing Exhortation\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nOut upon the sea of human life sails many a bark. But, alas! how few are\nsailing tranquil waters. Ascend with me to some solitary height and let\nus take a view of the innumerable human crafts as they sail out upon\nlife's broad ocean. Many are being tossed to and fro upon the angry\nbillows. Hope is almost gone. As they look forward into the distance all\nis dark and uncertain. In the early days of their voyage all was\npeaceful. They looked out over the broad expanse and saw only calm,\ncontented waters, and hope beamed bright. They fancied themselves\nanchoring, in a ripe old age, in a beautiful haven of rest somewhere\nbehind the setting sun. But they sailed only in the strength of human\nart. Storms unexpected arose, and winds adverse beat upon them.\n\nThe high, wild, angry billows threaten their destruction, and they\ndespair of ever entering their fancied golden port. Above the blackness\nof the raging storm there is extended a delivering hand, but they see it\nnot. Their eyes are not upward; they are upon the turbulent waves. Oh,\nhow sad! How pellucid would have been the waters and how serene in glory\ntheir voyage, if they had embarked in the strength of Him who at their\nrequest would have said to the angry waves, \"Peace, be still,\" and all\nwould have been at rest.\n\nYonder in the distance we see gay, glittering crafts sailing about in a\nstate of unrest. Some are sailing out upon the sea of worldly pleasure\nin search of happiness. See them rush wildly about. Yonder they seem to\nsee bright, golden waters and hope that true pleasures are to be found\nthere. But, alas! just beneath the surface all is dark and murky and\nbitter. Some are sailing out upon the highways of worldly fame and\nhonor, others upon the wild stream of worldly riches, all searching for\nrest and finding none. See the surging, tossing mass of human barks and\nhear their wail of disappointment as the sweet, golden waters turn to\nbitter wormwood and gall. The rainbow-colored bubbles, from their\nhoped-for fountain of joy, burst upon the air, leaving them empty-handed\nand restless-hearted. Above the wild din of their clamor speaks a soft,\ntender voice, saying, \"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are\nheavy-laden, and I will give you rest.\" But their ears are not turned to\ncatch sounds from above; they hear only the siren song of an enchanting\ngoddess--the world.\n\nDown toward the setting sun we see many shattered vessels going down in\na wild vortex. The waters are closing over them. They found that human\nstrength was inadequate to life's voyage. They, having weathered many a\nstorm, hoped to gain the peaceful harbor. But, alas! they are overcome\nat last, and, lamenting the day they ever set sail, they go down without\nhope. From the ethereal heights of inspiration I hear a chiding voice\nsaying, \"O had ye hearkened unto me, then had your peace been as a\nriver, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.\"\n\nYou, my dear young Christian reader, have just embarked upon life's\nuntried ocean. You have laid hold upon One who is mighty to save and\nstrong to deliver. Underneath you are the everlasting arms. Push out,\nthen, boldly into the broad expanse, fearing nothing. You can escape the\nperils of the deep, only by making God your refuge. Anchor your faith in\nhim and see to it that your faith never breaks anchor. The billows may\nthreaten, the storms may rage; but by faith you can beat them back, and\nsail out on unruffled seas. God pity the one who attempts life's voyage\nwithout the aid, cheer, and comfort that Heaven gives.\n\nMake the Word of God your compass, and obedience the rudder that steers\nyour little bark in all the ways God's commandments point you; and make\nfaith the mighty cable, and you will be towed safely past the dangerous\nrocks and reefs and threatening billows into the peaceful haven of\neternal rest.\n\nAcross the deep and wide unknown\n  The bark of life sails on:\nWho thinks to trust to human art\n  Shall perish mid the storm.\n\nThe other shore far distant lies,\n  Wild billows intervene,\nAnd dangers little known arise\n  To try the strength of men.\n\nMan lays his purpose and his plan,\n  He fixes sail to-day;\nBut winds adverse sweep o'er the main\n  And turn him from his way.\n\nMan's wisdom can not know the end,\n  Nor future courses see:\nWhoever sails in human strength\n  Sails mid uncertainty.\n\nMan has a strong inveterate foe,\n  So subtle in his art;\nHe tries the strength of human craft\n  And finds the weakest part.\n\nBy human strength man can not sail\n  O'er ocean's troubled breast:\nGod's hand alone can e'er prevail\n  And bring him into rest.\n\n\n\n\nMORTALITY.\n\n\nIn plant, animal, and spiritual life mortality is greatest in infancy.\nThe plant in the first few days of its existence is very tender and\ndelicate. It will succumb to the winds if they be slightly too cool, or\nto the sun's rays if they be too warm. The smallest insect feeding upon\none of its tiny roots will cause it to die. After it has formed more\nroots and they have gone deeper into the earth and the plant becomes\nstronger and coarser it is far less liable to destruction. The chilly\nwinds may blow or the sun's rays may pour upon it; it now has the power\nof resistance, and so lives on.\n\nThe same is true of animal life. Mortality is far greatest among\nchildren in the first few hours of life, and lessens as they grow older.\nOnly a slight current of cold air upon the newly born infant is likely\nto cause its death. The new life is not yet able to resist opposing\nelements, so it must be carefully guarded. As it grows stronger and\nbecomes capable of adapting itself to the elements of the outside world\nit can with comparative safety be brought into contact with them.\n\nWhat is true in the plant and the animal world is also true in the\nspiritual world. You who have but recently been born of the Spirit are\nnot as able to resist the cold winds of persecution or the heat of fiery\ntrials as those who have been deepening and widening in the grace of\nGod. Guard carefully the new-born life of Christ in your soul. Seek an\nestablishing grace in sanctification, and you will be strong in the Lord\nand fully able to cope with the dark powers of sin, Satan, and the\nworld, and triumph over all in Jesus' name. In the days of your infancy\nwe offer you our help in this little volume, and assure you a frequent\nremembrance in fervent prayer.\n\n\n\n\nFEEDING THE LAMBS.\n\n\nSome years ago when attending to the work to which the Lord had called\nme in one of the sunny Southern States it was my happy privilege to\nenjoy for a few days the kind hospitality of a generous Christian\nfarmer. One balmy afternoon while walking over the pleasant fields of\nhis large farm, with my heart in sweet communion with God, I came upon\nthe most beautiful flock of sheep it had ever been my privilege to\nbehold. They were quietly grazing in a rich green pasture, near by which\nsilently flowed a deep, broad river. To me it was a fair reminder of the\n\"still waters\" the Good Shepherd gave promise to lead his sheep beside,\nand the \"green pastures\" he promised to make them to \"lie down in.\"\n\nFrom beholding this beautiful fleecy flock I learned a lesson which I\nhope never to forget. The principal cause of their well-developed frame\nand handsome appearance was, they were _well cared for when they were\nlambs_. Since then I have often remembered, and felt the import of, the\ncommand the Savior so tenderly gave his shepherds--\"Feed my lambs.\" Over\nand over has it in all its strength and beauty been breathed anew by the\nSpirit in my soul, animating me to greater assiduity in caring for the\nprecious lambs of his fold. And, thus, I shall prove my love to him by\ndoing all I can in caring for his lambs.\n\nLambs need something more than feed; they must be sheltered from the\ncold wind and cruel storm. Feed them ever so well, but if you expose\nthem to the wintry storm, they will die. In John 21:15 the word _feed_\nis translated from the same Greek term as is the word _feed_ in the 17th\nverse; but in the 16th verse the word _feed_ is translated from an\nentirely different Greek term. In this verse the Greek does not mean\nsimply to feed, but to protect, to shelter, to tend. The shepherd's duty\nis not only to feed the lambs, but also to guard them from the wolves\nthat are seeking to devour them.\n\n\n\n\nWHO ARE CHRIST'S LAMBS.\n\n\nIt is those who are young in Christian experience whom the Savior calls\nlambs. The shepherds that are to feed them are his ministers. A lamb is\none of the most meek, tender, and tractable of all the young animals,\nand very fittingly represents one who has received the meek and tender\nspirit of Christ. Christianity in its nature is meek and mild. It\nconverts the wolf into a lamb and the leopard into a kid. Young\nChristians are, therefore, beautifully spoken of as lambs, whose nature\nis mild and gentle. Christ's lambs are those who have received into\ntheir hearts his lamb-like spirit. They are those whose hearts and souls\nhave been touched and thrilled with the mildness and tenderness of\ndivine life; those in whom the \"hidden man of the heart\" is robed in\nrighteousness and adorned with \"a meek and quiet spirit,\" which is\nprecious before God.\n\nYou might robe a wolf with a lamb's skin, but it would still be a wolf.\nA person may profess to be a Christian: but unless he has a change of\nheart and affection; unless he has been made meek and gentle by the\nSpirit of the Lord coming into his heart, he is only a wolf, after all,\nand not of the Savior's fold. Jesus speaks of some who put on \"sheep's\nclothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.\" By \"wolves\" he means\nmen and women with wicked hearts. They profess to be Christians; but in\ntheir hearts are envy, pride, hatred, jealousy, love of self, and love\nof the world. They may appear quite lamb-like in public life, but in\ntheir hearts no change has been wrought by the transforming power of\nGod's grace. To be \"Jesus' little lamb\" is not only to have a\nprofession of Christianity, but to have the heart cleansed by the blood\nof Jesus from envy, pride, malice, love of the world, etc., and filled\nwith meekness, gentleness, and love.\n\nA good old prophet in olden time, looking forward to when Jesus should\ncome to save people from their sins and speak peace to troubled hearts,\nsaid, \"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the\nlambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.\" When you were\nwandering in the deserts and mountains of sin, Jesus, the true shepherd,\ncame seeking for you, and now that you have given yourself to his loving\ncare, always confide in him and yield to his guidance. Ever keep your\nhand in his and follow where he leads, and your life will be full of joy\nand terminate at last where there will be pleasures forevermore.\n\n\n\n\nFOOD FOR THE LAMBS.\n\n\nOf course, it is very important to know what foods are most conducive to\nthe growth of lambs. The apostle to whom Jesus gave the command \"Feed my\nlambs\" has said to those lambs, \"As new-born babes desire the sincere\nmilk of the Word that they may grow thereby.\" 1 Pet. 2:2. Milk is the\naliment which the nature of the newly born infant demands. The infant\ninstinctively receives it with a readiness. It is the natural and most\nproper food. It is the food above all others for the sustaining of life\nand the promotion of growth. So the glorious doctrines of the gospel are\nthe natural and most proper food for the Christian. The newly created\nlife in the regenerated soul instinctively turns to the word of God for\nnourishment. It is the natural food for the new life. Nothing else can\nbe substituted for it and growth go on unhindered. Without this food the\nChristian will die. \"Man shall not live by bread alone,\" says the Great\nShepherd, \"but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them\nin his bosom.\"]\n\nThe Christian has a twofold life: he has both physical life and\nspiritual life. As bread sustains physical life, so the word of God\nsustains spiritual life. I beseech you most earnestly, my dear young\nChristian reader, to ever remember that you can no more live a spiritual\nlife independently of the word of God than you can live a physical\nlife independently of bread. If growth in grace is worth anything to\nyou, and eternal blessedness in the sweet fields of heaven of any value,\nkeep this ever in mind and act accordingly. As with the physical being,\nso it is with the spiritual. There must be appetite, eating, digestion,\nand assimilation, that the word of God may impart life.\n\nRemember, it is the sincere milk of the Word that you need that you may\ngrow thereby. Sincere is from the Latin _sincerus_, which is derived\nfrom _sine_, meaning without, and _cera_, meaning wax; honey separated\nfrom the wax. Milk to which has been added chalked water may yet have\nmuch the appearance of milk, but it has lost its nourishment. So the\nword of God with the slightest adulteration will not meet the demands\nfor spiritual growth. The word of God, without modification or\nexaggeration, without taking from or adding to, is the only wholesome\nfood for your soul, and may you \"eat in plenty\" and \"grow up as calves\nof the stall.\"\n\n\n\n\nON FRUIT BEARING.\n\n\nThe following beautiful language is found in Isa. 51:3: \"For the Lord\nshall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will\nmake her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the\nLord; joy and gladness shall he found therein, thanksgiving, and the\nvoice of melody.\" Zion is a metaphor signifying the church of God. It\nis, therefore, the church which the Lord will comfort and whose\nwilderness will be made an Eden. But what is the church of God? This is\na very important question; one which all people should fully understand,\nand one which is very easily answered. You will learn at once by reading\nEph. 1:22,23 and Col. 1:18,24 that the church is the body of Christ,\nand in 1 Cor. 12:27 we are plainly told that Christians are the body of\nChrist; they are, therefore, the church of God. Dear reader, if you are\na Christian, you have been born of the Spirit; you have passed from\ndeath unto life; you have been translated from the kingdom of darkness\ninto the kingdom of light; you have been created anew; you are,\ntherefore, a member of the body of Christ, and all such members make up\nthe church of God.\n\nThe children of Israel were the church of God in the old dispensation,\nand he dwelt in a tabernacle or temple they built for him. In this more\nglorious gospel dispensation those who have been born of the Spirit and\nmade pure in heart are the church of God. In this Holy-Spirit\ndispensation we do not build temples for the Lord to dwell in; for \"know\nye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God\ndwelleth in you?\" 1 Cor. 3:16. \"What? know ye not that your body is the\ntemple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye\nare not your own?\" 1 Cor. 6:19. In this blessed gospel day Christians\nare the \"habitation of God through the Spirit.\" If you are a Christian,\nGod dwells in your heart; your body is his glorious temple. This is a\nmost stupendous thought, but it is true. In your soul is the sweet\nheavenly manna, the budding rod, and the ark of the covenant\novershadowed by the cherubim of glory.\n\nWhen God created man He placed him in a garden which He had planted\neastward in Eden. In this garden God made to grow every tree that was\npleasant to the sight and good for food; also, the tree of life and the\ntree of knowledge of good and evil were in this garden, and a river to\nwater it. It is said that God \"walked in the garden in the cool of the\nday.\" That was in the day of literal things. We are now in the day of\nspiritual things, when our bodies have become the temple of God through\nthe Spirit, and our hearts his lovely garden. It is in this garden he\ndwells; it is there he walks. See 2 Cor. 6:16. When the south winds blow\nand the spices flow out he comes into his garden to eat his pleasant\nfruits; he gathers the myrrh and the spices, he eats honey and drinks\nwine and milk. See Cant. 4:16 and 5:1. This is sweet language, and is\nexpressive of the purity of the Christian heart, where God dwells, and\nwhere he walks in the gentleness of his Spirit, delighting himself in\nthe tender Christian graces that are budding and blooming all along the\npeaceful avenues of the soul. Like as the gentle south wind blows upon\nthe flowers of the garden and scatters the fragrance; so the Spirit of\nGod fans the heavenly graces implanted in the heart, and a fragrance\nflows out of the Christian life, awaking admiration in the minds of all\nwho come into its presence.\n\nThe trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food in the\nliteral garden of Eden symbolize the graces of the regenerated heart,\nwhich are lovely to behold, which feed the souls of those who look upon\nyour noble Christian walk, and which become a \"tree of life\" to the\ndesert hearts of men. In the garden of the Lord blooms the rose of\nSharon and the lily-of-the-valley. These are beautiful emblems of the\nChrist-life in the Christian soul. The river which flowed through Eden's\nliteral garden represents the deep, broad river of peace which flows in\nthe heart which has tasted of redeeming love.\n\nA young heart filled with the mild, meek spirit of Christ, and a young\nlife laden in rich profusion with kind words, generous deeds, and\ngentle, modest ways, is the most beautiful object that ever graced this\nmundane sphere. Angels look down and marvel, and throughout all heaven\nis awakened songs of joy and praise. It is your privilege to be filled\nwith Jesus now; to be clothed in white and walk in purity. It is also\nyour privilege as you journey down life's way to grow more kindly; to be\nmore and more like Jesus; for the sweet graces of heaven to bloom more\nbeautifully in your heart and life; and the beauty of your young\nChristian life to give way to more beauteous ripened age. If you attend\nto all Christian duties and live in prayer and devotion to God, your\nsoul will become more and more weighted down with the riches of heaven,\nand, looking out through the casement, your soul will hail with joy the\nconvoy that has come to bear it to its home of eternal rest.\n\nThe Savior in speaking of himself said, \"I am the vine,\" and in speaking\nof Christians he said, \"Ye are the branches,\" and speaking of God he\nsaid, \"My Father is the husbandman.\" This very clearly and strikingly\nillustrates the duty of a Christian, and the position he occupies.\nChristians sustain the same relation to Christ that the branches do to\nthe vine. As the branch receives life through the vine and bears fruit,\nso the Christian receives life through Christ and bears fruit. The\nobject of fruit bearing is the glory of God. You should be desirous of\nbearing as great an abundance of fruit as possible, and do all you can\nto increase your fruitfulness, since \"herein is God glorified, that you\nbear much fruit.\"\n\nThe apostle Paul in speaking of Christians said, \"Ye are God's\nhusbandry,\" 1 Cor. 3:9. If you will examine the Greek text you will\nfind that a more proper rendering would be, \"Ye are God's field.\" Greek\nscholars tell us that the Greet term from which husbandry is translated\nin our common version signifies a cultivated field. It answers to the\nHebrew word _sadeh_, which means a field sown and under cultivation.\nFrom this you will be enabled to yet more fully understand the true\nposition you occupy under God. You are his fertile field, where he has\nunder cultivation the precious fruits of the kingdom of heaven. The\nHusbandman has rooted up every plant that he has not planted, and sown\nthere the seeds of righteousness.\n\nNot only are your hearts the \"garden of the Lord\" where blooms the\n\"rose of Sharon\" and the \"lily-of-the-valley\" in all the sweetness of\ntheir fragrance and beauty, but they are also the Lord's fertile field,\nwhere the amiable Christian graces are to bud, bloom, and bear fruit.\nYour duty as a Christian is to bear fruit for God, that he may be\nglorified. Every fruit-bearing branch, therefore, he purges, that it may\nbring forth more fruit. The successful farmer carefully removes all the\nforeign growth out of his field, and then cultivates his plants, that he\nmay reap the greatest possible harvest.\n\nDelicious fruits are brought from the tropical clime to this land of\nours, and they awaken in our hearts an admiration for that delightsome\ncountry. We long to travel through those sunny lands. You are God's\nfertile field. In your life has been placed the beautiful fruits of the\nheavenly land. As this world looks upon your life and beholds these\nfruits admiration will be awakened in their hearts for the fruitful\nfields of heaven. They will be influenced by your life to seek the\nkingdom of God and its riches, that they may taste of its fruits now and\nforever. If you will walk with God and live devoted to him, those\nprecious fruits of the Spirit will become more plentiful and beautiful\nin your life as you journey down the way, making you a greater blessing\nto the hearts of others. To this end you must live.\n\n\n\n\nA GAZING-STOCK.\n\n\nIn Heb. 10:33 it is said that Christians are a gazing-stock. The world\nis looking upon your life. You have taken upon you the profession of\nChristianity. If you live a pure and holy life, God will be honored;\nothers gazing at you will see that Christ lives in you, and many will\ngive to God the glory. You must be willing to be gazed at by the world.\nYou must let your light shine.\n\nYour holy life will be a savor of life or a savor of death unto those\nbefore whom you live. So do not think you are living to no purpose. Some\none is looking on every day, and if you will walk uprightly, it will\ntell for God. What a privilege you have of living a life that God will\nuse to the salvation of some and to the condemnation of others! You must\nbe interested in living a pure, clean life, and live your very best each\nday, so that you will not be ashamed before God to be a gazing-stock for\nthe world.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WILL.\n\n\nAmong the different faculties which God gave to man in his creation is\none called the _will_. It is because you have this faculty that you\nbecome a responsible being. Before the first man and woman in the garden\nof Eden God placed two laws--one was the law of obedience, and the\nother, the law of disobedience. These were subject to their choice. They\ncould will to obey God and live forever, or will to disobey and die.\nBefore all men are placed two ways--one is called the way of life, and\nthe other, the way of death. These are subject to their choice.\nTherefore, the will is called that faculty of the soul by which we\nchoose or refuse things.\n\nThe will is capable of cultivation. By the exercise of your will you can\nrefuse to do wrong things, and thus strengthen your will-power. Men have\nattained extraordinary heights of morality by the exercise of the will\nin right-doing and refusing to do wrong. This is noble and beautiful,\nbut there is something more noble still and more beautiful. The moral\nman wills to do right because it is right, while the Christian wills to\ndo right because it is the will of God and pleases him.\n\nAlthough man can not by the exercise of his will-power in right-doing\nevolve into a Christian, the will plays an important part in the\nformation of Christian character. It is true, the will is most usually\nled by the affections of the heart; therefore the writer of Proverbs\nsaid, \"Out of the heart are the issues of life.\" The heart must,\nhowever, get consent of the will before its desires are fulfilled. Here\nis a truth of vast importance to the Christian.\n\nMany people's wills have become so in bondage to the impure affections\nand desires of their depraved hearts that they have no will to do right\nand shun the wrong. The desires of the heart sway their scepter of power\nover the will, and it acts to the granting the heart its wishes. This is\na sad picture. A human being created to be free, but now a wretched\nslave. When he wills to do good evil is present with him; the good he\nwould do, he does not do; and the evil he would not do, that is what he\ndoes. O miserable man! A person who has rejected the mercy of God and\nhas yielded to the inclinations of an unholy heart until he has no\npower to accept the offers of mercy and shun the ways of sin, is an\nobject of the greatest pity. To him there is no hope of escaping the\ndamnation of hell.\n\nThere is a time in the life of every rational young man and woman when\nthey can accept the blessed offers of salvation which God extends\nthrough his Son, if they will. God gives the Holy Spirit to operate upon\nthe depraved heart, making it to feel something of the realities of a\nSavior's love and goodness, and something of the awfulness of sin. The\nHoly Spirit does not take hold upon the will and compel it to serve God,\nor force it into right action. He just takes hold upon the heart,\nsuppressing its love for sin, and awakening desires for a better life,\nthus removing the unrighteous scepter the heart swayed over the will,\ngiving the will freedom and power to accept or reject the mercies of\nGod. While the impure affections and unholy desires of a depraved heart\nare being restrained by the power of the Holy Spirit, before the will is\nset the way of life and the way of death, each subject to choice. Now is\nthe time for whosoever will to come and drink of the water of life\nfreely, and whosoever will now call upon the name of the Lord shall be\nsaved.\n\nNot only does the will act an important part in securing the salvation\nof the soul through the offered mercies of God, but it is the purpose of\nGod that the will act an important part all along the Christian way.\nAfter the Christian enters through the \"strait gate\" and steps out upon\nthe \"narrow way\" that leads to eternal golden glories, he is not carried\nforward in a \"chariot of fire\" through the journey of life and crowned\nat the end with eternal blessedness irrespective of his will. Often it\nis true that the soul is carried blessedly onward in the way of life on\nthe wings of joy, without any apparent exercise of the will; but how\noften Good seems to have deserted or forsaken us, Joy has hid her\nsmiling face, and Good Feelings have departed, and we are left to serve\nGod and attend to our Christian duties from choice of will. God wants\nour life service to be a willing service. It is necessary, therefore,\nthat he apparently forsake us and permit dark powers to engage us. It is\nthat our wills may be exercised. The Psalmist says, \"I _will_ go the way\nof thy commandment; I _will_ keep thy testimonies,\" and let us all say\namen.\n\nThe blessings and joys the Lord bestows upon us are the rewards of\nwilling service, for which things you should be very thankful; but never\nlet them influence you in your conduct toward God. There have been\nthose, who, in the hour of seeming desertion, refusing to use their\nwill-power, have turned back to the world. This is faint-heartedness and\ncowardice, ignobleness and unmanliness.\n\nEvery faculty of the body or soul that is unused or unexercised will\nweaken and die. The muscles if unused will grow weak, the mind if unused\nwill weaken, and the will if unexercised will lose its power. Should God\nalways keep us soaring aloft on the wings of peace and joy and\nblessings, without the exercise of the will, this important faculty\nwould degenerate into weakness and slavery. O may my young readers arise\nin the strength of their manhood and womanhood and use, in choosing and\ndoing the right, the will God has given them. The tempter may come, yea,\nwill come, and endeavor to get some of the affections of the heart set\nupon the world; but you must reject all such temptations, and by the\nforce of your will set your affections on things above. God does never\nwill for us, but he gives us power to will if we will but use the power\nhe gives us.\n\nYou are exhorted by the Scriptures to \"work out your own salvation with\nfear and trembling.\" The \"crown of life\" lies at the end of the\nChristian race. When we step over the boundary between time and eternity\nour salvation is then eternally secured. Praises be to God! It is for\nthis crown of amaranthine glory, or blessed eternal salvation, that we\nare to watch and labor with fear and trembling. O may you be very\ncareful! Be watchful, lest something should hinder you in your Christian\nrace, and you miss at last the blessedness of heaven. Guard the\naffections of your heart with the strictest vigilance.\n\nI said above that God would always give us power to will, if we would\nbut make use of that power. For proof of this I shall refer you to Phil.\n2:13, which in our common version is rendered thus: \"For it is God which\nworketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.\" The meaning\nof this text is not so readily comprehended by this version as it is by\nsome others. By Conybeare and Howson it is translated in these words:\n\"It is God who works in you both will and deed.\" Upon examination of the\ndifferent translations we find the meaning of this text to be this: \"It\nis God that gives us power _to will_ and _to do_ his good pleasure.\" In\nthe verse preceding this one the apostle tells us to \"work out our\nsalvation with fear and trembling,\" and then he adds for our\nencouragement, \"God will work in you the power _to will_ and _to do_\nthat which will secure your eternal salvation.\" Never say, \"I can't.\"\n\nHere is something which will prove very valuable to you in your\nChristian life if you can only get to fully comprehend it: You can do\nnothing; your will is powerless without God and his grace, and God can\ndo nothing in you without the consent of your will. God does everything,\nand we do everything: we are to purify our hearts, and yet it is God who\npurifies our hearts; we are to make us a new heart, and yet it is God\nwho gives us a new heart; we are commanded to work out our salvation,\nand God gives us power to do it. God furnishes the power; we are to do.\nDo not think that God will act for you. He will give you power to act,\nbut he will not do the act for you. Do not, therefore, say, \"I can't.\"\nYou can do \"all things\" through Christ, who strengthens you. You can\nserve God in a way acceptable to him; you can keep your mind stayed on\nhim; you can pray; you can resist the devil and temptation and be an\novercomer; you can endure unto the end--you can do \"all things\" by the\ngrace and power of God, and he will always give you power to do his\npleasure. Do not serve and praise God only when he gives you blessings\nand joy, but serve him and praise him when the way is dark. Have a fixed\ndecision of the will to serve God no matter what the feelings may be. Be\nthankful to God for the will-power he has given you, and use it\nmanfully, nobly in his service. Do not cower and tremble before\ntemptation. You are to \"fear and tremble\" before God, but never before\ntrials, temptations, sin, nor the devil. God will cause you to triumph\nby giving you power to will. Be steadfast, be faithful, fix your will\nunswervingly to serve God, and in due season you shall reap if you faint\nnot.\n\n\n\n\nGOD OUR GUIDE.\n\n\nThis is a dark world of sin, error, and uncertainties. It is weak and\ntransitory. Man, God's chief and highest work in the things of creation,\nis weak, ignorant, and can of himself do absolutely nothing. Though he\nmay have a most scholarly mind, he can not peer with any degree of\ncertainty one hour into the future. Who knows what the morrow may have\nin store? Life may run about the same as to-day, or fortune may come, or\nmisfortune. Man may plan for the future, but the plan may never be\ncarried into effect. It is not in man to direct his way.\n\nThere is one, however, that knows all future things and shapes the\ndestiny of man. We are invited to commit our way unto him. He has\npromised to guide us with his eye. Life lies before us like an unknown\nsea, none know how many days' journey it is across, nor how much\nsunshine and shadow there may be on the way. With the unknown expanse\nbefore me, and I, in my ignorant finiteness, not knowing which way to\ntake, rejoice exceedingly in my heart to be permitted to commit my way\nunto Him who makes the clouds his chariots, and rides upon the wings of\nthe wind, and stills the wave. He knows the best way and will direct in\ntender care my every step. He guides me with his eye, and leads me by\nhis own right hand beside the still waters and into green pastures.\n\nWhy are there so many anxious hearts, so much unrest, so many\ndiscontentments and fears? It is because man is attempting to direct his\nown way. He feels his weakness, and fears; he knows his ignorance, and\nbecomes anxious. How blessed to walk out upon life's way trusting in God\nand casting every care upon him! The waves may sometimes dash around our\nfeet, but we are looking up unto Him who shall guide us continually. The\nsecret of a happy and successful life is to let God lead us. When we get\nin a hurry and pass on ahead of the Lord, devising, contriving, planning\nover our work and way, then come fears and failures.\n\nMany Christians find it difficult to know the will of God and understand\nhis leadings. Many hearts are longing to know God's will and way. You\nmay always know. Do not hurry, only wait, pray and trust, and God will\nplainly and unmistakably teach you his way and give you a sweet\nconsciousness in your soul of his guidance. Sometimes it may require\nlong waiting. I have for months been almost daily praying and sometimes\nrising a great while before day to seek God beneath the stars to know\nhis will in a certain matter. Sometimes it seems I must act, but God\nwhispers in sweet stillness, \"Only wait.\"\n\n\nThe Word Our Guide.\n\n\nIn many affairs of life we need no guidance other than the Word of God.\n\"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.\" Psa.\n119:105. Much reading of the Scripture will impart wisdom and knowledge,\nand be a help to us in directing the affairs of life. You may have a\ndifficult matter to settle with your neighbor. Open your Bible and read:\n\"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.\"\nQuite likely this will enable you to settle the matter in perfect\nsatisfaction to all. Some one may have done you much harm, now what must\nyou do? Open your book of guidance and read: \"Dearly beloved, avenge not\nyourselves ... vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.\" Thus,\nmuch of life's duties and affairs can be determined and decided by the\nWord of God.\n\n\nThe Spirit's Impressions.\n\n\nThe Holy Spirit is given us for a guide. With respect to our conduct and\nour duty, we often feel the impressions of the Spirit. The Word of God\ntells us to give of our goods as the Lord has prospered us, but the\nSpirit may often impress us as to where to give.\n\nWe feel impressed by the Spirit to give, we feel impressed to go to a\ncertain place, we feel impressed to pray for such a one, we feel\nimpressed to fast and pray, etc. Many a precious soul that once was full\nof joy and fatness is to-day in unrest and leanness because these\nimpressions have been resisted. But are there not impressions given by\nan evil spirit? Most certainly, and these impressions have led many an\nhonest soul into the wildest of fanaticism. Thank God, by living very\nhumble, with all our motives very pure, and by acquaintance with the\nWord of God, we may know the voice of the Spirit of God and that of the\nevil spirit I have known people to receive and obey impressions to fast\nand pray that were given by Satan. God's Word and God's Spirit favor\nfasting and praying, but both are bounded by sound judgment; and in such\nmatters we should not follow a spirit beyond what common sense would\napprove.\n\nIt is blessed and beautiful to be led by the Spirit of God. If its\nimpressions are not resisted, but encouraged by cheerful obedience, they\nwill lead us into a blessed felicity with God and a deep acquaintance\nwith him. An evil spirit's whisperings can be very easily detected by\none who has much communion with the Lord. Recently while standing on a\nsteamer's deck it was whispered to me that the steamer was an ill-fated\nvessel, and that I never should see home again. At first I did not know\nbut that it was the voice of God, but soon I felt attempts being made to\ncast over me a tormenting fear; this aroused my suspicion that it was\nnot God speaking, and to be convinced I allowed the spirit to talk on.\nFor a while it tried to torment me with fears that I should never see\nthe dear ones at home again, and then said, \"You may as well cast\nyourself overboard into the deep.\" Ah! now I knew the Satanic spirit and\nI rebuked it in Jesus' name. I reached my home in safety. Praise the\nLord! Try the spirits by the Word; Satan will soon expose himself.\n\n\nGod's Providences.\n\n\nIn the sure guidance of God we have his Word and his Spirit and also his\nprovidences. Again, we would say, oh, how blessed to await the\nprovidences of God! His providences are always in favor of the\nrighteous. \"All things work together for good to them that love God.\"\nHow many can look back through their lives and see how the providences\nof God have directed their ways. They may have planned, but God's\nprovidence overthrew and brought better things to pass. Trust in the\nprovidences of God, commit your way unto him, patiently wait, and he\nwill guide you into the way that is best. Never get in a hurry, but wait\non the Lord, and he will always make the way plain before you. I have\nlearned never to take a step until I know it is ordered of God. In the\nprovidence of God, Joseph was sold to a company of Ishmaelites and cast\ninto prison and thus brought to be ruler over all Egypt. In the\nprovidences of God, Kish's asses went astray and Saul being sent in\nsearch of them was led to the prophet Samuel, who anointed him king\nover Israel. You may meet with losses, all things may seem decidedly\nagainst you; but be patient, trust in the providence of God, and in time\nyou will see his kind favor.\n\nIf you value your happiness and success in life, wait on God. If you do\nnot know which way to go or what thing to do, wait until you do know.\nGod will surely guide you; he will open the way clear and plain before\nyou. When he has given you full assurance, then go forward in all\nsecurity. Mountains may rise before you, but he will pluck them up and\ncast them into the sea. Rivers and seas may lie across your path, but he\nwill divide the waters and let you pass through. Live humbly and only\nfor the glory of God. Trust in him with all the strength of your soul.\nSee that all motives are as pure as heaven. Prayerfully seek a knowledge\nof God's will, patiently wait on him, cheerfully and promptly obey when\nhis will is known, and he will lead you in the path of security,\nstrewing the way with blessings and glory, and make your life one golden\ngleam of light across this dark world to lead others to the Lamb.\n\n\n\n\nFRAGRANCE.\n\n\nEvery saintly life on earth, is a sweet fragrance unto God, and every\nsinful life is a stench in his nostrils. As the rose scents the evening\nair, so a pure life scatters a sweet Christian influence and a knowledge\nof God throughout the world. The literal translation of 2 Cor. 2:14\nreads thus: \"But thanks be to God, who leads me on from place to place\nin the train of his triumph, to celebrate his victory over the enemies\nof Christ, and by me sends forth the knowledge of him, a stream of\nfragrant incense, throughout the world.\" A saintly life diffuses a\nsweet, heavenly fragrance throughout the world, and brings a knowledge\nof God and the nature of his salvation to the minds of men. Let me\nexhort you, therefore, to a pure life, a life full of devotion and\nreverence to God. You can make your life, by God's grace, a constant,\nflowing stream of fragrant incense, whose sweetness will linger long on\nthe air after you have passed to higher realms. So may it be.\n\n\n\n\nSEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM.\n\n\n\"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all\nthese things shall be added unto you.\" Mat. 6:33. An injunction of much\nimportance is here given. Verses 24 to 34 of this chapter show how\nbeautifully it is in the plan of God to care for his own. We are taught\nto have our trust in God for what we eat, for what we drink, for what we\nwear--for all the necessities of this life. We are referred to the fowls\nof the air and the lilies of the field, which take no thought for their\nlife, but live in their happy, independent way, without care or trouble.\nThese God cares for and says we are of more value than they.\n\nWhat a valuable lesson we are to learn from this! But is it really true\nthat we are to have the same degree of freedom from care or anxiety that\nthe fowls or the lilies have? We shall also ask, Is it really possible?\nThis lesson surely teaches that we are to have such a trust in our\nMaker, and therefore it must be possible. The apostle Paul instructs us\nin Phil. 4:6, \"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and\nsupplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto\nGod.\" And in another place, \"I would have you without carefulness.\" Our\nlives are to be free from worry or anxiety about anything and\neverything. This feature alone of the divine life, or this principle\nalone in the economy of God's gracious plan, ought to represent\nsalvation as a thing greatly to be desired. But in the face of this\npeople fail to see anything desirable in it, because by their unbelief\nthey hold such a life to be impracticable. By this kind of unbelief the\nenemy of souls deprives many of their privileges in Christ and hinders\nthe world from seeing the real nature of the salvation experience.\n\nHow the world is estranged from the principles of righteousness! How it\nholds light to be darkness and darkness to be light! Instead of\naccounting that there is any reasonableness in such trust in God as is\nshown in this lesson they would fain be selfishly taking upon themselves\nthe responsibility of maintaining their own existence, and thus every\none seek for his own gain. Thinking that they thus have an excuse for\nnot devoting their time to God's service and their spiritual welfare,\nthe things of the Lord are forgotten and neglected, and their souls\nconsequently are lost. When will individuals learn that they have a\nspiritual as well as a physical existence, and that the spiritual is the\nmore important of the two? Seek first the kingdom.\n\nBut the fact that we wish to bring out most prominently is that many\nChristian professors, who are supposed to be examples of the Christian\nlife, do not comprehend the import of the test \"Seek ye first the\nkingdom of God.\" The mistake is made on the word _first_. They think to\nobey this scripture by first gaining the profession of salvation,\npresuming then that the blessings of the kingdom will follow, while they\nlive as selfishly as before and dig deep into the things concerning the\nunrighteous mammon. In so doing they fail to experience the blessings of\nthe kingdom, and also misrepresent the kingdom to the world. The word\n_first_ means not only first in time, but first in _importance_; and\nthis idea of _importance_ must ever be held before us, not only when we\nenter the kingdom, but throughout our whole Christian life. We are to\nhold the kingdom of righteousness _first_ in all our lives. If we hold\nGod first in everything and consider what will be to his glory before\nwe consider our own, we give God a chance to fulfil his word, and his\nown good pleasure in us will be accomplished. We then place ourselves in\nthe order of his plan where it will be possible for him to do as he has\npromised.\n\nThe salvation life means an unselfish life. We are not to seek selfish\nglory in anything, but seek the glory of God _first_--above everything\nelse. It has been remarked concerning certain ones who were struggling\nfor an earthly existence, that if they would only get saved \"all these\nthings\" (all earthly necessities) would be added unto them. But it is\nnot those who merely get saved that can claim this promise; it is those\nwho _keep saved_ and carry out the principles of the plan of\nrighteousness. \"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness\" in\neverything. Lose your own individuality in God, consign your all to him,\nlive for his glory in all your life, then \"all these things shall be\nadded unto you.\"\n\n\n\n\nPRAYER.\n\n\nUpon this subject and the one following I have written in other works\nvery similarly to this; but since these subjects are so well adapted to\na work of this nature I can hardly feel willing to leave them out. If\nyou have read very similar words to these in other productions of mine,\nI hope the rereading of the subjects will not be time spent to no\nprofit.\n\nThe value of prayer can hardly be estimated. Unless you are willing to\ntake up a life of prayer and keep it until the close, you had just as\nwell not take up the Christian profession. Without prayer you will die.\nSome one has expressed it thus:\n\n\"Prayer is our life, our soul's triumphant wings,\nThe arm that holds the shield and hand that takes the crown;\nAlong the line on which a thousand faithful prayers ascend,\nSurely God doth send ten thousand blessings down.\"\n\nWhat an honor it is to have audience with the King of glory! He extends\nthe golden scepter to us, and we come hopefully, confidingly, into his\npresence and tell him all that is in our hearts. It is only because we\ncomprehend something of his great love to us that we venture to come\ninto his presence. Who would not consider it a great honor and blessed\nprivilege to be admitted into the courts of the lords and the kings of\nearth? The greatest honor bestowed upon man is the privilege of coming\ninto the presence of God and conversing with him. Alas! how few\nappreciate the privilege of prayer! How few can properly estimate its\ntrue worth! Jesus by his example has taught us something of the worth of\nprayer. His rising a great while before it was day to hold communion\nwith the Father, and his spending all night in prayer to him, teach us\nsomething of its importance. If it was necessary for Jesus to spend so\nmuch time in prayer, how much more necessary for us.\n\nPrayer is the energy and life of the soul. It is the invincible armor\nwhich shields the devoted Christian from the poisoned missles shot forth\nfrom the batteries of hell. It is the mighty weapon in his hand with\nwhich he fights life's battles unto victory. He who lives in prayer\nreigns triumphant. His soul is filled with the peace of heaven. Power\nis given him over sin and the world. By prayer all storm-clouds are\ndriven away, mountains of discouragement are cast into the sea, chasms\nof difficulties are bridged, hope is given wings, faith increases, and\njoys abound. Hell may rage and threaten, but he who is frequent and\nfervent in prayer experiences no alarm. By prayer the windows of heaven\nare opened, and showers of refreshing dews are rained upon the soul. It\nis as a watered garden, a fertile spot where blooms the unfading rose of\nSharon and the lily-of-the-valley; where spread the undecaying,\nunwithering branches of the tree of life.\n\nBy prayer the soul is nourished and strengthened by the divine life. Do\nyou long for deeper joys? for a greater sense of the divine fulness? for\na sweeter balm of hope to be shed upon your soul? for a closer walk with\nGod? then live much in prayer. Do you desire to feel the holy flame of\nlove burning in all its intensity in your soul? then enkindle it often\nat the golden altar of prayer. Without prayer, the inner being will\nweaken, famish, and die; the fountain of love dry up; the spring of joy\ncease to flow; the dews will fail to descend; and your heart will\nbecome a parched and dreary desert waste.\n\nLook upon the character of Jesus. Behold his lowliness, his meekness,\ngentleness, and tender compassion. Have they any beauty? and would you\nlove to have them grace your own soul? then draw them down from the\nskies in all their glorious fulness by the fervent prayer of faith. As\nthrough the process of assimilation food is transformed into an active,\nliving being; so through the medium of prayer the character of Jesus in\nall its transcendent beauty and glory becomes the character of man.\n\nIf you desire victory during the day, begin it with prayer. Not a few\nhurried words, but minutes of deep, intimate communion with God. Linger\nat the sacred altar of prayer until you feel particles of glory drop in\nrichness into your soul, scattering sweetness throughout the whole and\nrelating you to the world above. In the early morning hour, when the\nstill, balmy breath of nature plays around, let your soul fly away on\nthe wings of prayer with its message of love and praise to its Maker.\nJesus went out a great while before day to hold communion with God.\nThere is no time better suited for prayer. The world is hushed in\nslumber. There is less sin being committed, and if the world ever is\ninnocent, it is in the early morning time. We thus get an advantage of\nthe devil and have sweet converse with God before the devil is aware.\n\nIf you desire to be more deeply and sincerely pious, seek it in prayer.\nIf you desire heights in God's love, depths in his grace, fulness in his\njoy, richness in his glory, seek it in prayer. Did you say you had not\ntime for prayer? What a pity! Your happiness and usefulness in life\ndepend upon it; your eternal welfare depends upon it--then, oh, what a\npity you have no time for it! But you must find time. You can not afford\nto listen to Satan; there is too much at stake. This is an excuse that\nmany allow Satan to make for them. Time for rest, time for eating, time\nfor sleeping, time for friends, time for books; but no time for prayer.\nThis is a device of Satan to rob souls of the love of God. You must not\ngive him such an advantage of you.\n\nIn love for your spiritual welfare I beseech you in Jesus' name, live\nmuch in prayer. Go often into your closet, and then, with the loins of\nyour mind girded up, in all earnestness of soul pray until the love of\nGod and the light of heaven fills your being. Satan will try to make you\nlistless and indifferent; he will try to make your thoughts to wander;\nhe will tell you of many other things that need to be done that very\nmoment; and many other things will he tell you to deprive you of the\nblessings of prayer. But you must resist him and go the more earnestly\nin prayer; and continue to pray until a rapture from the skies sweeps\nover your soul, making the place of prayer the dearest spot on earth to\nyou.\n\nWhen the shades of night come softly stealing,\n  Softly stealing o'er the window sill;\nWhen the busy day is slowly ending,\n  Slowly ending peacefully and still,--\nChristian, with thy heart adoring Heaven,\n  Sweetest glories falling from above,\nGo to God in secret, silent pleading,\n  Tell to him the wondrous tale of love.\n\nWhen the morning light is gently dawning,\n  Gently dawning in the eastern sky;\nWhen the darkness fast away is fleeing,\n  Duties of the day are drawing nigh,--\n\nDown before the sacred, hallowed altar,\n  Christian, bow before thy God in fervent prayer,\nGiving thanks to him for life's sweet blessings,\n  For the day imploring his kind care.\n\nTo be overcome to-day makes to-morrow's battles harder.\n\nIf you would be a better Christian to-morrow, live your very best\nto-day.\n\nLike as the warming rays of the autumn's sun melt the early frost, so\nthe warmth of Christian love in our hearts will melt the coldness in the\nhearts of sinful men.\n\nBegin the day with prayer: it will fortify you against the tempter's\npower. The result of neglecting prayer is to be tossed furiously about\nupon the billows of temptation.\n\nTime is of too great worth to waste one precious moment. An hour lost is\nthat much of life lost. For all the time spent in idleness, you had just\nas well not have lived at all. By rightly using each moment you will\nbuild up a character that will stand a monument upon the tomb of the\ndead past. Moments misspent are life and character gone, and no imprint\nis left on the hearts of men to tell that we have lived. How many golden\nmoments are flying away into eternity unladen with any fruit from your\nlife? Learn to value time. Redeem it because these days are evil. Seize\nupon each passing moment, and send it up to the glorious Author of time\nladen with golden deeds.\n\n\n\n\nMEDITATION.\n\n\nThe Scriptures invite Christians on to greater depths in the love of God\nand greater heights in his joy as they journey on through life. It is\nthe will of God that you grow in grace and become more spiritual each\nday of your life. That meditation does affect one's spirituality is an\nundeniable fact. Meditating upon God and his law is an excellent means\nof increasing spiritual life in the soul. Vagrant thoughts dull the\nfiner sensibilities of the spiritual being, thereby rendering it less\ncapable of impression by the Holy Ghost.\n\n\"Keeping in touch with God\" is an expression much used in these days by\npeople professing holiness, but what does it imply? We are all at sea\nwhen not in touch with him. To be so kept is to have everything in us\nfully alive to God. Every Christian grace must be in a perfect state of\nhealth and vigorous growth. If there be any dwarfed condition of the\nspiritual being in any part, it will be less sensible to God's touch.\nThe blind have been known to cultivate the sense of touch in the\nphysical being to the amazing acuteness of being able to distinguish\nbetween colors. The sense of touch in the soul can by careful, earnest\ncultivation be refined to such a degree as to make it susceptible to the\nslightest impressions of the Spirit of God.\n\nBy an electric cable America is brought in touch with Europe. Were this\nto become divided, communication would cease. Sin divided the\nlife-giving cable from the presence of God to the souls of men. In Jesus\nthe divided cable is taken up and united, and man brought into communion\nwith God. So cultured may become the sensibilities of the inner being,\nand so thoroughly impregnated by God's enlivening power, that one empty\nthought causing the slightest ebbing of life's current flow is keenly\nfelt. To keep in perfect touch with God is to live where there is a\nsoul-consciousness that he is pleased with every act of your life, and\nwhere there is a clear, definite witnessing of the Spirit to your inmost\nsoul that the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart are\nacceptable unto him.\n\nUseless thought makes the soul coarse, and difficult of impression by\ngood influences. Pure and holy meditations are an excellent means for\nthe refinement of your moral being. Praying to God is talking to him,\ntelling him the desires of the heart; whereas meditating upon God is\ncontemplating his goodness, love, mercy, greatness, and wonderful works.\nMeditation prepares the heart for that deeper communion with God called\nprayer. Whoever gives attention to his meditations, and has learned to\nfix his mind upon God; to whom \"day unto day uttereth speech, and night\nunto night showeth knowledge;\" to whom \"the heavens declare the glory of\nGod,\" and who hears God's voice in nature and sees the goodness of his\nhand in all creation,--finds no difficulty in drawing to God in prayer.\nIf you allow your mind to wander vaguely about upon the vanities of the\nworld, you will find prayer a difficult and rather an unpleasant task.\nLearn, therefore, I beseech you, to stay your mind upon the Lord, and\ngreat will be the peace and quietness of your soul. Precious moments\nspent in idle chit-chat with your companions or indulging vagrant\nthoughts are time worse than wasted. As your mind acts once, so it is\ndisposed to act again. The mind forms habits of thinking. Then, how\ncareful you should be to direct it in proper and useful channels.\n\n[Illustration: THINKING OF THE LIFE BEYOND.]\n\nSome people have found it difficult to prevent their thoughts from\nwandering while they were reading the Bible or in secret prayer. The\nwonderful works of God hardly awaken any admiration within them; they\ncan not elevate the soul into a profound awe before his awful presence,\nand there is but little conscious depths of inner reverence and devotion\nto his name. There is a blessed and sure remedy for this serious\ntrouble. Carefully watch your meditations. Call the oftener upon God in\nsome silent, secret place. Select some secluded, hallowed place, where\nnature is most inspiring for meditation. Isaac, the son of Abraham, went\ninto the field at eventide to meditate. The evening is a time well\nsuited to draw the soul out into deep, intimate communion with God.\nThe the setting of the sun is a reminder of life's setting sun. You will\nbe brought face to face with the fact that you must some day stand\nbefore Him who created all things. Your meditations will become serious.\nOh, may you adore the Creator, and learn to admire his wondrous works!\nGo forth in the starry evening, when Nature is most inviting, and\nthrough her let your soul adore the Almighty, and let all within you be\nawed to solemn stillness at his footfall.\n\nIdle, careless thoughts generate a stupidity that will rob you of joy.\nThe sensibilities of your inner nature will become deadened, and you can\nno more hear the solemn footsteps of the Lord, nor the whispers of his\nvoice. Meditating upon pure and holy things and seeing God in all, will\nelevate the soul to a plane all radiant with light and love, and put a\nmeekness and modesty in your life and a sweet gentleness in every\nexpression that will seem to make you akin to angels.\n\nAre you concerned about the peace of your soul? Is a happy life worth\nanything to you? Do you have any desire to become more like Jesus? Do\nyou want to do all you can for him? Do you want to dwell in heaven with\nhim forever? Then let your meditation be upon him, and your soul sipping\nat the fountain of Heaven's love as the flower drinks up the dew. I can\nnot be too earnest in my exhortation to you in this matter. I know how\nimportant it is. I want to see you prosper and your soul increase in\nGod; therefore I exhort you to meditate upon his law day and night.\n\n\n\n\nREVERIE.\n\n\nDown beside the rippling river\n  'Neath-the weeping willow-tree,\nViewing nature sweet and lovely,\n  Wond'ring what must heaven be.\n\nList'ning to the merry songsters\n  In the near-by leafy world;\nSuch sweet music seems to bear me\n  Nearer to the gates of gold.\n\nBreezes murm'ring through the branches,\n  Waters rippling o'er the stone,\nWhat, oh, what must be the anthem\n  Ringing round the great white throne?\n\nSongs of birds and streamlet rippling,\n     Meadow, flowers, and leafy tree,\nMake of earth a land of beauty--\n     What indeed must heaven be?\n\nIf you love scenes of great grandeur,\n     And to hear sweet music ring,\nCome, oh! come with me to heaven,\n     To the land where Christ is king.\n\n\n\n\nA THEATER.\n\n\nA theater is a place where plays are performed before spectators. People\ngo to such a place to witness the acts of men. The apostle Paul says,\n\"We are made a spectacle unto the world.\" 1 Cor. 4:9. In the margin it\nreads \"theater\" instead of \"spectacle.\" In Conybeare and Howson's\ntranslation this text reads thus: \"To be gazed at in a theater by the\nworld.\" You as a Christian are here in this world on exhibition for God.\nHe is the character you are to represent in life's great play. You must\nlive in such a way as to do justice to his name. This world is looking\non. God has written the entire play in his book. You have a life-time\nto play it in. If you will live in humble obedience to all the Word of\nGod, you will act your part well and faithfully represent his true\ncharacter.\n\n\n\n\nREST OF THE SOUL.\n\n\n\"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give\nyou rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and\nlowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.\" Mat. 11:28,29.\nWonderful words of love and hope! Never did a sweeter nor richer\ninvitation than this reach mortal ears. A whole world of humankind\ngroaning under a burden, tossing in unrest, laboring under pain, sighing\nwith sorrow, roaming in discontent, filled with fear, sinking in\ndespair. But One appears upon the scene and says, \"Come unto me, and I\nwill give you rest.\" Oh, may the humble followers of the lowly Nazarene\necho and reecho this invitation of love among the haunts of men as long\nas time shall last! Amid a world of sin and trouble, a soul at rest; how\nblessed!\n\nYou remember the day you came to him. Your sins with all the burden of\nguilt were taken away and you found rest. Later you dedicated yourself\nfully and forever to the Lord and entered into the fulness of his rest.\nCanaan's fair land is the soul's sweet home of rest. What heaven will be\nwe can not know now. Doubtless scenes and experiences will arise of such\na nature as to greatly enhance the felicity of our hearts; but the\nrevelation of heaven upon a sanctified soul and\n\n     \"The enjoyment of heavenly bliss\n      E'en in a world like this\"\n\ncan never be told. Storms will arise and threaten you; but if the cable\nof faith remains unbroken and the anchor of hope unshaken, your little\nbark can sail on sweetly at rest. Doubts are very destructive to\nsoul-rest; therefore they must be dispelled at their first approach. By\nfaith your soul can be kept in the precious realization of heavenly\nenjoyments; you can have sweet walks with God and tastes of his love all\nalong your journey of life. By living in the vale of humble submission\nto God, fully and freely yielded to his control, upon your soul the\nsweets of heaven's graces will be distilled like the gentle siftings of\nthe evening dew upon the flower, transporting you to wondrous felicity\nin God all along your pilgrim way.\n\nBehold the fowls of the air:\n  They sow not, neither do they reap;\nYet kings have not more healthful fare,\n  Nor rest in calmer, sweeter sleep.\nThey have no barns nor hoarded grain,\nYet all day long a soft, sweet strain\nThey warble forth from forest tree;\nEver happy and ever free,\nTeaching a lesson dear to me.\nSo free from care, O sylvan band;\nFed by a heavenly Father's hand.\nYour freedom, O ye fowls of heaven,\nNew courage to my soul hath given;\nI no more can doubt or sorrow:\nGod will care for me to-morrow.\n\nBehold the lilies how they grow:\n  They toil not neither do they spin;\nYet kings in all their pomp and show\n  Are not arrayed like one of them;\nSmiling and free in breezes sway,\nYet clothed by heavenly hand are they.\nMeek lilies of the quiet fields,\nYour growth instruction to me yields.\nThe One who clothes the lily fair\nAnd gives it tender, earnest care--\nWill he not hear my fervent prayer?\nThe One who notes the sparrow's fall--\nDoes he not love his creatures all?\nIf he so clothes each tuft and tree\nAnd gives the birds such liberty,\nWill he not clothe and care for me?\nI no more can doubt or sorrow:\nGod will care for me to-morrow.\n\nA merry heart is a continual feast.\n\nIt is the will of God that you be always happy.\n\nIf you are not contented with such things as you have, you would not be\ncontented had you ever so much.\n\nThose who are always contented and happy are a most gracious\ncontribution from God to a discontented world.\n\nThis sin-darkened world is dotted here and there by beautiful Christian\nlives, which are to the world's weary wastes what the oasis is to the\nparched desert.\n\nThe Christian has the blessed privilege of proving to a covetous,\ndiscontented world that man can by the grace of God he contented under\nthe most adverse circumstances.\n\nOftentimes people conclude that they would be happy if their surrounding\ncircumstances were different. True happiness consists not so much in the\nenvironments, as in the dispositions of the heart.\n\nAfter a day of labor, what a pleasure it is to meet at home the warmth\nof hearts we love! After a life of toil, what will be the pleasure of\nmeeting all the loved in heaven?\n\nI am told that the language of the Algonquin Indians of North America\ncontained no word from which to translate the word _love_. When the\nEnglish missionaries translated the Bible into that language they were\nobliged to coin a word for love. What must be a language without love?\nand what must be the heart!\n\nThe Christian out upon life's sea can, by faith, hope, and love, weather\nthe wildest storm that ever the winds of adversity blew. Hope is the\nanchor fastened to the eternal word of God; faith is the cable attached\nto the anchor hope.\n\n[Illustration:\nMy pathway of life is now paved with peace,\nThe flowers e'er bloom bright and gay;\nA halo of light is shed around me\nAs I walk the beautiful way.]\n\n\n\n\nHAPPINESS OF LIFE.\n\n\nDown, down in the depths of infinite love,\n     Filled with all the fulness of God,\nJoy's cup ev'ry moment filled from above,\n     As adown life's pathway I trod.\n\nNo sin sways its scepter over my soul,\n     God's righteousness fills ev'ry part,\nHis fulness of glory keeping the whole,\n     And I love him with all my heart.\n\nSing not to me of the pleasures of earth,\n     I have found a much happier way;\nThe joys of the Lord, of far greater worth,\n     Are filling my life ev'ry day.\n\nSorrow and sighing have flown away,\n     From trouble and care I am free,\nThe peace of God over my heart holds sway;\n     I am as happy as I can be.\n\nYou are tempted, you say, and sorely tried;\n     Of that I have nothing to say,\nThe victory is mine whate'er may betide;\n     I'm happy each hour of the day.\n\nMy pathway of life is now paved with peace,\n     The flow'rs ever bloom bright and gay;\nA halo of light is shed around me\n     As I walk the beautiful way.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HIDDEN LIFE.\n\n\nYou have experienced a resurrection. You once were dead in sin; now you\nare alive unto God. You have been translated from the kingdom of\ndarkness into the kingdom of light. You are a new creation; you have a\nnew life. Though you have existence in this world, yet the world does\nnot discover your true life. With Christ it is hid in God. The world\nknows nothing of you except as they see you in the life you live in the\nflesh. You have a higher life to which they are as insensible as the\ninanimate stone is to the life of the bird. You are one of God's \"hidden\nones,\" and a stranger on the earth, because you are unknown. You are not\nfound in the halls of worldly pleasure, but instead are to be found by\nthe bedside of the sick, reading the Bible, praying, or speaking words\nof cheer and comfort, and the world wonders how you can enjoy yourself\nin such a way. You have a joy that is unknown to them, because you have\na life that is hidden from them. That life of yours which is hid with\nChrist in God finds no enjoyment in the pleasures of the world.\n\nWhen adversity comes the world does not understand how it is that you\ncan rejoice; and when circumstances are very unfavorable, how you can be\nhappy is a mystery to them. It is because you do not live in the things\nof the world, but in a much higher realm. If your life is hid with\nChrist in God, your heart's longings will be for the things above; all\nyour affections will be on things above. Those who live upon earth are\nseeking the things of earth; but those who live above in God seek the\nthings which are above. Nothing of earth has any charms for them. Christ\nhas won their hearts. They love him intensely. They live in him. They\nare sojourning here upon earth for a time, but their hearts are with\nChrist in heaven. Their home, their love, their treasures, their hopes,\ntheir thoughts, their life,--all are there, and they are seeking with\neagerness for more of that sweet, precious life which is from above.\nThey walk here almost like one in a dream, as concerning this world;\nthey know but little of earth, but much of heaven.\n\nThis earth is not my home,\n  I live above,\nWhere peace and joys abound--\n  Sweet land of love.\n\nMy life is hid in God\n  With Christ the Son,\nThough here on earth I am\n  By earth unknown.\n\nI dwell in worlds above,\n  By thought and prayer--\nOh, blest eternal home!\n  My heart is there.\n\n\n\n\nCONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE.\n\n\nHappy and blessed is the soul that is conscious of God's sweet\nindwelling presence. Being conscious of God's presence is what the\nPsalmist meant when he said, \"O taste and see that the Lord is good.\"\n\"Tasting God\" is an expression incomprehensible to the unregenerate.\nThose who have tasted him comprehend the meaning of this expression\nbetter than they can tell it. When a bit of sugar is placed upon the\ntongue there is experienced a sweetness in the sense of taste. When the\nsoul tastes of God there is experienced a sweetness in the spiritual\nbeing. The sweetness of God's presence in the soul is as much more\nglorious than the sweetness of sugar to the taste as spiritual and\nheavenly things are above literal and earthly things. God and his word\nare inseparable, or the word is God; therefore when the Psalmist says,\n\"How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my\nmouth,\" it is in reality tasting the sweetness of God.\n\nThe awakened soul thirsts for this sweetness of the divine presence.\nNothing else can satisfy it. The wealth and pleasure of the world do not\ncontain a sweetness sufficient to satisfy the heart of man. It is only\nGod that can fill the hungry soul with goodness. The divine life sheds\npeace and light and rest in the soul. Man receives the divine presence\ninto his spiritual being when he is quickened by the Spirit. In the Word\nof God it is termed \"passing from death unto life,\" and \"being born\nagain.\" In sanctification when a revolution is effected in the nature of\nman and he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, it is then he is\nconscious of the fulness of the divine presence and is at rest. Glory be\nto God!\n\nTo possess the divine presence in its fulness is not the end of the\nChristian race. There are certain conditions for man to meet in order to\npossess this glorious inheritance, and there are certain conditions for\nhim to meet in order to retain it. Not only is man able, in the economy\nof grace, to retain the sweet consciousness of the divine presence in\nthe soul, but in his hands are placed instruments that enable him to\ncultivate and deepen this consciousness and thus add glory to glory and\ncause his way to shine more and more unto the perfect day. Oh, how many\nChristians would enjoy more of heaven's glory in their souls, if by\ncareful cultivation they would increase the sense of the divine\npresence! Dear pilgrim, have you reached the land of \"eternal weights of\nglory\" or the regions where \"joy is unspeakable\"?\n\nTo cultivate or deepen the sense of the divine presence requires an\nalmost constant effort. Right at this point is where perhaps more\nChristians have failed to do what was required of them than at any\nother; and consequently experience less joy and power than formerly.\nThere are many things employed by Satan to weaken this consciousness of\nGod. Looseness of thought, moments of idleness, or yieldings to self,\nserve to weaken the reverential feeling in our hearts toward him. A\nlittle attention to the world, a little thought for the morrow, a little\nanxiety, a little too much talking,--these things destroy the\nconsciousness of the divine presence in the soul, and rob us of\nspiritual power and rest. Living before God in prayer, holy and pure\nthoughts, the entertaining of right feelings toward God and man, acts of\nbenevolence and self-sacrifice for the benefit of others, develop and\nfashion the soul more and more into the beauty of the divine life.\n\nIt is the privilege of the saint so to walk in the presence of God and\nlive in holy communion with him as to draw God's glory and life into his\nown, and give him a feature very distinguishing for ordinary natural\nman. If we wish to be like Jesus and enjoy the sweet consciousness of\nhis presence, we must live with him in prayer. As we improve the health\nand strength of our physical being by proper food and exercise, so we\nimprove the strength and beauty of our spiritual being by proper\nmeditation and prayer.\n\n\n\n\nREFLECTION.\n\n\nHow often when walking down the country lane in the twilight of a\nsummer's evening you have looked upon the round, full moon and\nexclaimed, \"What a tender, beautiful light! how soft and mellow is the\nglow!\" But you must remember the light is not its own. Of itself it is a\ncold, dark body. The great luminary that so recently sank behind the\nwestern hills is the real light. It pours its brilliant rays upon the\nmoon and the moon reflects the sun's light upon your pathway. The moon,\ntherefore, is only a reflector. You stand before a mirror and behold\nyour face and form imaged in the glass. The glass acts as a reflector,\nreproducing the objects that are placed before it and shine upon it. The\nunregenerate heart is dark and reflects no light; but God can take it\nand cleanse, purge, and polish it, and make it capable of reflecting the\nvirtues of heaven's grace.\n\n1 Cor. 13:12 is rendered thus by Conybeare and Howson: \"So now we see\ndarkly, by a mirror; but then face to face.\" While here in this life we\ncan not see the real and true glories of the eternal world; but we can\nsee some of its beauties and glories mirrored in the face of nature and\nthe Bible. The starry worlds above us, the verdant hills, the swaying\nforests, the waving grain, the fleeting cloud, the blooming flower,\ndimly shadow forth the glory that awaits our expectant souls in that\nbright world where angels dwell.\n\nThe Greek text of 2 Cor. 3:18 is beautifully rendered in these words by\nthe above mentioned translators: \"With face unveiled we behold in a\nmirror the brightness of our Lord's glory, are ourselves transformed\ninto the same likeness; and the glory which shines upon us is reflected\nby us, even as it proceeds from the Lord, the Spirit.\" These words are\nfull of grandeur to my soul. Their wondrous beauty and sublimity can not\nfail to awaken admiration in every Spirit-quickened and purity-loving\nheart. You will see, Christian reader, the position you occupy as a\nfollower of the Lamb of God. You are a reflector; you have no light of\nyourself. God shines his glory upon you and you reflect it to the world,\nand thus you become the light of the world. In one translation\n\"character\" is used instead of \"glory.\" God's character is shined into\nyour soul, and you are to reflect it to the world.\n\nThere is another clause in the above quotation too full of riches and\ntoo well adapted to this work to pass by unnoticed. It is this: \"We\nbehold in a mirror the brightness of our Lord's glory, are ourselves\ntransformed into the same likeness.\" We do not grow into salvation,\nneither do we grow into sanctification; but after we receive this\nglorious experience there is still a continual transforming into a more\nperfect likeness of Christ. While in the Museum of Art in one of our\nlarge cities last spring I saw an artist reproducing on canvas a\npainting which hung upon the wall. I looked upon the painting on the\nwall and upon the reproduction before the artist. So far as I could see\nthe reproduction was in exact imitation of the original; but the eye of\nthe artist could see farther than mine. He kept on applying the brush,\ngiving a slight touch here and a slight touch there, and soon I\ndiscovered that the features stood out in more perfect imitation. So let\nus stand before the original and let the Holy Spirit work in us that\nwhich is pleasing to God, and we shall be continually transformed into a\nmore perfect likeness of God. This must be your daily life. Attend\nstrictly to every Christian duty, be obedient to the Word and Spirit of\nGod, and you will become more and more like him and your soul will be\nrich in grace.\n\n\n\n\nBECOMING.\n\n\nOne translation has rendered Phil. 1:27 in these beautiful words: \"Let\nyour manner of life be becoming the gospel of Christ.\" We speak of\nanything being becoming when it gives a good appearance. An article of\nclothing becomes you when it gives you a better or less awkward\nappearance. So your life is to be becoming to the gospel of Christ. You\nare to live so that your life will make the gospel of Christ more\nbeautiful to the hearts of men. You can do this only by living just as\nthe Bible reads. All the precious truths of the Bible are to read in\nyour life just as they do in the Bible, and thus your life will give a\nbetter appearance to God's Word and make it more real and interesting to\nthe unsaved.\n\n\n\n\nLOVE OF HOME.\n\n\n[Illustration: A HAPPY HOME.]\n\nThere are but few sweeter words in the English language than the word\n_home_. I have thought the three sweetest words are _mother, home_, and\n_heaven_. Home is the dearest place in all the world to the Christian\nheart. To have a fond love for home is not at all injurious to Christian\ncharacter. Those who have but little love for home will never succeed\nwell in the Christian life. It may sometimes occur that some of the home\nmembers are so disagreeable that the Christian for peace' sake will quit\nthe home roof; but he still loves home. Sometimes young people think\nthat to enjoy life they must get out from under parental rule and roof.\nWe have an instance of this nature recorded in the Bible. How soon we\nlearn of the prodigal's longing for the comforts of home. How often he\nthought of his father's house, that place so dear to him now. The love\nof home is a high mark of integrity. Show me one who has no love for\nhome, and I will show you one who has but little true manhood or\nwomanhood. The Bible command to young Christians is to be \"chaste,\nkeepers at home.\" When our duty and service to God demand our absence\nfrom home we submit and go in the strength of his grace, but lose not\nour love for home, and return in joy at Father's will.\n\nYou can nowhere find more of heaven upon earth than in a Christian home.\nLook at the picture: A father with the Holy Bible, the mother and\nchildren listening in reverence to the heavenly message. Where, I say,\ncan you find more of heaven? Such a scene is most sweet and sacred.\nMethinks the angels bend low to catch the chants of praise that arise\nfrom those devoted hearts to the gates of heaven. \"Such a picture,\" you\nmay say, \"is very beautiful and inspiring to look upon, but where is the\nreality?\" Thank God, such a home can be real in life, and it is your\nduty as a Christian to help make it so. God is pleased with such a home.\nIt is much to his praise. Since such homes are so rare they are all the\nmore glorifying to God, and we should strive the more earnestly to have\nthem real.\n\nIn your home is the place to shine for God. It is the place to shed\nforth the radiant beams of Christian light from your grace-ladened soul.\nIf you hope to prosper in the divine life, be your best at home. Do not\nthink you can be careless at home and then shine in the splendor of\nChristian virtue when before the public. Your life at home leaves its\nmark upon you. Shine in Christian beauty at home, and you will shine in\nbeauty in public; but attempt away from home to be more than you are at\nhome, and you will miserably fail. A few years ago while in one of our\nlarge Eastern cities laboring for Jesus and souls for whom he died I\nwrote a few lines to the dear ones at home, which perhaps will not be\nout of place to insert here.\n\nWhen the light of day is dying\n  And the shades of night steal on,\nVoices to my mem'ry whisper\n  Of the dear loved ones at home.\n\nEre the chandelier is lighted,\n  Ere the day's last ray is gone,\nO'er me comes a fond remembrance\n  Of the dear loved ones at home.\n\nFar above in arch of heaven\n  Lamps are lighted one by one,\nBut I only see the bright eyes\n  Of the dear loved ones at home.\n\nFar away beyond the region\n  Where I see those shining stars,\nSomewhere in the land of angels,\n  Dwells a little boy of ours.\n\nYears ago one wintry evening\n  Heaven's gate was opened wide,\nAnd an angel swift descended,\n  With a sickle at his side.\n\nPaused he at our boy's low trundle\n  In the evening twilight hour,\nCaught away his happy spirit\n  To its home beyond the stars.\n\nHow my heart adores the Giver\n  Of all good o'er land and sea,\nBut I praise him more than ever\n  For the dear ones left to me.\n\nAs I think of her he gave me\n  In my happy youthful time,\nHow he bound our hearts together\n  At love's pure and sacred shrine;\n\nAs I think of her this moment,\n  Given me by love divine,\nSeems I almost feel the pressure\n  Of her gentle hand in mine.\n\nIn the arms of night I'm folded,\n  Soon in dreamland I shall roam;\nThen I'll go and see the dear ones--\n  See the dear loved ones at home.\n\n\n\n\nVICTORY.\n\n\nWhen you are forgotten or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you\nsmile inwardly, glorying in the insult or the oversight, because thereby\ncounted worthy to suffer with Christ--that is victory.\n\nWhen your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your\ntaste offended, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and\nyou take it all in patient, loving silence--that is victory.\n\nWhen you are content with any food, any raiment, any climate, any\nsociety, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God--that is\nvictory.\n\nWhen you can lovingly and patiently bear with any disorder, any\nirregularity, any unpunctuality, or any annoyance--that is victory.\n\nWhen you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance,\nspiritual insensibility, and endure it all as Jesus endured it--that is\nvictory.\n\nWhen you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record\nyour own good works, or to itch after commendation, when you can truly\nlove to be unknown--that is victory.\n\nWhen, like Paul, you can throw all your suffering on Jesus, thus\nconverting it into a means of knowing his overcoming grace, and can say\nfrom a surrendered heart, \"Most gladly,\" therefore, do \"I take pleasure\nin infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in\ndistresses, for Christ's sake\"--that is victory. 2 Cor. 12:7-11.\n\nWhen death and life are both alike to you through Christ, and to do his\nperfect will, you delight not more in one than the other--that is\nvictory, for, through him, you may become able to say, \"Christ shall be\nmagnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.\" Phil. 1:20.\n\"Death is swallowed up in victory.\" 1 Cor. 15:54.\n\nThe perfect victory is to \"put on the Lord Jesus Christ\" and thus to\ntriumph over one's self. Rom. 13:14.\n\n\"In all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.\"\nRom. 8:37.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST LOVE.\n\n\nYou may wonder why we write so much about love. It is for the very best\nreason in the world. Nothing is so great as love, and no way so\nexcellent. It is difficult to bind people together where love is\nlacking. A religious people may resolve to live in peace and confidence\nwith one another; but this they will find to be very difficult if there\nis a deficiency of love. Love solves the problem; it removes every\ndifficulty, and is the perfect bond of union. Nothing can separate\nhearts that are full of love. Love must be suppressed before division\ncan be admitted. The most earnest exhortations and entreaties and the\nstrongest reprovings fail to get men to attend to every Christian duty\nwhere love is wanting; but it is not difficult to persuade men to obey\nGod and do all they can to glorify him when they love him with all their\nhearts.\n\nThere was much in the life of the angel of the church at Ephesus that\nwas praiseworthy; but something was lacking. He had left his first love.\nBut, what is the first love? There is no difference between first love\nand last love if it be love. Pure, genuine love is the same\nalways--first, last, and all the time. The overseers of this church,\nand doubtless the church in general, had lost the ardor of the love\nwhich they had at the first. Oh, the warmth, the sweetness, of first\nlove! Do you not remember it, dear reader? When you were so clearly and\nwonderfully born of the Spirit of God, how ardent was the love in your\nheart! It thrilled you with delight. There was a delicious, sweet taste\nall through your soul. How gladly you would have taken wings and have\nflown away to the arms of Him whom your heart loved. The word of God was\nto your soul like honeyed dew upon your lips. How delightful it was to\nlabor for Jesus! How preciously sweet to make the greatest sacrifices\nfor his sake! and to go away into some secret place and pray was dearer\nto you than can ever be told. You found the greatest pleasure in\nattending to every Christian duty. I should be glad if I could describe\nto you just what that first love was in your heart. I can not do this,\nneither can you; but you know how it felt, and how joyful was your soul.\nOh, blessed happy day, when your sins were washed away, and love sang\nits sweetest lay within your soul!\n\nNow, if you do not have the same ardor; the same warmth; the same sweet\nrelish for prayer, for the word of God, for a meeting; the same\nthrilling sense of sweetness in your soul; that same precious drawing\ntoward God and toward the brethren; that same delight in laboring for\nJesus; that same joy and happiness in making sacrifices for him and for\nyour fellow man: if you do not feel those symptoms of love as deeply and\nas delightfully, and if they are not in you as actively as they were at\nthe first,--you are like the church at Ephesus--you have left your first\nlove. In Wilson's excellent translation this text reads, \"Thou hast\nrelaxed thy first love.\" They had lost the intensity of their first\nlove. It had relaxed, or lost tension, and had become languid. It does\nnot matter to what you testify, or who you are, if you have not the same\nardor and deep intensity of love that you had at the first, you have\nrelaxed love.\n\nDo not deceive yourself. Do not make any excuses. There is no necessity\nof losing this fervency of love. The leaping, thrilling, bounding love\ncan be kept in the full blaze of its intensity in your soul as long as\nyou live. I can never encourage a cessation of love. No matter what the\ncircumstances, we can increase and abound more and more in love. You\nmay have works, you may have labor, you may have patience; so did the\nchurch at Ephesus; but they had relaxed their first love.\n\nSee to it, O beloved, that you do not lose the deep fervency of love.\nKeep it burning in all its brightness and warmth; and the works and\nlabor and patience are sure to follow. But do not let your works, and\nlabor, and patience deceive you. See that there is an underlying\nprinciple of love in all you do. If your works and labor and patience be\ndevoid of love, there will be a secret desire in your heart to attract\nattention, and a longing for a bit of praise. But if all is done in\npurest sincere godly love, the joy you will find in doing is a full and\nsufficient reward. And, may the Lord give you understanding.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LITTLE FOXES.\n\n\nOne little fox is, \"_Some other time_.\" If you track him up, you come to\nhis hole--_never._\n\nAnother little fox is, \"_I can't.\"_ Just set on him a plucky little \"_I\ncan_,\" and he will kill him for you.\n\nAnother bad little fox is, \"_Just a little_\" pride, self-will, worldly\nconformity, etc. That little mischief will strip the whole vine if left\ngo.\n\nAnother malignant little fox is \"_I haven't faith.\"_ He slips into the\nvineyard through a knot-hole called _self_. You can shut him out by\nremoving the self-plank and filling up with Jesus only.\n\nAnother bad little fox is, \"_I haven't power.\"_ Be sure and catch him.\nIf you will take the pains to dig him up, you will find his nest some\nwhere beyond the end of your present consecration. It will pay you to\ntake him, if you have to \"dig deep\" and work hard.\n\nAnother devouring little fox is, \"_My church_.\" \"Salt\" and \"fire\" is the\nsure and only antidote for such nasty vermin.\n\nWe will point out one more little fox, and he is able to devour all the\nfruit of the vineyard and kill the very vines. His species is \"_Fear_.\"\nOne good dose of \"perfect love\" will kill him stone-dead. And a constant\napplication of the blood of Christ will prevent this, with all other\nlittle or big foxes, yea, and all other animals, ever coming to life\nagain.\n\n\n\n\nSPIRITUAL DECLENSION.\n\n\nA want of interest in the duties of secret devotion is a mark of\nreligious declension. It is well said that prayer is the Christian's\nvital breath. A devout spirit is truly the life and soul of godliness.\nThe soul can not but delight in communion with what it loves with warm\naffection. The disciple, when his graces are in exercise, does not enter\ninto his closet and shut the door, that he may pray to his Father who is\nin secret, merely because it is a duty which must be done, but because\nit is a service which he delights to render, a pleasure which he is\nunwilling to forego. He goes to the mercy-seat as the thirsty hart goes\nto the refreshing brook. The springs of his strength are there. There he\nhas blessed glimpses of his Savior's face, and unnumbered proofs of his\naffection.\n\nBut sometimes the professing Christian comes to regard the place of\nsecret intercourse with God with very different feelings. He loses,\nperhaps by a process so gradual that he is scarcely conscious of it for\na time, the tenderness of heart, and the elevation and fervor of devout\naffection that he had been used to feel in meeting God. There is less\nand less of spirit and more and more of form in his religious exercises.\nHe retires at the accustomed time rather from force of habit than\nbecause inclination draws him. He is enclined to curtail his seasons of\nretirement or to neglect it altogether if a plausible pretext can be\nfound. He reproaches himself, perhaps, but hopes that the evil will cure\nitself at length. And so he goes on from day to day, and week to week.\nPrayer--if his heartless service deserves the name--affords him no\npleasure and adds nothing to his strength. Where such a state of things\nexists it is evident that the pulses of spiritual life are ebbing fast.\nIf the case is yours, dear reader, it ought to fill you with alarm.\nSatan is gaining an advantage of you and seducing you from God.\n\nA second sign of spiritual declension is indifference to the usual means\nof grace. The spiritual life, not less than the natural life, requires\nappropriate and continual nourishment. For this want God has made ample\nprovision in his Word. To the faithful-disciple the Scriptures are rich\nin interest and profit. \"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all\nthe day.\" To such a soul the preaching of the gospel is a joyful sound;\nand the place where kindred spirits mingle in social praise and worship\nis far more attractive than the scenes of worldly pleasure. But, alas!\nfrom time to time it happens that some who bear the Christian name and\nwho have rejoiced in Christian hopes, insensibly lose their relish for\nthe Scriptures. If they continue to read them daily, it is no longer\nwith such appreciation of their power and beauty as makes them the bread\nof life, refreshing and invigorating the soul. Their minds are occupied\nno small portion of the time with thoughts of earthly things. They find\nit easy to excuse themselves from frequenting the place of social\nprayer, and even content themselves, perhaps, with an occasional\nhalf-day attendance on the more public service of the sanctuary. And\nwhen they are in the place of worship they feel listless, destitute of\nspiritual affection, disposed to notice others or to attend to only mere\nwords and forms. They want, in a great measure, that preparation of the\nheart, without which the means of grace are powerless and lacking in\npleasure or profit to the soul. Such indifference is conclusive proof\nthat the soul has departed from God; has grieved the Holy Spirit and\nlost the vital power of godliness. If you, reader, are conscious of this\nindifference, see in it an infallible sign of your backsliding. It\ndeclares you have departed from the fountain of living waters and are a\nwanderer from your God.\n\nA third indication of declension in the Christian life is a devotion to\nthe world. \"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the\nworld.\" Covetousness is idolatry. Christians are solemnly enjoined to\nset their affections on things above, and to lay up treasures in heaven.\nBut look at yonder professed disciple. See how inordinately anxious he\nis about gain. He is giving all his thoughts and time to business. He\nenlarges his plans and extends his views. He suffers the hours of\nworldly business to encroach upon the time which should be spent in\nsecret or in family worship or in the social prayer. He forgets that he\nhas no right to do this, and that he can not, without sin, permit the\nclaims of earth to crowd out the claims of God and his own immortal\nnature. Look, too, at his compliance with the tastes and maxims of\nworldly people. He appears to feel it is not best to be strict in his\nadhesion to his principles. He doubts if there is any harm in this or\nthat or the other worldly indulgence. He does not see the need of being\nso strenuous about little things. He is anxious to please everybody and\ncan not bear to thwart the wishes of the worldly-minded. If the world\ndislikes any of the doctrines or the duties of religion he would have\nlittle said about them. In a word, he is all things to all men, in a\nvery different sense from what Paul meant. In his sentiments, his\nassociations, his pleasures, his mode of doing business, his\nconversation, his whole character, there is far too little that evinces\nstrength of holy principle and godliness. O reader, has your case been\ndescribed? You are then a backslider from the God whom you covenanted to\nserve.\n\nA fourth sign of a state of declension in spirituality is an\nunwillingness to receive Christian counsel or reproof. The Spirit of\nChrist is a tender, gentle, docile Spirit. When the heart of the\ndisciple is full of holy affection he feels that he is frail and\ninsufficient. He seeks wisdom and strength from above and is thankful\nfor the kind suggestions of those whose experience and opportunities\nhave been greater than his own. If he errs and is admonished by some\nfaithful Christian brother, he receives it meekly and with a thankful\nspirit. \"Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness,\" is the\nlanguage of his heart. Even though reproof in itself be painful, he\nwould not that it should be omitted when he has been in fault, for he\ndreads nothing so much as doing wrong--as sinning against God and his\nown soul.\n\nBut the spirit that departs from God and duty is a self-willed spirit.\nIt is impatient of restraint. It is irritable and captious instead of\nmeek and willing to be taught. It can not brook any crossing of its\nviews, but esteems advice impertinent and meets admonition with\nresentment. When he exhibits such a temper of mind; when he disregards\nthe opinions and feelings of fellow Christians; when he affects\nindependence and prides himself on doing as he pleases; when he keeps\nout of the reach of Christian counsel, and justifies himself when\naffectionately reproved; when he comes to regard the watchfulness of\nothers over him as an unwelcome and irksome thing; [when he charges you\nwith having a spirit of faultfinding, of having no charity, but that you\nonly discourage and press him down when you try to show him his lack of\nspiritual life],--it is clear that he exhibits no more the fruits of the\nHoly Spirit's influence on his soul. His piety has declined; he no\nlonger lives in intimacy with God and in the atmosphere of heaven. His\nlight is dim. His glory has departed.\n\nThe last indication of religious declension that we shall now speak of\nis a careless indifference to the danger arising from temptation. A\nChristian whose piety is warm and vigorous has great tenderness of\nconscience. He dreads the least approach of evil. Even the suggestions\nof sin to the mind are painful. He therefore prays earnestly and daily,\n\"Lead me not into temptation,\" and carefully avoids placing himself in\ndangerous circumstances. Sometimes, however, you will see professing\nChristians who seem to want this instinctive sense of danger. They often\nplace themselves in circumstances when they might easily have foreseen\ntheir strength of principle would be liable to be put to the severest\ntest. They keep company in which it is nearly impossible that their\nmoral feelings should not be defiled. They allow themselves to assort\nwith the idle, the frivolous, with those who are given to foolish\ntalking and jesting; they indulge idle thoughts, repeat amusing stories,\nread hooks and papers that do not gender to piety, etc. But he who is\nwilling to go as far toward evil as he can with safety, has lost one of\nthe greatest safe-guards of virtue. He who is ready to tamper with\ntemptation is on dangerous ground and in a sad state of declension. O\nreader, turn ye about, shake loose from the world, draw nigh to God, let\nthe deep breathings waft your soul upward and upward to greater heights\nin God's joy and love, and this world will only be a dim specter in the\ndistance.\n\n\n\n\nDILIGENCE.\n\n\n\"O for a closer walk with God!\" This is the inward pleading of many a\nprecious blood-washed soul. I beg leave to tell you that that fulness of\nGod, that deep and perfect satisfaction of soul, that sweet feeling of\ndeep reverence, that hushed and sacred feeling of awe, that close walk\nwith God, is _obtained_ and _retained_ only by the _utmost_ diligence.\nSlothfulness in the Christian life is a sure source of degeneration.\nToo frequently when saints reach \"fair Canaan's happy land\" they think\nthey have nothing now to do but to sing and shout and praise God and go\nto heaven \"on flowery beds of ease.\" To every newly arrived Christian in\nCanaan is given the command, \"Go forward and possess the land.\" To do\nthis battles must be fought, giant foes must be defeated, and the\ngreatest diligence must be practised. God promised ancient Israel to\ndrive out all the nations of Canaan from before them, and that every\nplace whereon the soles of their feet should tread should be theirs, if\nthey would diligently keep all the commandments that the Lord commanded\nthem, to love the Lord, to walk in his ways, and to cleave unto him. See\nDeut. 11:22-24.\n\nIf we will diligently obey God and go forward at his command he will\nlead us where the milk and honey flow, and where the pastures are green.\nOur walk with him will be sweet and our souls perfectly satisfied. Since\nthe term _diligence_ is so frequently used in Scripture and such\nemphasis placed upon it, it is well worth our time to learn its meaning.\nWe often, among the saints, hear testimonies like these: \"I am living\nup to all the Word of God\"; or, \"All the Bible requires of me, I am\ndoing\"; \"I love God and find delight in doing all his will,\" etc. Such\nexpressions are very full of meaning and may sometimes mean more than\nthe witness comprehends. Let me ask you, Are you as diligent in every\nrespect as the Bible commands you to be?\n\nDiligence implies an earnest and constant effort to accomplish a desired\nend--a carefulness, a heedfulness, an industry, a close and fixed\nattention.\n\nMany a heart has been robbed of the love of God because it was not kept\nby diligence. Many a beloved saint can look back to a few years ago when\nhis soul was more fully satisfied and his heart abounded more in the\nlove of God, and all because diligence was not given to \"keep the\nheart.\" In Josh. 22:5 the commandment is to take diligent heed to love\nGod, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments, to cleave unto him,\nand to serve him with all the heart and with all the soul. May the Lord\nhelp the reader to comprehend the strength of this commandment. O how\nprecious! To take diligent heed to love God, implies a careful avoidance\nof everything that would have a tendency to suppress his love in our\nhearts and to eagerly seek all possible means of increasing that love.\nAll company whose spirit and conversation have a tendency to destroy\nlove is avoided as far as possible without violating the command, \"Be\ncourteous.\" Reading amusing stories; telling amusing, worldly incidents,\nthe happenings of bygone days; fondness for the general news of the day;\ngossiping; admiration for the pomp and show of the world; careless, idle\nthoughts; fondness for society,--all serve to extinguish the love of God\nin our hearts. Talking with others about God and his works, reading his\nWord, meditating upon him, praying, attending meetings, doing good to\nall men, giving of our means to advance his cause,--all these increase\nthe love in our hearts toward him. To be diligent, to serve the Lord\nwith all the heart and with all the soul, is to be industrious in doing\nall we can for him; seeking opportunities of doing good, carefulness in\nobeying all his commands, testifying to the works of God, and showing\nforth his praises continually.\n\nYour soul may long for a closer walk with God, and well that it does;\nbut if you do not keep your heart with all diligence from the world, you\nwill never enjoy the blessed experience. But by giving diligence you can\nhave such a walk with God as to fully satisfy your soul.\n\n\n\n\nLOWLINESS.\n\n\nBut few traits of Christian character are more lovely than lowliness.\nHumility, meekness, and lowliness are terms nearly synonymous, but not\nwholly so. It is somewhat difficult for the mind to grasp the shades of\ndifference in their meaning. It appears, however, that lowliness is the\ndeepest depth of humility and meekness. Meekness is the opposite of\nimpatience, harshness, or irritability, and has for its fruit gentleness\nand kindness. Humility is the opposite of pride, and has for its fruits\nmodesty, unforwardness, etc. Lowliness is simply the opposite of\nhighness in self in any respect, and has for its fruits meekness and\nhumility with their fruits.\n\nTo us this command is given: 'Walk worthy of your vocation with all\nlowliness.' If you have the experience of \"all lowliness,\" you will go\non in your vocation without discouragement and disappointment, though\nyou are unnoticed and wholly ignored. And though God promotes others and\nhonors them and they are loved and praised by men, you are glad for them\nand rejoice. If you have the experience of \"all lowliness\" in your soul,\nyou will not have the least disposition to lift up self. All you do and\nsay will be in godly sincerity. Now look closely.\n\nIf God heals some one through your prayers, be careful when you tell of\nthe healing that it is to lift up the Lord only. If you have composed a\nsong, and sing it to a company who do not know that it is your song,\nthen you tell them the Lord gave you the song, what is your motive? Do\nyou want them to know how good and great the Lord is, and nothing more?\nor do you want them to know that you are the author? I say, look closely\ninto your motive. If, from the lowliness of your heart, you desire in\nall you do and say, only to exalt the Lord, it will be felt in the depth\nof your speech, and God will be honored; but if there is the least\ninclination or feeling to exalt self, it will be felt in the\ngracelessness of your speech, and God will be dishonored. Go humbly on\nin life attending to the work God has assigned to you, doing it well and\nin all lowliness of heart before him, and be content.\n\n\n\n\nON DRESS.\n\n\nIf you could be as humble when you choose rich apparel (which I flatly\ndeny), yet you could not be as beneficent, as plenteous in good works.\nTherefore every shilling that you needlessly spend on your apparel is in\neffect _stolen from the poor_! For what end do you want these ornaments?\nTo please God? No!--but to please your own fancy or to gain the\nadmiration and applause of those who are no wiser than yourself. If so,\nwhat you wear you are in effect tearing from the back of the naked; and\nthe costly and delicate food you eat, you are snatching from the mouth\nof the hungry. For mercy, for pity, for Christ's sake, for the honor of\nhis gospel, stay your hand! Do not throw this money away. Do not lay out\non nothing, yea worse than nothing, what may clothe your poor, naked,\nshivering fellow creatures.\n\nMany years ago, when I was at Oxford, on a cold winter's day, a young\nmaid (one of those we keep at school) called on me. I said, \"You seem\nhalf starved. Have you nothing to cover you but that thin gown?\" She\nsaid, \"Sir, this is all I have.\" I put my hand in my pocket, but found\nno money left, having just paid away all that I had. It struck me, \"Will\nthy Master say, 'Well done, good and faithful steward. Thou hast adorned\nthy wall with the money which might have screened this poor creature\nfrom the cold'? O justice! O mercy! Are not these pictures the blood of\nthe poor maid? See thy expensive apparel in the same light; thy gown,\nhat, head-dress!\"\n\nEverything about thee which costs more than Christian duty required thee\nto lay on, is the blood of the poor! Oh, be wise for the time to come!\nBe more merciful; more faithful to God and man; more abundantly clad\n(like men and women professing godliness) _with good works_.\n\nIt is _stark, staring nonsense_ to say, \"Oh, I can _afford_ this or\nthat!\" If you have regard to common sense, let that silly word never\ncome into your mouth. No man living can _afford_ to throw away any part\nof that food or raiment into the sea which was lodged with him on\npurpose to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. And it is far worse\nthan waste to spend any part of it in gay and costly apparel. For this\nis no less than to turn wholesome food into deadly poison. It is giving\nso much money to poison both yourself and others as far as your example\nspreads, with pride, vanity, anger, lust, love of the world, and a\nthousand \"foolish and hurtful desires\" which tend to \"pierce them\nthrough with many sorrows.\" O God, arise and maintain thy own cause! Let\nnot men and devils any longer put out our eyes and lead as blindfolded\ninto the pit of destruction.\n\nGod demands of his people that they dress modestly as becomes people who\nprofess holiness. The putting on of apparel for adornment and the\nwearing of jewelry are not consistent with Christian modesty. The nude\nand lewd art of dressing which is becoming so prevalent among professors\nof Christ is an abomination in the sight of God, and a practise which no\nvirtuous man or woman can countenance. If professors would stop and\nconsider the character of women who invent popular fashions of the age\nthey might well blush with shame at their eager attempts to follow the\nmodern styles of dress invented by the wicked leaders of fashion in\nLondon and Paris, whence the latest styles of this country generally\nemanate. It is indeed sad to behold the young of to-day making\nthemselves unfit to fulfil the sacred functions of wife and mother by\nthe use of the modern corset, as well as laying a foundation for years\nof misery, dragged out in this life by diseases brought upon them by\ncatering to the creed of millions who worship at the shrine of Fashion.\nThe pride of their hearts, pampered and fed by the foolish practises of\nthe age, blinds them to their obligations to God as a Creator and\nSavior; and amid the whirl of earthly vanity they hasten to the awful\ndoom that awaits all who fail to obey the gospel of Christ.\n\nThe Word of God gives plain directions to Christians as to how they\nshould dress. In olden times God permitted his people to wear some\njewelry; that is, there was no law against it; but there came a time\nwhen he promised that he would cleanse the hearts of his people from all\npride and vanity, and they should find no pleasure in putting on\nornamental dress and jewelry, and costly array. In Isa. 3:16-23 we have\na clear prophecy of the gospel age, and how God was going to have his\npeople dress modestly in accordance with their profession. We shall\nquote from the LXX: \"Thus saith the Lord, because the daughters of Sion\nare haughty, and have walked with an outstretched neck, and with winking\nof the eyes, and motion of the feet: ... therefore the Lord will humble\nthe chief daughters of Sion, and the Lord will expose their form in that\nday; and the Lord will take away the glory of their raiment, the curls\nand the fringes, and the crescents, and the chains, and the ornaments of\ntheir faces, and the array of glorious ornaments, and the armlets, and\nthe bracelets, and the wreathed work, and the finger-rings, and the\nornaments for the right hand, and the earrings, and the garments with\nscarlet borders, and the garments with purple grounds, and the shawls to\nbe worn in the house, and the Spartan transparent dresses, and those\nmade of fine linen, and the purple ones, and the scarlet ones, and the\nfine linen, interwoven with gold and purple, and the light coverings for\ncouches.\"\n\nWe shall now quote from the New Testament: \"In like manner also, that\nwomen adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and\nsobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;\nbut (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.\" 1 Tim.\n2:9,10.\n\n\"Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any\nobey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the\nconversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation\ncoupled with fear, whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of\nplaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;\nbut let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not\ncorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in\nthe sight of God of great price.\" 1 Pet. 3:1-4.\n\nThe wearing of feathers, artificial flowers, frills, flounces,\nunnecessary tucks and trimmings, is not in harmony with the gospel\nstandard of modest apparel. Queer-shaped hats, such as we see worn by\nthe people who follow the fashions of the world, should be avoided by\nthe saints as they would every other thing unbecoming to a Christian;\nnot fashioning themselves according to their former lusts in their\nignorance. \"But as he which hath called you is holy, so he ye holy in\nall manner of conversation.\" 1 Pet. 1:15.\n\nThe all-wise God who gave these commands knows what is for the good of\nhis people, and if we love him, we will obey. When the heart is cleansed\nfrom all pride there will be no difficulty in measuring up to the gospel\non the matter of modest apparel. We trust all who read this may realize\nit is truth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ELIXIR OF LIFE.\n\n\nI have seen patent medicines bearing the above title. By the word\n_elixir_ is meant length of days and happiness. The medical man by\nlabeling his cordial with this title offers to give to all who will take\nit a long life of happiness. Such things have their sad failures; but I\nwill offer to you a prescription, which, if you will carefully follow,\nwill prove an unfailing elixir of life. \"For he that will love life, and\nsee good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that\nthey speak no guile: let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek\npeace, and ensue it.\" 1 Pet. 3:10,11. If the reader will follow these\ndirections strictly, making them practical in every-day life, we can\nupon the authority God has given insure him a long and happy life.\n\n\n\n\nRULES FOR EVERY-DAY LIFE.\n\n\n\"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.\" Col. 4:6.\n\n\"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power\nof thine hand to do it.\" Prov. 3:27.\n\n\"Walk in wisdom toward them that are without.\" Col. 4:5.\n\n\"Do all things without murmurings and disputings.\" Phil. 2:14.\n\n\"Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth.\" Prov. 27:2.\n\n\"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks.\" Prov. 27:23.\n\n\"Eat so much as is sufficient for thee.\" Prov. 25:16.\n\n\"Be not wise in your own conceits.\" Rom. 12:16\n\n\"Abstain from all appearance of evil.\" 1 Thes. 5:22.\n\n\"See that none render evil for evil unto any man.\" 1 Thes. 5:15.\n\n\"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.\" Rom. 12:10.\n\n\"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.\" Rom. 12:21.\n\n\"Be content with such things as ye have.\" Heb. 13:5.\n\n\"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.\" Eccl. 9:10.\n\n\"Let all things be done with charity.\" 1 Cor. 16:14.\n\n\"Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.\" Jas. 1:2.\n\n\"Keep thyself pure.\" 1 Tim. 5:22.\n\n\"In everything give thanks.\" I Thes. 5:18.\n\n\"Keep yourselves in the love of God.\" Jude 21.\n\n\"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and\nwatching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all\nsaints.\" Eph. 6:18.\n\n\n\n\nA HOLY LIFE.\n\n\nWhat, in its true sense, is a holy life? It is the life of Jesus. His\nwhole manner of life was truly holy. His life is the ideal life. If we\nwould live holy, we must live as he lived. We must walk as he walked.\nThe artist has his ideal before him, and with touches of the brush here\nand there upon his drawing he forms a picture in an exact image of the\nideal. The life of Jesus is what we are to imitate. He sets the example\nof holy living and calls us to the same holy life. \"As he which hath\ncalled you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.\" 1 Pet.\n1:15. This text has a better rendering in the Revised Version: \"Like as\nhe which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of\nliving.\" We, as Christians, are God's offspring and as such are like\nhim.\n\nHoliness in the life of Jesus is found not only in the greater miracles\nwhich he performed, but also in the lesser happenings of his life. The\nrestoring of life to the dead is no more beautifully holy than the\nlaying of his hands upon the heads of children and blessing them. His\nmemorable Sermon on the Mount no more portrays the loveliness of his\ncharacter than the conversation with the woman by the wayside well. It\nis the little things in every-day life, if attended to and kept in the\nmeekness and solemnity of the Spirit of Christ, that make life truly\nbeautiful and holy. It is not the eloquent sermon that makes a life so\nsublime; but it is the tender smile, the kind word, the gentle look,\nthat is given to all. It is the patient manner in which all the little\ntrying and provoking things of life are met.\n\nYou may preach or write ever so forcibly and eloquently, and bring out\nthe sublime truths of the Bible in great beauty; but if, in the privacy\nof your own home, there are little frettings, a little peevishness, a\nlittle crossness, a little levity, a little selfishness, a little\ndistrust, your life is not as truly holy as it should be. If you desire\nGod's holy image to be stamped upon your soul, your countenance, and\nyour life, carefully avoid the little sprigs of lightness, the little\nbits of sloth and indolence, touches of forwardness, rudeness,\ncoarseness, and crossness, and acts of selfishness, etc.\n\nPure words belong to a holy life. You should use the very choicest\nwords. Words that are wholly free from vulgarity, slang, and the spirit\nof the world. Untidiness, uncleanness, carelessness, and shabbiness are\nnot at all beautiful ornaments in a holy life. But quietness, modesty,\nand reticence are gems which sparkle in a holy life like diamond sets in\na band of gold. Give attention to your words, your thoughts, your tone\nof voice, your feelings, the practise of self-denial, of little acts of\nbenevolence, of promptness, of method and order. These are auxiliaries\nto holy living. Are there not many little things in your home life that\nyou can improve upon? Seek God for help and be truly holy.\n\n\n\n\nA SOLITARY WAY.\n\n\nThere is a mystery in human hearts,\nAnd though we be encircled by a host\nOf those who love us well, and are beloved,\nTo ev'ry one of us, from time to time,\nThere comes a sense of utter loneliness.\nOur dearest friend is \"stranger\" to our joy,\nAnd can not realize our bitterness.\n\"There is not one who really understands,\nNot one to enter into all I feel,\"\nSuch is the cry of each of us in turn.\nWe wander in \"a solitary way,\"\nNo matter what or where our lot may be;\nEach heart, mysterious even to itself,\nMust live its inner life in solitude.\nAnd would you know the reason why this is?\nIt is because the Lord desires our love.\nIn ev'ry heart he wishes to be first,\nHe therefore keeps the secret key himself,\nTo open all its chambers, and to bless\nWith perfect sympathy and holy peace\nEach solitary soul which comes to him.\nSo when we feel this loneliness it is\nThe voice of Jesus saying, \"Come to me\";\nAnd ev'ry time we are \"not understood,\"\nIt is a call to us to come again:\nFor Christ alone can satisfy the soul.\nAnd those who walk with him from day to day\nCan never have \"a solitary way.\"\nAnd when beneath some heavy cross you faint\nAnd say, \"I can not bear this load alone,\"\nYou say the truth. Christ made it purposely\nSo heavy that you must return to him.\nThe bitter grief, which \"no one understands,\"\nConveys a secret message from the King,\nEntreating you to come to him again.\nThe \"Man of sorrows\" understands it well,\n\"In all points tempted,\" he can feel with you;\nYou can not come too often, or too near.\nThe Son of God is infinite in grace,\nHis presence satisfies the longing soul;\nAnd those who walk with him from day to day\nCan never have \"a solitary way.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTIRRING THE EAGLE'S NEST.\n\n\n\"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, that fluttereth over her young, he\nspread abroad his wings, he took them, he bare them on his pinions.\"\n\nThat picture is full of poetry, full of life and truth and beauty. Mark\nit. Have you ever seen an eagle stir up her nest? You know what happens.\nThere in the nest, right upon the rocky heights, are the eaglets. The\nmother eagle comes and, taking hold of them, flings them out of the\nnest. They were so comfortable there, but she flings them right out of\nthe nest, high above the earth. They begin to fall straightway. They\nnever have been in air before; they have always been in the nest.\n\nIs not that mother bird cruel? Why does she disturb the eaglets?\n\nWatch her and you will understand. As long as you look upon the\nstruggling eaglets in the air you miss the point. Watch the eagle.\nHaving stirred up her nest, \"she spreadeth abroad her pinions,\" the\npinions that beat the air behind her as she rises superior to it. Where\nare the eaglets? Struggling, falling; she is superior; they are falling.\nThen what does she do? \"She beareth them on her pinions.\" She swoops\nbeneath them, catches them on her wings, and bears them up. What is she\ndoing? Teaching them to fly. She drops them again, and again they\nstruggle in the air, but this time not so helplessly. They are finding\nout what she means. She spreads her pinions to show them how to fly, and\nas they fall again, she catches them again. That is how God deals with\nyou and me.\n\nHas he been stirring up your nest? Has he flung you out until you feel\nlost in an element that is new and strange? Look at him. He is not lost\nin that element. He spreads out the wings of omnipotence to teach us how\nto soar. What then? He comes beneath us and catches us on his wings. We\nthought when he flung us out of the nest it was unkind. No; he was\nteaching us to fly that we might enter into the spirit of the promise,\n\"They shall mount up with wings as eagles.\" He would teach us how to\nuse the gifts which he has bestowed on us, and which we can not use as\nlong as we are in the nest.\n\nFancy keeping eaglets in the nest! It is contrary to their nature,\ncontrary to the purposes for which they are framed and fitted. There is\na purpose in the eagle. What is it! Flight upward. There is a purpose in\nyour life, new-born child of God! What is it? Flight Godward, sunward,\nheavenward. If you stop in the nest you will never get there. God comes\ninto your life and disturbs you, breaks up your plans, and extinguishes\nyour hopes, the lights that have lured you on. He spoils everything;\nwhat for? That he may get you on his wings and teach you the secret\nforces of your own life, and lead you to the higher development and\nhigher purposes. The government of God is a disturbing element, but,\npraise his name! it is a progressive element.\n\n\n\n\nSOME THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT DO.\n\n\nDo not forget to pray.\n\nDo not waste any moments in idleness.\n\nDo not use slang words in your conversation.\n\nDo not build air-castles.\n\nDo not think evil nor speak evil of any one.\n\nDo not lack showing courtesy to all men.\n\nDo not be rude in manners.\n\nDo not think yourself to be something more than you are.\n\nDo not try to make others think you are better than you really are.\n\nDo not tell the faults of a friend to others.\n\nDo not wear what the Bible condemns.\n\nDo not dress slovenly.\n\nDo not work too much.\n\nDo not work too little.\n\nDo not talk too much.\n\nDo not eat too much.\n\nDo not sleep too much.\n\nDo not neglect going to meetings.\n\nDo not neglect giving all you can to the cause of Christ.\n\nDo not neglect reading the Bible.\n\nDo not do to others what you would not like for them to do to you.\n\nDo not forget to practise much self-denial.\n\nDo not neglect to be zealously affected in a good cause.\n\nDo not neglect to admonish your brother.\n\nDo not seek the praise of men.\n\nDo not do anything through strife or vain glory.\n\nDo not be afraid of the devil.\n\nDo not think your trials are greater than those of others.\n\nDo not neglect to bear the burdens of others.\n\nDo not neglect to bear your own burdens.\n\nDo not fret, worry, nor murmur.\n\nDo not testify to something you do not live.\n\nDo not let your thoughts wander idly about.\n\nDo not neglect to show meekness and kindness to all men.\n\nDo not compromise with sin to the least degree.\n\nDo not neglect your salvation.\n\nDo not weary in well-doing, knowing in due season you shall reap if you\n\n_Do not faint_.\n\n\n\n\nPURITY.\n\n\nThere are but few words in the English language sweeter and more\nbeautiful than the word _purity_. What tender, mellow light beams out\nfrom its depths through its crystal clearness! what a halo of glory\nencircles it! what a sweet melody is contained in the sound, which, as\nit falls upon the soul, awakens all that is manly, noble, and godly\nthere! Purity! who can repeat this word and not feel and hear a sweet\nrythm reverberating through all the avenues of his spiritual being?\n\"_Keep thyself pure.\"_ Is there a soul so deep in slumber, so stupefied\nby the opiates of sin, as to know no awakening by the sweet melodious\nchimes that ring out from this heavenly command! Dismal, indeed, must be\nthe heart in which no aspirations for a pure, devoted life are awakened\nby these glorious words.\n\nListen, O my soul, to the sweet music, \"_Keep thyself pure_.\" Tuned by\nthe Spirit and sung by the voice of inspiration, in the bright morning\nof this glorious gospel day, it comes ringing down through the ages and\nis awakening desires and aspirations for the truest nobility of manhood,\nthe deepest piety, and the highest plane of moral purity to which man\ncan attain through the redeeming grace of God.\n\nThe command to you, young man, is, \"_Keep thyself pure_\"; and to you,\nyoung lady, \"_Keep thyself pure_\"; and to all who are farther down the\nstream of life and hastening on to the boundless ocean of eternity,\n\"_Keep thyself pure.\"_ If you desire to comprehend something of the true\nmeaning of purity, think of heaven: what purity is in heaven, so it is\non earth; what it is in the life of Christ, so it is in the life of man.\nHere upon the shores of time we look away, by an eye of faith, and\nbehold the purity of heaven and its inhabitants. We behold the angels\nand the great white throne, upon which sits the King of glory; but who,\nof all mankind, will really be eye-witnesses of that fair scene? The\nLamb, who is the light over there, makes answer, \"Blessed are the pure\nin heart: for they shall see God.\"\n\nFrom that golden throne of God and the Lamb, the \"beloved disciple,\"\nfrom the land of visions, saw flowing a pure river of water of life,\nclear as crystal; and he heard the Lord of heaven and earth saying, \"I\nwill give unto him that is athirst of the water of life freely\"; and the\nSpirit and the bride repeat the invitation, saying, \"Whosoever will, let\nhim come and take of the water of life freely.\" But what is this pure\nriver of water of life? It is the wonderful river of God's saving grace,\nissuing forth from out his throne and flowing throughout all his\nkingdom. The Son of God extended his Father's kingdom to this earth and\nset the glorious stream of salvation flowing here. This wonderful stream\nis just as pure and its waters just as sweet in their onward flowing\nhere, as they are when they come sparkling forth from out the throne. If\nyou will come and wash in this crystal stream; if you will drink of its\ndelicious waters,--they will make you as pure as the throne from which\nthey flow. If you will allow them to ripple over your soul, they will\ncleanse you and make you pure, so that purity in your heart will not be\ninferior to that purity which encircles the throne of God. Glory to his\nname!\n\nThe Psalmist says, \"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me,\nand I shall be whiter than snow.\" White is an emblem of purity. When\nJohn beheld the multitude of all nations standing before the throne and\nthe Lamb, clothed in white robes, he asked whence they came. \"These are\nthey which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,\nand made them white in the blood of the Lamb.\" Rev. 7:14.\n\nPurity of soul and heart and mind and conscience and thought and life\nis an experience to be attained to and enjoyed in this life. Peter says,\n\"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth.\" 1 Pet. 1:22.\nJesus says, \"Blessed are the pure in heart.\" Mat. 5:8. Paul says, \"I\nthank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience.\" 2\nTim. 1:3. Peter says, \"I stir up your pure minds.\" 2 Pet. 3:1. Paul\nsays, \"Whatsoever things are pure, ... think on these things.\" See Phil.\n4:8,9. Christ is the standard of purity. \"And every man that hath this\nhope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.\" 1 John 3:3. Purity\nin all the affections, in all the desires, in all the motives, and in\nall the thoughts. The heart that is made pure in the light of God\nreveals nothing contrary to heaven. Nothing can be more noble and\nbeautiful upon earth than a pure life. Oh, how many unclean and impure\nthoughts and desires are filling the minds and hearts of men and women\nin these awful iniquitous days! Dear reader, \"Keep thyself pure.\"\n\n\n\n\nMEANS FOR GROWTH.\n\n\nYou have started out fairly upon the Christian way. You have been \"born\nagain\"; you have been immersed in water, or buried with Christ in\nbaptism; you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. With such\nan experience you are admitted to the contest for the \"crown of life.\"\nNow since you are thus started out upon the Christian way, it is a fact\nthat you must \"grow in grace.\"\n\nThere are certain means for you to use that will promote growth. If you\nneglect these, you will not, you can not, grow. You must live much in\nprayer; you must read the Bible; you must attend meetings that are\nordered of God; you must partake of the Lord's Supper as you have\nopportunity; you must wash the saints' feet. You will be blest with\ngrace to your soul if you do these things as unto the Lord. You must\ngive of your means to God's cause freely and cheerfully; you must\ndiligently follow every good work; and you will be neither barren nor\nunfruitful in the knowledge and grace of God.\n\n\n\n\nLAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE.\n\n\nThe \"crown of life\" lies at the end of the race. Some run well for a\ntime, and then because of slight hindrances turn from the way. You must\nendure unto the end. You must follow the example of the zealous apostle\nwho said, \"I reach forth to the things that are before,\" and, \"I press\ntoward the mark for the prize.\" The prize was the crown of life. He\nbends forward in the race with all the energy of his soul. Down at the\nend of the race he beholds the crown. Sin, Satan, nor the world shall\nnot hinder him in securing it. You must be just as much in earnest. You\nmust strive, and that lawfully, lest some one take your crown.\n\nSome years ago a number of boatmen off the coast of New England raced\nfor a prize in single boats. As they were nearing the end of the race it\nwas discovered by the spectators that a special favorite was a\nhalf-boat's length ahead of all its competitors. His friends began to\ncheer him, and he, animated by their cheers, gave a responsive cheer,\nand, in doing so, lost a stroke of the oar; a competitor seeing his\nopportunity bent to his oar with all energy, shot past him and won the\nprize.\n\nThe apostle Paul warns you against youthful lusts, and tells you to flee\nfrom them; to follow peace, righteousness, godliness; to fight the good\nfight of faith; and to lay hold upon eternal life.\n\nWe are in days when the love of many is waxing cold because iniquity\nabounds. You must keep the ardor of love glowing in your heart. Allow\nnot the world nor aught else to extinguish the tender flame. Everything\nthat has a tendency to suppress love, to cool its ardor, to dilute its\nsweetness in your soul, to lessen the yearnings of your heart for more\nof God, to deprive you of the sweet realization of constantly leaning on\nhis breast,--consider all such things your bitter foes and rout them at\nany cost.\n\nRun life's race with all the energy of your soul, never relaxing effort\nuntil the prize is in full possession. The dying testimony of the\napostle Paul may be yours. When he had come down to the end of his\njourney he said as he stood, as it were, one foot upon time and the\nother in eternity, \"The time of my departure is at hand.\" Then taking a\nlast retrospective view of his life, he said, \"I have fought a good\nfight.\" Then taking a look at inward conditions, he said, \"I am ready to\nbe offered up.\" Then looking out into the future's prospect, he said,\n\"Henceforth there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me.\" O beloved\nyoung saints, run well your race. Keep your eyes upon the goal, fight\nthe good fight of faith, be in earnest, live every moment for God, and\nyou can have a dying testimony like the above.\n\n\n\n\nCRUCIFIXION OF SELF.\n\n\nIt requires no little courage, coupled with the grace of God, to go to\nCalvary. There are many Christians who will follow Jesus so long as it\nis \"Hosanna to the King of David,\" who fail to follow him to Calvary.\nMost persons love the sweets of grace, and thus many follow the Lord for\nthe loaves and fishes; but when it comes to following him for his own\nsake, even unto judgment, where our earthliness is revealed, then too\noften we follow \"afar off.\" Many will serve for reward, who refuse to\nserve for righteousness' sake. Satan understood this in the case of\nJob; so he said to the Lord, \"Doth Job serve God for naught?\" Job\nendured even unto the end, and proved by actual test his devotion to God\nand not to His gifts.\n\nSaints are like soldiers--many there be who enlist, but few who\nfearlessly face death. All like life, though it be a life out of harmony\nwith God. Satan said of Job, \"All that a man hath will he give for his\nlife.\" So Christians' last surrender is their own earthly life. They\nlove the earthly, the dust; and to die to all that is not divine is a\nprice that few will pay.\n\nMany talk of crucifixion, yea, claim to be crucified, who know hardly\nthe first step away from self. To let self, the flesh, and all evil\nwithin perish; to draw the last drop of earthliness from our veins,--is\na price but few will pay for all the life of God. God through Moses gave\nto the children of Israel a heritage; but never in their greatest\nconquest did they attain all of that heritage. So with Christians: how\nfew ever attain all of that God-life offered them through our Lord Jesus\nChrist. The Israelites made a league with certain of the inhabitants of\nthe land whom they should have destroyed. How many Christians spare\nthose enemies within which should die. They may force the death of many,\nperhaps most of their earthliness; but somewhere there is that with\nwhich they will not part. Of course, the earthliness may not be manifest\nas before; \"hewers of wood and drawers of water\" they become, yet they\nare there and live there. \"I will be found of them when they seek me\nwith their whole heart.\" Wholehearted devotion to God is a rare quality,\nand only the fewest of the few ever attain it. An idol somewhere, a\ndesire, a wish, a preference, a hope not born of God, but of man or of\nthe flesh, is the separation line. Yea, to cease from our labors as God\ndid from his, and thus reach true rest, is a haven but few ever reach.\n\nTo literally cease, that Jehovah may be the beginning and the end, means\nblood, and thorns, and nails in the hands. Yes, it means Calvary and the\ntomb. This is too much for many who go part way with Jesus. How few\nrealize that perhaps the most of our religious aspirations are born not\nof God, but of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of man; and this\nis why our efforts are so barren, futile, and earthly. Yes, to hide away\nso that every act, every purpose, every hope, centers in God and points\nto him and away from man--what a rare spiritual attainment! Many who are\nsaid to be very spiritual and leaders in the work of God, if robbed of\nthis glory, would cease. To work for the eyes of God alone is not a\nsufficient reward for very many who have climbed well up the gospel\nladder. To know when we are dead in the highest light. Self-abnegation\ncan not be discerned so long as we want to live. If we never reach the\npoint where we literally \"hate our own life,\" we shall never know how\nmuch there is in us not divine. The flesh is ever the veil that\nseparates between the holy place and the holy of holies. Until we have\nreached that place where we have lost sight of all that is human, and\nhunger and thirst for all the life of God, Christian perfection is an\nimpossible attainment.\n\nThis little book has been written for your success in the divine life.\nWe have hoped and prayed for your well being in the grace of God; but\nunless you are dead to self our prayers are but in vain. Oh, the\nbeauties and the blessings and the rich glories, and happiness and\nusefulness for you in life, if you are fully possessed with life of God!\nBe dead indeed to self, and let God live in you to his praise.\n\n\n\n\nLOVE NOT THE WORLD.\n\n\nIf you value your success in the Christian life, keep a wide gulf\nbetween you and this world. By the expression _the world_ I mean its\namusements, its revelry, its praise, its fashions, its society, its\nspirit. The present-day amusements or entertainments offered by secret\norders and sects and by others are very destructive to spiritual life.\nUnless you are willing to walk alone with Jesus and let the blessedness\nof his companionship suffice for you, you had as well quit the race now.\nMingle with worldly people, only to tell them of God's love.\n\nTo love and enjoy the society of the world is to have a heart destitute\nof grace. Therefore keep away from the world. Beware of it. It is a\nbitter foe to grace. It is an enemy to God; and if you befriend it, you\nmake yourself an enemy to God. \"Whosoever is a friend to the world is an\nenemy to God,\" so says the Bible. To be a friend to the world is to help\nit along in any sense--to encourage its spirit; to add to its pleasures,\nto its levity, its fashion, its foolishness; or to abet it in any way.\nYou go into the world, only for the purpose of saving people from the\nworld, and thus you are the world's enemy; and so you must continue to\nbe, or miss heaven.\n\n\n\n\nHAVE A CARE.\n\n\nThe world has many gaudy wings--\n  Have a care!\nShe flits among the flow'rs and sings--\n  Many a snare.\n    Beware\nOf the hidden poisonous stings.\n\nEarth's pleasures are a golden cup--\n  Have a care!\nShe bids you take one little sup--\n  Many a snare.\n    Beware\nOf the hidden sting in the cup.\n\nEarth's riches have a charm most rare--\n  Have a care!\nShe bids you seek a goodly share--\n  Many a snare.\n    Beware--\nShe will sting with many a care.\n\nVain worldly fame's a painted flow'r--\n  Have a care!\nShe dwells in an enchanted bow'r--\n  Many a snare.\n    Beware--\nShe'll chide you in an evil hour.\n\nThe world is but an empty show--\n  Have a care!\nOf true joys a dangerous foe--\n  Many a snare.\n    Beware--\nHer greatest gain's oft deepest woe.\n\n\n\n\nAFFINITIES.\n\n\nBy the term _affinity_ I mean that enamored feeling which arises in the\nhearts of those of opposite sex for each other. This Satan may take\nadvantage of; and in this awful snare many a soul has gone down into the\ndarkness; many a heaven-born and happy soul has received its awful\nblight, and gone down to an eternity of woe. Some one may ask, \"Is not\nmarriage honorable? and does not God join hearts together in love?\" He\ncertainly does; but when he does and all is kept in God's order the\nparties in love will not suffer any loss of spirituality. Courtship can\nbe carried on in the will and order of God, and the parties engaged have\na constant growth in grace. But so many times they become silly-headed\nand allow their love for each other to carry them out of God's order,\nand consequently they will soon be graceless-hearted.\n\nNow I speak the truth when I say that by far the greater number of\nsaints who fall in love suffer spiritual loss. This need not be so. In\nthe first place, the love for each other must be genuine; but, though\nGod is calling two together and the love which springs up is in the\norder of the Lord, this does not insure them against spiritual loss. If\nthey are not watchful they will lose their heads, so to speak, and step\naway beyond the bonds of propriety.\n\nThere is many a young man and young woman united in marriage these days,\neven young saints, whom wisdom has not directed. Such may succeed in\ngetting through and escaping the damnation of hell, but they will have\ntrouble in the flesh.\n\nNow, dear young saint, if you desire to be successful in life and gain\nheaven, if you will keep your senses you can keep clear from all the\nmeshes of unholy affinities. You desire to have a life companion if God\nselects you one. I can not blame you for this, neither does the Bible\ncondemn you; but the utmost caution needs to be exercised. Be careful\nyour desire for companionship does not turn your head and render you\nincapable of knowing or understanding the will of God. Whenever you find\nyourself losing love for God, you had better beware. Whenever the object\nof your affection is getting so upon your heart and mind that you think\nless of God you are going beyond His ordering. If your last thoughts in\nthe evening and your earliest thoughts in the morning are of the loved\none, you are being estranged from God and losing spiritual life. I feel\nlike giving you warning and counsel you to move very cautiously and\nprayerfully in these matters, lest you make a mistake and suffer a loss\nthat neither time nor eternity will ever make up.\n\nYoung saints must not keep company with the unsaved. Those who do, lose\nspirituality. If you love God and desire to live a spiritual life, wait\non God and let him select your life companion.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GUARDIAN ANGEL.\n\n\nWhen you entered the Christian race God gave an angel to guard and guide\nyou in the way. You need have no fear of this world.\n\nLive in God's service and do his will, and this guardian angel will\nkeep you. \"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear\nHim, and delivereth them.\"\n\nIt was this angel that stood with Daniel in the den of lions and with\nthe three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. It was this angel that\nled the weeping Hagar to the well of water when her child was dying of\nthirst; and that led the righteous Lot out of the wicked city of Sodom\nand saved him from its awful burning. When Elijah was hunted for his\nlife and sat down to weep and to starve under the juniper-tree, it was\nthis guardian angel that brought him a cake and a cruse of water. It was\nthis good angel that unbolted the prison doors and set Peter free. When\nPaul and Silas were lying fast in the stocks singing praise to God at\nmidnight, it was the angel of the Lord that shook the earth and opened\nthe prison doors.\n\n[Illustration: LIFE.]\n\nYou once were lost, but the Son of man came to save you. Now you are\nsaved; you have entered his fold; you have become one of his \"little\nones.\" Once lost, but now saved. Jesus says to this cruel, mocking\nworld, \"Take heed that ye cause not one of these _little ones_ to\nstumble; for their angels do always behold the face of their Father\nwhich is in heaven.\" As you journey along the way of life, Christian\nreader, there is an angel of mercy guarding you by day and night. Naught\nin all the world can harm you. 'Their angels do always behold the face\nof God.' By this we understand that your guardian angel has constant\naccess into the presence of God to bear him an intelligence concerning\nhis _little one_ under his charge. Glory be to God!\n\nIf you will but live holy and confide in God, he will guide you safely\nand triumphantly through this world and bring you in a ripe old age to\nan eternity of rest. Trust not in the world, trust not in man, trust not\nin yourself; but give up all; give up your life to God and trust in him.\nYou are safe in his care; nothing can harm you. You need not have a\nfear. What a blessed life to live! how peaceful! how secure! how full of\nrest! And when the last hour has come those guardian angels will be\ngathered round waiting for your spirit to come forth from the tomb of\nclay, and they will waft it in rapture to the God who gave it.\n\n\n\n\nFLEDGING THE WINGS.\n\n\nThe inspired Word of God abounds in evidences of the twofold nature of\nman's being. Man, entire, consists of an outer physical being and an\ninner spiritual being. The one is for time, the other for eternity. The\nphysical being is the transient home of the spiritual being, and is,\ntherefore, called an earthly house. \"For we know that if our earthly\nhouse of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an\nhouse not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.\" 2 Cor. 5:1. When the\nearthly house in which the soul is tabernacled comes to dissolution, we\n(the spiritual beings) pass to our eternal home, a building not made\nwith hands, but builded by the Lord of heaven.\n\nThe passport from the earthly house to the home in the heavens is spoken\nof by the Psalmist as a \"flying away.\" \"The days of our years are\nthreescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore\nyears, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off,\nand we fly away.\" Psa. 90:10. The physical being is cut down, or comes\nto dissolution, and we (the souls) fly away, when redeemed by the\nblood, to our eternal home of rest.\n\nSince it is spoken of as a flying away, the idea of wings is suggested,\nfrom which we derive our subject. The inspired apostle said, \"Though our\noutward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.\" 2 Cor.\n4:16. As the outward, physical man, day by day, becomes more feeble, the\nfurrows on the brow grow deeper, the locks more silvery, the steps more\ntottering, the voice weaker and more husky, the cheeks more sunken, the\near more deaf, the eye more dim, and the heart-beats more slow; the\ninward man is gathering strength, or fledging his wings, ready for his\nupward flight to his beautiful mansion in the sky. Oh, how often the\nredeemed soul, full of life, love, and hope, looks out through the\nfading windows of the crumbling house of clay, to its fair home on the\nElysian shores eternal, and longs to take its flight! May you, dear\nreader, and I, as we travel along life's swift journey, so live in\nprayer and devotion to God, walk in such purity, so feed upon the divine\nlife, that we shall gather strength to our souls day by day and be ready\nfor the hour of our departure. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nSOME TIME\n\n\nSome time, when all life's lessons have been learned,\n  And sun and stars forevermore have set,\nThe things which our weak judgments here have spurned,\n  The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet,\nWill flash before us out of life's dark night,\n  As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;\nAnd we shall see how all God's plans are right,\n  And how what seemed reproof was love most true.\n\nAnd we shall see how, while we frown and sigh,\n  God's plans go on as best for you and me;\nHow when we called, he heeded not our cry,\n  Because his wisdom to the end could see.\nAnd e'en as prudent parents disallow\n  Too much of sweet to craving babyhood;\nSo God, perhaps, is keeping from us now\n  Life's sweetest things, because it seemeth good.\n\nAnd if, sometimes, commingled with life's wine,\n  We find the wormwood, and rebel and shrink,\nBe sure a wiser hand than yours or mine\n  Pours out the potion for our lips to drink;\nAnd if some friend we love is lying low,\n  Where human kisses can not reach his face,\nOh, do not blame the loving Father so,\n  But wear your sorrows with obedient grace.\n\nAnd you shall shortly know that lengthened breath\n  Is not the sweetest gift God sends his friend,\nAnd that, sometimes, the sable pall of death\n  Conceals the fairest boon his love can send.\nIf we could push ajar the gates of life,\n  And stand within and all God's workings see,\nWe could interpret all this doubt and strife,\n  And for each mystery could find a key.\n\nBut not to-day. Then be content, poor heart;\n  God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold;\nWe must not tear the close-shut leaves apart,\n  Time will unfold the calyces of gold.\nAnd if, through patient toil, we reach the land\n  Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest\nWhen we shall clearly know and understand,\n  I think that we shall say, \"God knew the best!\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRECIOUS OINTMENT.\n\n\nIn the Bible we learn of a woman who took \"a pound of ointment of\nspikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus.\" This spikenard\nwas very rich in perfume. It was the very best gift she could bring to\nHim whom she loved. This is a very beautiful symbol of the life work of\na Christian. We, as Christian, are a sweet odor unto God in Christ\nJesus. Everything you do for Jesus scents the air around the throne of\nGod with a sweet fragrance.\n\nEvery prayer your offer in the Spirit perfumes the corridors of heaven.\nI read somewhere of a little girl who told her mamma that God bade all\nthe angels in heaven keep quiet when she prayed; then all the angels\nhushed their songs until she said amen. Amid all the songs and shouts\nand playing of harps in heaven God hears the prayers of his humble ones\non earth. The odor of prayer from the hearts of God's children on earth\nis as sweet to him as the songs of angels. The things the saints at\nPhilippi sent to Paul were an odor of a sweet smell to God. Cornelius'\nalms-giving and prayers were kept in heaven as a memorial. So all your\ngifts and doings and prayers are a rich perfume, which God keeps bottled\nup in heaven as a memorial of you.\n\nYour whole life, dear young saint, in all of its giving and doing, its\nsacrifices and prayers, its humble service and devotion, is to be\nconstantly sending forth a sweet smell to God. This is spoken of in a\nbeautiful figure in S. of Sol. 1:12: \"While the king sitteth at his\ntable, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.\" The king is\nJesus, who sits at the table of our hearts; the sweet spikenard is our\nChristian lives. In Rev. 3:20 Jesus says, \"I will come in to him, and\nwill sup with him, and he with me.\" The Christian's heart is the\ndining-room; there is a table spread with the graces of the Spirit, the\nfruits of the garden of the Lord. There Christ and the Christian sit\ndown to dine together. While the glory of the one lights up the room,\nthe holy life of the other perfumes it. O God, my soul doth magnify thee\nfor the preciousness of these thoughts.\n\nWhen Christ was born wise men came and presented him frankincense and\nmyrrh, and in after-years Mary came and poured upon his head the\nprecious ointment of spikenard. These things were literally done, and\nnow when we bring our very best gifts, in the fulness of love, to the\nLord, we are breaking the alabaster box of sweet ointment and pouring it\nupon his head. You owe Christ the very best of your life; yea, you owe\nhim your life. He must have all the affections of your heart. Christ\nmust have the very best of everything out of your life. Do not use the\ndollars for yourself and give him the pennies. Do not sip the honey from\nthe flower and give him the leaves. Do not eat the fresh bread yourself\nand give him that which is stale. Do not give him the well-worn garment\nand keep the best robe for yourself.\n\nBut how can we now give to the Lord! \"As oft as ye do it unto the least\nof these ye do it unto me.\" As you go about your life work as a\nChristian always do what you do as to the Lord. When you pray in public\ntalk to Jesus the same as if he were there in person, and not to be\nheard of men. When you give money to the needy do it as if you were\ngiving it to Jesus himself, for such it really is. If Christ should come\nto your door and ask for a drink, how eagerly you would get it for him!\nYou must remember that to give a cup of water to one of his little ones\nis the same as giving it to him. When you visit a sick-chamber and are\ninvited to sing you should sing just as sweetly as if you were singing\npurposely for the Savior, and all your words should be spoken as\ntenderly as if you were talking to him.\n\n[Illustration: THE TREE OF LIFE.]\n\nJesus has given you the purest love of heaven; he has clothed you with\nthe whitest robe; he gives you the very best heaven affords; and, O\nbeloved, will you not give him the very best life? Live with all your\nsoul for Jesus; serve him every moment. Bring the best of your life, its\nlove, its service, its perfume, and pour them upon the head and feet of\nJesus.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TREE OF LIFE.\n\n\n\"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,\" says Proverbs. How\nwonderful! how inspiring! The fruit borne by a Christian is a savor of\nlife to many. If you live a true Christian life all the way through, God\nwill use the fruit you bear to bring another soul to life. Your\nChristian life will not be lived in vain. That \"beloved disciple\" said,\n\"On either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare\ntwelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.\" Your life\nis compared to a river; and if you travel along down its course in the\nfulness of God's grace, upon its banks will grow the tree of life, of\nwhich others may eat and live forever. Such thoughts are almost too\nwonderful for me; they overwhelm my soul.\n\nJesus said, \"I am the bread of life,\" and, \"He that eateth of this bread\nshall live forever.\" This same Jesus has come into your life. You are\ndead, but Jesus lives. He lives in you. The fruit you bear will be eaten\nby others and be life to their souls. O my young reader, will you not be\nwatchful and prayerful and let God live in you and bring forth fruit to\nhis own glory? Cultivate the Christian graces, and see to it that there\nis never a withered leaf on your life's tree, but be ever green and full\nof fruit, scattering a holy influence everywhere. May your life stand\nout upon the shores of time heavy laden with the fruits of the Spirit,\nof which others may eat long after you are gone to your reward. You can\nmake it so. Will you do it? As for me, from the fulness of my soul I\nanswer, I WILL.\n\n\n\n\nETERNITY.\n\n\nDid you ever attempt to look to the end of eternity? Have you endeavored\nto comprehend its duration? Alas! it is something beyond the conception\nof the finite mind. Look into it as far as you can and no less of it\nlies beyond the end of your vision. Eternity is something never begun\nand something that will never end. It is a circle which has no end of\nbeginning and no end of closing. It goes on and on and on until millions\nupon millions of ages have passed away, and then on and on to other\nmillions upon millions of ages, and then still on, being no less in\nduration than before. When you have been there ten million years you\nwill be no nearer the end than when you first entered this boundless\nduration.\n\nWhat a vast and awful thought! Eternity! I stand upon the shore of ocean\nand looking out upon the broad expanse I see nothing but ocean; I see no\nother shore. I stand and look out upon the ocean of eternity, and see\nnothing but eternity. I can see out for millions and billions and\ntrillions of years, and yet it is eternity. Where shall I spend it? My\nsoul answers, \"In heaven through the blood.\"\n\n\n\n\nNEARER TO THEE.\n\n\nNearer to thee, O my Savior,\n  Nearer I would be each day.\nAs I cross life's stormy ocean\n  Never from thee let me stray.\n\nNearer, nearer, ever nearer,\n  Is the language of my soul\nAs I journey down life's pathway,\n  As I near bright heaven's goal.\n\nLead me through this world of sorrow,\n  Let my hand in thine e'er be;\nThrow thy arms of love around me,\n  Savior, let me walk with thee.\n\nWhen the storm-clouds round me gather\n  In the clefted Rock I hide;\nWhen the surging billows threaten,\n  Fold me closer to thy side.\n\nThere's a home for me in heaven,\n  By the crystal, silvered sea;\nSome sweet morn the golden portals\n  Opened wide will be for me.\n\nThere in amaranthine glory\n  I will sit at Jesus' feet;\nThere I'll sing the sweet old story\n  As I walk the golden street.\n\nO my heart, wait on in patience,\n  Each day brings me nearer the goal;\nIn some blissful dewy dawning\n  Heaven will receive my soul.\n\n\n\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\nOur introduction is upon the subject of Life; our conclusion is upon\nDeath. To many people the word _death_ is full of horror. Thank God, it\nholds no horror to the pure in heart. Death has no sting for those whose\nsouls are in fellowship with God. Those who love God hail with joy the\nhour in which they are to meet him. Death to a Christian is only his\nremoval from earth to the paradise of God. If some man of wealth were to\ntell you he had a rich home prepared for you in a distant land, where\nyou could have all your heart could wish, and be happy as long as you\nlived, if you had confidence in the man, you could say good-by and\ncheerfully go to your new home. Death is nothing more.\n\nSome may shudder at the thought of the pain in death. How often we hear\nremarks like this: \"This pain is almost like death,\" or, \"it's like\ntaking one's life.\" Have you not stood beside the infant's crib and\nwatched it go peacefully to sleep? Where was the pain? Death to a\nChristian is only a going to sleep. You have had far more pain in life\nthan you will have in death.\n\nThere may be pain just prior to death, but none in death. Death to a\nsaint is as peaceful as going to sleep.\n\nHave you not often been in some solitary place and given yourself into\nthe arms of Muse? You have fallen to thinking about heaven and the\nangels and the Savior and your crown. You seemed as your soul was wafted\nupward on the wings of meditation, to lose consciousness of all on\nearth. Such will it be in death. Your soul will begin to see the glories\nof heaven; you will hear the sweet strains of music; you will begin to\nlose consciousness of earthly things and comprehend more of heaven. Then\nsoon you will draw your last breath on the shore of time and sound your\nfirst note of praise on the shore of eternity. This is all there is in\ndeath. It is precious to fond parents to see their little children, with\nfolded hands, go peacefully to sleep. So to our Father in heaven is the\ndeath of his saints precious.\n\nIn fancy I can see many of my young readers, after a well-spent life,\ngathered in ripe old age on the banks of old Time's-river, waiting in\nbright hope to be summoned over to their rich possessions in the verdant\nfields of heaven.\n\nThere is nothing more of death than this to a Christian. I pray that\nthe life of many of you will end like this. I believe it will be so.\nAmen.\n\nA strange, sweet vision fills my soul,\n  A glimpse of glory and of God;\nAm I not near life's final goal?\n  My feet scarce touch this mortal sod.\n\nThe zephyrs blow divinely sweet,\n  With fragrance fill the balmy air;\nAre heav'n and earth about to meet?\n  Who can this vision bright declare?\n\nI hear the notes of seraph song,\n  The rustle of an angel's wing;\nDo signs like these to earth belong?\n  Do men and angels meet to sing?\n\nLife's journey seems about complete;\n  I con it well, yet know not why.\nMy heart with longings is replete,\n  And yet I do not long to die.\n\nA holy calm my bosom fills,\n  And silence like the hush of morn;\nSuch joy through all my being thrills\n  As swept men's hearts when Christ was born.\n\nAmid the crowds I look around\n  To see who bear love's fragrant flower;\nI fain would walk on holy ground\n  Made sacred by the Spirit's power.\n\nGod has the keeping of my ways,\n  His laws I rev'rence and obey;\nMy prayers seem almost turned to praise,\n  And yet I can not cease to pray.\n\nIf this is death, I do not dread\n  To lay me down in peace to die--\nTo be with all the sainted dead,\n  Far, far beyond the arching sky.\n\n\n\n\nCLOSING EXHORTATION.\n\n\nGod has forgiven you all your sins; he has sanctified you wholly. You\nstand to-day in the way of life; you are fully out upon the Christian\nway. You have on the whole armor of God. You possess the power of God's\nSpirit in your soul, the love of God is in your heart as a burning\nflame. You are tasting the sweet joys that flow from heaven's throne. In\nyour soul is imprinted the image of Jesus. Your heart is a garden of\nopening buds, which emit the sweet fragrance of heaven. But,\nnotwithstanding all this blessedness of experience, I want you to\nremember you are just starting on the pilgrim's way.\n\nI thought of bringing this little work to a close with the preceding\nletter, but it seems that I am loath to say the last word. I wonder if\nthere is one word more I can say to help you in your Christian race. It\nis impossible for me to express how my heart yearns in love and\ntenderness for you.\n\nGod wants to use your life on earth to his glory. He wants you so to\nshine in the glory and splendor of his grace that you may light others\nin the way. He wants the opening buds of grace in your soul to burst\ninto full bloom. He wants to lead you higher up the mountain of joy, to\nthe very fount of blessings. He wants to lead you down into the lowly\nvale where there are greater riches than gold. He wants his image in\nyour heart to stand out in greater beauty and perfection; the features\nare yet too dim.\n\nWhile in this life your immortal soul is wrapped about with a veil of\nmortality; but God wants to shine such a radiant light and amaranthine\nglory into your soul that the veil of mortality will not be able wholly\nto obscure it. It will shine out through the material part and glow in\ntransparent beauty upon the surface.\n\nIf you will follow where he leads, he will lead you on from virtue to\ndeeper, truer virtue; he will lead you on to fountains of sweeter joy.\nIt may be through the vale of sorrow; but never fear nor distrust, and\nyou will find your joy rising higher in the cup. If you will follow, he\nwill lead you from peace on to broader, deeper rivers of peace. It may\nbe through angry billows and past rough rocks; but if you trust him and\nfollow on, he will bring you to yet calmer and more peaceful waters. If\nyou will stay in his presence, he will impart unto you his own lovely\ncharacter, and you will grow up into a holier life, into sweeter\nfellowship with God, into richer beauty and greater usefulness.\n\nHe will sometimes call you where the flowers are blooming and sweet\nfragrance fills the air, where the birds sing sweetly and the zephyrs\nblow gently; he will lead you along the rippling streams, and delight\nyour soul with the music of the wave; he will lead you through the shady\nglens and leafy bowers,--until your soul will sing, \"Is not this the\nland of Beulah?\" But he may sometimes lead you through the desert, or\nover the rugged mountain, or across the stormy seas; he may lead you\naway from all that is dear to your heart; he may lead you into paths\nwhere the shadows lie deep, and thorns spring up on every side. He will\nlead you on to duties that may oftentimes seem too hard for you to do;\nbut this one thing I assure you in Jesus' name: he will never call you\nto a duty or a sacrifice but that will prove a blessing to your soul and\nenrich you in his grace. You must follow on.\n\nTo get the sweetness out of your life, he may sometimes bruise you.\nThere are flowers that emit but little fragrance until they are bruised.\nMany trials, no doubt, are awaiting you; but do not live them until you\nget to them, then his grace will be sufficient for you.\n\nIn closing, I beseech you from the fulness of my heart to follow Jesus\nall the way. Let nothing turn you back. Never mind the storms and cruel\nwinds. What if the thorns prick your feet? they pierced his brow. What\nif the duties do seem hard and the way seems weary? Follow on, linger in\nhis presence, breathe in of his fulness, live in humble submission,\nnever murmur but in every sorrow draw the closer to him, never falter,\nlabor on, and you will find joys in every sorrow, blessings in every\nsacrifice, and delights in every duty. He will perfume your life with\nthe odor of heaven and make you a blessing on earth to man. He will make\nyour life a well of water where many a weary traveler may drink and\nthirst no more; he will make it a tree of life where they may eat and\nhunger no more. And when life is done he will bring you with all your\ngolden sheaves through the gates of glory into the haven of eternal\nrest, where I hope to meet you. With this, I will say farewell.\n\n[Illustration]","title":"Food for the Lambs; or, Helps for Young Christians","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":30113}