{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_6999/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_6999","id":"gutenberg_6999","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6999","summary":null,"tags":["Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Christianity"],"text":"This eBook was produced by Mark Zinthefer, Charles Franks\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team\n\n\n\n\nHow to Live a Holy Life\n\nC. E. Orr\n\n\n\n\nDEVOTIONAL READING.\n\n\nA person may almost be known by the books he reads. If he habitually reads\nbad books, we can pretty safely conclude that he is a bad man; on the\nother hand, if he habitually reads religious books, we can reasonably\npresume that he is a religious man. Why is this? It is because the nature\nof a person's books is usually the nature of his thoughts; and as a man\nthinks, so he is.\n\nConsequently, our reading devotional literature is a great aid to our\nbeing devotional. Too few, I fear, realize how important to our spiritual\nadvancement is the cultivation of a taste for devotional reading. As a\nrule, those who have a taste for spiritual books and gratify that taste\nprosper in the Lord, while those who have no relish for such books labor\nat a great disadvantage. Some one has said that \"he who begins a devout\nlife without a taste for spiritual reading may consider the ordinary\ndifficulties multiplied in his case by ten.\" The most spiritual men of all\nages have had a strong love for reading spiritual books. If, however, my\nreader happens not to have such a taste or such a love, he should not be\ndiscouraged, for it can be created and increased through perseverance in\nreading devotional literature. Just as a person who does not relish a\ncertain food may learn to like it if he will persist in eating it, so a\nperson who does not have a taste for devotional books may come to enjoy\nthem if he will diligently and prayerfully peruse them.\n\nSpiritual reading invigorates the intellect, warms the affections, and\nbegets in us a desire for more of God's fulness and for a more heavenly\nlife. It is especially helpful to prayer. When the mind is dull and the\nspirits low and we have no inspiration for prayer, the reading of a\nspiritual poem will often so stimulate the mind, raise the spirits, and\nanimate the soul, as to make it easy for us to pray.\n\nAs to what books to read, the Bible, of course, is the best of all. But we\nneed others. Although no other book can take the place of the Bible and\nnone of us should neglect reading it, there are many books that can\nprofitably be read in connection with it.\n\nBut whatever devotional book you are reading, do not read too fast. Think\nand digest as you go. Let there be a frequent lifting of the heart to God\nin prayer. It is not the bee that flies so swiftly from flower to flower\nthat gathers the honey, but the bee that goes down into the flower. A few\nsentences taken into the mind and heart, and dwelt upon until they have\nbecome a part of us, are better than many pages read superficially.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIf the reading of this little book encourages any on their pilgrim way; if\nit arouses them to greater diligence; if it creates in them a stronger\ndesire to live more like Christ; if it gives them a better understanding\nof how to live,--this poor servant of the Lord will be fully rewarded for\nall his labor.\n\nEven among the children of God in this beautiful gospel light of the\nevening there is an inclination, on the part of a few at least, and maybe\nmore than a few, to slow down and not be their very best and most active\nfor God. We hope that this little book will arouse such ones to greater\nzeal and earnestness. Diligence, yea, constant application, is the secret\nof success in all manner of life and especially in the Christian life.\n\nThis volume is written for all those who desire to please God with a well\n-spent life. It is sent forth in Jesus' name, with a prayer--that God bless\nand help both the reader and the writer to live life at its very best and\nfulfil the purpose of God concerning them.\n\nYour humble servant in Christian love,\n\nThe Author.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nWe have only one life to live, only one. Think of this for a moment. Here\nwe are in this world of time making the journey of life. Each day we are\nfarther from the cradle and nearer the grave. Solemn thought. See the\nmighty concourse of human lives; hear their heavy tread in their onward\nmarch. Some are just beginning life's journey; some are midway up the\nhill, some have reached the top, and some are midway down the western\nslope. But where are we all going? Listen, and you will hear but one\nanswer--\"Eternity.\" Beyond the fading, dying gleams of the sunset of life\nlies a boundless, endless ocean called Eternity. Thitherward you and I are\ndaily traveling.\n\nTime is like a great wheel going its round. On and on it goes. Some are\nstepping on and some are stepping off. But where are these latter\nstepping? Into eternity. See that old man with bent form, snow-white\nlocks, and tottering steps. His has been a long round, but he has made it\nat last. See the middle-aged. His round has not been so long, but he must\nstep off. See the youth. He has been on only a little while, but he is\nbrought to the stepping-off place. He thought his round would be much\nlonger. He supposed he was fairly getting started when that icy hand was\nlaid upon him and the usher said, \"Come, you have made your round, and you\nmust go.\" The infant that gave its first faint cry this morning may utter\nits last feeble wail tonight. And thus they go. But where? Eternity.\n\nIf you were to start today and ask each person you met the question,\n\"Where are you going?\" and, if possible, you were to travel the world over\nand ask each one of earth's inhabitants, there could be but one answer--\n\"Eternity.\"\n\n  \"Oh, eternity,\n  Long eternity!\n  Hear the solemn footsteps\n  Of eternity.\"\n\nOnly one life to live! Only one life, and then we must face vast, endless\neternity. We shall pass along the pathway of life but once. Every step we\ntake is a step that can never be taken again. With this fact in mind, who\ndoes not feel like calling upon the All-wise to direct his every step. If\nwhen we make a misstep we could go back and step it over, then there would\nnot be such great necessity to step carefully. But we can never go back.\nWe are leaving footprints. Just as our steps are, so will the footprints\nbe which will tell the story of our life. If we had a score of lives to\nlive, how to live this one would not be of such great moment. We should\nthen have nineteen lives in which to correct the errors and sins of this\none; but alas! we have but one. What, then, should we seek more earnestly\nthan to know <i>how to live?</i>\n\nWe doubt not but there is in the heart of the reader a strong desire to\nlive life as it should be lived. Thank God, you can. You desire your life\nto be like the fertile oasis, where the weary traveler refreshes himself.\nYou have seen the rays of light lingering upon the hillside and treetop\nand gilding the fleecy cloud after the sun had gone down. You desire the\nbeautiful rays of light from your life to linger long after your sun has\ngone down. You can have it that way. The deeds you do will live after you\nare gone. They are the footprints. Some one has said that we each day are\nhere building the house we are going to occupy in eternity. If this be\ntrue, nothing should concern us so much as how to live. Some men are\ndevoting their time and the power of their intellects to invention; some\nare studying statesmanship; some are studying the arts, others the\nsciences; but we have come to learn a little more about how to live. Many\nare thinking much about how they wish to die, but let us learn how to\nlive. If we live well, we shall die well.\n\nSince we have but one life to live and with it we must face eternity, I am\nsure there are many who want to make the most of life. There are many who\nwant to be their best in life. This is not a play-ground, or a place to\ntrifle with time. It is a place of work and effort, a place of purpose and\nearnestness, a place to do something. Life is not given us to squander nor\nfritter away, but was given us to accomplish a purpose in the mind of the\nCreator. If we will set ourselves to live as we should, God will help us\nand no man can hinder us. We are purchasing treasures for eternity by\nmaking a proper use of time. To trifle away time is indeed to be the\ngreatest of spendthrifts. If you squander a dollar, you may regain it; but\na moment wasted can never be regained.\n\nThere is great responsibility in life. It means much to live. The time was\nwhen you and I were not, now we are. We are, and there can never come a\ntime when we shall not be. You and I shall always exist somehow,\nsomewhere. One sweet thought to me is that I have time enough to do all\nthat God intends for me to do, and do it well. Then comes another\nthought--a thought that awes: the good that I do, the sum of my\nusefulness, will be less than it should be if I spend a moment of time\nuselessly. God will give us all the time we need to accomplish all he\npurposes us to accomplish, but he does not give us one moment to trifle\naway.\n\nThe mission of this little volume is to strengthen and energize and help\nyou to spend life as you should. May it please the Great Teacher, who has\npromised to \"show us the path of life,\" to bless this little work and by\nit help some one to a pure and noble life and to the accomplishment of all\nGod's design in giving them life.\n\nThe Author.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nDevotional Reading............................................. 4\n\nPreface........................................................ 5\n\nIntroduction................................................... 7\n\nThe Way the Sail is Set (Poem)................................ 15\n\nThe Model Life................................................ 17\n\nHow to Live the Christ-Life................................... 22\n\nThe Bible Way................................................. 25\n\nThe Heavenly Way.............................................. 29\n\nKeeping the Commandments...................................... 31\n\n\"Be Doers of the Word\"........................................ 37\n\nWho are the Wise?............................................. 39\n\nKeeping the Commandments a Test of Love....................... 41\n\nThe Blessedness of Obeying God's Word......................... 43\n\nThe Relationship We Have with Christ through Obedience........ 45\n\nOur Life is to Adorn the Gospel............................... 46\n\nThe Christian an Epistle of Christ............................ 48\n\nHow We may Live as the Bible Reads............................ 50\n\nHow to Keep the Word of God in the Heart...................... 52\n\nMan the Vehicle for Exhibiting God's Perfections.............. 54\n\nSome Use to Jesus (Poem)...................................... 63\n\nGodly Living.................................................. 65\n\nSomething to Do............................................... 69\n\nSpiritual Dryness............................................. 76\n\nPrayer........................................................ 81\n\nKeep the Roots Watered........................................ 85\n\nUnder the Fig-Tree............................................ 87\n\nShut the Door................................................. 91\n\nAlone with God................................................ 93\n\nPrayerful Remembrance (Poem).................................. 95\n\nHe Careth for Thee............................................ 96\n\n\"Consider the Lilies\"........................................ 102\n\nSorrowful Yet always Rejoicing............................... 105\n\nGentleness................................................... 113\n\nTenderness................................................... 117\n\nThe Christian Walk........................................... 124\n\nThe Christian is to Walk Circumspectly....................... 125\n\nThe Latest Improved.......................................... 129\n\nThe Christian's Walk a Walk with God......................... 130\n\nA Holy Life.................................................. 148\n\nLukewarmness................................................. 151\n\nSteadfastness................................................ 156\n\nHow to Understand God's Will................................. 160\n\nA View of Jesus.............................................. 164\n\nDevotion to God.............................................. 166\n\nThe Golden Rule of Life...................................... 174\n\nTimeliness in Doing Good..................................... 177\n\nThe Warfare of a Christian Life.............................. 181\n\nLife by Faith................................................ 183\n\nA Valuable Legacy............................................ 185\n\nSome Scriptures for Daily Practise........................... 188\n\n\n\n\nTHE WAY THE SAIL IS SET.\n\n\n  I stood beside the open sea;\n   The ships went sailing by;\n  The wind blew softly o'er the lea;\n   The sun had cloudless sky.\n\n\n  Some ships sailed eastward, some sailed west,\n   Some north, some southward trend.\n  How can ships sail this way and that?\n   But one way blows the wind.\n\n  An old sea-captain made reply\n   (His locks with salt-spray wet):\n  \"'Tis not the wind decides the course;\n   'Tis way the sails are set.\"\n\n  *       *       *       *       *\n\n  I stand beside the sea of life;\n   The ships go sailing by;\n  The winds blow fair from heaven's land;\n   No clouds bedim the sky.\n\n  But one sails eastward, one sails west,\n   One north, one southward goes:\n  How can ships sail this way and that\n   With selfsame wind that blows?\n\n  A voice made answer to my soul:\n   \"'Tis not how blows the gale;\n  Each voyager decides the goal\n   By way he sets the sail.\"--Selected.\n\n\n\n\nHow to Live a Holy Life\n\n\nTHE MODEL LIFE.\n\n\nIn doing anything, it is always well to have a model by which to fashion\nour work. In fact, nothing is done without a pattern, either real or\nimaginary. The little boy making a toy has in in his mind a model by which\nhe is framing his work. Likewise, the sculptor has in his mind a model,\nand as the \"marble wastes, the image grows\" into the likeness of the\nvision in his soul.\n\nTo live this one life of ours as it should be lived, we must have a\nperfect model after which to pattern. Thank God, this perfect model of\nlife can be found. Of all the vast number of lives that have been lived\nsince Adam down to this present day, there has been only one that we can\ntake as a model. This one is the life of Jesus. He says, \"I am the life.\"\nTo live this life of ours well, to live it to the highest degree of\nperfection, we must fashion it according to the glorious life of Christ.\nThe life of Jesus is the model life for every other human life. He invites\nus, yea, commands us, to follow him, to step in his steps, to walk as he\nwalked.\n\nThere have been many good men in the world, but none of them afford us a\ntrue pattern of life. There was a man who said, \"Be ye followers of me,\"\nbut he immediately added, \"even as I also am of Christ.\" Man may so live\nas to reveal to us the life of Christ. We can then follow, not them, but\nthe Christ-life they manifested through them.\n\nLet me here say a word on a subject on which we may have more to say\nhereafter. The grandest, noblest work man has ever done is by his life to\nreveal the life of Christ to another, thereby helping that person to be\nfashioned more after the image of Jesus. A little flower grew in a place\nso shaded that no ray from the sun could fall directly upon it. A window\nwas so situated that at a certain time in the afternoon it refracted the\nsun's rays and threw them upon the flower, thus giving it color and\nbeauty, and aiding it to bloom. Some people are living in the dense shade.\nNo light from Christ has ever shined upon them. If you so live as to\nrefract the life of Christ and turn it upon them and thus stamp upon them\na holier life, you have not lived in vain. To set the life of Christ in\nits purity and beauty before some one and influence him, though only a\nlittle, to live better and love Jesus more, is a work the worth of which\ncan never be computed. He who helps another to a better way of living does\nmore than he who gains great worldly honor and riches. Blessed indeed is\nthat life which causes some other life to be more like Christ. Oh, may\nthis thought seize upon our hearts and fill us with a greater passion to\nlive the life of God.\n\nWe are told by the voice of Scripture to be \"followers of God as dear\nchildren.\" When children are dear to the heart of the parent, he loves to\nhave them obey him. God's children are dear to him, and he would have them\nfollow him. To follow God is to imitate him, or be like him. This is the\ntrue way of life.\n\nA text of Scripture as rendered by the Revised Version is very appropriate\nhere: \"Like as he which has called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy\nin all manner of living.\" 1 Pet. 1:15. Only those who live godly in their\nentire manner of life are spending the days of their pilgrimage as they\nshould. Jesus has walked the true way of life; we are told to walk in his\nsteps. If we will step each day just where Jesus stepped, then on looking\nback, we can not see a footprint of our own; but if we take a single\nmisstep, our footprint will show our departure from the true way of life.\nHow deep and awful are the words of Scripture wherein we are commanded to\nwalk even as \"Jesus walked\"! Jesus says, \"I am the way.\" There is no other\nright and perfect way. If we will walk as Jesus walked, then we shall walk\nin the true path of life. This only is the pathway that leads up to the\ngolden gates of glory and the sweet fields of heaven. That bright world of\nbliss encourages us on. If we will follow Jesus and live as he lived,\nGod's approval will be upon us, and his outstretched hand will help us\nalong life's way and finally over the turbulent river of death to the\nsunlit shore of eternal rest.\n\nMany times we may become wearied and think the toils of the way almost too\nheavy; but when we remember that it is the way that Jesus trod, then the\nheavens open to our view, we look forward to the mansion prepared for us,\nand the toils of the way grow lighter.\n\nSee that aged pilgrim journeying down the western slope of life. The sun\nis nearing the setting. Long and toilsome has been his pilgrimage, but he\nhas walked in the path his Savior trod. For many years his life has been\nhid with Christ in God. In Him he has lived and moved and had his being.\nNow he is making his last step on the shore of time; he passes out of our\nsight through the gates into that land where toils are ended and the sun\nnever sets. But his life was the life of Jesus. He was holy as God is\nholy; he walked as Jesus walked. This is how to live. This is the true way\nof life and the only way to life eternal. He who does not live with Christ\non earth can not live with him in heaven, and he who does not live as\nJesus lived does not live as he should. The life of Christ was the perfect\nlife. Ours is perfect to the degree that we imitate him.\n\n  Take my life, O Christ divine,\n  Make it holy, just like thine;\n  Every act and thought and word\n  Be an outflow from my God.\n\n  Guide my feet and keep my heart;\n  Let me not from thee depart;\n  Let me breathe thy warming love,\n  That my soul be drawn above.\n\n  Draw me, Jesus, closer draw;\n  Thy strong arm around me throw;\n  Draw me to thy pierced side;\n  In thy bosom let me hide.\n\n  Teach me all thy will and word,\n  That my life be filled with God;\n  Teach me, Lamb of Calvary,\n  How to live this life for thee.\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO LIVE THE CHRIST-LIFE.\n\n\nMan can not naturally live the Christ-life. But Christ has promised to\ncome into our hearts and live in us. In order that we may have Christ\ndwell in our hearts and that we may live his life, there must be a giving\nup of our self-life. There must be annihilation of self that Christ may\nlive. It is truly wonderful and as glorious as it is wonderful that man\ncan live the life of Christ in this world. But here is the secret: it is\nman ceasing to live the self-life and Christ living in him.\n\nImagine a hollow brass figure in the exact image of a man. Suppose you\nfill this hollow figure with a kind of life which we shall call self-life.\nThis life goes to using the hands and feet, and eyes, ears, tongue, in\nshort, all the members of this brass figure, but using them in the\ninterest of itself. Now you desire to make a change; you want that image\nto speak, act, and think only for you. You must first put to death the\nlife that is using the figure, cleanse it entirely out, and then get into\nit yourself. Once in, you can use all the members of that image for\nyourself. Your body is that image. There was a life in you that used all\nthe members of your body in the interest of self. But there has been a\nchange. You were made a new creature. The life you once had was put to\ndeath--was crucified; then Christ stepped into your heart, and now he\nuses all the members of your body for himself. You still live, yet not\nyou, but Christ lives in you. Once you did things for yourself; now you do\nthem for Christ. Just as you once lived purposely and intentionally for\nyourself, now you do things purposely and intentionally for Jesus, because\nit is he that lives, and not you yourself. You remember how once you would\nplan for yourself. In the evening as you lay upon your bed and again in\nthe morning and throughout the day you would think about what you were\ngoing to eat or drink, what you were going to have for clothing, where you\nwere going to live, where you were going to go, and what you were going to\ndo. But now you are changed; you are a new creature. Now it is not you\nthat lives, but Christ lives in you. Now you eat not for yourself but for\nJesus. You now go, not where self would lead you, but where that life in\nyou loves to go and would have you go. You do things, not for yourself,\nbut for Jesus.\n\n  O Christ, I die, that thou mayst live,\n   That thou mayst live in me;\n  That all I think or speak or do,\n   May be, O Lord, for thee.\n\n  May not the least of self remain,\n   But all be put to death.\n  Oh, may I nothing do for self,\n   Nor draw one selfish breath!\n\n  To have my Savior live in me,\n   To occupy the whole,\n  To make my heart his royal throne\n   And take complete control--\n\n  'Tis all I ask; 'tis all I wish;\n   'Tis all my heart's desire,\n  Content if but a wayside bush\n   To hold God's holy fire.\n\n  Low at thy feet, O Christ, I fall\n   A yielded lump of clay,\n  For thee to mold me as thou wilt,\n   To have thy own sweet way.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BIBLE WAY.\n\n\nIf the Bible had not been given us, we should not always know the way that\nJesus walked. But he has given us his Word. The way of the Bible is the\nway of Christ, and is therefore the true path of life. O pilgrim to the\nheavenly kingdom, the Word of God will be a lamp unto thy feet and a light\nunto thy way. It will lighten you home. There will never be a day so dark\nbut the beams of light from the blessed Bible will pierce through the\ndarkness and fall with a bright radiance upon your pathway. If sometimes\nyou can not see just where Jesus stepped, take the precious Book of God,\nand it will be a lamp to show you the way he trod. One wintry morning a\nfather went a long distance through the deep snow to feed his sheep. A few\nhours later a little boy was sent to call his father home. The child was\ncarefully stepping in the footprints before him, but soon a dark cloud\narose and the blinding snow-storm so dimmed his eye that he frequently\nstepped aside. In the beautiful, clear light of the Bible we can see all\nthe way that Jesus trod. If we will walk according to the Bible, we shall\nwalk as Jesus walked and not show a double track. Make the blessed Word of\nGod your guide if you would walk aright the path of life and be happy.\n\n  \"And often for your comfort you will read the Guide\n   and Chart:\n  It has wisdom for the mind and sweet solace for the\n   heart;\n  It will serve you as a mentor; it will guide you sure\n   and straight\n  All the time that you will journey, be the ending soon\n   or late.\"\n\n'The Scriptures are given by inspiration of God and are profitable for\ndoctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,\nthat the man of God may be perfect' 2 Tim. 3:16. If by faith we receive\ninto our hearts the instruction in righteousness as given by the\nScriptures, it will make us perfect in this life. O reader, if you would\nknow how to live, study the Bible. It points out the way clearly and\nplainly. Let its truths in all their power reach to the depth of thy\nheart. Let thy soul seize upon the Bible and drink its strength and\nsweetness as the bee sips the sweetness from the flower. As the animal\neats the plant and by assimilation converts it into animal life, so eat\nthe Book of God and convert it into human life. It is the food of angels.\nBut rather than its being the Bible converted into human life, it is human\nlife transformed into the purity of the Bible. There are great depths to\nthe Bible. The simplest text contains depths to which we can ever be\ndescending.\n\nThey who would live a perfect life must set the life of Christ before them\nas portrayed by the Holy Scriptures. You can not see much of this perfect\nlife by a passing glance. It is he who looks into the perfect law of\nliberty and continues to look that will see the perfect life which it\npictures. The artist must look long at the landscape and get it imaged\nupon his soul before he can produce it upon the canvas. The Bible\ndescription of the life of Christ must fill your soul with admiration and\nwith a strong desire to possess it. Your heart must lay hold upon it until\nthat life is focused and printed upon your own soul. It is like the art of\nphotographing. The object must be set before the heart.\n\nThe Bible is the light that shines the image of Christ upon the soul. For\nthe pure in heart to develop into higher spiritual life, they must gain\nsuch an admiration for the beauty of Christ that they will long to possess\nhim in greater fulness. The pleading of the heart will be, \"Lord, let thy\nbeauty be upon us.\" Their souls will follow hard after his perfections. In\nno other way will the soul unfold and develop into the higher Christian\nlife. He who has not learned how to grow in grace has not yet learned how\nto live. To live life in the best possible manner is to be making constant\nprogress. Oh, let us give this world our best life! When we are nearing\nthe end of the way and life's sun is sinking low, if on looking back we\ncan see nothing but a life spent in the service of God, walking in the\nlight of his Word, this will afford us untold satisfaction.\n\n  O blessed Word of eternal life,\n  The lamp to guide the way\n  Through this weary world of sin and strife\n  To heaven's perfect day!\n\n\n\n\nTHE HEAVENLY WAY.\n\n\nThere is a heaven. There is a place of rest and happiness. I have not gone\nto heaven, but heaven has come to me; therefore I know there is a heaven.\nMany who have eaten oranges have never been in a land where oranges grow,\nbut these persons know there must be such a land, because they have tasted\nits fruit. Likewise, I know there is a heaven because I daily taste its\njoy.\n\nNot only is there a heaven, but there is a way to heaven. All can go who\nwill. Heaven is a holy place, and the way to heaven is a holy way. A\nprophet of God said, \"An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall\nbe called the way of holiness.\" The Christian dwells in a heavenly place.\n\nThe writer to the saints at Ephesus says, \"He hath raised us up together,\nand made us sit together in heavenly places.\" To live in a heavenly place,\nwe must live a heavenly life. Those who do not live a heavenly life on\nearth will never live in heaven. The heavenly life is the only life worth\nliving. It is the only life that ends in heaven. The way of holiness is\nthe way of happiness. Holy and happy is the true and right life of man.\nThis one brief life of ours should be constant holiness and happiness.\nWithout these, life is not as it should be. It is our privilege in Christ\nto walk the path of life in perfect peace and joy and in perfect holiness.\nSuch a life will flow out into an eternity of joys unspeakable.\n\n  Wait thou on God, O soul of mine!\n   Listen to know his will;\n  Light will come from the golden throne\n   If thou, O soul, be still.\n\n  If thou wouldst sail on tranquil sea,\n   Wait thou on God, my soul.\n  Speak, act, and think alone in him;\n   Sweet rest shall be thy goal.\n\n  If thou wouldst have life's way to be\n   Verdant as the growing sod,\n  Take each step 'neath the guiding eye,\n   Keep in close touch with God.\n\n  Sweet heavenly life! sweet happy life!\n   Thy joys increase each day.\n  O soul of mine, press up and on\n   This high and holy way.\n\n\n\n\nKEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS.\n\n\nGod's Word is pure. Heaven itself and the great white throne is no more\npure than the Word of God. That life may be pure, it must be in sweet\nharmony with the blessed Bible. A life that is lived in obedience to the\nBible is as pure as the Bible. Such a life is pure enough for heaven. The\nwriter of Revelation, being in the Spirit, saw \"a pure river of water of\nlife, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the\nLamb.\" This pure stream was the wonderful word of life. It was as pure as\nits source, which was the throne of God. The life through which this pure\nstream flows will be as pure as the throne.\n\nOne of the Psalm-writers said, \"The words of the Lord are pure words: as\nsilver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.\" \"Thy word is\npure; therefore thy servant loveth it.\" The writer of Proverbs says,\n\"Every word of God is pure.\" When the veil is drawn aside and our souls\nare brought face to face with the purity of the Bible, then we understand\nthat a Bible life is the best, purest, noblest, and holiest life that can\nbe lived upon the earth.\n\n  O soul of mine, unveil thine eye,\n   Look upward to thy God,\n  A wreath of purity to see\n   Crowning his every word.\n\nIn the following words we have the sum of all true and right living: \"Let\nus hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep his\ncommandments; for this is the whole duty of man.\" Eccl. 12:13. This text\nas rendered in the Septuagint version brings out clearer the true\nsignification: \"Hear the end of the matter, the sum. Fear God and keep his\ncommandments: for this is the whole man.\" Man is not entire, he is not\ncomplete as originally intended, when not keeping all the commands of God.\nSomething is lacking in the life that is not in full obedience to every\nword of God.\n\nThe Bible speaks of a beautiful city in that bright, celestial world. It\nis a city of pure gold, clear as glass. Its walls are of jasper; its\ntwelve foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones; its\ntwelve gates are gates of pearl; its streets are pure gold. In that fair\ncity there is no sin, no pain, no sickness; sorrow and trouble never come\nthere; a tear shall never fall from any eye, for no tears are there. There\nis no death in that wonderful city so fair. In the midst of the street\nstands the tree of life. Oh, who does not desire to dwell forever and\nforever in that city of love and light when the pains and sorrows, the\ntrials and tears, of this weary life are over?\n\nListen while I read to you in accents clear, distinct, and unmistakable--\n\"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to\nthe tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.\" Rev.\n22:14. O traveler to eternity, your entrance into the beautiful, glorious\ncity of God depends upon your conduct respecting the commandments of God\nwhile you are making the journey across the turbulent sea of life. Keeping\nthe commandments of God is man's whole duty. If he does his whole duty\nthrough life, he will come up out of the dark valley and shadow of death,\nand find the gates of pearl unfolding. Who will not cleave to the\ncommandments of God? Who will not obey his voice and walk daily in his\nholy ways? The obedient will be rewarded by an unfading inheritance in\nthat eternal city of gold. There is a beautiful mansion in the great house\nof God for every obedient soul. Oh, how blessed!\n\n  I am thinking of heaven tonight,\n  Of the mansion prepared there for me,\n  Where Jesus my Savior now dwells,\n  And where I am longing to be.\n\nWill not heaven be well worth a life of obedience to the Word of God,\nthough obedience calls us through storms of persecutions, furnaces of\ntrials, oceans of tribulations, and years of toil and suffering? To Moses\nthe reproaches of Christ were greater treasures than the riches of Egypt,\n\"for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.\" Sit quiet for a\nmoment and by a strong eye of faith look away into heaven and see that\nbright mansion prepared for you. See those jasper walls, those pearly\ngates, and those golden walks. See the crown of life, the harp of God, and\nthe light of the Lamb. Shall we not bear the trials of life a little\nlonger in patience? Shall we not be watchful to walk in God's ways and\nobey him, that this rich inheritance may be ours forever? Methinks I can\nhear a reply coming from the depths of many a sincere, trusting heart--\n\"Yes, I will live in humble obedience to God on earth, that I may be with\nhim forever in that celestial city of light.\" God bless you!\n\nBeyond the shores of time and the kingdoms of this world is a kingdom\ncalled the kingdom of heaven. It is the place where God has his great\nwhite throne, around which the angels play upon their golden harps and\nshout, \"Blessing and honor and glory and praise and might be unto God\nforever and ever.\" It is around this throne that those who have passed\nthrough the tribulations and the trying scenes of this lower world and\nburst through the gates of death are singing redemption's sweet song. Who\ndoes not desire to join that happy, heavenly throng and wave those palms\nand wear those white robes and sing those sweet songs over beyond the\nshadowy vale of death? I seem to hear many voices saying, \"I hope to be\namong that blood-washed throng.\" Let me tell you in all tenderness and\nlove, but very plainly, that the realization of your hope depends entirely\nupon how you live while here in this world. Oh, how much in that great and\nawful future is depending upon our manner of life in this time-world! Let\nus learn to live well, to be our best every day.\n\nWe may dream of a home in heaven; we may entertain hopes of seeing Jesus\nand of inheriting a mansion on the shores of eternal bliss; we may imagine\nourselves walking through the blooming fields of paradise and sitting\nbeneath the tree of life; but our dreams, our hopes, and our imaginations\nwill never be realized unless we carefully keep the commandments of God.\nMore than a profession is necessary; obedience is the only door into the\nkingdom of God. Jesus said, \"Not every one that sayeth unto me, Lord,\nLord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my\nFather which is in heaven.\" Until our faith pierces through and beholds\nthe beauties and the realities of God so we can say from the very depths\nof the soul, \"I delight to do thy will, O God.\" and, \"My meat and my drink\nis to do the will of Him that sent me,\" we have not fully entered the true\nand right pathway of life. Keeping the commands of God is the whole man\nand the whole of a perfect life.\n\n\n\n\n\"BE DOERS OF THE WORD.\"\n\n\nI want to remind you again that the mission of this little volume is to\nteach you how to live. The life beyond depends on the life here. Let me\nemphasize what I have repeatedly said before: to live as we should, we\nmust live by every word of God. To live by every word of God is not only\nto hear it but also to do it. We have learned that, in order to enter the\ncity of God and eat of the tree of life, we must <i>do</i> his\ncommandments, and also that it is not \"every one that sayeth, Lord, Lord,\nthat shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my\nFather which is in heaven.\"\n\nNow I will read you a text from the Epistle of James, \"But be ye doers of\nthe word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.\" We are living\nin a careless age. The Word of God is being treated with neglect. Many are\nhearing it, but alas! how few are doing it! In this way people deceive\nthemselves. They think they are on their way to heaven, when they are not.\nThe only way to heaven is by doing the commandments. To illustrate this, I\nwill refer you to a few texts. \"If thine enemy hunger, feed him.\" Rom.\n12:20. \"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the\nother also.\" Matt. 5:39. \"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye\nalso to them likewise.\" Luke 6:31. If it comes most natural for us to live\naccording to these texts, we can begin to conclude that our hearts are\nright with God. However, we must have a heart that does not rebel against\nany text in the Bible.\n\nWe are exhorted earnestly by the apostle Peter to make our \"calling and\nelection sure.\" The only way to do so is to live to every word of God. Oh,\nmy dear reader, those sweet hopes you have had of reaching heaven and of\nseeing Jesus and those dear loved ones who have gone before you to that\nother side will never be realized by you unless you be a diligent doer of\nthe Word of God. I feel like warning you against all carelessness and\nneglect, and to keep yourself in the love of God. See that your heart and\nlife reads each day as the Bible reads, and you will then have an unshaken\nfoundation for your faith and hope. If you would know how to live and make\nthe best of life, read the Bible much and conform your life to its\nteaching.\n\n\n\n\nWHO ARE THE WISE?\n\n\nWho is a foolish man? It is a man who hears the sayings of Jesus and fails\nto do them. He is likened to a man who was foolish enough to build his\nhouse upon the sand. This man would better not have built at all, for the\ncost of building was lost. He could have had the money for his use and\nenjoyment if he had not wasted it in building a house on the sand. A\nfoolish man, indeed! Who is a wise man? It is the man who hears the\nsayings of Jesus and does them. He is likened to a man who built his house\nupon a rock. From a temporal standpoint nothing else is so conducive to\nman's happiness as a good home. No better use can be made of money than to\nspend it in the building of a home, provided the house be built upon a\nsure foundation. A man who hears God's Word and does it is likened to such\na man. To build up a Christian character in obedience to the Bible is the\ngreatest wisdom. That is building a mansion in heaven.\n\nA real, true Christian experience and life cost something, but they pay,\nbecause they will stand. A mere profession of Christianity may cost\nsomething also, but it does not pay, since it will not stand. A man who\nerects his house upon the sand can build at less cost than he who digs\ndeep and lays his foundation upon the rock, but at the very time when the\nformer man most needs his house--when the winds blow and the rain falls--\nthat is when it is destroyed. On the other hand, the man who builds upon a\nrock has a house to shelter him through the storms. Likewise, he who\nbuilds up a Christian experience in obedience to the Word of God will have\nsomething to serve him in a time of need.\n\nWe thus learn from Jesus' parable of the wise and the foolish house\n-builders that obeying the Bible is the true way of life.\n\n\n\n\nKEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS A TEST OF LOVE.\n\n\nWe are commanded to love God. It is the first and greatest commandment.\nLove is more than an emotion; it is an act of the will. A mother loves her\nchild constantly, though she may not always experience the emotions of\nlove. Her care for her child is a proof of her love. We may not always\nexperience a feeling of love toward God, but we can always love him. Our\nlove is measured, not by our emotions, but by our obedience--our service.\nWe labor for those we love, and the love makes the labor light. It is not\nan irksome thing to obey God when we love him.\n\nIt is possible to make a profession of love to God and not really love\nhim. It may be that many are deceived at this point. One scripture says,\n\"If any man love God, the same is known of him.\" Jesus says, \"Why call ye\nme Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?\" Love is something more\nthan mere words. It is useless to make a profession of love to Jesus and\nnot do what he says. A husband can not convince his wife of his love by a\nmere profession of love, but he can convince her by his acts. We are to\nlove, not in word and tongue only, but also in deed and in truth. Again,\nJesus says, \"If a man love me, he will keep my words.\" Here is an\nunfailing test of love. If you will not obey God, he knows you do not love\nhim, no matter how much you may profess to love him.\n\nSo again we are reminded by the Holy Bible that, in order to spend this\nbrief life of ours as we should, we must keep the commandments of God. No\nother life will find acceptance with God. No other life will please him.\nHe desires your love most certainly, but he wants such love as will prompt\nyou to obey him. Do not measure your Christian experience by your\nfeelings, but measure it by your obedience as proceeding from an internal\nprinciple. When you find something in your heart that causes you to obey\nGod no matter how you feel, you have good reason to hope that you are a\nChristian.\n\nIn subsequent chapters I will tell you something of what God's Word\nteaches, but, first of all, I desire to fully convince you, and to help\nyou to feel, that the right and true way of life is in obedience to its\nteaching.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLESSEDNESS OF OBEYING GOD'S WORD.\n\n\nEverything is said in the Scriptures that can be said to show us the need\nof living in harmony with the Bible. If our lives are out of harmony with\none text in that blessed book, we are not yet fitted for heaven. We can\nnever be admitted into the everlasting kingdom of God if we knowingly\nrefuse or neglect to live to every word of God. We are therefore exhorted,\nbeseeched, entreated, encouraged, warned, and commanded to obey every text\nin the Bible. We are encouraged to obedience by being told of the\nblessedness of keeping the commandments.\n\nIt is natural for mothers to love to have their children well spoken of.\nWe do not fault them for this. When a young man, by his good deportment,\nis gaining a fair name, mothers, when together, will remark, \"It is\nblessed to be the mother of a young man like that.\" There was a woman who\nheard of the fame of a young man. He was casting out devils, healing the\nsick, opening blinded eyes, and unstopping deaf ears, and consequently he\nwas gaining a wide and favorable reputation. This woman came to the young\nman and with that mother in her heart said to him, \"Blessed is the womb\nthat bear thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.\" It was, indeed,\nblessed to be the mother of this young man. An angel from heaven\nacknowledged this. In speaking to Mary of the birth of Jesus (for he was\nthe young man), the angel said, \"Hail, thou that are highly favored, the\nLord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.\" She was more highly\nfavored than any other woman on earth, because she was to become the\nmother of the Son of God. Can it be that any one can be more blessed than\nthis happy mother of Jesus? Let us hear his reply to the woman--\"But he\nsaid, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.\"\nJesus did not deny that it was blessed to be his mother, but said that\nthose who hear God's word and keep it are rather, or more, blessed. God\nfavors those who obey him. \"The willing and obedient shall eat the good of\nthe land.\" \"Hadst thou hearkened unto my commandments, then wouldst thy\npeace be like a river.\" Happiness is the result of obedience, and heaven\nis the final reward.\n\n\n\n\nTHE RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE WITH CHRIST THROUGH OBEDIENCE.\n\n\nThe reason why it is more blessed to obey the Word of God than to be the\nmother of Jesus is obvious. Spiritual things are higher than physical\nthings. Spiritual relation is closer than natural relation. Brotherhood in\nChrist is closer than brotherhood in the flesh. A brother in the Spirit is\ndearer to us than a son of our own mother. Obedience to God makes us one\nwith God. Mary was the mother of Jesus after the flesh, but God's children\nenjoy such a relation after the spirit. At one time somebody brought word\nto Jesus that his mother and his brethren stood outside desiring to see\nhim. \"But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother?\nand who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his\ndisciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! for whoever shall\ndo the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and\nsister, and mother.\" Matt. 12:48-50. Every one who desires to spend life\nin the highest possible degree of perfection should make a constant study\nof the Bible and should carefully and diligently obey all its precepts.\nDoing this will bring him into the closest possible relationship with God\nand will make life the best man can live.\n\n\n\n\nOUR LIFE IS TO ADORN THE GOSPEL.\n\n\nTo adorn is to make attractive, to beautify. We are exhorted by the\napostle Paul to adorn the doctrine of the New Testament by our every-day\nlife. This thought should be a powerful incentive to close living with God\nand assiduously keeping all of his commandments. Who would not take\npleasure in adorning the teachings of Jesus by a pure life? This is the\njoy of the Christian's heart. He cares nothing for the adornings of the\nworld, but oh, that he may so live as to make beautiful the blessed\nBible!--this is happiness enough to him.\n\nIn another of the Pauline Epistles we are commanded to \"let our manner of\nlife be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.\" To become is also to make\nattractive or to give a better appearance to. An article of dress is\nbecoming to us when it gives us a better appearance. We speak of any one's\nbad conduct as not being becoming to him. We are to become the gospel of\nChrist by holy living. When a life is lived as God designed that life\nshould be, that life will be an adornment to the Scriptures.\n\nGod will beautify his children with the glories of his redeeming grace; he\nwill adorn them with a meek and quiet spirit, which in his sight is very\nprecious, that they, in turn, may adorn his commandments. As a bride decks\nherself with jewels, so the heavenly Father beautifies his children with\nthe robe of righteousness.\n\nThe life of a Christian is God's special treasure. \"They shall be mine,\"\nsays the Lord, \"in that day when I make up my jewels,\" or \"special\ntreasure\" as rendered by the margin (see Mal. 3:17). By reading the\ncontext we learn that it is those who fear the Lord that are his jewels.\nTo fear God and keep his commandments is man's whole duty. It is a perfect\nlife. Such a life is the Lord's jewel. Such a life is recorded in heaven.\nOh, how animating is such knowledge! How it strengthens our hearts to live\na righteous life. To live a life that is worthy to be recorded in heaven\nand is a special treasure to God is truly wonderful. Our souls are awed by\nsuch a thought. Oh, how it ought to move our hearts to carefulness in\nlife! How diligent we should be to walk as worthy citizens of our heavenly\nstate! Some day the Lord will come and gather up these holy lives and\nplace them in his heavenly courts above, where they shall shine as the\nstars forever.\n\n  Oh, take this life, this life of mine\n  (To thee, O God, 'tis freely given),\n  And polish it, that it may shine,\n  And ornament thy Word divine.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN AN EPISTLE OF CHRIST.\n\n\nThe life we live is being read. We are not going through the world\nunnoticed. Some one is looking on, and some one is to some extent\nfashioning his life after ours. Our life each day is being written down in\nsome one's memory. My own dear children group around me at times and talk\nof their mother, who has gone to heaven. Her pure and holy life written in\ntheir memory is read over and over to each other and to me. She still\nlives as an epistle in their hearts. They read her daily life while she\nwas with them, and they continue to read it since she is gone. Christians\nare said to be the epistle of Christ (2 Cor. 3:3). To read their life is\nto read the life of Jesus. All the Bible that many will ever read is what\nthey read in the lives of Christians.\n\nLife will be read just as it is, not as it may pretend to be. It is not\nwhat we pretend to be, but what we really are, that will go down in the\nmemory of others. Those who read our lives have a way of reading between\nthe lines. We should strive not so much to make life holy as to be holy.\nIf you are holy, then live just what you are. We should never strive to be\nwhat we are not. The only way whereby the Bible may be read in the life is\nto get it in the heart. People will never read the Word of God in your\nlife simply because you have a neat little Testament in your pocket or a\nlarge family Bible on your center table. The Bible can get into the life\nonly by beginning at the heart. There is power in the Word of God, but it\nworks from within. \"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.\" It will\ntransform the life so that the life will read just like the Holy\nScriptures.\n\nThe Word of God is a lamp to light us into a holy life. If we follow its\ninstructions in righteousness, it will make us perfect. It reveals our\nimperfections and thus gives us an opportunity to make improvements. To\ndiscover an imperfection in the life is not a bad thing, and we need not\nthink we are any the worse for the discovery. It is only when we let the\nimperfection remain after it is revealed to us, that we become worse.\n\nThe heart that comes under the influence of the Bible will bear the image\nof Jesus, but of this I shall have more to say elsewhere. So I conclude\nhere by saying, live upon the Word of God, desire the sincere milk of the\nWord, and you will be an epistle of Christ. We should feel the\nresponsibility that is upon us, remembering that all the Bible some will\never read is what they read in your life and mine. Oh! let us see that it\nreads in our life as it does in the book, lest those who follow us will\nnot walk in the footprints of Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nHOW WE MAY LIVE AS THE BIBLE READS.\n\n\nIt is just as natural and easy for a Christian to live the Christian life\nas it is for a sinner to live a sinful life. The sinner needs make no\neffort to live a sinful life; he lives it naturally and easily. Life\nproceeds from the heart. The heart is the fountain, and the life is the\nstream. As the fountain is, so the stream will be. It is not difficult to\nlive a Christian life when our hearts are pure. This is the secret of\npurity of life.\n\nThe important question, then, is, \"How can I have a pure heart?\" Hearts\nare made pure by the blood of Jesus. Then comes the command, \"Keep thyself\npure.\" That the heart may be kept pure, it must be kept filled with that\nwhich is pure. To keep darkness out of a room, we need only to keep it\nfilled with light. Carefully closing up every crevice will not suffice if\nthe light goes out. Darkness will be present. But simply keep the room\nfilled with light, and no effort is required to keep darkness out. In like\nmanner no effort need be made to keep impurity out of the heart and keep\nthe heart filled with that which is pure.\n\nBut what is pure? \"The word of God is pure, as silver tried in a furnace\nof fire, purified seven times.\" \"Thy word is very pure; therefore thy\nservant loveth it.\" \"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,\" and your\nheart will be kept pure. The Psalm-writer said, \"Thy word have I hid in my\nheart, that I may not sin against thee.\" Here is the only way to a sinless\nlife. Keep the heart filled with the Word of God. It is the way to live as\nthe Bible reads. To have a nicely bound volume of the Scriptures lying on\nthe center table will not keep the life sinless. We must have the Word in\nour heart. One night while I was waiting for a train in one of our large\nEastern cities, I went into a mission. A man arose and said he had read\nthe Bible through forty-two times and could quote whole books of it from\nmemory. Later in his talk he said he committed sin more or less every day.\nThe Word of God did not keep him from sinning, for he had it in his head\ninstead of in his heart.\n\nTo live a Bible life is the only true and right way to live, and in order\nto live such a life, we need to have the Word written in the heart. \"I\nwill put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.\" Heb. 8:\n10. Let us illustrate this by taking a single text: \"Having food and\nraiment let us be therewith content.\" When we have these words in the\nheart, they will be true in the life. All fret and worry and murmurings\nwill be banished out of the life when the heart is full of the truth.\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO KEEP THE WORD OF GOD IN THE HEART.\n\n\nSince keeping the Word of God in the heart is the only way to successful\nChristian living, you will at once want to know how to keep it in the\nheart. The Word is kept in the heart the same as food is kept in the body.\nThe food is eaten, and then by the process of assimilation it becomes a\npart of the body. This is something of a mystery; nevertheless we all know\nit to be true. We feel weak in body, but soon after we partake of food, we\nfeel stronger. Somehow that food gets into the life and makes us stronger.\nNow, \"man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth\nout of the mouth of God.\" We can eat the Word of God, and we <i>must</i>\neat it in order to get it into our heart and life. By eating and the\nprocess of assimilation the Word becomes a part of our inner being. We eat\nit by faith, and the Spirit assimilates it into our hearts.\n\nLet us take a text: \"In honor preferring one another.\" It is blessed to\nhave an experience like this. To feel happy when others are honored and we\nare not is certainly a desirable experience. We can have it. As you read\nthe above text, love it, admire it, desire it, ask for it, believe you\nreceive it,--and you have it. It will be a truth of beauty and of power in\nyour soul and life. But remember, you must have an eagerness for it. You\nmust lay hold upon it as the infant does upon the mother's breast. The\nsame is true with every text in the Bible. Eat the entire book, and thus\nyou will have it as a glorious source of power and purity in your life.\n\n\n\n\nMAN THE VEHICLE FOR EXHIBITING GOD'S PERFECTIONS.\n\n\nMan was created for a purpose, and that purpose was to glorify his Creator\n(Isa. 43:7). But man sinned and came short of the glory of God. The Lord,\nthat he may yet be glorified in the man, provides a way of redemption.\nThrough the redemption we have in Christ we can live to the glory of God.\nThis is God's purpose. The whole of life should be such as will glorify\nthe Creator, and all that we do should be done with that end in view. God\nhelp us. Living for God, honoring his Word, magnifying his name--this is\nthe duty of man. Awful responsibility! Oh, what carefulness it should work\nin us. What vehement desire! what earnest seeking after God! that we may\nlive such a life.\n\nJesus was here in the world and was the light of the world. He had a human\nbody and in that body lived a life that glorified God. That was an\nexemplary life. Such a life, and such a life only, is to the glory of God.\nWe must fashion our life after his if we would spend life as we should. To\nknow how Jesus lived is to know how we should live. Every life that is in\nthe likeness of Christ's life is accepted of God. No other life can be.\nWhile Christ was here in the body, he was in the express image of the\nFather. The true, holy character of God was revealed through Jesus' human\nlife to a lost and sinning world. God had done all he could to reveal his\ntrue character to man by laws, ceremonies, and ordinances; but these were\nonly the shadow of the true life that was to be the light of the world.\nChrist was both God and man. Having a physical form, which is visible, he\ncould set the holiness of God in plain view before the world. If you would\nknow the true life, look to Jesus.\n\nBut his life could be perfect only as it was given in sacrifice for man.\nHis life was holy because it was a life sacrificed to God. No life can be\npossessed by God and used to his glory, that is not sacrificed to him.\nJesus gave himself as an offering and sacrifice to God for us (Eph. 5:2).\nThis left him without a body or human life through which to demonstrate\nmoral principle to the world. But now comes the command to man, \"I beseech\nyou therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your\nbodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your\nreasonable service.\" Rom. 12:1. God would have this human life of ours\noffered up in sacrifice, so that we are no more ours but his. When we do\nso, there will be a change, a great and wonderful change. That life will\nno longer be worldly or in the course of ordinary earthly-minded men. It\nwill be a transformed life, a life in which God can live and do his will.\nThrough the sacrifice of Christ, God will take the sacrificed life of man\nand possess it by his Spirit and again demonstrate moral principle to the\nworld. O man, that is your calling in life. You are the vehicle to convey\nthe perfections of God to an unbelieving world. Only an empty vessel for\nGod to fill with himself and use to his glory.\n\nO man, consider thyself, and know thyself, the purpose for which thou wert\ncreated, and the place which thou dost occupy in creation. Thou art no\nmean creature. Thou art highest of all. God condescends to walk and talk\nwith thee. He upholds thee in his hand. Angels minister to thee. When thou\npassest through the waters, God himself will be with thee so that they\nshall not overflow thee, and when thou walkest through the fire, he will\nwalk with thee so that the flame shall not kindle upon thee; because thou\nart precious in his sight and honorable, and he has set his love upon\nthee. Thou art so precious to him that he gave his only begotten Son to\ndie to ransom thee.\n\nIn the vast created universe, what place does man occupy? He stands out as\na creature that bears the stamp of the divine image, a creature that is\nendowed with eternity. The heavens shall pass away, but man shall be\nforever. He was made capable of holding communion with the Creator. He\noccupies the relationship with God as child with parent. Being made in the\nlikeness of God, he steps out upon the stage of the mighty universe to\nplay the highest and noblest part in the entire drama of created\nexistences. The songs of the morning stars as they sing together, pouring\ntheir anthems into the ears of God, are not such sweet music as is the\nvoice of praise and adoration from the holy soul of man.\n\nMan was created for the very highest purpose in the mind of God. He is\nchosen to represent the divine character. On the stage men and women\nrepresent certain characters. Man upon the great stage of life is selected\nto represent the holy character of God. Oh, that he might play his part\nwell! He who occupies the highest and most responsible part in this\nwonderful play of the universe will sink to the lowest shame and disgrace\nif he fails. The eyes of earth, heaven, and hell were turned upon man as\nhe stepped out to play his part. A garden eastward in Eden was selected as\nthe ground of exhibition. It was whispered throughout the corridors of the\nuniverse, \"Will he succeed? Will he play his part well?\" Ah, the sad\nstory! He failed and he fell, bringing a world into shame and disgrace,\ncausing angels to weep and God to repent that he had ever made him.\n\nBut heaven's love was set upon him, and God sought a way whereby the\nfallen man could be lifted from his low, degraded plane to the high\nposition he once occupied. After searching heaven through, God found but\none way for man's redemption, but one price to pay. Would he pay it? He\ncalled his Son, his only Son, and pointed out to him the fallen condition\nof man, and how He was robbed of glory and devils were rejoicing. The\nFather said to his Son, \"Only thy entering into that lower world in the\nlikeness of sinful flesh and suffering and dying can redeem man.\" The Son\nreplied, \"I will go. I will suffer. I will lay down my life that man may\nbe restored to his former position, so that he can again take up the part\nhe was to play.\" The price was paid; the plan of man's redemption was\neffected; the divine image was again stamped upon the man, so that in\nChrist Jesus he could again come out and in his life's play reveal the\ncharacter of God to the world.\n\nReader, this brings us down to your day and mine. We have our part to play\nin life. That part is to display the divine perfections. Through Christ\nthis is possible. Oh, what responsibility! Will we play our part well?\nAgain the eyes of earth, heaven, and hell are turned upon us. The apostle\nsays, \"We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.\"\n1 Cor. 4:9. \"Men\" includes both good and bad; likewise the term \"angels\"\nincludes both good and bad angels. So, as I have said, earth, heaven, and\nhell are spectators. To live life as it should be lived is to act out our\npart upon the stage of life in such a way as to honor God and demonstrate\nhis character before this mighty host of spectators.\n\nSuch is man. Through him the righteous character of God is made visible to\nthe world. God himself is invisible; but since he comes into our heart and\nlife, and since our life is physical and visible, his holiness becomes\nvisible in our holy living. This is how to live. He who lives on a lower\nplane than perfect holiness is not living to God's requirements.\n\nGod did not redeem man at such a great price merely for man's sake. He\nredeemed him for his own glory. Redeemed man is God's purchased\npossession, that 'he should show forth the virtues of him who hath called\nhim out of darkness into his marvelous light' (see marginal reading of 1\nPet. 2:9). Here again we learn that the mission of man is to show forth in\nhis daily life the true, holy virtues of his Maker and Redeemer. This\nshould be the first business of our life--living solely, purposely, and\nearnestly for God. We are beings in whom God dwells and through whom God\nis to display his own holy perfections. This is wonderful; this is\nweighty. There is, I repeat, great responsibility on man. But unless he\nfeels it, he will never fill to the full the measure of life. Oh, how\ndelighted is the loving heart of God to find in this world a being in whom\nhe can dwell and through whom he can reveal his own beautiful life! Shall\nwe yield ourselves to him? Shall we invite him into our hearts? Shall we\nconsecrate our lives to him that he may hide our life in his life? Yes,\ndear Lord, we are thine, wholly thine, now and forever. Take full\npossession; live in us; reign in our hearts; use every faculty of our\nbeings to thy own glory. Thy will be done in us and with us as it is done\nin heaven.\n\nJesus will gather his holy angels before him and address them thus: \"Do\nyou behold Brother--? He is a pilgrim and stranger down there in the\nearth. He is my child. I have washed him in my blood and clothed him with\nthe beautiful garments of salvation. His heart is pure and full of love.\nHe is dead to sin and the world. He loves my will, and his daily meat and\ndrink is to do it. He loves my Word and has hid it in his heart. He keeps\nall my commandments. He seeks my glory. He often communes with me. He is\nfervent in spirit and zealous in good works. His good deeds and prayers I\nbottle up here in heaven, See that beautiful mansion yonder with its gates\nof gold and walls of jasper, its floors of transparent glass, its\ncorridors of chalcedony, and colonades of topaz and beryl. That mansion is\nto be his home when his pilgrimage in that under-world is done. By his\nholy walk and devoted life he is now confessing me before men, and I take\ngreat delight in telling you that he is my child and in confessing him\nbefore you and my Father on his throne. Just as I have said in my Word, he\nthat will confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father and\nthe holy angels.\"\n\nRedeemed man is a light in the world. In the darkness of this world he is\na dispeller of gloom. His life shines, shedding its peaceful rays of light\nwherever he goes.\n\nMan's life, when meeting the fullest purpose of God, is used as a\nmagnifying-glass through which others may look and see the beauties of\ndivine perfections. Alas! it is to be lamented that the life of many who\nprofess to be followers of Jesus is such that it blurs the perfections of\nGod.\n\nIn concluding this chapter, let me give you a few rules for daily living--\nrules which, if followed, will make your life a conveyancer of light,\npeace, and holiness from God to the world.\n\nLive such a life that the pure and devoted will be pleased to have you\ncome again.\n\nLive so near to God that every man that meets you is made a little better\nby having met you.\n\nLive such a life each day that the world can see in you the true way of\nlife.\n\nBe such a light that others can see the way to walk.\n\n\n\n\nSOME USE TO JESUS.\n\n\n  O Christ, the way, the truth, the life,\n  Keep me safe mid the raging strife;\n  Help me a warrior brave to be\n  And take the battle-field for thee.\n\n  I fear not the swift arrow's power\n  Since thou art my high, strong-built tower;\n  The darts may have a bitter sting,\n  I shelter 'neath thy feathery wing.\n\n  Before me the Goliaths tall\n  Must quickly flee or headlong fall;\n  The foe is bruised beneath my feet;\n  In thee the victory is complete.\n\n  Jesus, to thee I give up all,\n  To live or die, to stand or fall.\n  The sparrows have thy kindly care;\n  I'm more than they, then need I fear?\n\n  I have a refuge from all harm\n  Within thy strong encircling arm;\n  Thou keepest me by day and night,\n  And guidest my weak steps aright.\n\n  The hairs on my unworthy head\n  Are numbered all, thy Book has said.\n  Gathered, like the defenseless brood,\n  My soul is kept in quietude.\n\n  As kind and loving parents would\n  Give to their children all things good,\n  So from thy presence angels bring\n  Unto thy child each needful thing.\n\n  Sometimes thou hidest thy sweet face;\n  The way is dark, I can not trace.\n  Thou doest best; I'll not repine,\n  But say, \"Thy will be done, not mine.\"\n\n  Since them art good, so good, to me,\n  I beg to be some use to thee:\n  Intensify thy love divine\n  Within my heart, that I may shine\n\n  A little brighter, Lord, for thee,\n  That others thy great love may see.\n  Oh, crucified let all self be,\n  That thou mayst shine thy light through me.\n\n  I would not be so dazzling bright\n  That all the world might see my light,\n  But in some quiet nook of thine,\n  An out-of-way place, there I'd shine.\n\n  'Tis not for me to shine afar,\n  Like blazing sun or brilliant star;\n  Just help me at my door to be\n  A little candle-light for thee.\n\n\n\n\nGODLY LIVING.\n\n\nWhen some one is spoken of as living a worldly life, it is meant that he\nlives in a worldly manner, or in a manner like the world. Likewise, when\nsome one is spoken of as living a godly life, it is meant that he lives in\na godly manner, or in a manner like God. To many this is a hard saying,\nbut it is possible for man to live just such a life; in fact, it is the\nonly right way of life. A godly life is the only true life. Such a life is\ndemanded by the Scriptures. We are to live \"soberly, righteously, and\ngodly in this present world\" (Tit.2:12).\n\nGod's dear children are told to be \"followers of him\" (Eph. 5:1). In some\ntranslations this reads, \"Be ye imitators of God,\" and in some others, \"Be\nye mimickers of God.\" From this we understand that to be a follower of God\nis to live or act in a manner like him. Again, it is said of those who\nabide in Christ, that they should walk even as he walked. Our manner of\nlife should be as was the life of Jesus. It is said of Christ that \"when\nhe was reviled, he reviled not again.\" Although he was treated most\nshamefully by his enemies, he did not seek to avenge himself. When\ninsulting remarks were made to him, he gave no reply. To live a godly life\nis to live in the same manner. When Christians are reviled, they bless;\nwhen they are persecuted, they suffer meekly and patiently. When Jesus was\nbeing put to death by his enemies, he prayed the Father to forgive them.\nWhen a man who had come to take Jesus had his ear cut off, Jesus in his\ntender compassion healed this bitter persecutor's wound. This is the true\nspirit of godliness.\n\nThe full standard of godliness is attained to only when the whole tenor of\nthe life is in simplicity and godly sincerity. The apostle Paul said in\ntestimony that his rejoicing was this: the testimony of his conscience\nthat in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the\ngrace of God, he had had his conduct in the world. A godly life is wholly\nfree from ostentation; every act is done in purest simplicity and truest\nsincerity. As God scrutinizes every act by his all-seeing eye, he\ndiscovers no impure motive, as vain-glory or lifting up of self; for all\nis in godly sincerity.\n\nThe grace of godliness in the Christian character is capable of\ncultivation and increase. There is a law in both the material and\nspiritual that exercise is conducive to growth. The Spirit-filled apostle\nsaid, \"Exercise thyself unto godliness.\" In the Emphatic this reads,\n\"Train thyself for piety.\" Here is something for every soul that has any\naspiration to be more godly in life. Train yourself for piety. To become\nof deeper piety and more godly is the joy of the Christian heart. By\ntraining we become more pious. The lawn-tender forms an espalier by\nintertwining the branches of the vine. He keeps intertwining them as they\ngrow, and by such training forms a latticework made of shrubbery. The soul\nintertwined with the meek and lowly life of Jesus will form a character of\ndeep piety and sincere godliness. The daily life should be intertwined\nwith the life of Jesus. Let there be no reaching out for anything outside\nof him. For a proper development of the Christian graces there must be a\nconstant training or intertwining of the soul with God. This linking more\ntightly is the result of growth, and growth is produced by exercise, and\nexercise consists in reading the Scriptures, in prayer, and in deep\nthought or heart-communion with God. The athlete takes such exercises and\neats such foods as will most properly develop and strengthen his muscles.\nThe soul that has any longings for more of God must exercise to have its\nyearnings gratified. To be conscious of a growing up into Christ, to feel\nthe soul intertwining more and more with the life of God, is fulness of\njoy and perfect happiness. Christian reader, is there an ardent flame of\npure love in your heart? Do you walk with Jesus in a devout, trustful,\nreverential spirit? Do you oftentimes find your mind contemplating the\nwonders of creation and the glories of salvation? Is your soul habituated\nto breathe in the atmosphere of heaven deeply? Is that holy awe filling\nyou? Is that tender sensibility of spiritual things filling your heart? Is\nthat fine, keen edge upon your soul that gives such avidity for holy\nthings? Is to become more godly a sincere desire of your heart? Then\ndiligently perform all the duties that belong to a godly life. Some give\ngreat diligence for a time and make spiritual gain and then lose it all in\na day of slackness. But do not slack, be constant, be persevering, be\nencouraged, reach forth, press forward,--and the prize of meekness, peace,\nand godliness will crown your life.\n\n\n\n\nSOMETHING TO DO.\n\n\nThere is so much to do that every one is needed to help in doing it. In\nthis great, busy world of life there is something for every one to do. The\ncommand is, \"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.\"\nThink over these words for a moment. Does not your heart feel that they\nimply great earnestness in life? They mean a life of labor--a life of\nservice. \"Do with your might\" implies putting your whole heart into your\nwork. Do it in just such a manner as shows you expect to make a success of\nit.\n\nGod has a work for every one that comes into the world. This world is\ngoing to be made a little better by your having come into it, or it will\nbe made worse. Which shall it be? No one can do the work of another, since\nevery one is given all he can do. It is true we are told to bear one\nanother's burdens. I am to help you bear your burdens; that is a part of\nmy work. You are to help me. We need the help of each other. But I can not\ndo what you ought to do; for I have all I can do. What you neglect to do\nwill have to go undone. If some one stops to do what you ought to do, just\nas large a rent is made in his life's work as would have been made in\nyours, but the reflection is on you.\n\nA father who had five sons left them a certain work to do. He gave to each\nhis portion according to his ability. Upon his return he found that four\nof them had done their part and done it well, but one had only partially\ndone his. Consequently, there was a neglected spot--a dropped stitch--\nwhich constantly showed itself. If we fail to do the work in life that God\nin his wisdom has assigned us, there will be in the Father's great plan a\nblank space, a neglected part, that will show through all eternity. Is\nyour life or mine going to be the dropped stitch in the great web of human\nlife? Down in our heart there is a No for an answer, is there not?\n\nLet not the precious moments of your life flee away unimproved. Jesus is\nour example. He went about doing good. Everywhere he went, he left\nevidences that he had passed along that way. O pilgrim on life's journey,\nwhat are you leaving along the way to show in after-years that you have\npassed along? Is it flowers you are strewing? Is it sunshine to cheer and\nlighten the hearts of others? Sad indeed if there is none to say, \"He did\nme good.\"\n\nIt matters not how small may be the part of his great work the Father has\nassigned you, do that little and do it well and do it with all the\nearnestness of your heart. It is your part, and you should do it with as\nmuch earnestness and interest as those who are engaged in the greater\nworks do their parts. If your part is not done well, there will not be\ncompleteness in the divine plan. A single stitch dropped shows a blemish\nin the garment. In the sight of God the most menial task is as sacred as\nthat of the highest order, and when well done as greatly meets his\napproval.\n\nThat is a beautiful thought expressed by the Mohammed Bible. It tells of\nGabriel's being sent to earth to do two things. One was to keep King\nSolomon from becoming so much engaged with the affairs of his kingdom as\nto neglect the hour of prayer. The other was to give assistance to a\nlittle ant that was trying to bear its load of food up a hillside. To\nGabriel the one duty was as important as the other because both came in\nthe plan of God. \"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy\nmight.\" Think these words over again. Let them have the full force of\nmeaning to your heart. Take as much interest in helping the little child\nget the tangle out of the string as in building a church edifice.\n\nMany are working, but alas! how few are doing their best! So much time and\nlabor are being wasted; so many things are being done that had as well not\nbe done. God wants not only our service but our best service. We are under\nobligation to do our best every day. If we let a day pass by without doing\nwhat we could and in the best way we could, our work is not perfectly\ndone.\n\nGod pours his blessings out upon us, but the blessing is not to end with\nitself. Remember these words: \"Freely ye have received, freely give.\" Seek\nto be blessed of God, that you may pass the blessing on to others. Leave\nsome footprints here upon the sands of time, so that in after-years they\nmay guide some one to a noble deed and better way. When you reach the end\nof life, you can experience no greater consolation than to know you have\ndone what you could. Improve the moments of time while you have them. They\nare passing swiftly. They will not wait for you. Some people are going to\ndo, but behold, the opportunity passes before they are ready.\nOpportunities do not wait. Do good while you may. You are going to give\nthe flower tomorrow, but tomorrow the flower may have faded. You intended\nto speak a kind word yesterday, but thought you would defer until another\nday. But the strain was so great the life went out, and your kind word\ncame too late. Today is the day to save the lost. Tomorrow may be too\nlate. How sad that a soul through all eternity will be crying out, \"You\nwere going to help me, but you came too late.\" O God! help us to be up and\ndoing while it is called today. What work you are going to do, do it now\nas the poet urges in the following beautiful lines:\n\n  \"Let's not be living in the past,\n   On what we have been doing,\n  Nor building castles in the air\n   And after them pursuing.\n  'Work in my vineyard, go today':\n   The Master's time is narrow\n  For yesterday we'll see no more--\n   We may not see tomorrow.\n\n  \"If for discouragements you look,\n   You certainly shall find them,\n  But they are not discouragements\n   Except to those who mind them.\n  The future for itself will care,\n   We'll not its trouble borrow;\n  Sufficient evil is today,\n   Then think not of the morrow.\n\n  \"Let's cast our bread upon the flood,\n   In many days to gather,\n  But then at eve hold out the hand\n   For present blessings rather.\n  We hide the seed deep in the ground\n   And watch the closing furrow,\n  When, lo! the field's already white,\n   Not waiting for the morrow.\n\n  \"The sower and the reaper both\n   May now rejoice together,\n  For what they sow and gather in\n   Is fruit that lives forever.\n  The saint rejoices evermore,\n   E'en in the midst of sorrow;\n  He knows the weeping's but a night,\n   Joy cometh on the morrow.\"\n\nMan was made to labor. He is so constituted that he can not find true rest\nand enjoyment in idleness. How much the Bible says about good works! We\nare \"created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before\nordained that we should walk in them.\" Jesus purifies unto \"himself a\npeculiar people, zealous of good works.\" We are told by the scriptures to\n\"be careful to maintain good works\" to \"be not weary in well-doing,\" and\nto \"do good unto all men.\" Time is given us to spend in usefulness, not in\nidleness. Money lost may be regained, but a moment never.\n\nAs Christians we have the mind of Jesus. With such a mind we can not be\ncontented unless we are doing the will of God and making the proper use of\nthe moments he gives us. Mind is the same quality whether it be in Jesus,\nin angels, or in men, and it is governed by the same laws. It is true that\nafter man's transgression he was told that in the sweat of his face he\nshould eat bread, but this does not imply that the disposition to labor is\na result of the fall. The disposition to labor that we find in man's\nconstitution is not the fruit of corruption in his nature, but is a part\nof his original constitution. We find this disposition in the mind of\nangels. They are ministering spirits. They are doing the will of God. How\noften we read in the Book that tells of heaven how angels have visited\nthis transitory world of ours on errands of help, mercy, and consolation.\nThey have closed the mouths of lions, opened prison doors, stilled the\nwaves, whispered comforting words, rolled away the stone, and ministered\nstrength and help to the needy.\n\nMan is not designed for prayer and praise only; he is designed for service\nas well. His mission is twofold: he is to adore and praise his Creator and\nto serve his fellow men. Some have symbolized the two functions of man's\nlife by the ascending and descending of the angels on the ladder that\nJacob saw in his dream. They ascended to God and descended to man. Life\nshould be spent in praising God and in serving man for God's sake.\n\nThere is something to do. There is much to do. There is too much to do for\nus to idle away one moment of time. A full and well-spent life is one\nwhich is spent in doing good out of pure love to God and man. When we\nshall have come down to the end of life's journey, how sweet it will be to\nknow that we have done all we could to help other pilgrims make their\njourney in safety! There is a reward for every generous act. Heaven is\nfaithful and will repay. What we do here will find an eternity of reward.\nLet not, therefore, one day pass you by without your doing something\npurposely for God.\n\n\n\n\nSPIRITUAL DRYNESS.\n\n\nWe often meet with those who complain of dryness and deadness in their\nworship. They are very unlike the Psalmist's picture of the \"blessed man.\"\n\"He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth\nforth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither.\" This is a\ntrue picture of the Christian life. The soul should be as a watered\ngarden--fresh and green and sparkling. It should be a springtime. You have\nseen a garden in the spring or one that is well-watered. All is beauty,\nfreshness, and vigor. Such a garden is used by the prophet to symbolize\nthe Spirit-filled soul. He says, \"And the Lord shall guide thee\ncontinually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and\nthou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose\nwaters fail not.\" Isa. 58:11.\n\nIn order to have such a happy experience, however, the children of God\nmust meet certain conditions. The context says, \"If thou draw out thy soul\nto the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul.\" If our souls are not drawn\nout in pity for the hungry and we fail to do what we can to relieve them,\nwe need not expect anything other than a spiritual drought in our own\ncases.\n\nSpiritual dryness is sometimes the result of attachment to the world. \"Set\nyour affections on things above, and not on things on the earth.\" Unless\nwe live by the Bible, we can not be spiritual. A little affection for the\nthings of earth robs the soul of spiritual life. In this matter Satan is\nan excellent reasoner. He will suggest that your desires are only for the\nglory of God; that you have no affection for the worldly object, but\ndesire it only for God's glory. A young lady to whom I gave warning said\nthat her desires were pure and that she had no affection for the object,\nbut sought only to please the Lord. Very soon, however, she came to the\nrealization that her soul was a desert place, and all because she had\nbelieved the falsehood of Satan. Beware how you desire earthly things for\nGod's glory. Underneath may be a desire for self-gratification, ease, or\nluxury. If you are troubled by a lack of sensible devotion in worship,\nexamine your affections. Possibly you may find some tiny roots twining\naround something of this world.\n\nSpiritual dryness may be the result of sloth. \"Slothfulness casteth into a\ndeep sleep.\" Prov. 19:15. Spiritual idleness soon results in spiritual\ndryness. That sophism of Satan's, \"No time for prayer,\" is very dangerous.\nAny neglect of spiritual devotion must result in lukewarmness. Oh, how\nunreasonable is man and how easily the desires of the flesh deceive! If\nyou neglected to water your garden, you would not wonder for a moment why\nit was drying up. Then, when you are neglecting to water the soul in\nvigorous, spiritual exercises, why do you wonder at your being so\nspiritually dull? \"Awake, thou that sleepest!\" Up and away to the hill of\nthe Lord. Be the frequent witness of a sunrise scene from the mount of\nprayer.\n\nThe San Jose scale works imperceptibly at first. Oftentimes its presence\nwill be detected only by the experienced. Its presence will perhaps be\nknown first by the fruit. If your spiritual fruit is not as beautiful,\nwell-flavored, and fully developed as it should be, look for the presence\nof sloth in the soul. The poison of sloth will get into the soul little by\nlittle. First there will be a momentary delay of spiritual duties. Satan\nis too wise to suggest an entire abandonment of them, but he will suggest\na little postponement. One delay will soon be followed by another and then\nby another. These delays are an opiate that dulls the spiritual senses,\nand thus they will yield more readily to postponements and finally find\npleasure in them.\n\nLet me make this still more simple, for some may need it made very easy to\nunderstand. When the soul is like a watered garden, it will be drawn to\nGod in prayer in the early morning. Any delay will cause uneasiness and\nrestlessness. The soul longs to hasten away to the presence of God. But\none little delay after another brings on a morbid condition. The soul\nloses its keen relish; its senses become deadened, so that there is no\nuneasiness; while the senses of the self-life will find pleasure in sloth.\n\nWhen the soul once gets into the habit of idleness, it experiences no\nlittle difficulty in getting out. On becoming aware of his state, the\nindividual may acknowledge his inactivity and make half-formed resolves to\nbe more earnest and diligent, only very soon to relapse into the same\nformer sluggishness. This virus of sloth inoculates the entire spiritual\nbeing, poisoning the will and making spiritual activity most disagreeable.\nNot only does it destroy the will of the soul, but it blindfolds the eyes\nso that the individual can see no necessity for great fervency in spirit\nor for diligence in spiritual exercise. In a half-dazed manner he\nacknowledges that the \"watchings often\" and \"fastings often\" and \"praying\nalways\" of the apostle Paul were very consistent in him, but does not\nrealize that such would be as desirable in his own Christian profession.\nHe wonders why he is not healed as people were in the days of Paul. Why\nwonder? He does not wonder why the flowers wither when it does not rain.\nIt is the fervent, earnest prayer that God hears.\n\nNothing but the greatest diligence and determination and strong laying\nhold upon God will ever put spiritual sloth to death. In this respect it\nis like the South American animal called the sloth. Though one species of\nthe sloth is only the size of a cat, and is extremely slow on the ground,\nits highest rate of speed there being not more than ten feet an hour, yet\nit is difficult to exterminate.\n\nOne reason why so many are slothful is that they do not realize the true\nworth of prayer. Oh, I would to God that men rightly valued communion with\nGod or a few thoughts of him! The lifting of the heart to God in praise or\nadoration is of greater value than the wealth of worlds. It is not enough\nto know much about the doctrine of the Bible, to be acquainted with this\npresent reform, and to live a fair outward life; we must be filled with\nthe Spirit. We must be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose\nleaf does not wither. Take plenty of time to gain heaven. Take time to be\nspiritual. A home in heaven is worth laboring for. Work out your salvation\nwith fear and trembling. Spiritual dryness is the result of spiritual\nindolence. Be active, and you will not be unfruitful.\n\n\n\n\nPRAYER.\n\n\nA work of this nature would be inexcusable for not saying something about\nprayer, for who can live life triumphantly without prayer? Who can\nproperly estimate the true worth of prayer or rightly appreciate the\nprivilege of prayer? Man esteems it a great honor to be admitted into the\ncourts of the lords and kings of earth. What an honor it is to have\naudience with the King of glory! He extends the golden scepter to us, and\nwe come hopefully, confidingly into his presence to tell him all that is\nin our hearts. He loves us so. We should not dare to come into the awful\npresence of the Great King did we not know that he loves us with an\neverlasting love. When we understand his love toward us, we tell him with\njoy and eagerness every desire of the heart.\n\nPrayer is the energy and life of the soul. It is the invincible armor\nwhich shields the devoted Christian from the poisoned missiles shot forth\nfrom the batteries of hell. It is the mighty weapon with which he fights\nlife's battles unto victory. He who lives in prayer reigns triumphant. The\ndark storm-clouds are driven away, mountains of discouragement are cast\ninto the sea, chasms of difficulties are bridged, hope is given wings,\nfaith increases, and joys abound. Hell may rage and threaten; but he who\nis frequent and fervent in prayer experiences no alarm.\n\nBy prayer the windows of heaven are opened, and showers of refreshing dew\nare rained upon the soul. It is as a watered garden, a fertile spot where\nblooms the unfading rose of Sharon and the lily-of-the-valley; where\nspread the undecaying, unwithering branches of the tree of life. By prayer\nthe soul is nourished and strengthened by the divine life. Do you long for\na brighter hope and deeper joy, for a deeper sense of the divine fulness,\nfor a sweeter, closer walk with God? then live in prayer. Do you love to\nfeel the holy flame of love burning in all its intensity in your soul?\nthen enkindle it often at the golden altar of prayer. Without prayer the\nsoul will weaken, famish, and die, the fountain of love dry up and become\nas a thirsty and parched desert. Do you admire the character Jesus? Behold\nhis lowliness and humility, his gentleness and tender compassion. Have\nthey any beauty and do you desire them to grace your soul? then draw them\ndown from the skies in all their glorious fulness by the fervent prayer of\nfaith. As through the process of assimilation food is transformed into an\nactive, living being, so through the medium of prayer the character Jesus,\nin all 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, not a few ejaculations, but minutes of deep, intimate\ncommunion with God. Linger at the altar of prayer until you feel particles\nof glory drop in richness into your soul, scattering sweetness throughout.\nIn the early morning hours, when the still, balmy breath of nature plays\naround you, let your soul fly away on the wings of prayer with its message\nof love and praise to its Maker.\n\n  \"Sweet morning is the time to pray:\n  How lovely and how sweet\n  To send our early thoughts away\n  Up to the mercy-seat!\"\n\nIf you desire to be more deeply and sincerely pious, pray. If you desire\nheights in his love, depths in his grace, fulness in his joy, and richness\nin his glory, pray, pray with all sincerity of heart and intensity of\nsoul. Did you say you had no time for prayer? What a pity! Your happiness\nand success in life depend upon prayer. Your eternal enjoyment depends\nupon it. Then, oh, what a pity that you have no time for prayer! Satan\nwill tell you there is no need of so much praying. He will give you\nindifferent feelings if he can, and tell you that you can get along well\nenough without it. He will do all he possibly can to prevent your praying.\nIf there is not much benefit derived from prayer, why is he so concerned?\nThe Bible commands are: \"Watch and pray,\" \"Pray always,\" \"Be instant in\nprayer,\" \"Pray without ceasing,\" etc. Beloved saints, I exhort you to a\nlife of prayer. I beseech you in Jesus' name to go often into your closets\nand there in all earnestness of soul pray until the love of God and light\nof heaven fill your beings. Pray until a rapture from the skies sweeps\nover your soul, making the place of prayer the dearest spot on earth to\nyou.\n\n\n\n\nKEEP THE ROOTS WATERED.\n\n\nHow often you admire a tree for the loveliness of its green foliage and\nthe profusion of its luscious fruit. You speak to your friend of the\nbeauty of the tree and of the goodness of God in bestowing such a gift to\nmen; but perhaps you do not speak nor even think of the coarse, unsightly\nroots hidden deep in the ground. But that tree owes its beauty and its\nlife to roots. The foliage is bright and fresh and green because the roots\nare burrowing deep in a rich and well-watered soil. The flavoring of the\nfruit is generated by the roots down in the dark and silent chamber of the\nearth.\n\nPerhaps there comes to your mind now some whose faces you always see lit\nup with a radiant glory. You can not fail to admire them. Their words\ncontain a secret power and seem to awaken in you all that is noble. They\nseem to lift you into a higher life. From their words, their actions, and\ntheir countenances flows an influence that causes you to forget the things\nof earth and makes you feel as if you had joined the society of angels.\nSuch ones have a secret hidden root-life that generates this peculiar\ncharm in their visible life. Down in a closet is a secret laboratory where\nthe fragrance and beauty and glory that flow out of their lives are\ncompounded. There the roots of their inner life take hold upon the riches\nof heaven's grace and drink in of the waters that flow. In their oft and\nsilent communion with God they take root downward, and then they go forth\ninto life and bear fruit upward. While others are talking with their\nfriends about the things of earth, they meet with God in the garden of\ngraces, where the sweet spices flow out and the frankincense and myrrh\nscent the air, and there they become laden with a profusion of fruits and\nimpregnated with a sweet odor, which they bear out into the world. They\nare like the tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf does not\nwither.\n\nO beloved pilgrim, see that the roots of your inner being are well\nwatered. Let them drink in the sparkling waters of life. Remember,\neffectual work for God consists more in being than in doing. Do not go\nabout in your labor with an empty basket. It is only when you go out from\ndeep and silent communion with God that your labor will be effectual.\nNever think that you have so much to do that you have not much time for\nprayer. An hour's work done in the quiet, secret power of the Spirit is\nworth more than a day of your own efforts. Keep the roots watered.\n\n\n\n\nUNDER THE FIG-TREE.\n\n\nIn the beginning of his ministry Christ called to Philip to follow him.\nUpon being called Philip went in search of Nathanael to tell him that he\n(Philip) had found the Christ. Nathanael was somewhat doubtful, but at\nPhilip's invitation he went to see. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he\nsaid, \"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!\" Nathanael,\nwondering how this man happened to know him, asked, \"Whence knowest thou\nme?\" Jesus answered, \"When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee.\" John\n1:48.\n\nIt is evident that something had occurred with Nathanael under the fig\n-tree outside the common details of every-day life. If there had not\nsomething rather unusual or something higher than the common events of\nlife occurred there, the Savior would not have mentioned this one\nparticular place. Any other place would have done as well. There was in\nthis answer something that was highly significant to Nathanael. At this\ntime there were many devout people looking for the \"consolation of\nIsrael.\" They were looking for the coming of the King of the Jews. It is\nnot difficult for me to believe that Nathanael was under the fig-tree\npraying to God for the speedy coming of the Messiah. When Jesus said to\nhim, \"When thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee,\" Nathanael\nimmediately replied, \"Thou art the King of Israel.\" He was doubtless under\nthe tree in prayer to this end not once only, but very probably for months\nand maybe for years. He had been praying for this very thing. He had\nselected one especial fig-tree as a place for prayer. It was not <i>a</i>\nfig-tree, but <i>the</i> fig-tree. There he had prayed long and often for\nIsrael's King to come. So when Jesus said, \"When thou wast under the fig\n-tree, I saw thee,\" he knew at once that his oft-repeated prayers were\nanswered, and therefore said, \"Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art\nthe King of Israel.\"\n\nMany a devout one since that day has had his secret communion-place with\nGod. Perhaps it was in the woods on a mossy knoll, under an oak, on a\ngrassy spot on the bank of a stream, or under a shade-tree that grew by\nthe brook in the meadow. To these places of solemn silence they would\nretreat when the shades of night were falling or when the light of the\nmorning was streaking the sky, and there from the fulness of their souls\nthey would pour out their praise and thanksgiving to God. These were the\ndearest places in the world to them. It may be there are aged ones today\nwho had such places in the earlier days of their lives. Though they are\nnow far removed from those scenes, these are still sacred in their memory.\n\nThere are those today who have their altars of prayer in some secluded\nplace. There they meet God and tell him all their sorrows and cares, there\nthey recount to him his loving kindness, there they implore his grace to\nsustain them through all their trying scenes of life, and there they\nworship at his feet. Bless his name! Beloved, have you a \"fig-tree\"? and\nare you often found under it? Have you a quiet nook somewhere which is\nhallowed by the presence of God?\n\nThe beloved disciple John, when in the Spirit, saw golden vials in the\nhands of the worshipers of the Lamb around the throne. These golden vials,\nhe says, were \"full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints\" (Rev.\n5: 8). Are you, dear reader, every day filling golden vials around God's\nthrone with the sweet odor of prayer? Again, this disciple, when the\nseventh seal was opened, saw seven angels standing before God with seven\ntrumpets. Then came another angel, with a golden censer. To him was given\nincense, which he offered with the prayers of saints upon the golden\naltar, and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of saints\nascended before God. (See Rev. 8:3, 4.) We have the privilege of mingling\nour prayers with the incense that is being offered before the throne.\n\nThe Psalmist seemed to comprehend something of the nature of prayer when\nhe said, \"Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the\nlifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.\" Psa. 141:2. The prayers\nthat were offered by the devout Cornelius were so fragrant before God that\nthey were kept as a memorial of him. A memorial is something kept in\nremembrance of any one. If you want to be kept in remembrance before God,\nsee that your prayers are highly impregnated with a sweet odor. You must\npray or die. No one can retain spiritual life any great length of time\nwithout prayer. So we exhort you to a life of prayer.\n\n\n\n\nSHUT THE DOOR.\n\n\nIt is as impossible to live and prosper spiritually without prayer as it\nis to live and prosper physically without food. Those who enjoy a close\nwalk with God and have power with him are those who pray. Natural\nabilities and intellectuality can never supply any lack in spirituality.\nUnless you are spiritual, you are of but little use to God; and to be\nspiritual, you must live much in prayer. It is not those who are on their\nknees the oftenest or the longest that do the most praying. Some may pray\nmore real prayer in one hour than others in two or three hours. Too many\npeople leave the door open. Prayer that feeds the soul must be offered\nwith the door shut. \"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,\nand when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.\"\nMatt. 6:6.\n\nGod is in secret. He is hidden from the world. The world does not see him,\nneither knows him. You can never reach God in your prayers unless you shut\nout the world. Shutting the door means something more than closing the\ndoor of your literal closet. Persons may enter the literal closet and\nclose the door, and yet have the world in their hearts and thoughts. Such\nhave not closed the door in the true sense.\n\nIn the public assembly you must enter your closet when you pray, and shut\nthe door, or your prayers avail not with God. You must talk from your\nheart to the heart of God. Those assembled may hear your words, but they\ndo not know the secret. The secret is between your heart and the heart of\nGod. You scarcely hear your words. You know and hear more of the speaking\nof your heart. There is a blessing in such praying; there is a joy that\ncan not be told. Such prayer feeds the soul upon the divine life and lifts\nus in realms of light and happiness. Thank God for the sweet privilege of\nsecret intercourse with him. O beloved, when you pray, enter into your\ncloset, and be sure to close the door.\n\n\n\n\nALONE WITH GOD.\n\n\nThis life of ours will never be all that it should be unless we are much\nalone with God. Only those who are oft alone with him know the benefit\nthat is derived therefrom. You can not be like God unless you are much\nwith him, and you can not live like him unless you are like him. The\nScriptures tell us that Jesus departed into the mountain to be alone with\nthe Father and that he was often \"alone praying.\" When Jesus had anything\nof great importance to say to his disciples, he always took them aside\nfrom the multitude. When he was transfigured, he took three of his\ndisciples into a mountain apart from all the world. When he was one time\nalone praying with his disciples, he asked them who he was. Peter\nanswered, \"The Christ of God\" (Luke 9:18). It was only when he was alone\nwith them and after prayer that he could bring them into such nearness to\nhim that they might know in their hearts that he was the Son of God. When\namid the active duties of life and when in contact with the world, we can\nscarcely come into that sacred nearness to God that will enable us to feel\nin our hearts all that God is. We may get slight glimpses of his glory, we\nmay occasionally get a dim view of some of his beauty, we may feel a\nlittle warming of his love in our bosoms; but only when alone with him are\nwe awed into wonder at the sight of his glory and great beauty. It is only\nthen that we see him in his purity and feel the warm sunshine of his love.\nIt is only then that our hearts can be deeply impressed with the knowledge\nthat he is God, and in childlikeness we can look up to him and call him\nFather.\n\n\n\n\nPRAYERFUL REMEMBRANCE.\n\n\n  At evening time when dark'ning shades draw nigh\n  And flickering rays of light go chasing by,\n  When all around glad nature sweetly sings\n  And seems you hear the sound of angel's wings,\n  Some one in memory may be brought to thee.\n\n  Maybe some one from distant land away,\n  Of whom you had no thought for many a day.\n  'Tis passing strange; you do not understand\n  Why such a one and from such distant land\n  Should step across the threshold of your mind,\n  Why he to you at this time should be brought.\n  'Tis mystery when all else claims your thought;\n  You seek to understand, but learn it not.\n\n  Maybe this one has conflict great and sore,\n  Is struggling long and hard 'gainst grim despair,\n  And God who rules the thought and mind of man\n  Has brought him this long way to you for prayer.\n  Then do not drive these whisperings from your mind\n  Nor cast them carelessly upon the wind:\n  'Tis but the voice of God, in tender care\n  For suffering one on life's broad way somewhere,\n  Inviting you to plead for him in prayer.\n\n  Kind friend, if at morning, noon, or night\n  I come to thee on wings of memory,\n  It is no doubt because the fight is fierce;\n  Then will you bow and pray to God for me?\n\n\n\n\nHE CARETH FOR THEE.\n\n\nLife will never be successful unless we learn to let God care for us.\nUnless we have faith to know that God is our keeper and that hence we have\nnothing to fear, we shall never be the cheer and sunlight in this dark\nworld that God designed us to be. This is a world of trouble. Sin envelops\nmany souls in awful midnight gloom. Some may never find Jesus unless they\nsee him smiling in your face. You as God's dear child are to be a light to\nthose poor, benighted souls. To be such a light, you must be full of\nlight, and to be full of light you must be full of hope by faith in the\ncheering and encouraging promises of God. None can be truly happy, none\ncan be the cheer, comfort, and consolation to the world, who are bearing\ntheir own burdens. Only those who have learned the sweet lesson of trust\nin God and know that he cares for them are truly happy and free and\ncapable of cheering others.\n\n  He who this one short life would live\n  As heaven has designed\n  Must scatter rays of cheering light\n  From a heart with Hope enshrined.\n\nThere are many priceless promises in the Word of God. There is a promise\nfor every need, condition, and circumstance of life. Among these blessed\npromises, here is one that has brought comfort to many a weary pilgrim on\nlife's way: \"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.\" 1\nPet. 5:7. If this promise does not lift you far above all the trials,\ndiscouragements, and weariness of life, it is because you do not believe\nit nor understand the fulness of its meaning. \"He careth for <i>you</i>.\"\nIt is not your neighbor or your friend, but it is you. Cares will come to\nyou, certainly; you could never cast your cares upon God if you had none.\nBut you have them and doubtless many of them. The difficulty with many is,\nthey do not cast them on God. Reader, your life will never be, it can not\nbe, that free, happy, radiant, sunlit, helpful life that pleases God, if\nyou bear your own cares.\n\nThere is nothing too trivial in life to take to God. In the very smallest\nconcerns of your daily life he has an interest. In everything let your\nrequests be known unto him. Do learn to take everything to him. Fret over\nnothing, never worry for a moment. Let nothing disturb or disquiet you. I\nsay <i>nothing</i>. \"He careth for you.\" Do you comprehend the full\nmeaning of these words? Think them over for a moment. Let go of yourself\nand let God keep you. Oh, the freedom that belongs to the children of God!\nTheirs is a sweet land of liberty. But alas! how many will go on bearing\ntheir own burdens and weighted down with care with these words right\nbefore them: \"He careth for you\"! Why not let him?\n\nCare is a grace-destroyer. If you would be strong in the grace of God, you\nmust live free from care. It gnaws at the very vitals of the soul. A\nstrong cable made of many fine wires was stretched across the river and\nwas used to tow a heavy scow back and forth. One of the small strands was\nbroken. This was thought to be a small matter. Soon another was broken and\nthen another. Still this was not of much consequence. One by one more were\nbroken but unheeded because each was so small. Finally all were broken,\nand the boat went adrift. A little care does not seem to be of much\nconsequence. But the Bible says to be \"careful for <i>nothing</i>,\" and to\n\"cast <i>all</i> your care upon him.\"\n\nSome have thought that the bearing of burdens and cares made us strong in\nthe Lord. No, it is the casting of them on Jesus that makes us strong. For\na man to be down under a heavy weight is no exercise to his muscles; but\nto be up on his feet and passing heavy weights on to another, this is\nexercise. To be down under burdens and cares is no exercise to the soul,\nbut is really death; the passing of the cares on to Jesus is the exercise\nand the strength of the spiritual powers. If you only knew how much grace\na little care destroyed, you would quickly cast them on Jesus. Some have\ncome to find themselves entirely without grace because they did not cast\ntheir cares on the Lord. We knew a sister whose baby was such a care that\nshe could not keep saved. One day when asked how she was getting along in\nthe Lord, she answered, \"Not well; the baby is such a care and worry that\nI can not keep the victory I should like to have.\" Was it not too bad to\nlay such a blame upon a poor little innocent child? I was asked one time\nif it was possible to reach an experience where we would never fret or\nworry. Certainly we can. We shall never get to a place where we shall have\nno temptations, but we can get to a place where we shall not yield to the\ntemptations. Your life has not reached that degree of perfection that it\nshould, until you have attained to such an experience. Jesus says, \"Take\nno thought for the morrow.\" When you are having any great anxieties about\nfuture things, you are doing what Jesus tells you not to do, and you can\nnot do something he tells you not to do without suffering spiritual loss.\nOh! why will you worry about anything, when Jesus says, \"Be anxious for\nnothing.\" \"But,\" you say, \"when there is no meat in the larder and no\nflour in the bin, can we then be not anxious?\" There are those who have\nbeen in just such circumstances and yet have not been greatly troubled.\n\nIf you will be over-anxious about anything, you can never live close to\nGod. When anxieties knock at the door of your heart for admittance and you\nopen the door and let them in, you are opening the door to a dangerous\nband of robbers. They are robbers of grace and peace. When anxieties step\nover the threshold of your heart's door, grace and peace fly out of the\nwindow. \"But what am I to do?\" sighs a care-worn soul. Do just what a good\nman says he did. He said that he opened his heart to Jesus, and he came in\nand shut the door. Let Jesus keep the door of your heart. When anxieties\ncome and want into your heart, tell them they must get permission from\nJesus, because you have given your whole heart up to him. This is what is\nmeant by \"casting your care upon him.\" It is not enough to kneel down and\nask Jesus to take them; you must cast them upon him. In this is the soul's\nneeded exercise. The soul that will do this shall be strong. You must put\nthe burden over on the Lord's shoulders and let him bear it. He will bear\nall your burdens for you if you will lay them upon him.\n\nNot only must you put them upon him, but you must let go entirely. You do\nnot even need to look after them to see what he does with them. Your\nlittle child comes to you with a tangled cord. It gives it over into your\nhands, but holds to one end. Now, you know that in order to get the tangle\nout, you must have both ends. O weary one, Jesus will disentangle all the\ncares of life, but you must let him have both ends. He does not want your\nhelp. You hinder him if you attempt to help him. Cares will come; things\nthat are of a trying nature will assail us as long as we live; but we have\na refuge in Jesus; he will bear our burdens; he will care for us.\n\n\n\n\n\"CONSIDER THE LILIES.\"\n\n\nWhat a beautiful lesson Jesus has taught us of rest and quietness from the\nlilies! \"Consider the lilies of the field,\" he says, \"how they grow: they\ntoil not, neither do they spin.\" He is trying to teach us how free we can\nbe--free from all earthly cares and anxieties. The lily does not struggle;\nit has no anxieties about its future; but it grows. It grows to be\nbeautiful. Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them.\nGod paints the flower with greater beauty than the robes of kings. If you\nwould be beautiful, you must rest in the Lord. Just a little struggling,\nand you will mar the whole. Christ wants to reveal himself through you. He\nwill shine the beauty of his own glorious person into your soul if you\nwill but be quiet. Have no anxieties about the things that pertain to this\nlife, and Jesus will clothe you with the beauties of heaven. Character, as\nthe years pass on, is revealed on the face. The miser's face shows the\nmiserly condition of his heart. Jesus will stamp his own image upon the\nsoul if the soul is kept in quietness, and this image will stand out in\nbeauty on the face and outward life.\n\nBy this lesson of the lilies Jesus did not mean to teach that we should\nnot pray. He once said, \"Men ought always to pray.\" We must pray much. If\nwe do not pray, Satan will have us toiling and spinning. Keeping close to\nJesus with a strong faith and a firm trust is the only way to rest, and we\ncan not do this without much prayer. \"Cease thy toiling and care.\" Learn a\nlesson from the lilies. Rest in the Lord, and he will make you an object\nof Christian beauty that will bless the world. Even after you are long\ngone, that restful, patient life will cast its rays of light and beauty\nback and chase away the shadows from the life of others.\n\n  The day has gone, the twilight fades,\n  There's stillness everywhere;\n  I seek some place of solitude,\n  And humbly bow in prayer.\n\n  I tell the story of the day--\n  The joy, the grief, the care;\n  I keep not back one secret thing,\n  But tell it all in prayer.\n\n  O heart of mine, be light and free,\n  Not lightest burden bear,\n  In everything let thy requests\n  Be told to God in prayer.\n\n  Yes, all; I tell it all to Christ\n  In evening twilight dim:\n  Somehow my heart much lighter grows\n  Since all is told to him.\n\n  I lay my life at his dear feet--\n  O Jesus, I am thine!\n  I'll walk the way of life with thee;\n  Thy will, O Christ, is mine.\n\n  And now I lay me down to sleep\n  While gathering shadows fall,\n  And sweet indeed my rest shall be,\n  Since Jesus knows it all.\n\n\n\n\nSORROWFUL YET ALWAYS REJOICING.\n\n\nThis world is sometimes called \"the vale of tears.\" Jesus said, \"In the\nworld ye shall have tribulation,\" but he also said, \"In me ye shall have\npeace.\" The way to heaven is through tribulations. Those whom John saw\nstanding before the throne and the Lamb arrayed in white robes and with\npalms in their hands, were one day where we now are, and thank God, we,\ncoming up through great tribulation, shall some day be where they are.\nWhile man in this world will meet with sorrow, he can by the grace of God\nalways rejoice. Alum thrown into muddy water will clarify it. The grace of\nGod thrown into a cup of sorrow will turn it to joy. Sorrows are needful.\nIt is only a barren waste where there is no rainfall.\n\nWe have sung, \"No days are dark to me.\" This can indeed be true, but it is\nnot to be taken in the sense that there will be no clouds nor rainfall.\nShow me a man who never has a cloud to float across his sky, and I will\nshow you a man who has not faith enough to see clearly in the sunlight. It\nis those whose faith pierces through the cloud and keeps the smiling,\nsunlit face of Christ in view that have the truest, sweetest joy. Their\nrejoicing is in the Lord. By bravery and force of will some may shut\nthemselves against sorrow and soon become insensible to it. But the heart\nthat is steeled against sorrow is in all probability so calloused that it\ncan not experience joy. Those who know the deepest sorrow may ofttimes\nknow the fullest joy, and that in the midst of their sorrow. Do not harden\nyour heart against sorrow, but look to Jesus for that balm which heals,\nthat grace which sustains, that comfort which gladdens. Some have thought\nthat true joy consists in never having a sorrow; that those who have\nsorrow have not found the way of peace. In this they err. Those who never\nhave a sorrow rejoice because they have no sorrows, but some who have\nsorrow have learned to rejoice in the Lord. This is truest joy.\n\n\"Sorrowful,\" said one who was crucified with Christ, \"yet always\nrejoicing.\" He never once denied having sorrow; nay, he said, \"I have\ngreat heaviness, and continual sorrow in my heart.\" But he also said, \"I\nglory.\" It was the deep sorrow that made him most like Jesus. He had\nfeeling. \"We sorrow,\" he said, \"but not as those who have no hope.\" The\nworld knows a sorrow that the Christian does not know. Christians should\nbe careful lest in hardening themselves against feeling they do not render\nthemselves incapable of feeling compassion, sympathy, and pity.\n\nLet the tears flow. If you keep them back, the fountain will dry up. May\nthe Lord pity those who have no tears! Jesus wept. The apostle Paul said,\n\"Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many\ntears.\" Oh, that unfeeling heart that can not suffer, that dry heart that\nhas no fountain of tears! It weeps not over the sorrows of others and\nconsequently can not rejoice when others are joyful. Only those who weep\ncan truly rejoice.\n\nYou rejoice because you and your family are in good health, because your\nfriends are smiling upon you, because circumstances surrounding you are\nfavorable, because you have an abundance of good things to eat and of\nclothing to wear. But your rejoicing is only in earthly things. We are to\nbe grateful for these things, but they are only the sea-foam of joy; the\nwater lies beneath. True joy is to rejoice not only <i>in</i> the Lord but\n<i>with</i> the Lord. Rejoice in those things in which Jesus and the\nangels rejoice. When your goods are being wasted, you find your deepest\njoy because God is being glorified.\n\nIf you can not weep with angels, you can not rejoice with them. See that\naged pilgrim: his has been a hard and stony way; loved ones have gone one\nby one from his embrace; riches have taken wings and flown away; sorrows\nare multiplied; trials are many; burdens are heavy; he is footsore, sad,\nand weary. Angels are bending over him weeping. Can you weep with him and\nthem? They comfort him. The sadness of his heart begins to die away; hope\nbegins to dawn. The dawning of the hope causes the angels to rejoice. This\nis truest joy. Rejoice when souls are saved; rejoice when hearts are\ngladdened; rejoice when God is praised. This is the true source of purest\njoy. But it is only those who are capable of suffering deeply with the\nsufferings of others, that can truly rejoice when their sufferings are\nturned away. The more we are like Jesus, the more we have of his Spirit,\nthe tenderer will be our hearts and the more deeply will our souls be\nmoved by the sufferings of others.\n\nWhen some dear friend has proved untrue; when some loved one has gone\nastray; when the death-angel has left a chair vacant at your hearth-stone\nand deep sorrow lies upon your soul, then it is that you feel nearer to\nJesus. You feel ripe for heaven. The world has suddenly gone out, and you\nhave cast your eyes upward. Do not try to keep back the tears; let them\nflow. They are pearls in angels' sight. It is the tears of the child that\ntouches the heart of the parent, and cites him to give comfort to the\nlittle one. It is the tears of the Christian that touches the great loving\nheart of God and moves him to give that solace which only Heaven gives.\nDavid said in a time of deepest sorrow--his son was seeking his life--\"It\nmay be the Lord will look on my tears [margin], and that the Lord will\nrequite me good.\" Hezekiah was doomed to die. The prophet told him to 'set\nhis house in order, for he should die, and not live.' The dying man turned\nhis face to the wall and prayed, \"I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how\nI have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done\nthat which is good in thy sight\"; and he \"wept with a great weeping\n[margin].\" This touched the heart of God, and he said, \"I have heard thy\nprayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.\"\n\nIf the heart of God's saints were a deeper fountain of tears, more sick\npeople would be healed in these days. Around are the sick and suffering,\nbut alas, how few tears! When saints have so deepened into God, cultivated\nsuch a tenderness of heart, and become so deeply compassionate, that they\nwill \"water their couch with their tears all the night\" at the sight of\nsick persons, they will get answers to their prayers. To such God will\nsay, \"Behold, I will heal him.\" If tears will not reach God, the case is\nhopeless. Esau sought for a place of repentance and sought it with tears,\nbut could not find it. The mentioning of tears here implies that the\naddition of tears to earnest heart-seeking has influence with God.\nJeremiah, in his lamentations for fallen Israel, said, \"Oh, that my head\nwere waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and\nnight for the slain of the daughter of my people!\" He knew that if\nanything would avail with God, it would be tears therefore he wished that\nhis eyes were a fountain of tears, so that God might be moved to save\nIsrael.\n\n\"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.\" There can be no harvest from\nseed sown unless the seed is watered. As you go out to sow seed in the\nMaster's field, water them with your tears if you would have a joyful\nharvest. May God save his people from unfeelingness of heart! A soul with\nno tears is a soul with no flowers. There is no verdure where there is no\nwater. Those who are not deep enough in God to shed tears over a lost and\nruined world are not deep enough to shed tears of joy over a soul's\nsalvation. Out from the depth of his heart Jesus cried, \"O Jerusalem,\nJerusalem! how oft would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her brood\nunder her wing, but ye would not.\" When did you shed tears over lost\nsouls? Do you ever have a Gethsemane? Is your pillow ever dampened by\ntears shed for a doomed world? Do you ever go out beneath the starry sky\nand with outstretched arms cry in the severe pains of travail, \"O lost\nsouls, lost souls! how oft would I have gathered thee to Jesus, as a hen\ngathers her brood under her wing, but ye would not\"? Only those who have\ndeep travail of soul for the lost can fully rejoice when the lost are\nfound.\n\nOne of the apostles said he served the \"Lord with many tears.\" A heart\nfrom which flows no tears is not a heart that is wholly imbued by the\nSpirit of God. Tears of compassion for the suffering, tears of warning and\nentreaty for the lost, tears of joy for the saved, will flow through a\nperfectly holy heart as freely as water through a sieve. Sunlight\nperforates the block of ice from the center outward; so the love of God\nperforates the heart to its depths and lets the tears of affection, pity,\nand sympathy flow out.\n\nDo not try to escape suffering. Do not shut your heart against sorrow. It\nis the bruised flower that gives out the sweetest scent. Open thy heart to\nGod and let him bruise it, let sorrow flow in and break it, that sweetness\nmay flow out. When the poet sang:\n\n  \"I no trouble and no sorrow\n  See today, nor will I borrow\n  Gloomy visions for the morrow,\"\n\nhe sang not of sorrow for souls lost in sin, nor of needful heaviness\nthrough manifold temptations, nor of sorrow awakened by the suffering of\nothers, but of that sorrow which arises from the world through distrust\nand separation from God.\n\nThere is a sorrow which comes through Christ. It is as the refiner's fire,\npurifying the soul and binding it closer to God. Such sorrow detaches the\nheart from the world and from self, and hides it in God. It is impossible\nfor the soul to approach any degree of nearness to Christ only through\nsorrow and suffering. In my own experience my heart once longed for deeper\ngrace. My whole soul breathed out, \"O Jesus! give me more meekness.\" For a\nfew days a heavy cloud of sorrow lay upon me; when it had passed away, I\nhad an answer to my prayer.\n\nI would have you beware of that unfeeling state in which one has no\nsorrow, and mistakingly attributes its absence to grace. Grace helps us\nbear sorrow, but does not harden our hearts against it. Sorrow brings us\nto a throne of grace for grace and grace brings us joy, so that we have\njoy in sorrow. No other joy is so sweet as this. It is the real and true\njoy of Christ.\n\n\n\n\nGENTLENESS.\n\n\nFruit-bearing trees are used in the Scriptures to represent the race of\nmankind. The Savior likens the wicked to \"corrupt trees,\" which bear evil\nfruit and the righteous to \"good trees\" which bear good fruit (Matt. 7:15,\n20). He also teaches very emphatically the impossibility of one's being a\ngood tree and yet bearing evil fruit, or of being a corrupt tree and\nbearing good fruit. Since the nature of the fruit we bear determines what\nmanner of tree we are, it is very advisable that we as professing\nChristians should frequently examine the fruit we are bearing. To be\nChrist's, or to be a Christian, we must have the Spirit of Christ; for the\nScriptures say that \"if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none\nof his\" (Rom. 8:9). As certainly as cause produces effect, those who have\nthe Spirit of Christ bear the fruit of the Spirit. Not to bear the fruit\nof the Spirit is full proof that you have not the Spirit. Then a close\nexamination of the fruit you are bearing will reveal to you whether or not\nyou have the Spirit of Christ, whether or not you are his, whether or not\nyou are a Christian. You can make a superficial examination, and allow\nyourself to be deceived. You can make excuses for yourself because of your\nweaknesses, and thus deceive yourself. But a close, thorough, profound\nexamination will disclose to each one the manner of spirit he is of.\n\nGentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 22). If we have the\nSpirit of Christ, we bear this fruit. \"Well,\" says one, \"in my very make\n-up I am rough, harsh, and hasty.\" You need to be made anew. When God finds\na man that is rough, harsh, and severe in his make-up, He will, if the man\nwill yield to the operation of the Holy Spirit, make him mild, gentle, and\npeaceful. People go to a hospital and by a scientific operation have\nabscesses and tumors removed from the stomach and other internal parts.\nGod, by a blessed, wonderful, and successful operation of the Holy Spirit,\nwill take that roughness, harshness, and severity out of your nature, and\ninstil mildness, tenderness, softness, and gentleness instead. Harshness\nand roughness are a corruption that God, in his gracious plan of\nsalvation, is pleased to remove. If you will allow the Holy Spirit to work\nin you that which is pleasing in God's sight, he will make you gentle.\n\nWhat is gentleness? It is blandness, softness, mildness, and meekness. It\nis the opposite of harshness, roughness, etc. It is sweetness of\ndisposition, mildness of temper, softness of manner, kindness, tenderness,\netc. Those who are of a gentle disposition act and speak without asperity.\nThey are not morose, sour, crabbed, and uneven, but are smooth, mild, and\neven. Good manners are intimately connected with gentleness, and good\nmanners are no dishonor to Christianity.\n\nThe apostle Paul by way of testimony said to the Thessalonian saints, \"We\nwere gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.\" 1 Thess.\n2:7 Such was his manner. As a kind mother is to a delicate child, so was\nhe to those whom he loved. Vastly different was he then from what he was\nwhen he was persecuting and wasting the church of God. He had been changed\nby grace. He exhorts servants of the Lord to \"be gentle unto all men\" (2\nTim. 2: 24) and to be \"gentle, showing all meekness unto all men\" (Tit.\n3:2). David, in his sublime tribute of praise to God in 2 Sam. 22: 36\nsays, \"Thy gentleness hath made me great.\"\n\nWould you, my reader, like to be more gentle in your manner? Are you too\nharsh and rough? Are you, if a parent, as gentle to your children as you\nshould be, at all times? Husband, are you as kind and gentle toward your\nwife as you should be? Do you believe you fill the Bible measure in this\nparticular? Are you as gentle to your domestic animals as you should be?\nor do you have impatient feelings and act in a hasty, abrupt manner\ntowards them? If you meet with something quite provoking from your wife or\nthe children or the animals, do you keep as mild and sweet as you know you\nshould? Now, I hope you will examine closely. I do not mean to condemn\nyou; I want to help you. There are many professing saints today who are\nnot nearly so gentle as they should be. Why not be in earnest, and seek\nGod for help, and make improvement? Why go along with crossness, and\ncoldness and snappishness in your life? Be gentle toward all.\n\nGentleness is a beauteous grace. Her excellence is great. By culture this\ngrace is capable of much improvement. Too few saints experience it to the\nextent they should. I beseech you by the gentleness of Jesus to be in\nearnest and improve upon your gentleness. Never allow a frown or a scowl\nto settle for a moment upon your brow. It will leave its mark if you do\nso. Learn to be gentle in your home. Sometimes when far away from home,\nyou picture to yourself how gentle and kind and loving you should be at\nhome. By God's grace you can be just as gentle as you see in the picture\nyou should.\n\n\n\n\nTENDERNESS.\n\n\nIn order for life to be what it should, it must flow from a heart full of\ntenderness. This is that quality of soul which enables us to give kind\nattention to others, to be willing and eager to do good, to exercise great\ncarefulness to give no offense, and to be soft and gentle in every\nexpression. Like all other good qualities, this is found in perfection in\nthe character of God. \"The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.\"\nBecause of his pity he never lays upon his trusting child a greater burden\nthan he can bear, and in his tender mercy he always gives to each trial a\nhappy ending.\n\nIt will be helpful to study for a few minutes the principle of tenderness\nas an attribute in the nature of God. \"Like as a father pitieth his\nchildren, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.\" It is the father who\nsees his little child in deep pain that knows what pity is. It is that\nfeeling which makes the father desirous of bearing all the pain. It was\nthe pity or compassion of God for the lost in sin that caused him to give\nhis only Son to suffer and die for them. When God saw the wretchedness of\nmen, he had such a feeling in his heart that he could find relief in no\nway but in providing the only means of their rescue. Oh, think of this!\nThe child of God never has a pain or a sorrow but that God has a feeling\nof pity. The knowledge that some one has pity for us and fellowships our\nsuffering goes far toward alleviating our pains. Recently while I was in\ndeep soul-suffering, I received a letter containing these words: \"We\nsuffer in spirit with you.\" This was a great relief. If in a time of trial\nwe could know how God was suffering with us, it would be a great\nconsolation.\n\nAgain, we read, \"As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you;\nand ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.\" Who is it that knows not the\ncomfort of a mother? When we hear of a young man's meeting with a sad\naccident away from home, we have great pity; but when we learn of his\nmother's having gone to him, we feel better. Ah, the comfort of a mother\nis surpassed only by the comfort of Jesus. \"If Mother were only here!\"\nsays the troubled daughter. Nothing else so fittingly represents the\nnature of the comfort that God gives as the comfort of a mother. O child\nof God, you will never have a sorrow nor a pain but that the tenderness of\nGod will cause him to come and comfort you. Let us lift up our hearts and\npraise him for his mercy and comforting love. A mother may forget to\ncomfort her child, but God will never forget.\n\nThe tenderness of God is revealed in these touching words: \"How often\nwould I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her\nchickens under her wings.\" The imagery is homely, but oh! so impressively\nsublime. I can not do better than to use here the words of another. \"Was\never imagery so homely invested with such grace and such sublimity as this\nat our Lord's touch? And yet how exquisite the figure itself of\nprotection, rest, warmth, and all manner of conscious well-being in those\npoor, defenseless, dependent, little creatures, as they creep under and\nfeel themselves overshadowed by the capacious and kindly wing of the\nmother bird. If wandering beyond hearing of her peculiar call, they are\novertaken by a storm or attacked by an enemy, what can they do but in the\none case droop and die, and in the other submit to be torn to pieces? But\nif they can reach in time their place of safety under the mother's wing,\nin vain will any enemy try to drag them thence. For rising into strength,\nkindling into fury, and forgetting herself entirely in her young, she will\nlet the last drop of her blood be shed out and perish in defense of her\nprecious charge, rather than yield them to an enemy's talons. How\nsignificant all this of what Jesus is and does for his helpless child!\"\nUnder his great wing he tenderly, lovingly gathers his little ones and\nthere they are secure. He is a safe retreat.\n\nFrom the song of Moses we learn still more of God's tender care. \"As an\neagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad\nher wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did\nlead him, and there was no strange god with him.\" This metaphor\nbeautifully expresses the care and the tenderness of God toward his\nchildren. The eagle is noted for her great attachment to her young. Her\ncare is extraordinary. When the little eaglets have attained age and\nstrength to leave the nest and learn to fly, the mother bird bears them\nup, when weary, on the top of her wing.\n\nThese all express to our hearts the wonderful tenderness of God to his\nchildren. But there is nothing in the material world that forms a full and\nperfect analogy for the things in the spiritual world. These are too high.\n\nIf we do not have the tenderness of God in our hearts, our life comes\nshort of being a full and true life. The Bible tells us to \"be kind one to\nanother, tender-hearted.\" There is no true holiness of life without\ntenderness. As we get deeper into God, we become more tender of heart.\n\nThere are some things that will prevent this tender-heartedness. Just a\nlittle feeling of resentment, a little desire for retaliation, or a secret\nwish for something to befall those who have done us an injury will callous\nthe heart and harden the affections. When we have been slighted by some\none or misjudged, oh, how Satan strives to get us to thinking much about\nthis, and to work a \"hurt\" feeling into our heart. Even to think about the\nmeanness of others will bring a harshness and coldness into the inner\nlife. That which we condemn in others will, if we think and talk much\nabout it, creep into our own hearts.\n\nYou say you are saved and sanctified. Thank God for such a blessed\nexperience; but you have much yet to gain. You have not yet attained to\nthe full depth of anything. There is yet a tenderness of heart you can\nreach only through many and varied experiences. There is tenderness of\nvoice, tenderness of manner, tenderness of feeling, tenderness of thought,\nyou will attain to only through much and deep communion with God. It is\nthose intimate and familiar talks with Jesus that fashion us into his\nglorious image. A brother minister related to me a few mornings ago his\nexperience of the night before. He lay awake, he said, for a long time and\nhad a sweet talk with the Lord. So intimate was the communion that,\nturning over to go to sleep, he said, half unthinkingly, \"Good night,\" as\nif parting from a dear friend. Such close union with Jesus gives us\nclearer visions of his character and stamps his beauty upon our souls.\n\nHave you not seen those who are harsh, rough, and unfeeling in their\nspeech and manner. No one wants to be like them. We are glad to get away\nfrom them. They measure a person by their standard, and if he is not what\nthey think he should be, they speak about him in an unloving and unfeeling\nmanner. We feel that something coarse and flinty needs to be taken out of\ntheir nature. We do not say they are not sanctified, but they are too\nbitter and severe. They need to be bathed in the love of God; they need to\nbe immersed in the sea of his gentleness. We have seen, on the other hand,\nthose who were so feeling, so quiet, tender, and gentle, that their\npresence was like the breath of a sweet spring morning. There was a\ntenderness in their eye, a softness in their voice, a pathos in their\nfeeling, that cast over your soul a sense of delight.\n\nThere is much for us to gain. But we can gain it only at the end of the\nbayonet. If we would win, we must fight. There is no victory without\nbattle. One brother, after gaining a decisive victory, said, \"The devil is\ndead.\" He was so victorious and free that he thought the devil must be\ndead. In a short time, however, the brother learned his mistake. The\nprince of the power of the air still lives, and we still have our\nhumanity. If we are not prayerful and watchful, we become disposed to\ncontend for our way; to feel a little bitter if we are trampled upon.\nJesus tells us to \"resist not evil.\" We are not only to not resist evil\noutwardly, but to have no resisting feeling in our hearts. If we would\nhave holiness of life, we must have tenderness of spirit. If you desire\nyour life to be like the oasis in the desert, where the weary traveler is\nrefreshed, be tender of heart, be compassionate, bear every trial with\npatience, endure all suffering without a murmur, commune much with God,\nand he will bring you out into that tenderness of soul that will make your\nlife, everywhere you go, like the atmosphere of heaven.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN WALK.\n\n\nLife is termed a walk in the Scriptures. Where they say that we ought to\nwalk as Jesus walked, they have reference to our manner of life. The way\nin which a Christian walks is called the way of life. It is called the way\nof life because it leads to a land of life--a place where death never\nenters, where all is life, and life forevermore. The Christian walks in\nthe way that leads to that land of life. There is also a place of death,\nand the way there is called the way of death.\n\nThe way along which the Christian walks is a narrow way. \"Strait is the\ngate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life.\" But we need have no\nfear; for although it is narrow, it is not dark. \"Thy word is a lamp unto\nmy feet, and a light unto my path.\" I would rather walk in a narrow way in\nfull light than in a broad way in the dark. The Word of God lights up the\nChristian's pathway. How beautifully the electric lights light up the\nwalks in the city park! There is no danger of stumbling. The Bible is a\nlight along the way of life, and it lights the way beautifully. Not one\nstep need be taken in the dark. There is light for every step of the way.\nSometimes the Christian may think he has reached a dark place; but if he\nwill open his Bible, he will find a light to lighten that very spot.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN IS TO WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY.\n\n\n\"See then that ye walk circumspectly.\" Eph. 5:15. To walk circumspectly is\nto walk cautiously; to look where one is stepping; to be vigilant,\nwatchful, diligent, attentive. Be our pathway ever so light, if we do not\nlook where we are stepping, we may stumble. Conybeare and Howson render\nthe above text in these words: \"See then that ye walk without stumbling.\"\nWe are to walk not as foolish people but as wise. We would say that the\nman acts foolishly who does not look at all in the way he is walking.\nThose who are wise in business walk carefully; they look where they are\ngoing; they take advantage of every opportunity to make their business a\nsuccess. In our Christian walk we are to seize upon every opportunity to\nmake progress. There is no time in this short life for ease. Carelessness\nand indolence are dangerous and destructive to spirituality. An indolent\nman will never accomplish much for God nor be of any great benefit to his\nfellow men. But oh, how easy to become careless!\n\nMany begin the Christian walk in carefulness and diligence, but soon give\nplace to carelessness and neglect. How prone people are to lose interest\nin anything when the new has worn away! They take great interest in the\nnew preacher, but they will become so familiar with him and so accustomed\nto him that they will lose interest. They have never heard any one preach\nso well as the new preacher, and what he says has such weight and\nauthority; but behold, after the new has worn away, he can not preach any\nbetter than any other they have no more regard for his words than they\nhave for the words of others. There is an old adage which says, \"A new\nbroom sweeps clean.\" The boy is eager to cut wood with the new ax. A child\nwill carefully write like the copy for the first few lines; but the\nfarther down the page, the greater the carelessness. The young lady takes\ngreat interest in the music lessons at first; she wants to practise all\nthe time; but it soon gets old, and then it is hard to keep up an\ninterest. The husband is very loving, kind, and attentive to his wife for\na while; but alas! in a little while she becomes old to him, and then he\nlets her shift for herself. This need not and should not be; but it seems\nto be the nature of man.\n\nIn the Christian life there is a strong tendency to let things run down.\nSome persons hear a sermon and they are awakened, but they are soon lulled\nto sleep again. Perhaps the example of some one has shown them that they\ndo not pray enough, and they resolve to pray more, but they soon drift\ninto the same careless way. Maybe they see that they do not read enough\nand improve themselves, and they are greatly stirred to do better, but\nalas! how soon they allow that resolution to weaken and become as\nnegligent as ever. Nothing but the greatest diligence and unyielding\ndetermination will save us from getting weary in welldoing. Keep up a\nstrong faith. Hold your mansion in the skies well in view and let nothing\nhinder you in your journey home.\n\nThere are professed Christians who, I am sorry to say, never take a good\nlook at their mansion in heaven, and it is to be feared that many who are\nreally God's children do not view their home above as often and distinctly\nas they should. They see more of temporal things than of eternal things.\nIt is by faith that we see eternal things, but if we have too keen a\nvision for temporal things, it dims our spiritual vision. If you knew you\nhad a fine home in an adjoining State, and you had never seen it, you\nwould want some one who had seen it to give you a description of it.\nPerhaps you would want a photograph of it. You would take a look at the\npicture often, and would learn all about it you could, and would think of\nthe time when you could go and live there. Now, Jesus tells you that he\nhas prepared a mansion for you in heaven. He does not tell you much about\nit, but you know full well that a mansion that Jesus prepares is perfect\nand complete. Why not think much about this mansion? why not view it often\nby faith? why not learn all about it you can? Getting too much engaged\nwith the things of this life is the reason why. To walk circumspectly is\nto see that every step bears us heavenward, to have our faces set toward\nGod, to have our eternal home in view, and to be journeying that way. We\nare not to be sauntering along, but to be industriously living for God and\nheaven.\n\nHow often have you decided that you would be more prayerful, would read\nmore, would love God more, and the souls of men, would do more for the\ncause of God! How often you have decided to walk more worthily of God, to\nbe more patient, to live a higher life, to be slower to speak, to\ncultivate a spirit of love and kindness, to be more like Jesus! You\nstarted out well and with great diligence, but alas! ere long you became\nweary in well-doing; you became less vigilant; you did not walk so\ncarefully and were less attentive to your way. One day a circumstance\noccurred that caused a brother to see that he was not as attentive to\nothers as he should be and let many opportunities of helping others in\nlittle things go by unimproved. He decided that he would be more watchful,\nand thus be more helpful; but, as he said, he soon became as negligent as\never. Time after time he resolved and as often became negligent. Do not be\ndiscouraged. A little more determination, a little more faith in God for\nhelp, and you will triumph.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN'S WALK A WALK WITH GOD.\n\n\n\"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require\nof thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy\nGod.\" Micah 6:8. The life of Enoch is descriptive of the Christian's life,\nand it is said that he \"walked with God.\" Hand in hand with God, heart in\nheart, and life in life, is the true Christian way. In order to walk thus\nwith God, we must be in agreement with him; for two can not walk together\nheart in heart unless they be in agreement. To be agreed with God implies\nsubmission to the divine will. It is to go where he leads.\n\n\"He leadeth me\" is the sentiment of the Christian heart. He may sometimes\nlead in a laborious path; nevertheless we go. He may lead in a way that\nbrings suffering and self-denial; he may take our loved ones from us; he\nmay call somebody dear to us to a foreign field, or he may call us. If we\nwould walk with him, we must not draw back, but say, \"Lord, thy will be\ndone. I will go with thee all the way.\" Such a walk may lead over some\nthorny paths and through some waters and fiery trials, but it pleases God\nand ends in heaven, So onward let us go.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LATEST IMPROVED.\n\n\nAs we walk along the streets of villages and cities, we see machines of\ndifferent kinds exposed to view and bearing a card with these words: \"The\nLatest Improved.\" For our life to be perfect every day, it must be our\nlatest improved. The world is getting worse, we say, but you and I as\nChristians can daily grow better. Our life today can be an improvement\nover our life of yesterday. The Christian life is a real life, and is as\ncapable of development as any life. The same law that develops us\nphysically is necessary to our development spiritually. Day after day we\ncan be built up into stronger spiritual beings. We can become more like\nGod, possessing a firmer Christian character and having an integrity that\nwill not swerve for a life nor a world from the path of virtue. Constant\nprogress is constant peace and happiness. It is the triumphant life.\n\nDear reader, I am going to ask you to lay aside for a few minutes the busy\ncares of life and come and have a talk with me about spiritual and\nheavenly things. Now, if you feel that you scarcely have the time, and can\nnot fully dismiss the temporal concerns of life from your mind, then I\nwill excuse you. I do not care to speak with you unless you can give me\nyour undivided attention. I desire to help you if you need help. I want to\ntalk to you about your every-day life, and I do want your calm, serious\nattention. Surely by God's help we can spend a few minutes to some profit.\n\nSome people hesitate to look closely into their life, lest they find such\na delinquency as will disquiet them. Some fear to give a close\nexamination, lest it give Satan an opportunity to accuse them. This need\nnot be. We can look closely into our daily life and not allow Satan to\nwhisper one word to us. We can not make improvement upon our life without\nclose examination in order to discover weakness and imperfections. When we\ndiscover them, we must set earnestly to work to correct them. The\ndiscovery alone is not sufficient. If we do not correct a fault that we\nhave discovered, we soon lose consciousness of the fault. There are times\nwith every one, no doubt, when it seems that they are making no progress,\nbut these may be the times when we are making most progress.\n\nIf we have just one fault, we ought to desire to get rid of it. Our desire\nshould be so great that we shall set about at once to correct that fault.\nNow, if we say, \"Oh, it is such a little thing,\" then we shall not get\nfree from it, and that little thing may become a greater thing. To be too\nquick to speak is a fault. The Bible says, \"Be slow to speak.\" If we have\nthe fault of speaking too quickly, we should correct that. We can if we\nwill.\n\nThe Bible tells Christians to watch and pray. Christians do not need to\nwatch and pray lest they rob a bank. They would not rob a bank if they\nnever prayed. But we do need to watch arid pray lest we do some little\nthing that we should not do. I will relate to you the experience of a dear\nbrother who desired to live for God, but who neglected to watch and pray\nas he should. An evil thought was presented to his mind. Not seeing the\nevil of it, he indulged the thought, and found pleasure in the indulgence.\nAfter a few minutes he felt the reproving of the Spirit of God and so\ndismissed the thought. Later it came again. It was so pleasing that he\nindulged it a little longer than before. Again the Spirit reproved him. In\na few evenings the thought came again. It was only a little sensual\nthought, a little imaginary indulgence of the flesh. But it came again and\nagain. It was indulged a little longer and a little longer. Eventually it\nworked a fleshly lust into his heart, and after two or three years he was\nled into actual commission of a sinful deed. It was an apparently innocent\nthought in the beginning, but it ended in sin committed.\n\nThere are little yieldings to lightness, impatience, aircastle building,\nexaggerations, frettings, murmurings, idleness, etc., that prey upon the\nsoul and rob it of peace and the sweet consciousness of God's presence.\nBut there is progress in the divine life for every one of us if we will\nonly give attention to our life as we pass along. The first thing is to\nhave a deep interest in making spiritual gain, and then to be full of\nfaith and encouragement.\n\nJesus will help you to make some gains each day if you will press your way\nthrough the crowd and touch him. It is the earnest prayer of faith that\ngets us through to God and makes us feel like giants in his strength. If\nyou would be strengthened in your soul, you must exercise. This is the law\nof development in the spiritual as well as in the animal life. \"Exercise\nthyself unto godliness.\" This is a motto we should hang upon the walls of\nour memory. Its meaning is that increase in godliness is attained only by\nexercise.\n\nI shall have much now to say about your doing, but bear in mind that the\ndoing is to be not in your strength, but in God's strength. Here are two\nmottos to keep in remembrance: \"Without Him I can do nothing\"; \"I can do\nall things through Christ, who strengtheneth me.\" By the help of the Lord\nwe are going to tell you how to be strong in him. God wants you to be a\nDavid. Go out in his strength and meet the Goliaths. They must fall before\nyou. I shall not tell you so much you do not know as I shall endeavor to\nget you to practise what you know. How many times have you resolved to do\nand have failed to keep your resolution? Your failure was not because you\ncould not, but because you did not. To make a success in any business\nenterprise, one must give it constant and daily attention. Likewise, if\nyou make a success in the Christian life, you must give it constant and\ndaily attention. You must make it not only <i>a</i> business but <i>the\nfirst</i> business of your life.\n\nBut some make this complaint: \"It takes so much time.\" It will take some\ntime, that is true, and if you do not think you have time, then you had\nbetter not begin. What would you think of a man who contemplated engaging\nin some business, but said he did not have much time to devote to it? You\nwould advise him not to engage in the business at all. It takes time to\nmake advancement in the Christian life. One brother said, \"But we must\nattend to our temporal duties.\" My reply was, \"Shall we not attend to our\nspiritual duties?\" When people talk of having to attend to temporal\nduties, it appears that they are going to do this if they have to neglect\nspiritual duties. Unless we have a better enlightenment than this, we\nshall never make progress in the Christian life.\n\nWe have no excuse for not being strong in the Lord. \"Watch ye, stand fast\nin the faith, quit you like men, be strong.\" Of course, you need the help\nof God, but God helps those who help themselves. He will not by some\nirresistible power convey you to your closet and put you on your knees,\nbut he will give you strength to go if you will use what he gives you.\n\nI will now give you, not learned theology, but plain, simple instruction\nhow to make daily advancement in the divine life and to be strong in God.\n\"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from\nfleshly lusts, which war against the soul.\" I Pet. 2:11. Any indulgence of\nthe flesh weakens the spiritual powers. The question might arise, \"What\nare fleshly lusts?\" We are here in the flesh. The flesh has not only its\ndesires but its needs. To indulge the flesh in its needs is not fleshly\nlust, but to indulge it in any thing beyond its actual needs is \"fleshly\nlusts.\" In other words, any intemperance is lust of the flesh. Temperance\nis a fruit of the Spirit. We are to add temperance to our knowledge. The\nmore knowledge we get of the divine character, the more clearly we can\ndiscriminate between fleshly lusts and temperance.\n\n\"I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection,\" says the apostle\nPaul. He spoke these words when talking about running to obtain an\nincorruptible crown. He calls our attention to how people run to obtain a\ncorruptible crown, \"and every man.\" he says, \"that striveth for the\nmastery <i>is temperate in all things</i>.\" If men must be temperate in\nall things in order to obtain a corruptible crown, how much more temperate\nmust we be in order to obtain an incorruptible crown? If the soul does not\nkeep the body under, the body will keep the soul under.\n\nBut this keeping under does not consist in many prayers, in long vigils,\nand fasts, in severe chastenings of the body, in dwelling in a cloister or\nbeing a hermit. Do not make this sad mistake. His yoke is easy and his\nburden is light, yet the Christian life is one of self-denial. But his\nlove in our hearts makes it a delight. We are not to keep our bodies under\nby prolonged fasts and beatings, but to keep in control the self-seeking\nthat is natural to the self-life of man. The pure in heart have organs of\nsense, are capable of feeling the impressions made by external objects. It\nis natural for the individual life of the sanctified to seek ease and\ncomfort. This is not the nature of the divine life in the soul, but is the\nnature of the self-life of man.\n\nAdam and Eve had this self-life in the purity of their creation; they had\norgans of sense. It was to these that Satan made his appeals; to the\nfeelings in their self-life, not to the feelings in the divine life of\ntheir soul. The will of sense--for such it might be called--overpowered\nthat higher will of the soul, and they yielded to the will of sense as\naroused by temptation. We who are pure in heart have this same will of\nsense. It is this will of sense that must be \"kept under.\" or in control\nto the will of God. \"Not my will [that is, that lower will of my self\n-life].\" said Jesus, \"but thy will, be done.\" I will make this plainer as\nwe go on. I feel like making it as plain and simple as I can, even if\ndoing so does require time, because here lies the secret of success in the\nChristian life. Those who look upon the instructions herein as trifling\nwill do so to their own spiritual injury.\n\nIt is natural for us to avoid hardship and suffering. This is not wrong of\nitself; it is wrong only when it conflicts with the will of God. It is not\nwrong for you to avoid burning at the stake unless it be God's will that\nyou should thus end your life. If God wills you to burn at the stake you\nmust not seek to avoid the ordeal. If we do not watch carefully and live\nclose to God and keep our body under, the will of sense will grow strong\nand cause us to avoid hardships even when God wills us to undergo them. Be\ncareful that you do not mistake the impulse of sense for the divine will.\nOne may say he does not believe it to be God's will that he undergo this\nsuffering when it may be only his own humanity. Out of human sympathy we\nmay try to dissuade our brother from doing the will of God. At Caesarea\ncertain brethren tried, out of mere sympathy, to persuade Paul not to go\nto Jerusalem, where, it was prophesied, he should be bound and delivered\nto the Gentiles. Seeing that he would not be persuaded, they gave place to\nthat higher will, and said, \"The will of the Lord be done.\"\n\nThis is not confined to the greater affairs of life, such as burning at\nthe stake, but includes the little affairs of every-day life. How easy it\nis for man to conclude it is the will of God for him to do a certain thing\nwhen perhaps it is only the will of sense! Remember, God's ways are not as\nour ways. It seems to be a most reasonable thing to the minister that he\nshould go home to his family. How easy it is for him to believe it is\nGod's will that he should go! At least, it has been so many times with the\nwriter. He has too often obeyed the human desire and disobeyed God. Such\ndisobedience, if such it may be called, is not sin, since the will of God\nis not known, but it is being led by the impulse of sense and is\ndetrimental to spirituality. God would have us look more earnestly to him\nin order to know his will and not yield so readily to mere human desires.\n\nTo enjoy nearness to God we must not be influenced by any will of sense.\nThe impulse of sense is so deceptive that, if we are not very watchful and\nfully surrendered to God with an intense desire to know and do his will,\nit will prevent our understanding his will to us. It may not be difficult\nto convince you that it is God's will that your brother should go as a\nmissionary to some foreign field, but very difficult to convince you that\nit is God's will for you to go, when perhaps it is just as reasonable\nevery way that you should go. It may be the will of sense to remain, that\nprevents your knowing God's will.\n\nHere is a truth I wish you to think upon: We can not see the folly of any\npassion clearly when we are strongly tempted by that passion. A sanctified\nman may eat too much sometimes; he may be intemperate sometimes in the\nsexual relation; and yet the Word of God says, \"Whether ye eat or drink,\nor whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.\" Let me say, however,\nthat those who enjoy deep union and communion with God are careful to be\ntemperate in their entire manner of life.\n\nAs we have stated before, the pure in heart have organs of sense. These\norgans can be impressed by external objects. These impressions may\nproperly be termed \"feelings.\" A man filled with the Holy Spirit may, when\nbeing praised by some unwise person, be tempted to pride; in other words,\nhe feels a sense of pride. This feeling is in the self-life of the man. A\nsanctified man is tempted to impatience. He feels a sense of impatience,\nnot carnal, but as an impulse of sense in the self-life. When some one\ndoes something contrary to your pleasure or wishes, you may have feelings\nof displeasure or impatience. The patience of a mother is sometimes tried\nby the conduct of a child. The trying of patience is simply feelings of\nimpatience in the self-life. But in her patience she is to possess her\nsoul. These feelings of impatience are to be resisted in the strength of\nthe Lord. Resist them with a prayer.\n\nI have now brought you to the place where I am ready to tell you how to\ngrow in grace, how to increase, how to make progress in the divine life,\nwhich is all that is meant by the expressions, \"getting closer to God,\"\n\"becoming more like Christ,\" etc. Remember this: 'feelings are\nstrengthened by being indulged. You are tempted to pride, to lightness, to\nimpatience; you have feelings of pride, lightness, impatience, for this is\nwhat temptations are. These feelings should be immediately and indignantly\nresisted. Get after them in earnest. The very exercise of resisting is\nwhat will develop and strengthen the spiritual powers; but if the feelings\nare indulged, they will grow stronger and the spiritual powers grow\nweaker. If you value your spiritual prosperity, you will be very quick to\nresist every temptation. Sometimes people allow a tried, mean, impatient\nfeeling to settle down upon them for hours. They do not feel pleasant,\nneither do they look pleasant. Such feelings leave their trace behind.\nThey are a dangerous foe. Loathe them, despise them. Go to the Lord in\nearnest prayer and pray until joy springs up in the soul, a smile beams on\nthe face, and the bad feelings are made to fly away like a startled bird.\nSome say, \"We can not prevent bad feelings and thoughts from attacking\nus.\" They use the words of Luther--\"We can not prevent birds flying over\nour heads, but can prevent them from building nests in our hair.\" It is no\nsin nor source of discouragement to be attacked by bad feelings and bad\nthoughts. But bear in mind that we can frighten the birds that are flying\nover and thus make them fly quickly, and that after being frightened a few\ntimes they will fly far around or very high over. So with bad feelings and\nthoughts: if earnestly and indignantly resisted, they will fly away\nquickly, and their assaults will grow weaker and weaker. It is God's will\nthat we eat, drink, and sleep; but to be intemperate in these is to\ndestroy spiritual life. We should be guided by a sense of the divine will,\nand not by a sense of human desire. To yield to the lower will of sense is\nto be soon abandoned to self and destitute of grace.\n\nI have been asked whether it is possible for us to attain such a degree of\nperfection that we should never speak a harsh, impatient word or a light\nword, or be the least intemperate in any way. My answer is that by much\nprayer, by close watching, and earnest resisting, the will of sense can be\nso weakened and the soul become so habituated to act under a sense of the\ndivine will that foolish or impatient words, impulsive actions, or any\nintemperance will be very few and far between. This is being strong in the\ngrace of God.\n\nAgain, I have been asked, \"Can we reach a place where we shall be no more\ntempted?\" Yes; if you are earnest and faithful, you will reach it when you\narrive in that land where flesh and blood can not enter. There you will no\nmore be tempted. But as long as you are here in the flesh, you will be\ntempted. In the very nature of things you need to be. Your spiritual\npowers would weaken if they had nothing to resist. Let me here acquaint\nyou with a device of Satan. All these attacks upon the will of sense are\nmade by the devil. He will use some external object to try you. He may\nwithhold temptation for a long time in order that you may become careless\nand cease to watch and pray, and thus in a measure lose your power of\nresistance. Then he will come in with a slight attack, so slight you will\nnot detect it in your weakened state. If it be an attack to impatience,\nyou will speak a little hastily, but will scarcely perceive it and will\nthink it of little consequence. But his attacks will grow stronger; your\nwords will grow more hasty; there will be frettings and worryings; and you\nwill be so stupid that you will not be aware of your backsliding. Do not\ncease your watching and praying even if you have no temptations. Alas, how\nmany have gone down under this cunning device of Satan! This is a scheme\nhe plays well.\n\nWhen the Christian first starts out on his pilgrimage, he is watchful and\nprayerful. An attack of Satan startles him, and he becomes earnest in his\nresistance. If he speaks impatiently or lightly, he flees at once to God\nfor grace, and thus he grows in grace. But if he becomes strong and his\nsoul forms the habit of acting in holiness, he feels strong and ceases his\nclose watching and praying and resisting. Then he slowly but surely\nretrogrades. Unless he is in some way awakened, he will backslide.\n\nBut the question arises, \"How can we keep up resistance in order to be\nstrong, if Satan ceases to tempt.\" Have sham battles. In time of peace\nsoldiers are constantly drilling so that they may be prepared when they\ncome to battle. Pugilists go through much training in preparation for the\nactual contest. So we are to watch constantly. Keep the soul in a\ndefensive attitude. This is what I mean by sham battles. Bearing in mind\nthat you may be attacked at any time, keep the soul in a defensive\nattitude; keep up the shield of faith. The very exercise of holding up the\nshield and keeping the soul in watchings makes it strong for the battle.\nIf you do not exercise your soul in earnest prayer each morning, Satan\nwill likely catch you that day unprepared.\n\nFor the perfecting of the soul in the habit of holiness, you must exercise\nyourself in inward acts of resistance. Keep an intense hatred of sin and\nthe devil; get where you enjoy a contest with Satan; glory in tribulation;\nrejoice when you are persecuted; count it joy when you are tried and\ntempted. Soldiers get so they love the battle, pugilists enjoy the\ncontest, and we should be where we love trials. We hate them, therefore we\nlove to conquer them; they afford us means for development, therefore we\nwelcome them; they deepen us into God and make us more like Christ,\ntherefore we hail them with joy. We hate them themselves, but in our\nintense love for God and the privilege of exercising ourselves in his\nstrength we count all our trials joy. We rejoice in the midst of\ntemptation because we have the opportunity of displaying the strength of\nour God.\n\nBut do not make the mistake of thinking that you are so strong in God that\nthe little evil thought, or the feeling of pride or impatience, or the\nlittle act of intemperance, is of no consequence. It is these little\nthings that sap away the spiritual strength. Get after the very least of\nthem and put them to death. Give them no place. If one single word of\nlightness or of impatience escapes your lips, go in earnest prayer, asking\nGod to make you a conqueror. Seek to have your life wholly free from\nimperfections, and you will daily advance in the divine life.\n\n  Life is full of peace and pleasure\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  Sweetest joys overflow the measure\n  When we're saved by grace;\n   Gifts from heaven fall in show'rs,\n  Cheering dark and lonely hours,\n  By our pathway bloom sweet flow'rs,\n   When we're saved by grace.\n\n  E'en in sorrow there are blessings\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  Chastening rods are fond carressings\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  Storm-clouds far away are driven,\n  Life flows on so sweet and even,\n  Round us beams the light of heaven,\n   When we're saved by grace.\n\n  All around is wondrous beauty\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  There is joy in every duty\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  Hope is ever sweetly singing,\n  Peace-bells in our souls are ringing,\n  Guardian angels round us winging,\n   When we're saved by grace.\n\n  We must every day be growing\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  Progress in divine life making,\n   When we're saved by grace;\n  Upward, upward, nearer heaven,\n  Life more peaceful and more even,\n  Fuller light upon us beaming,\n   When we're growing in grace.\n\nYou will, I hope, pardon the writer if he repeats too much. Repetition is\nsometimes needed that a truth may be enforced. Sometimes line upon line is\nneedful.\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. The artist has his ideal before\nhim, and with touches of the brush here and there upon his canvas he forms\nan exact image of the ideal. The life of Jesus is what we are to imitate.\nHe sets the example of holy living and calls us to the same holy life. \"As\nhe which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of\nconversation.\" I Pet. 1:15. This text has a better rendering in the\nRevised Version: \"Like as he which called you is holy, be ye yourselves\nalso holy in all manner of living.\" As Christians we are God's offspring,\nand as such are like him.\n\nHoliness in the life of Jesus is found not only in the great miracles that\nhe performed, but also in the lesser happenings of his life. The restoring\nof life to the dead is no more beautifully holy than the laying of his\nhands upon the heads of children and blessing them. His memorable Sermon\non the Mount no more portrays the loveliness of his character than does\nhis conversation with the woman by the wayside well. It is the little\nthings in every-day life, if attended to and kept in the meekness and the\nsolemnity of the Spirit of Christ, that make life truly beautiful and\nholy. It is not the eloquent sermon that makes a life so sublime, but it\nis the tender smile, the kind word, the gentle look, given to all; it is\nthe patient manner in which all the little trying and provoking things of\nlife are met. You may preach or write ever so forcibly and eloquently, and\nbring out the sublime truths of the Bible in great beauty; but if in the\nprivacy of your own home there are little frettings, a little peevishness,\na little crossness, a little levity, a little selfishness, a little\ndistrust, your life is not as truly holy as it should be.\n\nIf you desire God's holy image to be stamped upon your soul, your\ncountenance, and your life, you must carefully avoid the little sprigs of\nlightness, the little bits of sloth and indolence, touches of forwardness,\nrudeness, selfishness, etc. Pure words belong to a holy life. You should\nuse the very choicest words, language that is free from vulgarity, slang,\nand the spirit of the world. Untidiness, uncleanness, carelessness, and\nshabbiness are not at all beautiful ornaments in a holy life. But\nquietness, modesty, and reticence are gems that sparkle in a holy life\nlike diamonds set in a band of gold. Give attention to your words, your\nthoughts, your tone of voice, your feelings; to little acts of\nbenevolence, the practise of self-denial, of promptness, of method and\norder. These are auxilaries of holy living. Are there not many little\nthings in your home life that you can improve upon? Seek God for help and\nbe truly holy.\n\n\n\n\nLUKEWARMNESS.\n\n\nA lukewarm life is a displeasure to God; he would have us to be fervent in\nspirit. God is pleased with us when we are lively stones, but not when we\nare formal and lukewarm. A lukewarm state is a dangerous state. One very\ndangerous thing about it is that usually when a person is lukewarm he is\nunaware that he is lukewarm. If a man is sick and does not know that he is\nsick, he is in great danger of his life, because he is not at all likely\nto take the proper care of himself. So the man who is cold and formal but\nthinks he is spiritual and full of love is not at all likely to do\nanything for the improvement of his spiritual condition. He is very much\nlike the Irishman's turtle. I hesitate to relate anything so amusing, but\nit so well illustrates the state of the lukewarm professor that I think I\nam justifiable.\n\nSome Irishmen had caught a large turtle and cut off his head. Then they\nwaited for him to die, but the turtle scrambled about for some hours.\nDesiring an explanation of such a phenomenon, they accosted an Irishman\nwho was passing by. After watching the turtle for a moment, he remarked,\n\"He is dead, but he doesn't know it.\" This is the condition of the\nlukewarm professors. They are spiritually dead, but are not aware of it.\nThe professors of Christianity at Laodicea were lukewarm, but they thought\nthemselves rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing.\n\nDiseases of the human body are attended with certain feelings and symptoms\nby which the physician can tell the nature of the affection in a\nparticular case. The diseases of the human soul are also attended with\ncertain symptoms by which the nature of the malady in a given case may be\nknown. I will now tell you of a few of the symptoms of lukewarmness, so\nyou may know whether such is your state.\n\nFirst. A kind of doubtful or uncertain feeling as to whether you are right\nwith God, together with an unwillingness to examine yourself closely for\nfear you are wanting. Being filled with the Spirit gives us fulness of\nassurance.\n\nSecond. If when you testify to being saved, sanctified, and ready for the\ncoming of Jesus, your heart fails to say amen and you wish down in your\nsoul you had a little better assurance that what your lips say were true,\nyou are not as spiritual as you should be. When we are filled with the\nSpirit, our souls are assured and satisfied.\n\nThird. Going along day after day in the same routine of life, taking it\nfor granted that you are at the work the Lord wants you to do, and not\nearnestly seeking to <i>know</i> his will. Those who are spiritual can not\nbe contented without a definite knowledge of the will of God. If you are\ngoing along without any real and positive knowledge of the will of God and\nare not seeking to know it, surely you are lukewarm.\n\nFourth. If when your routine of life is in some way interrupted, you are\ndissatisfied and complain; if you do not enjoy being moved out of your old\nchannel, but you wish to be let alone, it is evident that you have chosen\nyour own way and that God is not ordering your steps.\n\nFifth. If when you are called to the assistance of a neighbor or the sick\nor even an enemy, you find a reluctancy to go and an often returning of\nyour own mind to your own concerns and a desire to hurry back to them, you\nare, it appears, looking upon your own things, and not on the things of\nothers. The Bible tells us to look upon the things of others. If you see\nyour own needs, and see and care but little about the things of others,\nyou are selfish. Those who are spiritual have time to help others and do\nit willingly.\n\nSixth. If when called upon to go to the assistance of some unfortunate one\nand you can not possibly go, if you do not have a deep heart-regret and if\nyou do not ofttimes during the day think of the poor unfortunate man and\nbe pained at heart because of your inability to help him, you must be more\nconcerned about yourself than about others. You look on your own things\nand do not see nor feel the needs of others. If such is true in you, you\nare in a lukewarm state.\n\nSeventh. If you were to be asked whether you are doing the work you are\nnow doing, solely and purposely for the glory of God, and you should be\nobliged to answer that you had taken no particular thought about it, but\nsupposed it mattered little to the Lord, just so you were doing something,\nthis would surely show neglect, indifference, lukewarmness.\n\nEighth. If you are indifferent and unconcerned about making spiritual\nprogress; if you are not desiring and earnestly seeking for more of God;\nif you are not earnestly striving to be more meek and humble, to be more\nkind and patient; if you are carelessly tolerating acts of selfishness, of\nimpatience, unkindness, harshness, and lightness, you are certainly\nlukewarm.\n\nNinth. Neglect to read the Bible and to pray in secret; greater fervency\nin public prayer than in secret prayer; more outward manifestation than\nreal inward piety; testifying or preaching beyond the true standard of\nliving--these too are evidences of lukewarmness. A man may become\nenthusiastic in prayer, testimony, or sermon, and think he is making great\nadvancement; but if he does not live up to every word he speaks, he is\nlosing instead of gaining, because he is not walking in light.\n\nLukewarmness is very loathsome to God. It reproaches him. To make no\nprofession of love to God at all is not such a reproach to him as to\nprofess love and be lukewarm. God wants all your heart. If he can not have\nit all, he will have none. He desires warm, fervent love. To love him only\npartially, and not supremely, makes it appear as if he were worthy of only\nhalf-hearted love. It makes other things equal with God.\n\nAfter the physician learns the symptoms and pronounces the disease, he\nthen prescribes the remedy. Thank God, there is an unfailing remedy for\nlukewarmness. Of course, \"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of\ncure.\" \"Repent and do the first works.\" Come to God and buy of him gold\ntried in the fire. Exercise yourself in spiritual things if there yet be\nany love in your heart. Shake off everything that is stupefying. Press\nyour way through to God in spite of dryness and deadness. Stir up your\nsoul. Give yourself to deep meditation upon the great love of God to you.\nPray in fervency and faith. Consecrate to the whole will of God. If your\ncase is not hopeless--and it is not--this will effect a cure.\n\n\n\n\nSTEADFASTNESS.\n\n\n\"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always\nabounding in the work of the Lord.\" 1 Cor. 15:58. Steadfastness is an\nessential principle in Christian character. There can be no success nor\nprosperity in the Christian life when this principle is wanting. The\nPsalmist said, \"My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.\" This is true\nsteadfastness. It is cleaving to God, let the storms rage as they may. It\nis resting and abiding in Jesus though the trials of life may be the\nseverest possible. It is a firm, fixed, settled decision to abide in\ndoctrines of the Bible. It is to rest confidingly upon the teaching and\npromises of the Holy Scriptures. Just as a man lies confidently down to\nrest upon his bed, so a Christian, in his steadfastness, rests\nconfidingly, rests without fear, upon the never-changing Word of God.\n\nThrough Jesus Christ, Christians are made partakers of the divine nature.\nThey receive the imprint of divine character in their souls. Among the\ndifferent principles in the character of God is found steadfastness. When\nGod delivered Daniel from the lions, Darius the king said, \"I make a\ndecree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before\nthe God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast forever.\" Dan.\n6:26. Just as Christian fortitude is noble, manly, and pleasing to God, so\na lack of steadfastness is ignoble, unmanly, and highly displeasing to\nGod.\n\nSome (it may be many) are led by their feelings. We, as the children of\nGod, are to be led by the Spirit of God; but not all fully understand what\nis meant by \"being led by the Spirit.\" I would rather be led by a sense of\nduty than by my feelings. I do not understand that in order to be led by\nthe Spirit we need always to have a strong inward impression or almost\naudible voice speaking to us. The Spirit of God has illuminated the Word\nand enlightened your mind to know what is your Christian duty; hence when\nyou go forward and discharge your duties faithfully, you are truly being\nled by the Spirit. You know it to be your duty to help the poor, to\nsupport the weak, to comfort the sorrowful, to attend religious services,\nto witness for Jesus, to study the Scriptures, to pray, and diligently to\nfollow every good work. You may sometimes feel a strong impression to\npray, but you do not need to have this feeling always in order to be duty\n-bound to pray. It is your duty to pray, to give of your means, etc.,\noftentimes just as much when you do not feel impressed to do so as when\nyou have strong inward impressions. You do not need to wait for such\nimpressions before you act, for a knowledge of your duty makes you\nresponsible.\n\nA man can have no true steadfastness who is influenced by his emotions or\nimpressions. The man who is steadfast, unmovable in the Word, goes forward\nto a discharge of his known duties, no matter what his feelings may be.\nWhatever may be his impressions to do a certain thing, if it is not\nconsistent with the Word and the Spirit and his knowledge of right, he\npersistently refuses to obey.\n\nHow the true principle of steadfastness abides in the will of God and the\ndoctrines of Christ is demonstrated in the teachings of Barnabas to the\nchurch at Antioch. There was some contention in the church over\ncircumcision, and heavy persecutions from without, and many were being\nmoved from the true faith. Barnabas exhorted that with purpose of heart\nthey cleave to the Lord. Steadfastness is a firm, fixed purpose of the\nheart to cleave unto God, to attend strictly and promptly to every\nChristian duty. It is a decided, unchangeable, unshaken purpose of the\nheart to obey implicitly the teachings of the Savior, regardless of the\nfeelings.\n\nYou will find that, if you attend to every Christian duty, you will often\nhave to go contrary to your feelings. How often the enemy of your soul\nwill, if he can, cast indifferent feelings over you concerning prayer.\nThat is the time to show your Christian fortitude and steadfastness. It is\nweakness and laziness to neglect prayer simply because we do not feel\ninclined to pray. To yield to indifferent feelings is to encourage them,\nand they will grow stronger and stronger, so that we shall feel less and\nless inclined to pray. The more we pray, the more prayerful we feel;\nlikewise, the less we pray, the less prayerful we feel. When we have\nyielded to indifferent feelings for sometime and have sadly neglected\nprayer, we have a hard struggle to get through to the glorious light and\nvictory and sweetness. But you must get out where the blessings fall; you\nmust get where you have sweet tastes of love and the satisfying blessings\nof the presence of God. You must be courageous, manly, and decided. The\nway to enjoy serving God and doing our full Christian duty is always to do\nour duty and especially at those times when doing it seems to be the least\nenjoyable.\n\nSteadfastly resist Satan and every indifferent feeling, and do your duty\nat any cost. Remember, it is not he that feels to do good and doeth it\nnot, but \"he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin,\"\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO UNDERSTAND GOD'S WILL.\n\n\nIn order to do God's will we must first know his will. In order to have\nreal satisfaction, rest, and contentment in the Christian life--and there\nis no true rest outside the Christian life--we must have the full\nassurance that we are doing the will of God. The soul that loves God can\nnot be satisfied with anything less than this. As long as there is a\ndoubt, there can not be perfect contentment. We must have a perfect\nknowledge of God's will concerning us, or else we shall not fully know we\nare doing his will.\n\nMany are saying, \"I would gladly do God's will if I only knew what was his\nwill.\" Such ones have not reached that nearness to God that they should.\nThere should always be a clear and definite understanding between God and\nhis children. \"My sheep,\" Jesus says, \"hear my voice\"; and we know that\nGod hears the voice of his children. We can talk to God and God to us;\nconsequently, there can be understanding between us. You can live close\nenough to God to know his will--not merely to suppose his will or take it\nfor granted, but to know it because he told you. A man's employees may\nsuppose they are doing what he wants them to do, but this does not give\nthem full assurance. It is only when they have been in his presence and\nheard him express his will that they know they are doing it. You can know\nGod's will. You need not spend one day without knowing you are in his\norder.\n\nThe Scripture says, \"Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what\nthe will of the Lord is.\" Eph. 5: 17. In the verses preceding this one we\nare told to walk circumspectly and to redeem the time. We need to know\nGod's will that we may use every opportunity to the greatest advantage. To\npass along day after day without a definite knowledge of being in the will\nof God or without taking much thought about it or earnestly seeking to\nknow it, is living on entirely too low a spiritual plane. God wants you to\ncome up higher--high enough and close enough to know his will. Has not God\npurchased you? You are his servant, his bondslave. You are to do\neverything you do for him. He who has men in his employ expects them to do\nhis will. They do not go out a single day ignorant of his will. They do\nnot always wait to be told what to do, but they make inquiry. With many\nthere may not be enough earnest seeking after God to know his will.\n\nIn order to know God's will there must be a perfect consecration to God.\nThe soul must lay down her own will and present herself before God as much\nas to say, \"I give up my way and will forever to be thine and thine alone;\nto love thee and serve thee; to do thy whole will now and forever.\" There\nmust be humility before God; a deep inner consciousness of your\nnothingness and your inability to accomplish anything in life of yourself.\n\"The meek he will guide in judgment.\" We must be meek and humble before\nthe Lord and confess that we are dependent on him and that life will be an\nutter failure unless he wills and guides and plans and works in us and\nwith us and for us.\n\nThere must be great love to God and an earnest desire to know his will.\nWithout strong desire to know God's will you can never learn it. It is\nthose who desire that obtain answers to their prayers; and that desire\nmust be really great. You must seek to know. Where there is great desire,\nthere will be earnest seeking; but there will not be earnest seeking\nwithout the fervent desire. The desire must be so intense that you feel as\nif you must know. You must feel that you can not get along in life without\nknowing God's will. You can not be of any service to him without having\nknowledge of his will. You must also have faith. When you ask God to teach\nyou his will, you must believe he will do it, and he will do it. When he\nbegins to unfold his will, you must move in his order without doubting or\nquestioning. He will guide you and direct your every step, and you can\nknow that you are doing the very thing God wants you to do. Bless his\nname! Such a life is heaven here.\n\n\n\n\nA VIEW OF JESUS.\n\n\nLet us take a look at Jesus. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may unveil\nhim and present him to us clearly. Now we see him. We see him as our all\nand as in all. Can you see him thus? Is he everything to you? and is he in\neverything that comes to you?\n\nLet us take a view of Jesus through two texts of Scripture. First, \"And\nhath put all things under his feet.\" Eph. 1:22. We see him as our\nprotector. Christ has conquered all, and God has put all things under his\nSon's feet. In all the world there is no evil thing that can harm the\nchild of God. Jesus cares for his children. How safe we feel! He is our\nrefuge, our strong tower, our buckler, and our shield. Discouragements,\ndoubts, fears, disease, Satan, and all that would antagonize us are under\nhis feet and so can never do us harm.\n\nSecond, \"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his\nhand.\" Every good thing is in the hand of Jesus. He stands ready to give\nthem to his children. There is not a need you can ever have but Jesus has\nin his hand something with which to supply that need. His loving hand is\nextended to you. It contains something that will meet all your needs in\nlife. Praise the Lord!\n\nNothing can harm us, for every harmful and harming thing is beneath the\nfeet of our Lord. So we need not fear. We can never fail to have all our\nneeds supplied, for Jesus stands with outstretched hand to give just what\nwe need just when we need it. Do you see Jesus as such? Open your eyes\nwide, look and live, and be happy and free.\n\n\n\n\nDEVOTION TO GOD.\n\n\nDevotion to God implies ardent affection for him--a yielding of the heart\nto him with reverence, faith, and piety in every act, particularly in\nprayer and meditation. We catch a glimpse of the true meaning of devotion\nfrom what is said of the centurion of the Italian band. He was termed a\ndevout man because he feared God, gave much alms to the people, and prayed\nto God always (see Acts 10:2). This is the essence of true devotion. He\nloved God, without which there can be no devotion. The more we love an\nobject, the more devoted to it we are. Devotion is therefore love\nmanifested. At the feet of Jesus stood a woman weeping and washing his\nfeet with her tears and wiping them with the hairs of her head and kissing\nthem. Is not this a picture of devotion? It is love and devotion expressed\nin action. Jesus said, \"She loved much.\" The secret of devotion is loving\n<i>much</i>.\n\nEvery devoted Christian desires to be more devoted to his God. I am glad\nwe can be. It is pleasant to feel in our hearts an ardent desire to love\nGod more. A fond mother clasps her babe to her bosom. She loves it, and\nher heart is happy in that love; but she feels she can not love it enough.\nShe longs to love it more. Her heart yearns to love it more, though she\nloves it from the fulness of her soul. This longing to love increases our\ncapacity to love. By being filled with air some vessels are made to\nexpand. Unless filled to their utmost capacity, they would not become more\nextended. To the extent that the heart is filled with the love of God, man\nis happy.\n\nTo desire to be more devotional is not an evidence of lack of devotion,\nbut, on the contrary, an evidence of devotion. Those who are the least\ndevotional have the least desire to be more devotional. The heart that is\nfullest of love is happiest; and although it is happy and satisfied, yet\nit longs to move. Oh, how we long to clasp our arms more tightly about\nhim! how we long to have him clasp his arms more tightly about us! how we\nlong to nestle more fondly and lovingly on his bosom! What rapture to our\nlove-flooded souls to receive of his caresses and hear his tender words!\nTo the soul in the ecstasy of its heavenly love, the world with its\npleasures has vanished away like a morning vapor.\n\nIt is not understood by all how and why we should have a desire to possess\nmore of that of which we are already full. It is the desire for\ndevelopment; it is an innate desire; it is a principle planted in our\nconstitution under grace. Let me repeat what I have said elsewhere: Every\nliving thing consciously or unconsciously struggles to conform to type.\nWhen the little plant bursts through the ground, it enters the race in\nconforming to the type that it carries in its bosom. Thus, in the heart of\nthe acorn is a miniature oak-tree. The little chick carries within it an\nimage of the mother bird, to which it will naturally though unconsciously\nconform.\n\nIn the natural world when things reach the highest point of development,\nthey begin to decay or deteriorate; but this is not true in the spiritual\nworld. Never in this life and possibly never in that life which is to come\nshall we reach the fulness of the type, or, in other words, the highest\npoint of development. As the acorn or the little chick bears in its nature\nan image of the parent, so the Christian bears in his soul the image of\nGod. This is the image to which he is to conform. Day after day he can\ngrow in grace. Day after day the beautiful graces of the Spirit can become\nmore beautiful and the exterior life be more perceptibly stamped with the\nholy image of God. There must be progress, or there will be regress. When\na ball that has been thrown upward ceases to ascend, it begins to descend.\nWhen the fulness of the type is reached, then begins the retrogression.\nThis is none the less true of spiritual things. The reason why there need\nbe no declension in love is because the highest point of development is\nnever attained.\n\nFor illustration let us set a little child in our midst. As a child it is\nperfect. All its organs are in proper place and are properly performing\ntheir functions. It is a perfect image of the type of man into which it\nwill grow. That child's nature tends toward, and the child longs to be, a\nman. The child's innate desire for development does not make it\ndiscontented as long as its craving for growth is gratified. In this we\nbehold the goodness and the wisdom of the Creator. That the child may be\nhappy, it is so constituted that it satisfactorily meets all the\nrequirements of the law of development. The child is thus kept in a state\nof contentment. Did it seek to fulfil the law of growth contrary to its\nnature, to become a man would be an irksome task. It is a delight to the\nchild to eat, to play, to sleep. And these things, producing growth, meet\nthe demands of its nature. There is implanted in it both a desire to grow\nand a relish for the things necessary to its growth. Thus the entire\nprocess of development is a delight. In fact, there will be no delight or\nenjoyment unless there be development.\n\nTrue, a child does not eat and play for the express purpose of growing.\nIndeed, it may take no thought about growing. But there is in the nature\nof the child, when in health, a demand for growth. When the child is in\nill health, the growth ceases; consequently there is no demand for\ndevelopment, and it loses relish for the things that go to meet that\ndemand.\n\nThis very beautifully illustrates Christian development which includes\nbecoming more devotional. You desire to be more devotional. Such a desire\nis legitimate. The nature of every sanctified soul craves development. The\nsoul is not dissatisfied, any more than the growing child. As that\ndeveloping life in the child moves it to seek for the things that produce\ndevelopment, so the life of God in the sanctified soul moves it to seek\nfor the things that will unfold and amplify that life. \"If ye be risen\n[have life] with Christ, seek those things which are above.\" Those things,\ncoming into our soul daily, will unfold us more and more into an heavenly\nlife. They are food to the sanctified soul. They keep the soul satisfied,\nbecause they are the means provided by a loving, all-wise Providence for\nthe constant healthful growth of our spiritual natures. Herein only is\ntrue soul-rest.\n\nGod gives us a relish for the very things that go to fulfil the demands of\nour Christian nature. Prayer, meditation, reading the Bible, trust, and\nresting in the Lord promote increase in him. How delightful is prayer to\nthe soul that is healthful and growing! and the Word of God is sweeter\nthan honey. Where there is a demand in the soul for these things, how\ndelightful it is to engage in them! Do you behold the beauty and the\nwisdom here? God implants a desire in the soul for spiritual development\nand at the same time implants a relish for the things necessary for such\ndevelopment. Bless his name! Understand me, please, this desire is not a\nrestless longing, an aching void, as is found in an unregenerate heart or\nin a soul in spiritual decline; but it is the delightful struggling of a\nsoul bearing the likeness of God, to conform to the natural law of\ndevelopment pent up within its bosom.\n\nWhat is it in the nature of the oak that causes it to send its root down\ninto the soil and to drink up of its substance? What is it in the nature\nof the child that causes it so eagerly to eat and play? It is the demand\nin their nature for growth, or that innate struggle to conform to type.\nManhood is sleeping in the child's bosom, and it wrestles and struggles to\nrise to the fulness of that image. What causes the Christian heart to long\nto root deeper into God; that makes the soul seek his embrace? It is that\ninstinctive struggle to conform to God's glorious image. The entire\nprocess of development is delightful. Whenever the natural tendency toward\ngrowth ceases, the soul is in an abnormal state, and loses relish for the\nthings necessary to growth.\n\nChristian, see to it that you keep in your heart a desire, a longing, a\npanting, or, if you would rather I will say, a demand, in your spiritual\nbeing to be more devotional to God, and meet that demand by resting by\nfaith in him, by prayer, by meditation, by service. Do this, and you will\nbecome more devotional. But I love the word \"desire.\" Desire in the soul\nfor spiritual things is appetite. Satisfying this desire is a pleasure.\nNever were any viands so sweet to the physical sense of taste as that food\nto our soul which helps us be more devotional. \"Desire\" is a Bible term.\n\"As new-born babes, <i>desire</i> the sincere milk of the word, that ye\nmay grow thereby.\"\n\nBefore concluding this chapter I will call your attention to one way of\nbecoming more devotional--being active in service. Desire must be\ngratified, or it will die. Likewise, motive must find expression in\naction, or it will die. You have a desire for prayer; then grant that\ndesire by actually praying, or you will lose the desire. An appetite once\nlost is difficult to regain. You may have in your soul a pure motive; then\ncarry it into action. Do something for God, and you will become more\ndevotional to God. Not that devotion comes by works, to begin with, any\nmore than grace; but we do become more devotional by doing, just as we\ngrow stronger physically by exercise. Follow out every inclination to do\ngood as far as you can, and you will become more devotional to your God.\n\nGod loves to have you devoted to him, and he longs to have you more\ndevoted. It is astonishing, nevertheless God has intense desire to be\nprayed to and great love for communion with our hearts. He says, \"My son,\ngive me thine heart.\" What does he want with man's heart? He wants to put\nhis love in it, so he can be loved by it and hold communion with it. \"The\nprayer of the upright is his delight.\" Oh, that there are so few hearts\nthat love God! Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they would not come to\nhim. But why does he so intensely yearn for the prayers and devotions of\nour hearts? Because it is another young life struggling to conform to the\nimage in which it was created. It is another soul which has been won for\nGod and in which he has his throne.\n\nO God! take our hearts and compress within them that pure love from thy\nown heart that will cause us to pray, \"O God! enlarge our hearts.\" God\nwould even pain our hearts with the fulness of his love until we find no\nease except in expansion.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN RULE OF LIFE.\n\n\n\"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them like wise.\"\nLuke 6:31. This is a good rule for every-day living. It is known\nthroughout the Christian world as \"The Golden Rule.\" It has great depths.\nIt contains more no doubt than any of us comprehend. But let us study it\nfor a moment. We might divide it into two rules: First, Do good to all;\nsecond, Do harm to none. We would that all men should do us good, and we\nwould that none should do us harm. But if we would see the greater depths\nof this rule, we must look beyond the physical man. To do good to all and\nharm to none in a bodily or physical sense is indeed good, but to do good\nto all and harm to none in a moral sense is much better. We should do all\nwe can to help others in a moral sense. Is not this what we would have all\nmen do to us? We should do harm to none in a moral sense, because we would\nhave none do us harm. This necessitates living a very holy life.\n\nThere are two ways in which we may do good to men morally: first, by\nstrengthening the good that is in them; second, by suppressing and helping\nthem to overcome any evil or fault that may be in them. Likewise, there\nare two ways in which we may do harm to men morally: first, by\nstrengthening and encouraging the evil and fault that may be in them;\nsecond, by suppressing and destroying the good that may be in them.\n\nWe are all creatures of influence. We are being influenced, and we are\nhaving an influence. There never was a human life but that had some\ninfluence over some other human life. We influence more by example than by\nwords. If we say one thing and act another, we shall find our actions\nspeaking more loudly than our words. If we love God with all our hearts,\nthat love will influence another to love him. Never was love lost. The\nlove you have, O child of God, will find its way into some other life\nsometime, somewhere. The more of God's love is beaming out of our heart\nand life, the greater will be our influence upon others. Then may we love\nhim with all the heart. We should be filled with the Spirit. If we are\nspiritual, we cause those we converse with to desire to be more spiritual.\nWe should be full of faith that our strong faith may help others to have\nmore faith. We should like for others to be such an example to us; and as\nwe would that men should do to us, let us do to them.\n\nIt is a very great source of regret, indeed, to be so destitute of love,\nfaith, and spirituality that we discourage and dampen the ardor of those\ninto whose presence we may be for a time. Be your very best for God every\nday of your life and wield a holy influence over the hearts of men. The\nvery greatest benefit we can be to man and the highest homage we can pay\nto God is to be filled with all the fulness of God.\n\n\n\n\nTIMELINESS IN DOING GOOD.\n\n\nTo spend well this one brief life of ours, we must be active in doing\ngood. This we have already learned. But not only should we be active in\ndoing good, but we should do the good act when the act will be most\nhelpful. Do the good deed when the good deed needs to be done. The kind\nword may be worth much and be greatly helpful to the fainting soul today,\nbut may be too late tomorrow. \"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do\ngood unto all men.\" Will you stop a moment and think over these words? Let\nno opportunity of doing good go by you unimproved. To neglect the present\nopportunity of doing good and then never be able to do it is a sad thing.\n\n  \"Of all sad words of tongue or pen\n  The saddest are these: 'It might have been.'\"\n\nWhy do you keep all the kind thoughts and kind words for a man until he is\ndead? They do him no good then. It is while he is living that he needs\nthem. He has burdens heavy to be borne; troubles gather thick over his\nhead; he is neglected and even misrepresented. You can help him with a\nsmile or a few kind words; but, no, you pass him by. Now he is brought to\nthe grave. As the cold clods fall upon his plain coffin, you say, \"Well,\nhe was a good man, after all.\" Why did you not tell him that when he was\nliving? It would have buoyed up his spirit then; it would have made him\nfeel that life was not all in vain and that yet he might do a little good.\nBut now he hears not your words. They return to you or float out into\nempty space a mere sound. The ear that was once eager for them and the\nheart that was aching for them is now cold in death. Your kind, cheering\nwords are too late to give him encouragement; your flowers are too late to\nbe appreciated. Once they would have brightened his life, but now his life\nis over. Once you could have chased away some clouds that were darkening\nhis life, but you did not, and that day has gone into eternity as a day of\ndarkness. You might have brightened it. This morning some kind hand placed\na vase of beautiful flowers upon my desk. As I write, their fragrance\nreaches me and brings me tidings of some one's kind remembrance.\n\nIt costs but little to speak kind words, but oh! ofttimes they are worth\nso much! I know of nothing that costs so little to give that is so\nvaluable to receive. But why keep all the flowers, the kind words, the\ntender feelings and thoughts, and the sympathetic tears until the one to\nwhom they should be given passes away, and then come and let them fall so\ngently upon the casket? Do you know of one who is weary? do you know of\none who is being misrepresented? do you know of one who is being trodden\ndown by others, with scarcely any one to speak a word of comfort? Now,\nwhat would Jesus do? Look at poor Lazarus--turned away by the rich,\nneglected and rejected; watched over by angels ready to gather him to\nparadise when he passes beyond the need of aid from men. Why not be an\nangel and make a day of paradise for him here? Let us do some angel-work\nwhile here in life. The angels are ministering spirits. They whisper, \"Be\nof good cheer,\" \"Peace on earth.\" They come to gladden hearts; they come\nto close the lions' mouths; they come to open the prison doors and break\nthe iron bands. Oh, let us do some angel-work!\n\n  Hast thou any flowers for me?\n  Wilt thou kindly let them be\n  Given ere death be-dews my brow?\n  Wait not, give them to me now.\n\n  While in life's eventful day\n  Tried, and weary grows the way,\n  When in dark and lonely hour,\n  Give me then the cheering flow'r.\n\n  Hast thou kind words to impart,\n  Words that lift the fainting heart?\n  Speak ere Death's hand on me lay;\n  Speak those kind words now--today.\n\n  Kind words are but empty breath\n  To the heart that's still in death;\n  When life's load is hard to bear\n  Let me then the kind word hear.\n\n  Hast thou sunlit smiles to give,\n  Smiles that make us want to live?\n  Ere I cross death's sullen stream,\n  On me let those bright smiles beam.\n\n  Smiles, whate'er their power to save,\n  Can not penetrate the grave.\n  Ere I reach life's ending mile,\n  Give to me the sunlit smile.\n\n  Prayer can stay the trembling knee:\n  If thou hast but one for me,\n  Let it offered be today,\n  Ere the life-light fades away.\n\n  When my soul transcends the air,\n  I no more shall need thy prayer:\n  Let now, today, thy soul travail;\n  'Tis only now thy prayers avail.\n\n  \"If I should die tonight,\n  My friends would call to mind with loving thought\n  Some kindly deed the icy hand had wrought,\n  Some gentle word the frozen lips had said,\n  Errands on which the willing feet had sped;\n  The memory of my selfishness and pride,\n  My hasty words, would all be put aside,\n  And so I should be loved and mourned tonight.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE WARFARE OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE.\n\n\nIt is blessed and glorious to be a Christian. No other life is so\nbeautiful and pure; no other life is so tranquilly peaceful; no other is\nso full of rest, happiness, and satisfaction. The Christian, however, does\nnot go to heaven on flowery beds of ease. His pathway is not strewn with\nroses all the way; there is now and then a thorn. It is not sunshine all\nthe time; now and then a shadow falls. To win heaven he must fight. There\nare some things to oppose a Christian on his pilgrimage to the skies;\nthese he must contend against. The contending against those things\nprepares him for his blissful home above.\n\n\"All things work together for good to them that love God.\" Heaven's\nblessings and hell's venom, angels' smiles and Satan's frowns, comforts of\ngrace and spiritual wickedness, good and ill, love and hatred, all work\ngood to those who have union with God. It is the battle that disciplines\nand makes strong and brave the warrior, and not the victory. We are\nexhorted to \"endure hardness as a good soldier.\" There are some things to\nendure along the Christian way. James says, \"Blessed is the man that\nendureth temptation.\" Temptations are outward influences acting upon our\nnatural emotions and passions to induce the will to act contrary to the\nlaw of grace to satisfy self. We need not expect to be free from\ntemptations; therefore let us settle it that we will endure them. It is\nreally a blessed thing to endure them. You may think it would be a blessed\nthing to be free from them, but such would not be the case. It is more\nblessed to endure them. Temptations will never cease to attack the soul as\nlong as it inhabits this \"muddy vesture of decay.\" Be brave, O soul, and\nendure temptations. Be brave and fight the good fight of faith. Do not\nfaint because you have temptations. Do not fear because there are long and\nfierce battles to fight. Be strong and of good courage. It is a life-long\nstruggle, and it is also a life-long victory, and in the end eternal\nvictory. Strong and well-developed spiritual sinews are the result of\nresisted temptations.\n\nIt is not sinful to be tempted. We never lose any spirituality by being\ntempted. It is the slight yieldings that cause a leaking, a loss of grace.\nClear up the vision of your faith a little and take a look at your\nbeautiful glittering crown of life. It is not gold, neither crystal. Do\nnot look at it as such, but see it a crown of life. Yes, you will be\ncrowned with eternal life if you will but endure temptation. Think of this\nin the hour of thy sore trial. Fight on; heaven awaits to reward you.\n\n\n\n\nLIVE BY FAITH.\n\n\nLive by faith. There is no other true and right way to live. Without faith\nit is impossible to please God, and of course the life that pleases God is\nthe only life that is perfect. We can please God; we can walk each day in\na way that is pleasing to him. Such a walk is by faith, not by sight. God\nhonors faith. He loves to have his Word believed. He delights to hear the\nprayer of faith; it avails with him.\n\nAround the great white throne in heaven the angels are shouting day and\nnight, \"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! blessing and glory and wisdom\nand thanksgiving, honor and power, belong to thee.\" But amid all this\nsound of praise God hears a voice and bends an ear to listen. It is the\nprayer of faith from the heart of one of his children. There is never too\nmany angels singing nor too many harps resounding for God to hear the\nvoice of his child. \"My voice,\" said the sweet singer of Israel, \"shalt\nthou hear in the morning.\" He hears the first faint cry of his heaven-born\nchild. Even the unuttered wish of the heart, the unexpressed desire, the\nfaintest breathing of love, he hears and recognizes as the voice of his\nchild. Faith will wing its way into the presence of God. It traverses the\nuniverse until it finds him and there brings the soul to its rest. Faith\nwill guide us through this world.\n\nFaith touches God. A woman came to Jesus and tremblingly reached out her\nfeeble hand and touched the hem of his garment. He asked, \"Who touched\nme?\" It was not the finger-touch that he felt, but the faith-touch. Today\nwe can touch him by faith and by no other way. Though many angels may be\nthronging him, yet the feeblest touch of faith will reach him. You may be\none of the weakest ones, unnoticed and unknown. A little cabin on the\nmountainside may be your home, but your feeblest cry of faith will reach\nthe throne of God, and he will send angels to encamp round about you and\ndeliver you. <i>Have faith in God.</i> When all is dark around you,\nbelieve in him. Trust him when you can not trace, and believe when you can\nnot see. Never doubt his Word. Faith will prevail and bring you the desire\nof your heart. Will you believe?\n\n\n\n\nA VALUABLE LEGACY.\n\n\nA legacy is a gift that some one makes to another; usually something that\none leaves behind, when departing from this world, for others to enjoy.\nSome have left great sums of money to others and to institutions, and\nthese bequests have been called valuable legacies. I am now to tell you of\nthe greatest and most valuable legacy that has ever been left to man. It\nis a bequest left not to one man but to all men. It is not a legacy of\nsilver or gold or diamonds nor of houses and lands. Nor can this precious\ngift be purchased with gold. It is something Jesus gives; and what he has\ncan not be purchased with any earthly thing. I will read you what it is:\n\"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.\" These are the words\nthat Jesus uttered just before his departure from the world, and this is\nthe legacy he leaves to man. Oh, what a gift! We can all possess it. We\nneed it as we are crossing the sea of life. Many storms arise and billows\nroll high, but the soul possesses this valuable treasure of peace. There\nis a stillness, a calmness, a peacefulness, in the soul that stormy winds\ncan never disturb.\n\nThis peace that Jesus gives, is given us through our obedience. \"Oh, that\nthou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a\nriver.\" What is more peaceful than the calm, even flowing of a river? As\nwe look upon it a quiet peacefulness begins to spread its mantle over our\nhearts. Still waters are a beautiful emblem of peace, while troubled\nwaters are a picture of unrest.\n\nThis peace that Jesus gives is unlike anything that the world gives. This\nworld contains many pleasant things and makes many very liberal offers,\nbut peace is never found by accepting any of them. The pleasures of this\nworld leave a bitter taste, while the hardships we endure for Jesus\nsweetens our cup.\n\nShall we analyze this peace, that we may know all about it, even the very\nhidden secret of the principle? The apostle says, \"The peace of God, which\n<i>passeth all understanding</i>, shall keep your hearts and minds.\" Let\nus be satisfied to have our hearts and minds kept by this wonderful peace,\nthough we do not understand it. I have some flowers on my desk. There are\nwhite ones and yellow and purple and red and pale blue. I do not\nunderstand the principle of life that gives them such beauty and\nfragrance. If I should dissect them in order to discover this secret, I\nshould destroy their beauty and be no wiser. We can not understand this\npeace, but we can possess it.\n\nThere is power in this peace to keep the heart and mind. \"Let the peace of\nGod rule in your hearts.\" Give thy heart over to its calm, still power. It\nwill rule very quietly in your soul, but rule with kingly power. The\nwaters can not rise in trouble where peace holds sway. When this secret\npower has dominion in our hearts, it speaks peace to all around. It says\nto the waves and the winds, \"Peace, be still.\" On the attacking fears, on\nthe threatening circumstances, it lays a quiet hand and whispers, \"Peace,\nbe still,\" and great is the calmness of thy soul.\n\n\n\n\nSOME SCRIPTURES FOR DAILY PRACTISE.\n\n\nIf we seek God earnestly in the prayer of faith to help us in our daily\npractise of the following Scriptural texts and then put forth our best\nefforts, we shall find life daily growing more holy and beautiful. The\nbeauty and enjoyment of a holy life is that it can always be improved\nupon. We can live in all the light that shines upon us from these texts\ntoday, but tomorrow we find them shining a little brighter and fuller\nlight, so that we shall have to live a little more holy than we are living\ntoday. Thus, all along our Christian way we shall find that we are growing\nand becoming holier in life, and more of the transcendent beauty of Jesus\nwill be seen upon us.\n\n\"And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,\neven as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.\" Eph. 4:32. Let this law\nof kindness get into your life as its very essence. It is not enough to\naffect kindness; we must be kind. A tender heart is the groundwork of\nkindness. Out of such a soil the beautiful flowers of gentleness,\nkindness, and tenderness grow. These perfume the life and make it cheering\nto others. Can you be more kind in your daily life? Is your heart so\ntender that it feels the suffering of the child or the pain of the dumb\nanimal to the extent that you find pleasure in giving relief even at the\nexpense of self-ease?\n\n\"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.\" Col.\n3:2. Guard your heart. \"Keep it with all diligence.\" See that all of its\naffections are on things above. Some of the earthly things that God has\ngiven into your keeping will want some of your affection. The beautiful\nhome, the farm, the bank-account, the domestic animals, and even some\nthings almost worthless will want a little of your heart's love. Your own\ntalents and personal appearance may desire some of your affection, just\nenough to set you approving them for your own sake. Practise daily the\nabove text.\n\n\"In everything give thanks.\" 1 Thess. 5:18. \"Giving thanks always for all\nthings.\" Eph. 5:20. Thankfulness is a grace easily improved and developed\nif cultivated. Likewise, it will very soon degenerate if neglected. In\norder to keep a deep sense of thankfulness in our hearts, we must be\nmindful of the gracious dealings of God. It is well to take time as often\nas circumstances will permit to meditate in some quiet place upon the\ngoodness of God to you. We should have such thankful hearts that ofttimes\ntears of gratitude will flow at the remembrance af God's goodness.\n\n\"Rejoice evermore.\" 1 Thess. 5:16. \"As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.\" 2\nCor. 6:10. \"Rejoice alway: and again I say, Rejoice.\" Phil. 4:4. \"Count it\nall joy when ye fall into divers temptations.\" Jas. 1:2. This is the power\nof the Christian life. We can always rejoice. We can be contented and\nhappy, whatever our circumstances in life. God's grace will sustain us.\nEvery day can be, and should be, a day of rejoicing. God is pleased to\nhave us happy, but he would have our rejoicing to be in him and not in his\nblessings. To rejoice in the midst of trial is health to the soul.\n\n\"Pray without ceasing.\" 1 Thess. 5:17. \"Continue in prayer, and watch in\nthe same with thanksgiving.\" Col. 4:2. \"Praying always with all prayer and\nsupplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance\nand supplication for all saints.\" Eph. 6:18. If you value peace and\nprosperity of soul, you will not neglect to pray. It is prayer that keeps\nus up above the clouds and brings heaven down. He who does not pray at all\nis not a Christian, and he who does not pray much is not much of a\nChristian. It is not those who have plenty of time to pray that do the\nmost praying, but they who take the time. Let there be some prayer every\nday.\n\n\"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind\nlet each esteem others better than themselves.\" Phil. 2:3. This should be\nthe experience of your heart every day. When we are lowly, we see our own\nfaults and imperfections and our brother's virtues; therefore we look upon\nhim as better than ourselves. It seems to us that others are more humble\nthan we are, and have more faith and love God more than we do.\n\n\"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of\nothers.\" Phil. 2:4. We should be as much concerned in others' welfare as\nin our own. He who is looking out for himself and neglecting others has\nnot advanced very far in the Christian life. The Christian lives for\nothers. He will overlook his own needs and see his brother's needs.\n\n\"See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that\nwhich is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.\" I Thess. 5: 15.\n\"And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap,\nif we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all\nmen, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.\" Gal. 6:9,\n10. To go about doing good out of a heart full of love is the way to spend\nlife. Heaven is going to reward us according to our works. The Bible tells\nus so. Never a day should go by without our having done some good thing\npurposely out of love to God and man. The Lord does not overlook small\ndeeds when done in love. A coral is very small, but many of them make an\nisland: a little good deed done every day will in a lifetime amount to\nenough to build a splendid mansion in heaven.\n\n\"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.\" Gal.\n6:2. To lift a load from off the shoulders of another is noble service. To\nremove a burden from another's heart is truly Christlike. He who goes\nthrough life bearing the burdens of others has found the easiest road; he\nwho goes through life refusing to aid others travels a road of hardest\ntoil.\n\n\"Abhor that which is evil.\" Rom. 12:9. God is holy; consequently he hates\nthat which is evil. When we admire the holiness of God, we loathe sin; if\nsin has no horror to our soul, holiness has no beauty. To the extent we\nlove holiness, to that extent we hate sin. A good man of long ago said,\n\"If I could see the shame of sin on the one hand and the pain of hell on\nthe other, and must of necessity choose one, I would rather be thrust into\nhell without sin than go to heaven with sin.\"\n\nSin is a hideous monster. Draw near to God if you would see sin's awful\nhideousness. Unlike most other things, the farther you are away from sin\nthe more clearly you can see it as it really is.\n\n\"Cleave to that which is good.\" Rom. 12:9. To cleave to is to adhere\ntightly; to cling. We cleave to that which is good by ever doing good.\nWhen we hate sin as we should and see its awful shame, and love the good\nand see its wondrous beauty, we would rather go to hell doing good than to\nheaven committing sin.\n\n\"Draw nigh to God.\" Jas. 4:8. The close of every day should find us a\nlittle nearer God than the evening before. We should hide a little more\nsecretely in his pavilion. We should nestle a little more closely under\nhis wing; his feathers should cover us a little more fully. Be the storms\nwhat they may, we can daily live very close to God, and what we can do it\nis our duty to do.\n\n\"Open thy mouth wide.\" Psa. 81:10. We should daily live with wide-open\nmouth. If we will, the promise is that God will fill it. For God to be all\nto us, we must expect all from him. God can impart to us only what our\nhearts are open to receive. If we would live with God in our own soul, we\nmust have all our soul open to receive him. Many fail to see the beauty of\na life hid with God because they are looking too much earthward. Opening\nthe mouth wide implies an abandonment of ourself to God with a readiness\nto receive all that God has to give, together with an expectation to\nreceive nothing that does not come from him. Then God will fill us daily\nwith himself. There will be a constant inflowing from God of strength and\nability to perform every duty of life, and of grace and peace to make life\nan emblem of heaven. \"The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou\nshouldest <i>know</i> his will.\" Acts 22:14. \"Not with eye-service, as\nmen-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, <i>doing</i> the will of God\nfrom the heart.\" Eph. 6:6. \"I <i>delight</i> to do thy will, O my God\"\nPsa. 40:8. It is our privilege to daily <i>know</i> the will of God. It is\nour duty to daily <i>do</i> it. It is a blessing to love to do it. Here is\nthe sum of all Christian living: 1. Knowing the will of God; 2. Doing the\nwill of God; 3. Doing the will of God in love.\n\n  \"I asked the New-year for some motto sweet,\n  Some rule of life with which to guide my feet;\n  I asked, and paused; he answered soft and low,\n  'God's will to know.'\n\n  \"'Will knowledge then suffice, New-year?' I cried,\n  And e'en the question into silence died:\n  The answer came, 'Nay, but remember, too,\n  God's will to do.'\n\n  \"Once more I asked: 'Is there no more to tell?'\n  And once again the answer sweetly fell,\n  'Yes, this one thing all other things above:\n  God's will to love.'\"\n\n\"Do all things without murmurings and disputings.\" Phil. 2:14. Let thy\nlife be free from all frettings and worryings. Let it be like the calm\nflowing of the river. God is a strong and high tower, a refuge, a shield.\nWith our life hidden in him, worries and frettings can not reach us. We\nmay be treated unjustly by a bosom friend, but we commit it to God, and\ninstead of feeling the wound the friend gives, we feel the balm our Father\ngives.\n\n\"Be content with such things as ye have.\" Heb. 13:5. \"I have learned, in\nwhatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.\" Phil. 4:11. He who has\ngained contentment has gained more than he who has gained the wealth of a\nworld, if it be contentment with godliness. A discontented life is a dark\nspot on the page of human history. An even, contented life is as a\nlighthouse shedding its peaceful beams over the turbulent waters where\nvoyagers come and go.\n\n\"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.\" Phil. 4:13.\n\"I am mighty enough for all things through Christ who empowers me.\"--\nRotherham. There is no excuse for your not living a perfectly victorious\nlife today. You can be a conqueror. Temptations will assail you, trials\nwill come, but you can ignore them in such a way as to show their author\nyour contempt for both him and his temptations. I read just this morning\nthis good suggestion: \"Do not dwell upon your temptations. They are like\nlittle dogs that bark after a man that passes by; if he stops to drive\nthem away, they bark more fiercely than before.\" You can do all things\nthrough Christ, but you must do them in his way. Ofttimes he would have\nyou ignore temptations instead of fighting them. It is well ofttimes not\neven to ask, \"Who is there,\" when temptations come knocking at your door.\n\n\"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of\nmercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;\nforbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a\nquarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.\" Col. 3:\n12, 13. Such a life is a heavenly life. Think these words over and make\nthem your experience today. Have bowels of mercies--that yearning,\nlonging, compassionate feeling that would gladly bring every offender to\nJesus for forgiveness. Be kind. Oh, the power of kindness! It can not be\nresisted; it conquers wherever it goes. This cold world knows no music so\nsweet as kindness; it charms and delights the ears of all. If you would be\nkind in word and act, be kind in thought. Be humble in mind. Think well of\nothers and not so well of yourself. Life will flow on peacefully and\neasily if we are humble; nothing can disturb. Be meek, sweet, and mild\ntempered. Bear long with the failings and weaknesses of others, carefully\nconsidering your own and keeping in mind how you would like to have others\nbear with you.\n\n\"And above all these things put on charity; which is the bond of\nperfectness.\" Col. 3:14. Throw the mantle of love over every act and\nthought in life. Love purely, love sincerely, love fervently. Nothing is\nso great as love. All the graces have their seat in love; you can not be\ncompassionate, kind, humble, meek, or forbearing without love.\n\n\"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts.\" Col. 4: 15. Let the peace\nof God act as umpire, deciding every case. Let it have the ruling power in\nyour heart and life today and every day. Whatever matters may arise, let\nthe peace of God take it in hand and dispose of it. If it shows any\nresistance, then let the peace of God cast it out.\n\n\"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know\nhow ye ought to answer every man.\" Col. 4: 6. \"Let no corrupt\ncommunication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use\nof edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.\" Eph. 4: 29.\nHave a pure speech, made mighty by the grace of God. Be sober without\ngloom, be serious with cheerfulness. Have such a conversation as is suited\nto lift hearts to a higher plane. Your words should be such as to make\nbetter those you talk with and make them feel that there is something\nhigher for them.\n\n\"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.\" Eph. 5:16. Time is more\nthan money; it is life. Do not waste it. Improve its golden moments today.\nBe economical in its use. Many complain of not having time for devotional\nreading and for prayer, while if they would examine carefully, they would\nfind that they trifle away as much time as would he needed for prayer each\nday.\n\n\"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.\" Eph. 5:21. This\nis beautiful. Submissiveness is a desirable grace and one that will strew\nyour pathway with peace. How blessed it is to be always ready to give up\nour way! It is the easy way. We shall find life's way a hard road to\ntravel if we are always wanting our way.\n\n\"Be careful for nothing.\" Phil. 4:6. \"Casting all your care upon him; for\nhe careth for you.\" 1 Pet. 5: 7. \"Take no thought for your life, what ye\nshall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put\non.\" Matt. 6:25. The Christian life is one of freedom from anxiety. Jesus\nwill bear all our burdens, and cares if we will but cast them on him.\nThere is no need to worry nor to bear a load of care. A certain brother\nwas much troubled about not having bread for the next meal. But while he\nwas troubling himself and bearing his load, a man drove up and unloaded a\nbarrel of flour at the door. All the time the brother was troubled, the\nbarrel of flour was on the way. Take no anxiety for future things.\n\n\"Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.\" Psa. 4:4. Each\nevening in some quiet place and with interior stillness talk with your\nheart and let your heart talk to you. Take a distinctive view of your\ninward life. You need to be very careful lest you outwardly appear to be a\nlittle more than you really are inwardly.\n\n\"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ\nliveth in me.\" Gal. 2:20. Is it true? Does Jesus live in you? If you are\nsmitten upon the right cheek, does Jesus then live in you? If you are evil\nspoken of, misrepresented, misunderstood, neglected, dispised and\nforsaken, does Jesus live in you then? If you see your brother in need; if\nyou have two coats and he has none, does Jesus live in you then? There are\nsome in prison near you; there are those who are sick; there are those who\nare thirsty and hungry; in foreign lands there are heathen that know not\nGod,--are you sure Jesus lives in you?\n\n\"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I can not\nperceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but I can not behold\nhim: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I can not see him.\" Job\n23:8,9. This may be your experience some days. In fact, if you are making\nprogress and at all approaching maturity, you will have such experiences.\nSome dear conscientious Christians become much troubled because they are\nnot more conscious of God's presence. They do not feel him, and thus they\nconclude they must be very formal. I have always believed and taught that\nwe should have a consciousness of God's presence with us; I still believe\nand teach it; but I must admit that the most spiritual ofttimes can not\nperceive God on either hand. They may fear that they are lifeless, because\nthere is not a fresh and sweet spontaneous feeling in their souls. It\nseems to them that they merely go through the form of worshiping God\ninstead of being in the Spirit. They pray, but their prayers seem to have\nno depth of heart. In consequence they may be troubled. They need not be.\nWe are not necessarily lukewarm because we do not feel God. The most\nhumble men are those who are least conscious of their humility. The\ngreatest of men are those who take no note of their greatness. The\nChristian has life; but when we get in the habit of living, we are not so\nconscious of life.\n\nLet me illustrate the point in this way: Suppose your weakness to be\nselfishness. You struggle hard against that selfish principle; you notice\nthat you are becoming more unselfish; you are conscious of it because you\nhave had to put forth such effort to attain it; but after you have gained\nthe victory and have become habituated to living an unselfish life, you\nwill be less conscious of your unselfishness. The musician is not so\nconscious of his skill after he has mastered the art as he is while\nlearning it. Those who are the meekest and have the most intimate converse\nwith heaven, diffusing a fragrance round about them from their holy lives\nand seeming to be visitants from some world where there is no sin--these\nare least conscious of their high spiritual attainments.\n\nLive a holy life, obey the commandments of God, have a will to serve God,\nand if sometimes you do not feel him nor perceive him, do not be troubled,\nbut consider that he knows the way you take and that when he has tried\nyou, you shall come forth as gold.\n\n\"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.\" Rom. 12:10.\nBrotherly love is precious in the sight of angels. It is the most\nconvincing proof of the Christian religion. \"By this shall all men know\nthat ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.\" But in\naddition to brotherly love there should be kind affection. This is love\nfelt and expressed. There are those who really love, yet whose nature is\nsuch that they do not feel much love. Kind affection, like every other\ngrace, is capable of cultivation.\n\n\"In honor preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in\nspirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation;\ncontinuing instant in prayer.\" Rom. 12:10-12. These words contain depth of\nexperience, but only by prayer and deep meditation can we descend to their\ndepth.\n\nBut we must close by referring you to the whole of the Bible. It is a holy\nbook, yea, the holiest of books. A life in harmony with its precepts is\nthe holiest life. Such a life will grace the earth and shine as a star\nforever in heaven. Cleave to the Bible, study its pages, appropriate its\ntruths to your own heart by faith. By living upon the Word of God, we\nbecome more like God. Heavenly words taken into the heart form a heavenly\nlife.\n\nLet your soul be fed each day from the blessed Book of God. Take the time.\nDrink deep into its pure, crystal stream, and the beauty of the Lord will\ngrow upon you. Watch the little things in every-day life--the thought, the\nword, the act--until you bring the whole of your life into the habit of\nacting godly. Be as kind as you can be today, and you can be kinder\ntomorrow. This is for the Christian. We do not become Christians by\ngrowth, but we must grow after we become Christians. We can be more\npatient tomorrow by being as patient as we can be today. We can be better\nmen tomorrow by being our best today. We grow as we live. If we live the\nright way, we shall grow that way, and the longer we grow that way, the\nmore natural and easy the way.\n\nTherefore let your whole life flow out in a trend with the Bible, until it\nwears a channel in holiness and Christian character. Gather food daily for\nyour soul from the sacred page; live in the most intimate communion with\nGod that is possible; meditate in his law day and night; let the love of\nyour heart grow warmer; let life be the holiest possible. Do this, and you\nwill be one of the jewels God will gather to bedeck the temple of the\nskies.\n\n  A tender blue is in the sky\n   As sets the golden sun;\n  Another day is passing by,\n   And thus the moments run;\n\n  The song-bird's note is soft and low,\n   Flying to leafy nest;\n  In evening's peaceful twilight glow\n   All nature sinks to rest;\n\n  The fields are wrapped in somber shroud\n   As fades the light of day;\n  A tender flush is on the cloud\n   Beside the milky way;\n\n  A hush is on this world of ours;\n   Day, dying, drops a tear;\n  Angels' hands unveil the stars,\n   Which one by one appear;\n\n  Now Pleiades grow sparkling bright\n   In deepening blue above:\n  O mild, serene autumnal night!\n   Thy voice is full of love.\n\n  Such sacred awe my soul doth fill!\n   Such quietness doth reign!\n  The Voice that uttered, \"Peace, be still,\"\n   Has whispered once again.\n\n  The silver bars that streak the West\n   Are short'ning one by one;\n  Another day has gone to rest,\n   And thus the moments run.\n\n  I've one day less to watch and wait,\n   My Savior's face to see,\n  Some day, and ope will be the gate.\n   Sweet heaven, I come to thee.\n\n  Oh, may it be when sets the sun\n   So peacefully and calm!\n  Oh, may I hear the sweet, \"Well done,\"\n   When evening sings her psalm!\n\n *  *  *  *  *  *  *\n\n  It is a pleasant autumn eve;\n   The blue is in the sky;\n  My task is done; I take my leave.\n   Good-by, dear friend, good-by!\n\n *  *  *  *  *  *  *\n\n  Dear reader, live alone for God;\n  Walk blameless in his blessed Word.\n  We may not meet each other here,\n  But let us live in Heaven's fear,\n  So when our work on earth is done,\n  We'll meet each other round God's throne.\n  Just one request I make of thee:\n  Until we meet, pray oft for me.","title":"How to Live a Holy Life","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":43720}