Q^otnell Untneraitg Kibrarg 3tl|aca. S^eta f atk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 s mi^i'^ gifli©^;-"^s wjffL©n this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and give to the hbrarian. HOME USE RULES All Books subject to Recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow books for home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be re- turned within the four week limit and not renewed. ' Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers shotild arrange for the return of books wanted during their absedce from town. Volumes of periodicals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the benefit of other persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books - marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. Growing toward God, o.in,an? ^^^4 031 249 604 Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031249604 GROWING TOWARD GOD By GERARD B. F. HALLOCK, D.D. Author of "Journeying in the Land Where Jesus Lived" "God's Whispered Secrets,'' "Upward Steps," "Beauty in God's Word," etc. Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb ; Keep clean, bear fruit, earn life, and watch Till the white-winged reaper come. — Henry Vaughan AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 150 Nassau Street Boston New York Chicago LL ^5?o^?5' Copyright, 1904 By American Tract Society CONTENTS. Preface Introduction by Eev. Dr. Theo- 3 dore L. Cuyler 5 I. Growing Toward God . 7 n. Turning Aside to See 13 ni. The Comfort of Prayer . 19 IV. The Comfort of the Church 24 V. Take Time to be Holy . 32 VI. Faith and Joy .... 39 VTT, Eeligion's Pleasant Ways 44 vin. Celestial Investments 49 IX. Christ Dwelling Within . 56 X. Abidinsc Work .... 61 XT Celestial Citizenship . 68 xn. Reverses and Prosperity 75 Nlll Our Temptations and their ( ]!on- Quest 87 xrv. Little Sins 92 XV. Spiritual Lonesomeness . 99 XVI. The Grace of being Tender- hearted I • 105 : CONTENTS XVn. The Marks of the Lord Jesus . 110 XVni. The Eesponsibility of Leader- ship 116 Sin a Self Injury 122 Eating Honey by the Way . . 129 Spiritual Fragrance .... 135 The Sympathy of Christ . . .141 Our Eich Helper 149 The Love of the Holy Spirit . . 155 Living in Eight Eelations to- • ward the Holy Spirit . . . 168 The Fancies of Life . . . .175 Safeguards against Sia . . . 184 Self-Discovery 189 Enthusiasm as an Attainment . 194 My Neighbor 199 Life and Things 208 Life Marred and Made over . . 213 PREFACE. God is the Sun of our souls. As vegetable growth is toward the sun so true Christian growth is toward God. Bring that sickly plant from the cellar up into the light and how soon it begins to freshen up and grow and take on rich colors. The reason there are puny Chris- tians is because they live too much away from God. " The Lord God is a sun." " God is light." Light vivifies. Light purifies. Light gives power. All sources of power are directly from the sun, coming in rays of light. Light is comforting. A dark day is a gloomy day, but a burst of sunshine gives cheer. Light is beauti- fying. A garden or a bird of glorious plumage is not beautiful in the dark; but in the light of the sun how exquisite they are ! No wonder Christians are exhorted to " walk in the light. ' ' "We should all get as much as we may out under the clear shining of the glorious " Sun of Righteousness." Spiritual health 3 4 PEEFACE and beauty and happiness and serviceableness are the sure results. This little book has but one aim. It has been written with the hope and prayer that it may be providentially used as a beckoning hand to call its readers to a life lived more largely out in the sunshine of God's love. G. B. F. H. Missing Page Missing Page GROWING TOWARD GOD I. GEOWING TOWARD GOD. , " Grow tall— tall enough to look over Mount Difficulty into Hope City. Grow broad — broad enough to bear with people whom God has made different from you. Grow deep, sending your roots down into perpetual springs. Come to know God. Grow straight, measuring right up to the line of duty. Grow stout— ready for burdens, and ready for fruit." Plants and vegetation and trees grow toward the sun. Even the heart of a tree trunk is not at the centre, as many suppose, but the main body of every tree has an elliptical bulge toward the sun-prevailing side. In garden or grove or thicket, if any plants or trees or shrubs are in the shade, they struggle toward the sun, the source of their light and life and 7 8 GROWING TOWARD GOD well being. It is ia the same way that Chris- tians ought to grow,— toward God, the source of their life and light and blessedness. " The Lord God is a sun." It is our privilege and should be our delight to grow toward him. Not a few Christians are dissatisfied with themselves and their attaimnents. They feel that they are living on the surface of the Chris- tian life and that there are depths of riches belonging to it into which they have not come, because they do not know the way. They want to grow toward God, and in likeness to God, but they say they know not how to make such attaimnent. The fact is that the whole matter has been treated too much as a mystery. The darkness and uncertaiaty which trouble Christians would disappear, if the plain teachings and counsels of the Bible were carefully regarded. The directions for living the spiritual life are all given so definitely and plainly in God's Word that no one need make a mistake. One essential qualification for the deepening and enriching of the spiritual life is knowledge. It is important, if we would grow toward God, GEOWING TOWARD GOD 9 that we should have a clear and definite under- standing of spiritual things. There can be almost no growth in grace without growth in knowledge first. But there is nothing in the least difficult or mysterious about the way to get this knowledge. It is simply by a constant and faithful study of the Bible. Bible-fed Christians are strong Christians, vigorous, active, growing. Those who neglect the Bible are weak and sickly, discontented and ineffi- cient. We are simply to *' desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby." There is no mystery about that, nor anything out of the reach of any of us. Not less important and necessary is prayer. Prayer is indeed a method of knowledge. It brings acquaintance with God, knowledge of God and growth toward God. The absence of prayer is the sure sign of retrogression and in- difference. Prayerfulness is an essential char- acteristic of any deep or successful Christian living. There is no mystery about prayer. It is a very simple thing, but a very essential thing, if we would grow as Christians. Near akin to this is meditation. To meditate 10 GROWING TOWARD GOD is to dwell upon anything in thought, to study upon it deliberately and continuously, to muse, to reflect, to think. It really means to get into the middle of a thing. It means to study deeply. The great men of science have been men of meditation. The greatest philosophers arrived at their deep thoughts by reflection. The great men of God, too, have been men of meditation. Robert Hall and Richard Baxter and John Bimyan and others, who have had a deep understanding of or rich experiences in the Christian life, were all men of much spirit- ual meditation. Too many of us faU to make the truth we hear our own. We faU to make it undergo the mental process of digestion, by which alone it can become our own — a part of us. Would you grow toward God, then foUow Paul's advice to Timothy: *' Meditate on these things; give thyself whoUy to them." One other essential is obedience. So far as we know we are to do. As some one has said: *' There are attainments in the spiritual life which can be reached in no other way, save through a faithful and loving doing of the will of Christ. The exercises of faith and prayer GEOWING TOWAED GOD 11 will not bring them. It is through service that life grows stronger, healthier and more vigor- ous. To do each day the ordinary duties of life as unto Christ, and with a desire to please him, will as truly bring us into larger and happier spiritual life as the exercises of the closet, of devotion, or waiting upon God in the ordi- nances of public worship. Prompt, loving and faithful obedience to known duty not only yields peace and joy, but it also opens the way to higher service. The failure to recognize this truth will account for the unrest and dissatis- faction and dwarfed lives of many professed Christians. Neither emotion, nor prayer, nor meditation on the Scriptures, can be substi- tuted for holy obedience." Tou wish to grow toward God. Then put away all thought that it is to be attained in some strange, mysterious way. Fall in with the oldest, simplest, best possible methods of knowledge, prayer, meditation and obedience. Verily, you shall have your reward. " How does the soul grow? Not all in a minute. Now it may lose ground, and now it may win it; 12 GEOWING TOWAED GOD Now it resolves, and again the will faileth; Now it rejoiceth, and now it bewaileth; Now hopes fructify, then they are blighted; Now it walks sunnily, now gropes benighted. Fed by discouragements, taught by disaster, So it goes forward, now slower, now faster. Till, all the pain past, and failure made whole, It is full-grown, and the Lord rules the soul." n. TURNING ASIDE TO SEE. That in these busy, hurrying times we need to be stirred afresh to the blessed exercise of fellowship with God, few Christians will deny. That fellowship with God is a blessed exercise all who know anything at all about Christian experience wiU agree. " It is good for me to draw near to God," is a common sentiment of Christians ; but the drawing near and the living near are not nearly so common as an attain- ment. The fact that we can draw near to God implies the fact also that it is possible to live at a distance from God, which too many among even professed Christians do. Moses at the " mountain of God " was an instance of a man within reach of a great spir- itual opportunity. What he saw was a bush burning, but unconsumed. Moved by a spirit of reasonable inquisitiveness, he said, " I will now turn aside and see this great sight; why 13 14 GROWING TOWAED GOD the bush is not burnt. ' ' When he paused in his going, and bent his steps in the direction of the wonder, there came to him the blessing of a rich revelation. Indeed, he met Jehovah, who spoke to him, face to face. It was almost a similar experience the Apostle John had on Patmos. Being " in the Spirit on the Lord's day," he heard a voice behind him. It was a trumpet-like voice, pro- claiming: " I am Alpha and Omega." John " turned to see " the voice that spake with him, and at once there followed a stUl ampler message and a richer blessing. What was true of Moses and what was true of John is true of men always,— they get vis- ions of God and the richest spiritual blessings only as they give themselves pause in the hurry of life, and " turn aside to see." God inti- mates in some way that he would speak with us, and when he does, that moment is our moment of spiritual opportunity. It is our duty to turn aside to see. It is our duty to place ourselves in the full attitude of attention. Like Samuel upon hearing the voice, we should say at once, '* Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." TUENING ASIDE TO SEE 15 Turn aside to attend upon a spiritual mood or impulse. Moses did not thoughtlessly or indifferently hasten on, satisfied with the mere glimpse he got of the burning bush. Many get a glimpse of spiritual possibilities, fall into the mood of spiritual thoughtfulness ; but they deliberately shake it off, and say to the wooing Spirit of God, " Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee." That is doing despite unto the Spirit of grace. That is hurrying by the burning bush. That is failing to heed God's beckoning call. That tells the secret, too, why many brought up in our Christian homes and churches and communities are not Christians. This same lack of spiritual attentiveness is the reason also why many Christians are weak in faith, lukewarm in love, and powerless for serv- ice. God has many things to say to those who will come near enough to him to hear his voice or who will be still long enough to listen. ' ' The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." The term here rendered " secret " is in the Hebrew tongue " a whisper." When a humble and teachable soul is near to God he 16 GROWING TOWAED GOD often tells it a secret. He whispers in the at- tentive Christian's ear some sweet word of promise or of love which no one else can hear, perhaps which no one else could nnderstand. Turn aside to see. Pause long enough to find out the meaning of the intimation God has given. Turn aside to attend upon what God says to you in his Word. This is an age of secularity. The push of life leads along the well-beaten track of worldliness. It takes some grit for a busily engaged man to say to himself; " I wiU now turn aside from the paths of greed and money-getting and secularity, and see some great thiug in the spiritual realm." The Bible is a letter sent to him, but he does not open it, — or thus far has neglected it. He has been rushing along practically heedless of what God says. But this is a very narrow-minded and foolish way in which to live. It is a happy day for any man when he comes to a distinct de- cision to deflect from his accustomed way of worldliness and listen to the voice of God. It is important, too, for all Christians to remem- ber that time taken for the study of God's mes- TURNING ASIDE TO SEE 17 sages is not time lost. No one is a loser by the time he spends with the Bible. In the largest sense " Godliaess is profitable unto all things." It pays to turn aside and see God, and to hear what he has to say to us in his blessed Book. Turn aside to hear and to meditate. Turn aside to see and learn the meaning of God's providential acts. At first the burning bush seemed only a mysterious but meaningless happening; but it was far from that. Moses turned aside to see and at once found that there was transcendent meaning in it, and a most important message for him. It was when God saw that he turned aside to see and hear, his attention arrested, that he spoke to him. " Be still, and know that I am God." Do you get still enough before God to permit him to tell you the meaning of his providential deal- ings with you? There is much you might know which you do not, many mysteries that would be explained to you if only you would be still before God, would turn aside to see and to hear what he has to say to you through his providential dealings. God speaks to us when we are still. In the 18 GROWING TOWAED GOD busy part of the day in London, so great is the rush along the Strand that the tolling of the great clock in St. Paul's Cathedral, as it strikes the hours, is not heard. People could hear it if they would stop and listen. Many of us live in such a rush and hurry that we do not hear God speak. Yet he would speak to us messages of the sweetest and most meaningful import if we would permit ourselves to pause in life and be in an attitude to heed what he says. Beiag with God shows. Men could tell that Moses had held fellowship with him. Being with God gives power. Moses went from the presence of God to work wonders in his name. Quiet listening to God is no hindrance to mak- ing active accomplishment in life. Being with God gives a sense of zest and security. To go conscious that God is with us gives mighty in- spiration to life. Moses had God consciously with him. No wonder he went so well on God's errands. ni. THE COMFORT OF PRAYER. ' ' Prayer is the rope up in the belfry : we pull it, and it rings the bell up in heaven," so said Christmas Evans, the great Welsh preacher. To know that the bell rings, and to have its music flood our lives, this is indeed a great comfort to Christians. What a never-failing source of comfort prayer is! The history of each individual Christian and of the amount of comfort and blessedness he has received could be almost ac- curately recorded by a statement of his habits of prayer. Children in their disappointments and youths in making their choices, mothers in their careworn lives and fathers in their toil, statesmen in their heavy tasks and pastors with their perplexities. Christians of all ages and all classes and in every variety of circumstances have tested and attested to the wonderful com- forting power there is in prayer. 19 20 GROWING TOWAED GOD " Since I began," said Dr. Pay son when a student, " to beg God's blessing on my studies, I have done more in one week tban in tbe whole year before. ' ' Luther, when most pressed with his gigantic toils, said : * ' I have so much to do that I cannot get along without three hours a day of praying." General Havelock rose at four, if the hour of marching was six, rather tJian miss the precious privilege of communion with God before setting out. Sir Matthew Hale said: " If I omit praying and reading God's Word in the morning nothing goes well all day." These men, as have all faithful Christians, found the comfort there is in prayer. What prayer has been to the individual it has heen to the race. Think what volumes of prayer have gone up to God. Its comforting power to the race cannot be overestimated. It has been the source of imtold blessedness and cheer to the people of earth. Could it all be put together, what a bundle of comfort it would make ! It is well for us to widen out our conception and think what a total of comfort prayer has given to God's people. THE COMFORT OF PEAYEE 21 Are you getting comfort out of prayer? It is your privilege as a Christian to find in it every day a mighty source of help and of blessedness to your life. If you are not finding in it such a blessing you should look well to know the reasons for this lack. One may be that you are not keeping tryst with Christ. You fail to meet him at the ap- pointed place. If you regularly go to the tryst- ing place, he will be found of you there. Irreg- ularity in your habits of prayer may be the reason you no longer get comfort out of prayer. Another possible reason is that you are over- strained with the labors of life. You have taken too much upon you. You are too hurried to think. If you pray, it is with divided or hur- ried mind. The things you have in hand seem so important that you must give them atten- tion, and so you give your prayers little time, thought or attention. No wonder you fail in getting the comfort of prayer. The only rem- edy is for you to drop some of your responsi- bilities until you come into possession of your- self. You cannot give yourself to God until you possess yourself. 22 GEOWING TOWAED GOD The other possible reason for lack of com- fort in prayer is indulged sin. There is no use in looking for comfort in prayer while cher- ished sin is in your life. We do not say sia, for we all sia and come short of the glory of God, but we cannot have comfort in prayer while sin unwatched-against, sin unfought-against, is there. The presence of permitted sin, cher- ished sin, is the most common cause of our lack of enjoying the comfort of prayer. Let us learn to value prayer more. We have read a description of a picture. There is represented a steeple of an old church. In the steeple is a bell and a rope hanging down toward the earth. Beside the bell calmly sits an owl, suggestive of the fact that the bell has not been used for a long time. Through a casement of the steeple one can see down be- low a little corner of a grave-yard, and running by it the street full of hurrying people. As a motto under the picture are the words, " Why don't they ring? " Why don't we ring? Why do we permit the bell-cord of prayer to hang all unused in the steeple, when if we would only ring we might have our lives all flooded THE COMFORT OF PRAYER 23 with the harmonies of heaven? Let us pull the rope! Let us value prayer more! Let us use it more as a means. We can have the mu- sic of heaven falling down and filling our lives with the sweetest melodies of comfort and peace and joy, if we will. Why don't you ring? IV. THE COMFORT OF THE CHUECH. During Absalom's rebellion David was at one time forced to remain an exile from Jerusalem. In a fit of homesickness of tbe soul he sat down and penned the Eighty-fourth Psalm. It would seem that he lamented his absence from Jeru- salem not so much because it was the royal city, as because it was the holy city, the place of God's temple and worship. Restrained thus by force of circumstances from waiting upon God in his sanctuary, it seems that the want of the privilege made him all the more sensible of its worth. We see him with yearning desire facing Jerusalemward, exclaiming: " How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord." How beautiful in his exUe God's house and service seemed! And how intense was his longing desire to enjoy them ! ' ' My heart and my flesh crieth out— ' ' ; 24 THE COMFOBT OF THE CHUEOH 25 he longed, he fainted, he cried out in his de- sire to be restored to the enjoyment of God in his sanctuary. But he wanted also God him- self, the sense of his presence, of his love, of his communion: " My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." You have had that feeling — that you wanted God, wanted his presence, wanted him in your life, in your heart, your soul — your heart and your flesh crying out for the living God. There are multitudes of people everywhere who are well acquainted with this lonesomeness of heart, this homesickness of the soul, and especially in the way of a desire for a name and place in the sanctuary of God's Church. David in his banishment even be- grudged the happiness of the little birds that made their nests about the temple structure. Not those that flew over the temple on hasty wings; not those that made their nests in the trees of the wood ; but those he knew were about the temple, and made nests for themselves, and in which to lay their young in the buildings around the courts of God's house. He could wish himself with them ; for we hear him crying out in his spiritual homesickness: " Yea, the 26 GEOWING TOWAED GOD sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. ' ' The Church is the spiritual home of God's people to-day as truly as was ever the Jerusa- lem temple to David. And every soul needs just such a home. Every true Christian should have a church home. God intended it to be so. It is one of the very best signs that we are Chris- tians if, like David, we love God's house and worship and people. Christ knew his followers would need the home associations of the Church, so he called them together as a family and pray- ed that they might be one. The figures under which his people are represented by Christ and his apostles tell of the same need. They are sheep, not scattered sheep, except when lost, but gathered into a flock. They are stones, not boulders here and there, but built together into a temple. They are not simply flourishing plants, but parts of one vine. They are not separate individuals, but members of the body of Christ, with one common Hfe, and with rela- THE COMFORT OF THE CHURCH 27 tions to each other as well as to their Head. The Church is a divine institution, provided to meet a felt need — a need inherent in our na- tures. See how men are ever inclined to asso- ciation. We know how it is and why it is that people read in circles, study in classes, play in companies, travel in parties, carry on business in firms, fight in regiments, associate in unions, ever thus voluntarily binding themselves to- gether. God knew that in religion his people would need such associations. He met that need by founding the Church, the perfection of hu- man society, where human society suns itself in the full radiance of his fatherly love. What are some of the sources of comfort brought to us by God's Church. One, as we have said, is the comfort of having a spiritual home. What a sad, uneasy thing life must be without a home ! There is no sickness more bit- ter than homesickness. It is said that many a Swiss has sunk a martyr to his longing for home. The malady is commonly brought on by hearing their celebrated national air at some unexpected moment when under the influence of dejected feelings. Overcome by the emotions 28 GROWING TOWARD GOD awakened, he sheds tears, and can only be con- soled by the prospect of immediately retnrniag to Ms home. If unable to accomplish this wish of his heart, he sinks into a profoimd melan- choly, which not unfrequently terminates in dis- ease and death. We believe there is just such a restlessness, an uneasiness, a homesickness of the soul, which every Christian must feel who lives without a church home. We believe that there is a deep longing for the soul's home in the sanctuary which will not cease until that God-given desire is satisfied. And, oh, how much of church home- lessness there is in the world ! The need, too, is of one home. That is the natural way. You know that you can not have a dozen homes a week. That means you have no home. The man who, like a tortoise, carries his home around on his back, who tells you it is home wherever he hangs his hat, simply means that he has no home. God speaks of our being ' ' planted in the house of the Lord. ' ' Well, you never expect fruit from a tree that is being con- tinually plucked up and transplanted from one place to another. Indeed the chances are not THE COMFORT OF THE CHURCH 29 only of no fruit, but that the tree itself will die. It is an old saying, " A rolling stone gathers no moss." And you may apply that to all church tramps. You never expect to get any real good work out of a tramp, do you? Just so true is it that you may expect very little from any wandering Christian who gives his soul no permanent resting place. We all need a church home, a place where our interests centre, where our hearts are fixed, where our souls are helped — one regularly attended, constantly served, and devotedly loved church home. "We find comfort in the Church also as a feed- ing place for the soul. "We need God's truth to nourish and strengthen us. Without it our faith becomes weak, our souls become sickly and ready to die. Our souls do really hunger, and we must have the " bread of life " to sat- isfy them. Our souls are ever thirsty, and we need the " water of life " to slake our burning desire. We are commanded to " desire the sin- cere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby." Our souls need the Church and its ordinances as our bodies need bread; and the Christian who neglects the spiritual nourish- 30 GROWING TOWAED GOD ment thus to be obtained must inevitably be- come weak in faith, cold in love, and sickly in soul. We need the church home as a place in which to grow spiritually strong. We find comfort in the Church as a source of sympathy and fraternal help. God calls his Church a family. He intends that each indi- vidual church shall be a family where are found love and sympathy and mutual helpfulness. It is one of the tests of discipleship, that if we love God we will love our brethren also. And let us not forget that, notwithstanding all that is said to the contrary by the enemies of Christ, there is a sympathy and a love, there is a spirit of encouragement and of helpfulness, found among the members of Christ's Church that is not found in the outside world. The Church has faults enough, and does not profess to be perfect; but one of the first commendations of her early days was the remark of her enemies : " See how these Christians love one another." And, despite all the flings to the contrary, the time has never come yet when her members cannot truly sing: " Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts iu Christian love." THE COMFORT OF THE CHURCH 31 Among the mountains of Switzerland, where the difficulties and dangers of travellers are great, they have a way of binding a group of adventurers together. Before they commence the slippery and perilous ascent a strong cord is bound around the waist of each, and all are then tied together; so that every one helps the other, and if a brother slips the others pull him up again. Just so helpful have the ties of Christian Church relationship been found to multitudes of members as they have felt the uplift of the mutual sympathy, the on-push of united effort, and the inspiration of a common purpose and love. And there are so many diffi- culties in the Christian life that we really need all the help we can get. The Church may have some faults, but we venture the opinion that seldom will you find a professing Christian who will not say that he was strengthened and helped by uniting himself with God's people. Blessed, very blessed, are all they who find a home in God's house! y. TAKE TIME TO BE HOLT. Some one has said that spiritual meditation is a lost art. There was imdouhtedly more of it in past generations. The lack of it is indeed one of the religious lacks of our times. The main reason for the lack is apparent to all who give any thought to the subject. It is because of the tremendous rush and hurry of our mod- em life. We are " jostled out of our spiritual- ity." There is a beautiful hymn we sometimes sing, " Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always. And feed on His Word; Make friends of God's children, Help those who are weak. Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. Take time to be holy. The world rushes on; Spend much time in secret, 32 TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY 33 "With Jesus alone; By looking to Jesus, Like Him thou shalt be ; Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see." It does take time to be holy. We need to take time for meditation and prayer and fellowship with God if we would make any attainment in grace or growth is spiritual insight and char- acter. Few of us realize how great is the importance assigned to meditation in the Scriptures. It is distinctly commanded of God. Joshua was ex- horted to meditate on the book of the law day and night. Timothy was counselled: " Medi- tate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them." The Philippians were told " to think on these things." In the description of the good man, in the first Psahn, it is said that he meditates on the law of the Lord. "We may also notice the resolutions of good men re- corded in the Psalms: "I will meditate on thee in the night watches, " 63 : 6 ; " I will medi- tate of all thy precepts," 119: 15; " My medi- tation of him shall be sweety" 104:34:, God 34 GEOWING TOWAUD GOD criticised his people when they failed in this moral thonghtfnlness, saying, " My people do not consider." Spiritual meditation is a most proper occu- pation of the human mind. The power of thinMng distinguishes us from the whole mate- rial universe, and spiritual things are certainly of such transcendent importance as to be worthy of our closest attention. Besides, our character in the sight of God depends on the character of our thoughts. " As a man think- eth in his heart so is he," Prov. 23:7. Men are good according to their thoughts. They are also bad according to their thoughts. " Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders," etc. Meditation is also essential to the success of God's Word in our souls. Christ teUs us in the parable of the sower that it is only those " who having heard the word, keep it," that bring forth good fruit. By meditation the seed of truth sinks into deep earth and is " kept " and becomes fruit-bearing. It was when the prod- igal " came to himself," when he began really to think, that he resolved to return to his father. It was when Peter " thought thereon " TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY 35 that he '' wept." Truth can affect us only as we think thereon. What are some good subjects for meditation? One is God's existence and attributes. It is one of the Bible designations of sinners that " none saith, Where is thy God, thy Maker." It is the mark of the believer that he thinks about God and dwells in fervent and loving meditation upon his attributes of being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. Another is God's works. " I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings," said the Psalmist. No one can " consider the heavens," the " moon and the stars which he has ordained," " remember the works of his hands," " consider the lilies, how they grow," or study God's greatest work in the redemp- tion of man and not be immensely benefited and blessed by such meditation. Still another is God's words. If anything would seem to be worthy our special attention and thoughtful consideration it is God's direct utterances by his words. His revelations, his exhortations, his commands, his promises, how infinitely important they are, and how worthy 36 GROWING TOWAED GOD of our closest thought, our most profound at- tention! Such meditation would be sure to lead us also to think about God's claims. These are worthy our special consideration on account of their comprehensiveness, their spirituality, their perpetual obligation, and our guUt if we neglect them. One other theme — our future. That we are to have an unending future is a great reality. It would be well for us all if we lost sight of it less and meditated more frankly and more fre- quently upon it. God makes this duty plain when he says: " Oh! that they would consider their latter end! " There are some aids to meditation. The lost art can be regained. This power of getting into the middle of things, for that is what the word meditation means, of taking spiritual truth and musing upon it, thinking upon it, studying it deeply, this is an art which can be cultivated, a religious attainment possible to us all. A first aid toward spiritual meditation is to become deeply impressed with its value. Medi- tation leads to conversation. It would be easier TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY 37 for us to " talk of his doings " if we thought more about them. It leads to knowledge. Thinkiag always does. It leads to happiness. We would all be happier if we thought more about Ggd, what he is, what he does, what he says, and thus come to know him better. Another aid is for us to bear in mind the in- fluence of habit and act accordingly. We shall not get time for meditation and shall be sure to neglect it unless we make set times for it and let it become a habit of our daily living. We must provide for a " quiet hour " each morn- ing or evening, a " still hour " with God each day, just as we do for a morning and evening prayer; then, by and by, it will become a fixed habit, and both the art and the time for prac- ticing it will be gained. " Take time to think: Thought oft will save thee from the snare, Bring thee to cooling streams and bowers. Spare thee from nursing needless care, Surround thee with defensive towers ; Yield thee the harvest of content, Lift thee from dust to starry ways, Discover comfort heaven-sent In thy most dark and cheerless days ; Therefore, take time to think. 38 GROWING TOWAED GOD Take time to pray: For when thou pray'st the vision 's cleared, The voice is toned, the will 's subdued. The dear are to thee more endeared. And the soul's failing strength 's renewed. In prayer the purest words are spoken. The mind receives heaven's holy light. The heart is given the Spirit's token. The hands are charged with wisdom's might; Therefore, take time to pray. Take time to praise : Praise is the witness that you see, Or hear, or feel, or understand, Or trust where there is mystery About the workings of His hand. It is thy child-attempt to prove Thy kinship with the hosts above. Who, as they in God's presence move. Praise Him for His exhaustless love; Therefore, take time to praise. Take time to work: Know what a privilege it is To work with God, to have thy hand Engaged for Him, thy energies Developing 'neath His command. To share the stores of grace and truth Which to His faithful ones are given ; In service to maintain thy youth, And hear the Lord's 'Well done!' in heaven; Therefore, take time to work." VI. FAITH AND JOY. So universally do men seek after happiness and so widely does society in its organized forms seek it that many philosophers have de- clared happiness to be the final motive of all conduct, that all other motives are but shapes of this one all-prevailiug motive. But alas! toward what different points of the moral com- pass do men look for happiness. Some look for it above and some below, some in the grandeur of the soul and some in the grossness of the senses, some in the heaven of purity and some ia the hell of licentiousness. Multitudes of those who seek happiness fail to attain the object of their search, and usually from one of two simple reasons, either that they seek amiss, or else fail of recognizing in what direction real happiness is found. It would sound very strange to some devotee of pleasure, who thinks of the followers of Christ as a people of sad- 39 40 aROWING TOWAED GOD ness, gloom and melancholy, to have it an- nounced to him that religion is the real source of happiness. And yet this is true. It is not religion but the lack of it that makes people unhappy. Christianity is not only not opposed to pleasure, but it is the mightiest source of pleasure. " Gladness is sown for the upright in Ijeart." " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice." " Believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." What then, is the relation between faith and joy? The relation seems to be implied in the very order of words, " Believing ye rejoice." It is the relation of inseparability, the relation of cause and effect. The believing is the cause of the rejoicing. The faith brings the gladness. The trusting is the source of the happiness. There is another step in the production of joy out of faith that must not be overlooked. Faith is the cause of love and love is the cause of joy. In a verse in the First Epistle of Peter we are told who it is the Christian loves. It is the unseen Saviour: " Whom having not seen, ye love." Faith is to the soul what the eye is FAITH AND JOT 41 to the body. It is the power of seeing. It is a cognition, or spiritual apprehension. It is not merely light, but discernment. It sees not the object merely, but its excellence also. It pro- duces congeniality, or sympathy, a feeling of actual interest and delight. It also appro- priates, gives us the consciousness that in some sense the object is ours. This is the way ia which faith in Christ produces love to Christ. It is the faculty by which we apprehend, ap- prove and appropriate hitn. Having come thus to love him, joy is the fruit of love. Love is ia itself a joyous affection. It is in its nature happy. God is love; all the blessed love and are blest by the fact that they love. Confidence is joy. " Believing, we rejoice." Let us not fail to notice also the nature of the joy faith produces. It is " imspeakable. " " "With joy unspeakable and full of glory," con- tinues the apostle. That is, it is unspeakably great ; it is also in its nature not a noisy, but a deep and silent thing. In this sense, too, it is " unspeakable." And that is the reason we doubt not, why it is so often mistaken for the opposite. Because it is calm and sometimes 42 GROWING TOWARD GOD grave tlie world thinks it severe. But, as has been said, " the gods approve the depth and not the tiumilt of the soul." We spoke of happi- ness at the beginning, but happiness is a some- what shallow, superficial word. It signifies what happens, what comes to us by hap or chance, having reference largely to our circum- stances or our material welfare. But " joy " is a nobler word, signifying a more deep, sin- cere and quiet thing, a " calm rapture," as Jon- athan Edwards called it. There is nothing boisterous, tumultuous, hilarious about it. It doesn't express itself in laughter, nor sing comic songs. It is " joy unspeakable "; not a thing to be talked about, but to be felt. It is also joy " glorified." True Christian joy is glorified joy, says the apostle. That is, it has the glory of heaven shining upon it, filling, suffusing, transfiguring, intensifying it. In other words, there is no other joy anything like so rich, so deep, so full, so blessed as this joy which comes with religion, which springs out of faith. " Believing, we re joice. " It is a joy, too, that rises above all sorrow and trouble. Suffering saints often have been FAITH AND JOY 43 the most joyful. " We rejoice, thougli now for a season, if need be, we are in heaviness." " As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing." It is our duty to be joyful and our privilege to spread joy among others. It is also an ef- fective means of commending the religion of Christ to others. " Take joy home, And make a place in thy heart for her ; And give her time to grow, and cherish her ; Then wUl she come and sing to thee When thou art working in the furrow ; ay, It is a comely fashion to be glad; Joy is the grace we say to God." vn. EELIGION'S PLEASANT WATS. It is not religion but the lack of it that makes people unliappy. Yet how strangely and how widely the opposite view prevails. There are many who think of religion not only as a gall- ing drudgery, but as the surest source of moroseness, melancholy and unhappiaess of life. Their idea is that religion is a system of suffering to which many people are willing to submit here in order that they may not suffer hereafter,— that religion's only happiuess is in the future, its rewards after death. Instead, the real fact is that religion is a thing of pres- ent joy and ever continuing blessedness. It is the gladdest, happiest thing in aU this world. " Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace." It is religion that gives us the bright things in life and sin the dart things, not vice versa. Religion goes down to the deepest springs of our mental and spiritual 44 EELIGION'S PLEASANT WAYS 45 well-being. It brings untold measures of peace and joy. It takes the sting out of the past. It takes the worry out of tbe present. It takes tbe fear out of the future. Religion's way is a safe way. Walking in re- ligion's way we have God as our Keeper. " He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep. ' ' God walks with us and by us and keeps us from harm. When a child is travelling with his father he is not afraid. When we enter religion's way we begin a walk with God. We are absolutely safe. The good things we have on the way also make it pleasant. We have all the good things of earth and heaven. The whole world belongs to our Father in heaven. It is not true that the world belongs to Satan. It belongs to God, and he controls it for the good of his people. " Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." Then, too, the work we do on the way makes it pleasant. It is ia accord with the profound- est philosophy, as well as with the widest ex- perience, that there is no such happiness as 46 GEOWTNG TOWAED GOD that which springs from the effort to benefit others. A yonng boy said to his mother: " I tried to make little sister happy whUe you were away. She would not be happy; but I was happy trying." Usually we can make people happy when we try; but whether we succeed or not we are sure to be happy trying. He who sees in his neighbor a brother in Christ, and who for the love he bears to Christ puts him- self out in order to be helpful to that brother, always finds a spring of gladness bursting out in his heart as the waters did out of the rock which Moses smote. As we walk in the way of religion it is pleas- ant, moreover, to think of what is at its end. At the end of the way we will meet the shining ones, who will take us to heaven. The fact that we have no fear for the future, the conscious- ness that it is well with our souls, the bright prospect of heaven at the end, these contribute mightily toward making the way of religion a pleasant way for all who walk in it. Out of these facts grows a duty. It is the duty of joy. " Gladness is sown for the up- right in heart," and we ought as Christians to BELIGION'S PLEASANT WAYS 47 make it plain that we are reaping the harvest of such sowing. It is our duty to make religion welcome by making it winsome. Some people seem to think there is no occasion for an effort in this direction, that religion is sufficiently winsome in itself, or, if not, that there is some- thing out of taste, if not morally culpable, in trying to make it seem so. But certainly it is our duty to do what we can to lead others to realize that the religious life is a happy life, a life of gladness and reward. We owe this duty of joy, for one thing, for religion's sake. Christianity would get much impulse forward if it could be everywhere so commended that people would learn that it is not only not opposed to pleasure, but the very greatest source of pleasure. We owe this duty of joy also for Christ's sake. It is a way of highly honoring him, this showing forth of the delights of following such a Master. You owe this duty of joy, too, for your own sake. You owe it to yourself to be happy in your religion. You are cheating yourself out of a great priv- ilege when you are not. You owe this duty of joy, finally, for others' sakes. You owe it in the 48 GROWING TOWAED GOD way both of helping other Christians to be glad, and of inclining those who are not Christians to enter upon religion's way of pleasantness. When the spies went over into Canaan, the wise ones brought back of the grapes of Eschol in order to induce their friends to go over into a land where such fruits abounded. We owe it to others to show them the good fruits of the Christian life that they, too, may be induced to enter. Make your religion attractive. Culti- vate and illustrate aU the sweet, gentle, uplift- ing? joyful qualities which Christianity sug- gests. Let it be seen that Christ is an attrac- tive Master to you. Let it be seen that his service is light and love and liberty. So will you win others to join you in following him. VIII. CELESTIAL INVESTMENTS. Christ tells us plainly that there are two kinds of treasures which it is possible for peo- ple to possess. One he speaks of as belonging to the earth and the other to heaven, one as ex- posed to danger and destruction and the other as beyond the reach of any contingency what- soever. And his words are so plaia that there is no difficulty at all in determining the exact nature of these treasures. The one sort unquestion- ably includes all worldly possessions, and the other all spiritual excellences. The call Christ makes is that we shall counsel with him in the matter of our investments, saying that he is able to give us points in finance. He asks us to trust him at least as far as we would some earthly stock expert. People will listen to men as they advise the investing in this stock or that. Even a stranger can come along intro- 49 50 GROWING TOWAED GOD ducing " Bohemian Oats," and he will not faU in finding many who will listen to his scheme and iavest in the fraud. Five-hundred-and- twenty-per-cent Miller of Brooklyn got hun- dreds of people to invest with him, though he presented them not one cent's worth of secur- ity. People fairly tumbled over one another in their rush to iavest, to their utter undoiag ; and yet, how few there are who wiU listen for a moment to one who tells them of investments that pay both for this life and the life that is to come ! As one who knows all about this life and that life, and who comes to us as an expert to be counselled with about investments, Christ's distinct and definite advice is this, that we all " lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven," that we make large deposits in the celestial bank, giving, as he does, the good and sufficient reason that that is the only bank where deposits are good both now and after death, both here and hereafter. It is a fact, then^ that spiritual wealth can be accumulated. The expression " lay up," or amass, makes this inference fully warranted. His command is, " Lay up for yourselves CELESTIAL INVESTMENTS 51 treasures in heaven. ' ' The treasures, then, are yours; not put there for some one else. They are to accumulate for you there in a place the safest of the safe. It is possible, then, for us to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven. This same is what Christ meant when he told us to " provide for ourselves bags that wax not old." It is what he meant when he told the young man of the gospel: " Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." It is what Paul meant when he told Timothy to exhort the rich "that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come." The fact is that every man is every day in- creasing his spiritual stock. The spiritual ac- cumulations of our earthly life are every day passing over into the lines of the heavenly life and becoming eternal. Moral accumulation is the great law of our being. Our whole life is a treasuring up. There is another inference from Christ's command to lay up treasures in heaven and the 52 GROWING TOWAED GOD way we see it obeyed,— it is that the heavenly accTuntilatioiis of" the saved will differ. Some begin to obey this command earlier in life than others. Some are very active in obeying it, while others are not. The Christian who has given God but little service, or the fag end of hfe only, wUl be saved; but he wiU have little or nothing in the way of heavenly investments. Every one who is so happy as to get to heaven will have in God's presence " fullness of joy " and at his right hand " pleasures forever- more "; but that does not say that they will have joys and pleasures alike. A pint cup and a quart cup may be full to overflowing. But the quart cup holds more. The Bible makes it very plain that there will be differences among the redeemed. Some will be saved "so as by fire," but the house they have built of " wood, hay and stubble, ' ' no work or poor work, ' ' shall be burned." It speaks of " greatest " and " least " in the kingdom of heaven, of some as having an " abxmdant entrance," and distinctly tells us to " lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven," thereby assuring us that it is both possible and worth our while to do so. CELESTIAL INVESTMENTS 53 The accumulation of spiritual wealth should become with us a dominant passion. All men are swayed by either secular or spiritual in- terests. It is impossible to live imder the sov- ereign control of both. " No man can serve two masters." " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. ' ' One or the other must be the dom- inant power. Therefore the Christian must chose between coming under the sway of the world spirit or the other-world spirit, between making Mammon master or God master, be- tween the making the accumulation of worldly wealth or the accumulation of spiritual wealth his dominant desire. Christ told us plainly which to choose. He thoroughly understood hmnan nature. He said that our hearts will point to our treasure as does the needle to the pole, and therefore urges that with single-eyed concentration of energy we set ourselves to the laying up treasure in heaven, making it the master passion of our lives to secure for ourselves large celestial accumulations. This we may do by devotion to the cause of Christ, effort to promote the glory of Christ, striving to extend the kingdom of Christ, and 54 .GEOWING TOWAED GOK the helping to turn men from sin unto Christ, while all the time following after holiness in our souls, " without :which no man shall see the Lord." " "We build our heaven as we go along," said an aged saint, one day. " I once had friends," said she, " who were travelling abroad for sev- eral years. They intended to build a home on their return, and the dream of the home that was to be went with them in all their joumey- ings. [When they could secure a beautiful pic- ture, statue, or vase, they purchased it, even at the cost of temporary inconvenience, and sent it home to await their coming. Rare and curious treasures, which would afterward be linked with happy memories, they forwarded for their future enjoyment. I love to think," she added, " that we are doiag the sanje for our heavenly home, in these pilgrimage days on earth. The kindly deed that made a picture in somebody's life, the little sacrifice that blos- somed into joy, the helpful friendship cut sud- denly short maybe — all these we shall find agaia; and the patience we have gained, the * song in the night ' which we have learned — CELESTIAL INVESTMENTS 55 whatever of beauty, tenderness, faith, or love we have put into other lives or our own — all these will be among our treasures in heaven." Verily it is true that we build our heaven as we go along. Every loving thought that we think, every kind word that we say, every kind deed that we do will be among the treasures that we shall find accumulated there. Such accumulated spiritual wealth is abso- lutely imperishable. This is what Christ said; that secular treasures are exposed to danger; money will rust, grain become blighted, gar- ments moth-eaten and that all alike are exposed to the thief, but that spiritual wealth is im- perishable. " Therefore," he says, " lay not up on earth, but lay up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. " It is not pos- sible for spiritual wealth to perish. It can be eaten by no moth, corrupted by no canker, stolen by no thief. The reason is that it is not some- thing outside of a man, nor added to a man. It is the man. It is riches incorporated into his being, a part of and as imperishable as his identity, as imperishable as his very soul. IX. CHEIST DWELLING WITHIN. There is in a Eussian palace a famous " Saloon of Beauty," in which are hnng over eight hundred and fifty portraits of young women. The pictures were aU painted for Catheriae the Second, the Empress. They are beautiful pictures of beautiful women, the artist having made a journey through all the fifty provinces of the Eussian empire to find his models. The painter was extremely desir- ous of pleasing his royal patron, and, very hap- pily for him, he struck upon the idea of making every picture convey a half concealed compli- ment to the Empress. In each picture may be detected by the close observer some hidden, delicate reference to the royal person for whom they were painted; in one some favorite sur- rounding is seen; in another some favorite adornment; in others some jewel, or fashion, or flower, or style of dress ; so that in each one 56 CELESTIAL INVESTMENTS 57 sometliing cliaracteristic of the Empress is seen, all tributes to her beauty or compliments to her taste. The walls, therefore, really re- flect the Empress herself in whatever direction you look. The artist. Count Eotari, made his own name immortal because of his inventive ingenuity in the flattery of an earthly monarch. But may we not make a spiritual application of this fact and in doing so find pointed out to us some- thing worthy of our utmost endeavors ? Was it not something very like this artist's devotion, only in a higher, worthier sphere, that Paul was being moved by when he said: " I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave him- self for me "? The world saw Paul the Apos- tle, but at the same time they saw Christ in the person of his disciple. Every grace that Paul possessed was but a faint reflection of the per- fect beauty of Christ. Every virtue which Paul exhibited was only a manifestation in a lesser degree of the holiness of his sinless Lord ; each beauty in person or character a faint showing 58 aROWING TOWAED GOD forth of Him wliom lie imitated, " tlie One alto- gether lovely." But the reason Paul was able in any degree to manifest Christ was far more vital and deep- seated than could be illustrated by any paint- er's power to put character and beauty on his canvas. The secret was that Christ dwelt withia him. " I live; yet not I, but Christ Hv- eth ia me." Christ's iudweUing ia believers is a divinely stated fact. It is a great mystery, but it is a great fact. It is an unique but glorious truth that the Lord Jesus Christ actually makes his home in the hearts of his faithful people. A great mystery it is, iadeed; but so are human life and the eternity of God and the incarnation of Christ profound mysteries, yet we accept them. "We are plainly told in God's Word that God dwelleth in us, and that Christ is in us our hope of glory. Christ's parting promise was that if we kept his words he would come and make his abode with us. Christ " dwells in our hearts through faith." The figure of speech represents the idea of a building, a temple, with the Christ resident within as the indwelling CELESTIAL INVESTMENTS 59 guest. Par more must be implied than mere divine influence over us, such as a friend exerts over a friend, a teacher over a pupil, or even a mother over a child. The fact is that to become a Christian is to have a new and spiritual life enter the soul, as when a seed with its living germ is planted in the dead soil. Christians experience many blessed results from Christ's indwelling. One is that we are moved by a new motive. " The love of Christ constraineth us." There is all the difference in the world between trying to force ourselves under the pressure of duty and the being moved by love. It is exactly the difference between having Christ outside us and having him within. Only as we get Christ into our hearts and let bim dwell with us by his Spirit, will we find the right motive moving us, or that we are really attaining to any true ideal of the Chris- tian life. Another result is the gradual expulsion of evil. Indeed, this expulsion may be very rapid if we will let Christ have full possession of our hearts. " Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." 60 GROWING TOWAED GOD Another result is joy, — a joy that the world can neither give or take away. Christ within makes an inner joy that all earth's trials and sorrows cannot quench. Another result is the gradual transformation of the Christian into the likeness of Christ him- self. " Finish then Thy new creation, Pure and spotless let us be; Let us see Thy great salvation Perfectly restored in Thee ! Changed from glory into glory. Till in Heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise." How much is there about us to remind those who see us of Christ? Every manifestation of truth and holiness in us is only a new tribute, like the painter's tribute to his Empress, but in an infinitely higher realm, to him who is the Truth, the Life, the "Way, the Holy One of God. The first move toward a Christian life is the opening of our hearts to the knocking Sav- iour. After that the degree of our holiness will depend upon the degree to which we give biTin welcome house-room in our hearts. ABIDING WORK. There is a familiar story of an old black- smitli and his chain. The blacksmith lived in the heart of a great city and all day long people could hear the clanging of his hammer upon the anvil, and they knew that he was forging a chain. Now and then idlers dropped in to watch his work, and as they saw how faithful and patient he was, and how he would never pass over a link until it was absolutely perfect, they laughed at him and told him he would get ever so much more accomplished if he did not take so much pains. But the old smith only shook his head and kept on doing his best. At last he died, and was laid away in the church- yard, and the great chain which lay in his shop was put on board a ship. It was coiled up out of the way, and for a long time no one noticed it. But there came a fierce, wild night in the win- 61 62 GROWING TOWAED GOD ter when the wind blew a gale, the rain dashed down in torrents, and vivid flashes of lightning darted through the sky. The ship toiled through the waves, and strained and groaned as she obeyed the helm. It took three men at the wheel to guide her. They let go her anchor, and the great chain went rattling over the deck into the gloomy waves. At last the anchor touched the bottom and the chain, made by the old blacksmith, grew as taut and stiff as a bar of iron. Would it hold? That was the question every one asked as the gale increased. If one link, just one link, was imperfect and weak, they were lost. But the faithful old smith had done his best in each link The chain held. Could we realize how much of our own future destiny and of the welfare of others is bound up in our present action, would we not as Chris- tians try to do far better work than we do? To help this thought get still stronger hold upon our minds let us drop this figure of a chain and change to the Bible illustration of the building of a house. The Bible makes a plain distinction between mere work and work that ABIDING WOEK 63 abides. Even on as good a foundation as Jesus Christ himself one may buUd well or ill, may build of either " gold, silver and precious stones," or of " wood, hay and stubble." We are bidden be careful how we build because " the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, ... he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss ; but he him- self shall be saved ; yet so as by fire. ' ' The pas- sage in which these words are found clearly assumes that the builder is already a Christian, one who is building upon Christ, and will, there- fore, himself be saved ; but the warning is spe- cifically directed against this same Christian's making poor work. The words picture to us a man whose poorly constructed house burns over his head, though he himself escapes through the flames. The man has been spending his time and strength to little purpose. He has built, indeed, on the true foundation, but he has reared upon it so much which was unsound and even false, that he himself must be saved with difficulty, and only with the loss of much of the reward which he had expected. 64 GEOWING TOWAED GOD The Christian with his works will be saved as different parts of a bnildiQg are saved, by prov- ing to be gold or silver under the test of fire. How careful ought we to be lest our works prove to be only wood, hay or stubble! The simple fact that we build upon Christ wiU not insure that our building will be good. We must be careful how and what we build, and with what materials we make the superstructure. Men who are Christians are too often found teaching false doctrines, or dogmas that lack the substantial, vital power of Christianity. How many vain substitutes and foolish conceits, how much false theology, how many mistaken views of piety, how many foolish and hurtful errors have been propagated by men who were themselves Christians! Every such work, however carefully reared, shall be tested by fire. If it shall not be found to bear the test of the in- vestigation of the last great day, then just as a cottage of wood, hay and stubble would not bear the application of fire, so that man's work shall be found to consimie away. If a man's doctrines have not been true, if he has had mis- taken views of piety, if he has wrongly nour- ABIDING WORK 65 ished feelings wMch he imagined were those of religion, if he has inculcated practices which, however well meant, were not such as the gos- pel produces, if he has fallen into error of opin- ion or feeling or practice, however conscien- tious he may have been, yet he shall suffer loss ; his works shall be destroyed. God sees and cares what kind of work we make. Certainly we should aim to do abiding work, work that will stand the strongest tests. We may be sure that our building must pass the scrutiny of God's all-seeing eye. " God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. ' ' It is sad to think how unsubstantial and un- enduring much of our work is. A sight famil- iar to summer visitors at Asbury Park will il- lustrate and enforce the thought. Night after night, under an electric light, at a certain spot upon the beach a sand sculptor used to come and delight the promenaders. Early in the twilight he would begia to heap the sand into mounds, and as the crowds gathered, he would begin his task. His only tool was a short, slim stick. He would kneel upon the sand, and with 66 GEOWING TOWAED GOD skillful motions, pat and hollow and mould it into marvelous shapes of beauty. An itinerant artist he was, going from place to place, spend- ing his time and pains upon the shifting sands. Before every day dawned the tide had leveled the mounds and obliterated every trace of his really beautiful images. Invariably the thought- ful admirer would sigh because the man was not modelling a more lasting material. But conversation with bim revealed that he was satisfied. By passing his hat his daily wants were met. Some other means of livelihood he takes for the winter, but each summer he goes again to the beach, like the wrecker, for what sUver he can pick up along the peopled shore. But why be impatient with this man more than others? All around us are men working in the sand. With many it is not the story of a summer only, but of a whole lifetime written in nothing more substantial than the shifting sand. So little good remains, so unsubstantial were the materials used, so unwisely chosen was the work done that the testing tides oblit- erated every token of the labor. A solemn voice speaks to each one of us and says: " Te [AJBIDING WORK 67 have not diosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." May it be ours to do lasting work, real abiding ■work, work that will stand the tests of time, or tide, or fire. CELESTIAL CITIZENSHIP. Wten Christianity commands us to have our citizenship in heaven it does not require us to be bad citizens of the world where we now are. A man may make some hearty attachments where he tarries, pay tribute and live cheer- fully and helpfully, and yet none the less de- sire a better country, a city first in his love and always in his hopes. So the Bible teaching is that we can be faithful to every present rela- tionship, and yet never forget our celestial pa- triotism, that we can be in this world without " minding earthly things." "We have read that some years ago a travel- ler who had recently returned from Jeru- salem, discovering in conversation with the great Humboldt that he was fully as familiar with the streets and houses of Jerusalem as he himself had become, suddenly asked the aged philosopher, in surprise: " How long is 68 CELESTIAL CITIZENSHIP 69 it since you visited there?" Humboldt re- plied: " I have never been there, but I ex- pected to go sixty years since, and I prepared myself." Should there not be something quite corre- sponding with this in the way of spiritual information and heavenly-mradedness that should characterize every Christian? Should not the heavenly home be as familiar to those who expect to dwell there eternally? But heavenly citizenship has heavenly obli- gations. One of these has to do with our con- versation. Speech betrays nationality. Our every-day speech should be such that our citi- zenship will stand revealed. A man's speech likewise indicates the company he keeps. It is not a bad index to one's prevalent state of mind and traits of character. In one of his books, Mr. Spurgeon tells of a friend of his who once came over to America. He was from Essex. He landed in Boston, where he knew no one, and became somewhat homesick. But walking along the docks he heard a gentleman, as a workman happened to let fall a cask, say: " Look out there, or else 70 GEOWINa TOWAED GOD you will make a Coggeshall job of it." Mr. Spurgeon's friend addressed tlie man at once, saying, " Ton are an Essex man, I know, for that is a proverb never used anywhere but in Essex; give me your band." They were friends at once. So should there be a ring of true metal about our speech and conversation so that when a brother meets us he can say: " You are a Christian, I know, for only Chris- tians speak like that, or act like that. * Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth, for thy speech betrayeth thee.' " An obligation closely related to this is that of heavenly conduct. As a Christian is allied to such a country, a suitable mode of living be- comes him. Our acts should be aU such as are consistent with our dignity as heavenly citi- zens. Indeed, this is one of the most noticeable ways in which celestial citizenship will betray itself. We are told that during the war of the Scot- tish clans, MacGregor's son was made to ex- change clothes with a peasant lad, in order that he might not be known, and thus be in less dan- ger. Both boys were captured, however, and CELESTIAL CITIZENSHIP 71 the question tliat puzzled the captors was, " Which is MacGregor's son?" The boys were brought to the palace and watched. The peasant lad showed no familiarity with the ap- purtenances of the palace, but betook himself to the servants' quarters, where he felt at home. MacGregor's son, on the contrary, made use of the palace as though he belonged there ; and so revealed his identity. This is the way it should be with us as Christians. Our conduct and the spirit of our life should betray us, should make manifest that we are high-born and high-bred and aim for a high destiny. People should take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus and learned of him. We should, in fact, seek while we are here to keep up the manners and customs of the good old fatherland, so that, as in China or Japan the natives say, " There goes an American," so men should be able to say here in our home land, " There goes a heavenly citizen; he is in the world, ministers to its good, but is not of it." Let us not forget that " conversation " means " being conversant." When two people talk together, it is called " conversation." The 72 0EOWING TOWAED GOD reason is that they are supposed to be " con- versant " with the subject about which they are speaking. And being " conversant " means the " going up and down in a thing." That is the literal meaning of the word. We " go up and down," move about in, and there- fore we are " conversant " with the things and the people and the city in which we live. This is why " citizenship " is in the Bible called "conversation." " Our conversation," that is our familiar habits, our daily life and routine, that with which we have to do, our " conver- sation," our " citizenship " should be "in heaven. ' ' Whatever incompatibility there may seem to be, therefore, between having a resi- dence in one world and a conversation in an- other, Christianity boldly meets and puts it out of the way. As we have seen, in the old Anglo-Saxon, a man's " conversation " meant not the mere act of his tongue, but his whole life and conduct, and so revealed to what king- dom his heart belonged. Our American representative, as we know, has a temporary residence in Athens. He is sent there by our government. But though liv- CELESTIAL CITIZENSHIP 73 ing on that foreign soil, occupied daily with its affairs, its landscape winning his admiration, and its faces and manners his good will, yet he remembers that his stay is to be short; he is expecting to be called back where his treasure is and where his heart abides. This should be the attitude of the Christian, and we should cultivate heavenly dispositions, heavenly hab- its, heavenly affections, and familiarity with heavenly things. To this end we will also maintain heavenly communication. We will keep in correspon- dence with heaven. Just as people in a foreign land are always glad to have letters from their country, so should we gladly and continuously have communication with our fatherland, both from and to. We will send our prayers there as letters to our Father, and we will get his letters back through his Holy Spirit and in the pages of his Word. By meditation, by fellow- ship with his people, by encouraging the pres- ence of his Spirit in our hearts, and in many other ways, we will seek to keep up the connec- tion between ourselves and our fatherland above, and make ourselves more and more fit 74 GEOWING TOWAED GOD for residence there when the time of God's call shall come. " For our conversation (citizenship E. V.) is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." XII. EEVEESES AND PEOSPEEITT. The question is sometimes asked, " Whicli is Larder to bear, reverses or prosperity?" Tliere are peciiliar temptations that come with, being abased. There are other, and possibly- even greater temptations, that come with being exalted. Paul knew both, and he had learned how rightly to bear both. " I know," he says, " how to be abased,"— that is to have reverses and to be in circumstances of want,—" and I know how to abound,"— that is to have an abundance. He had been in circumstances where he had an ample supply for all his wants, knowing what it was to have enougL He had been in circumstances of want, know- ing what it was to lack. It certainly re- quires as much grace, if not more, to keep the heart right in prosperity than it does in adversity; for adversity of itself does something toward keeping the mind right, 75 76 GEOWING TOWAED GOD while prosperity does nothing in that di- rection. But Paul had learned the proper conduct and spirit with which to meet both. " I am instructed," he says, " both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." The Greek word he used meaning " in- structed " is one commonly used in relation to the ancient " mysteries," or secret societies. In the case of those mysteries it was only the " initiated " who were made acquainted with the lessons that were taught there. In saying that he had learned, or been instructed in the art of knowing how to be abased and how to abound, he means that he had " gotten into the secret of it." The exact meaning is that he had been " initiated " into it, somewhat after the case of one joining a secret society; for he uses the exact Greek word denoting the cele- brated sacred and secret rites of initiation into the Elusinian mysteries required of Athenian citizens. So Paul says that he had been in- itiated into the secrets to be taught by both trials and prosperity. He had learned to be full, how to have an ample supply for all his wants and yet observe the laws of temperance EEVEESES AND PEOSPEEITY 77 and soberness and to cherish the spirit of humility and gratitude, and he had learned how to be hungry also, to be in circumstances of want and yet not murmur or complain. There may be still another idea suggested by what he said. The condition of Paul was not always the same. He passed through great and sometimes rapid reverses. At one time he had abundance, but suddenly he was reduced to want. At one time he was in a state that might be regarded affluent, but only soon to be brought down to poverty. Yesterday poor and hungry, to-day all necessities supplied. He may have intended to give special emphasis to his thought by implying the fact that it is in these sudden reverses that grace is most needed, — that it is in these rapid changes of life that it becomes most difficult to learn the lessons of faith and contentment. It is true that men grow accustomed to an even tenor of life, no matter what it is, and learn to shape their temper and calculations according to it. But these lessons of faith and philosophy van- ish quickly when the persons pass suddenly from one extreme to another, finding their con- 78 (GROWING TOWAED GOD dition in life suddenly changed. Such changes are constantly occurring. God tries his people not by a steady course of prosperity or by long- continued and uniform adversity, but by quick transition from the one to the other. And it often happens that the grace which would have been quite sufficient for either continued pros- perity or continued adversity fails in the sud- den change from the one to the other. But whether it was to be a condition of want or a condition of affluence, or to suffer quick transi- tion from the one to the other, still Paul had been initiated into the secret of how to bear all with Christian discreetness and grace and fortitude and to find in God's will his peace. Taking his life as an example let us inquire a little more closely just how we ought to bear business reverses. For one thing, we should bear them improviagly. " Adversity," some one has said, " is the diamond-dust heaven pol- ishes its jewels with." " What is defeat?" asked Wendell Phillips. " Nothing but educa- tion; nothing but the first steps to something better." " I have been beaten, but not cast down," said Thiers, after making a complete REVERSES AND PROSPERITY 79 failure of Ms first speech in the Chamber of Deputies. " I ani making my first essay in arms. In the tribune, as imder fire, a defeat is as useful as a victory." Trials are rough teachers, but rugged schoolmasters make rug- ged pupils. In the height of his prosperity P. T. Barnum became involved in the Jerome Clock Company, which failed and swept away every cent he had. He was not the man to be discour- aged, however, for he had met and overcome too many difficulties to become disheartened. In a manly way he paid all his debts and began again, and made the experience of the past a stepping stone to much higher success. " Ad- versity is the prosperity of the great," and it is possible for us to make all our trials work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. If we bear our business reverses improvingly we will doubtless bear them also patiently and uncomplainingly. We can not think for a mo- ment of Paul whining over his losses. He had too manly a sense and character for that. John Bunyan was thrown into Bedford jail; but we do not see him sitting down to bemoan his lot 80 MEOWING TOWABD GOD and curse Hs persecutors. Instead, we see him determined not to lose a moment of Hs precious time just because lie was in prison. Sitting down with two books as his library, the Bible and Fox's " Book of Martyrs," he evolved the greatest allegory the world has ever seen — a volume that has made his name and fame im- mortal and will enrich the ages. Anaximander when told that the very boys laughed at his singing, manifested not the least impatience or resentment, but quietly re- marked: *' Then I must learn to sing better," and set about it with new determination. There is hope for aU who bear their discouragements or business reverses in such a spirit of patience and good cheer. These very graces will prove of greatest value in the attainment of final suc- cess. And all our reverses should, of course, be borne with Christian faith and fortitude. God, our heavenly Father, knows what is best for us. He is infinitely wise and loving and good. We can well afford to trust him, even in the dark. He has promised to make all things work to- gether for our good, if we are among those who REVERSES AND PROSPERITY 81 love him. If we are to be abased let us like Paul learn the art of knowing how to suffer want, and even make ourselves and the world the richer for it. But aside from knowing how to bear re- verses it may be fully or even more important to know just how we ought to bear prosperity. Paul said that he had learned another art, the art of knowing how to abound. If there is one thing the most of us serenely take for granted it is that we know how to abound. Yet Paul speaks very earnestly of it as something he had to learn, and also in a way to signify that the lesson is by no means an easy one. The fact is that most people meet the crisis of abase- ment a great deal better than they do that of prosperity. If Paul with his really few pos- sessions could speak of it as a serious question in his life how to keep himself under in the presence of prosperity, it is certainly a large part of wisdom for us who live in these times of unexampled abundance to ask ourselves whether we know how to live in them. It is not as easy a matter as some of us lightly suppose, this of knowing how to abound and not be in- 82 GEOWING TOWAED GOD jured by having abimdaiice. The important question for us is not what wealth and social position and success and pleasure might do for us. The question is, as things are and our dis- positions are, what do they do for us? There are people to whom prosperity is a blessing. Eeleased from hardship and toil and narrow circumstances they find their sympathies ex- panding and their nature flowering out into a profusion of kind thoughts and kind deeds. But this is not the usual way. The world never be- grudges wealth to those who thus know how to abound. But they are few who can thus bear prosperity. Most of fortunate and favored ones are seen to become narrowed and hard, dried up in their humanity and visibly degener- ated by so-called success. How, then, shall we bear prosperity? For one thing, we should bear it very watchfully, lest it insidiously encroach upon and dry up the stream of human kindness and chill the cur- rents of the soul. Then, too, we should bear it very humbly. The temptation to pride is so great that few people are made better by hav- ing all things and abounding. For the sake of EEVEKSES AND PROSPERITY 83 suitable humility we may well bear in mind, too, that abounding ia material things is not neces- sarily a sign of personal greatness or worth, or of the highest sort of success. There are some mighty mean men who make money. There are not a few of earth's noblest who, like Agassiz, " have no time to make money." Each such an one could say, " ' I am doing a great work and cannot come down ' to the turning myself into a mere money-making machine." There is plenty of room for that honest introspection into our underlying motives in seeking wealth, our methods of getting it, the uses we are mak- ing of it, and, if all these are right, our lack of worthiness ia God's sight above others who are denied it, which will lead us to bear the test of abounding with a very humble spirit. We ought, moreover, to bear prosperity very generously. Indeed, this is an indispensable requisite to knowing how to abound. "When we " freely receive," it is not alone a duty to God and to our fellows to " freely give," but it is the only safety-valve to keep us from becoming surcharged with selfishness and greed. No man has a right to get too rich. Of course, no 84 GROWING TOWAED GOD one has a right to set the bounds for another as to just when he is becoming too rich; but when anyone finds himself getting rich he must for himself meet the problem as to how much he can rightly keep, and how much he must give to God and his fellows in order that in God's sight and men's sight he may be able truly to say with Paul, " I know how to abound." There are many other features in the prob- lem of knowing how to abound. We mention but one further. We ought always to make sure that we are bearing prosperity gratefully. By this we mean, with the humble and thankful recognition of God as the Giver of every good and perfect gift. No one should say that it is by his own great might or wisdom he has ob- tained his possessions, but by God's blessing on his efforts,— in case those efforts have been right and honest. But if at the bar of his own conscience and God's word any man sees that his efforts are not right and honest, then let him know that by all his wealth he is only piling up a curse against himself for the day when all secrets shall be revealed, a weight of accumu- lation that can only sink him into perdition. EEVEESES AND PROSPEEITY 85 If we could only see the full measure of risk and responsibility arising therefrom, probably few of us would be willing to assume the burden of becoming rich. There is no more difficult art for any one to learn than the art of knowing how to abound. The fact is that Paul thought of himself as abounding when he really had but very little as men count possessions in these days. An inventory of his belongings reveals little besides an old cloak and some parchments. His wealth was largely a wealth of content- ment. Indeed, this was one of the secrets into which he had been " initiated." He tells us so in the same connection: " I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. ' ' He had " learned " it. Then it was not a thing natural to a restless and ambitious nature like his, but had to be attained in some way. He had " learned " it. Then it was not necessar- ily something that accompanied conversion and came without effort. No, when he says that he had " learned " it he means that he had gotten into the secret of it. It was another of those secrets he had gotten into by his introduction into the " mystery of godliness." The way he 86 GEOWING TOWAED GOD came to know how both to abound and how to be abased, how to live a life of Christian con- tentment in either circumstances, was that he had found out the fact and felt the experience of an iadwelling Christ. He had learned how to be abased and how to abound because he had learned, as he himself says, that he " could do all things through Christ who strengthened him." He had " Christ within, the hope of glory," Christ in him, Christ for him, Christ with him, one with him forevermore. This, after all, was the apostle's real secret. It is the secret we all may learn,— that of living " in the secret of His presence," of yielding our- selves to Christ, of finding our joy from Christ, of abiding in Christ. Then we too will be able to bear both adversity and prosperity, and to say with Paul: " Not that I speak in respect to want ; for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to aboimd ; in every- thing and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things through him that strengtheneth me." (E. V.) xm. OUR TEMPTATIONS AND THEIE CON- QUEST. CsBsarius of Heisterboch relates tliat Philip, a great necromancer, once took a company of Swabian and Bavarian youths to a lonely place and entertained them, at their request, with his incantations. He drew a circle around them with his sword, and warned them not to leave it on any account. By his first incantation he surrounded them with armed men, who dared them to conflict, but none of them were lured forth. By his second incantation he sur- rounded them with a company of beautiful dancing damsels, who tried every power of at- traction upon them, A nymph, whose beauty exceeded all others, advanced to one of the young men and wrought with such effect upon him that he forgot the restriction and stretched forth his finger beyond the circle to receive the ring which she proffered. She at once seized 87 88 .GEOWING TOWARD GOD him and drew Tn'm after lier. It was not till after much, trouble that the necromancer was able to recover him. Some one remarks, " This circle is the rule of right and virtue. The armed men are pride, ambition, and passion. The charmers are intemperance, voluptuous- ness and sensuality. The only safety is withia the circle. The first finger over the line and the whole body will follow to shame and ruin." Yes, if we yield to temptation even a little there is no telliag where it will end. ' ' When ruin starts it rushes "; our only safety is in keeping well within the line of right. Temptation is such a dangerous thing that we should be very careful to avoid all presump- tion toward it. We know a drinkiag man who professed conversion. He said to some friends that he proposed to prove the genuineness of his change of heart by going to the city and walking right past the saloons where before he had fallen so many times. You are not the least surprised to be told that when he went he fell again, and as deeply into sin as ever. He needed to pray, and take means to answer his own prayer, ** Lord keep back thy servant also OUR TEMPTATIONS 89 from presumptuous sins." He needed to learn iwhat James meant when lie said, ' ' Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." But it was " fall into," he said, not " run into." The result of testings that come in the line of duty may be good for us, but we are not to seek temptations, but wisely, cautiously avoid them. If a temptation can honorably be avoided it is far better to avoid it ; it is likely to save some life-time scars from the moral nature. There are two ways the ancients kept from yielding to the music and ultimate destruction of the sirens. One was that of Ulysses, who fortified himself with bands that held him fast to the mast while his boat carried him, listen- ing, by the tempting strains. The other was that of the Argonauts, who carried Orpheus with them in their boat, and were so engrossed in listening to his music that they never heard the sounds from the fatal shore. They bore through life no memory of the tempter's allure- ments, as Ulysses did. The man who has the sweeter music in his soul and who keeps his mind and body so occupied with the better things that he has no time for unnecessary 90 GEOWING TOWAED GOD conflict with Satan, is going to be the greater power for good, and make highest development in the Christian life. So dangerous a thing is temptation that we should carefully avoid all compromises with it. Of two evils do not choose the least. Choose neither. Even very lit- tle sins may work great destruction. A pilot half a point wrong may place his ship directly on the rocks. The beginnings of sin are always small. Yet half a point from strict truthful- ness may strand us upon the ledge of falsehood. Half a point from perfect honesty and we are steering for the rocks of crime. How shall we know temptation when it comes? The answer is very plain. By compan- ionship with Christ. A young man of intem- perate habits was converted. A former asso- ciate met htm and asked him into a saloon to have a drink. He said, " I cannot; I have a friend with me." " Oh, that is all right; bring your friend with you," said the man. " No," said he, " the Lord Jesus Christ is my friend, and he will not go into a saloon and does not wish me to go." This is the real test. Imagine Jesus with you, your Friend at your side, his OUE TEMPTATIONS 91 eyes upon you — would you do the thing'? This is no imagination. It is reality. He is by our side. His eyes do see, his ears do hear, and his heart really cares. How shall we meet temptation when we know it? First, by quickly realizing our relationship with Christ, that his honor is wrapped up in us, that his confidence is fixed upon us ; also by wielding strongly the weapon of " all prayer," and drawing quickly the " sword of the Spirit," the "Word of God. Pray as if all depended upon God. Fight as if all depended upon you. Keep face front. Ee- member, too, that Christ was tempted and is able to succor you from the grasp of Satan. Eemember also that a swift attack is the best defence. Do not wait until evil has chosen a good position and fortified himself strongly in it. We need to crush temptation as soon as we see it. Take it by surprise. Give it no quarter. Do not dally with it one instant. XIV. LITTLE SINS. All God's commands are commands. AH are important, and all alike should be obeyed. Christians can indulge in no so-called little sins and find favor with God, peace of conscience or safety of soul. What are some of the special dangers and evils in little sins? For one thing, little sins have in them an element of definite affront and disobedience to God. They are a violation of his holy law, and " he that is guilty in one point is guilty of all." That is, he is a law breaker. It is also a fact that the authority of God seems to be more despised in the commission of small sins than in the yielding to great. For little sins have in them ordinarily less of temptation and therefore more of wilfulness. Then, too, little sins greatly deface the image of God in the soul. In a costly mirror a little flaw is a serious detraction. In a rare and cn- 92 LITTLE SINS 93 rioTis picture a little scratch is a great deform- ity. Little sins also maiatain the habit and course of sinning. Indulging in them sets the heart in the way of thinking less and less seriously of sin, and the tendency toward wrong doing be- comes more and more fixed. One winter's day, a gentleman standing by Niagara saw an eagle light upon a frozen lamb, encrusted in a floating cake of ice. The eagle fed upon the carcass as it was drifting toward the rapids. Every now and again the eagle would proudly lift his head into the air and look about him, as much as to say, " I am drift- ing toward danger, but I know what I am doing ; I will fly away and make my escape be- fore it is too late." Nearing the falls at length, he stooped and spread his powerful wings and leaped for his flight. But alas ! alas ! while he had been feasting on the dead carcass his feet had frozen to its fleece. He leaped and shrieked and beat upon the ice with his wings ; but use- lessly, for with the ice and frozen carcass the eagle went over the falls and down into the roar and darkness below. 94 GROWING TOWARD GOD This is a picture of every soul that is play- ing with and feasting tipoii sin. It matters not that the sins seem little sins; each iadnlgence or dalliance with evil helps to fix upon one the habit and course of sinning. Many, sadly many, are the men and the women who have in- tended after a little more indulgence to turn from their sins and be saved; but having tar- ried untU reaching what they began to think the danger point, attempting to turn, they have found themselves so absolutely fettered by sin- ful habits, their affections poisoned by sinful indulgence, their wills paralyzed by sinful in- decision, and their souls frozen fast upon the decaying mass of rottenness upon which they had been feasting. It is also sadly true that what little sins lack in weight they usually make up in number. A ship may have a heavy burden of sand as well as of great building blocks of granite, and may be as soon sunk with either. Smallest grains of sand will bury travellers in the desert. Finest flakes of snow gathering over the weary wayfarer will extinguish life, and if they drift, will bury whole houses and their dwellers. So, LITTLE SINS 95 very little, delicate sins, as some people think them, "will chill and benumb the soul and take away its life. Little sias accumulate, and may ■work the worst of evil by their very number. Little sins need special emphasis placed upon them also because of the extreme difficulty there is m convincing men of the great danger and evU there is in them. Dynamite is done up in very small packages, and the material looks very innocent and harmless ; but it is for these reasons the promiscuous handling of it needs to be guarded against so carefully. Some poi- sons look exactly like sugar, and in the fact that they do is one of their chief dangers. But both dynamite and poison .have tremendous powers for evil. And so have little sins, in spite of the fact, indeed largely caused by the very fact, that by their seeming innocence it is so hard to convince people of the great danger and evil there is in them. One of the pre-eminent evils of little sins is that they so readily make way for greater sins. The devil by his seemingly little temptations nurses up youngling sins ; but they do not stay younglings. By and by they arrive at full 96 MEOWING TOWAED GOD stature. There is an Indian story of a morsel of a dwarf who asked a king to give him all the groxmd he could cover with three strides. The kiQg, seeing him so small, said, " Certainly." Wherenpon the dwarf suddenly shot up into a tremendous giant, covering all the land with the j&rst stride, all the water with the second, and with the third he knocked the king down and took his throne. " Who is it knocks so loud? " "A little lonely siu."- * ' Slip through, ' ' we answer — and all hell is in ! If Satan prevails with us to go with him one step out of the way we are in danger of making no stop short of the height of wickedness. He will make us take a second step and a third and so on, all the way to destruction. Each step is but one step ; the last step in sin is but one step, as well as the first ; so if Satan can prevail with us to take one step, why should he not prevail with us to take the last step as well as the first step, seeing that it is but one? Tour second sin no more exceeds your first than your first does your duty, and so on to the end. It is but one step at a time. LITTLE SINS 97 It is said that a man one day strolling along in the country happened to see a magnificent golden eagle flying slowly upward toward the sky. He watched it with delight and admira- tion as it so strongly mounted upward. But presently he saw that something was wrong with it. It seemed unable to go any higher. Soon it began to fall, and presently it lay at his feet a lifeless mass. What could be the matter? No human hand had harmed it. He went and examined the bird; and what did he find? It had carried up with it a little weasel in its talons, and as it had drawn its talons near to its body for flight, the little creature had wormed itself partly out of the talons and had drunk the life-blood from the eagle's breast. How like this it is with a little sin. It may appear a very trivial thing that one is at first tempted to do, but presently it fastens itself upon the soul and works speedy death and de- struction. How must little sins be dealt with? Not ten- derly; not connivingly; but they must be " taken. " We must take them or they will take us. They are " the little foxes that spoil the 98 OKOWING TOWAED GOD vines." We must watch against and pray against even the smallest of sins, or by and by we will be overcome of sin and fall into utter spiritual ruin. Look out for the little foxes that spoil the vines. Make no place in your life for so-called minor evils. Cherish a tender con- science as the very apple of your eye. Keep alive reverent and devout thoughts of God and alert recognition of his law, and don't forget your absolute need of Christ as your helper, guide and defence every moment of life. XV. SPIEITUAL LONESOMENESS. A company in a Christian home had been spending the evening in spiritual conversation. Something was said about the " blessed real- ity " of God's presence with his people, of the comfort and strength that come from commun- ion with him, and upon other themes kindred to these. It was in the country, and among the company was a minister who was on his vaca- tion, and with him a devoted young daughter of about sixteen years. By and by most of the family and of the guests had retired, among them being this dear young girl, the daughter of the minister. But a few lingered down stairs until a late hour, talking of things concerning the kingdom and in communion about spiritual matters. The second company finally broke up and all went their ways to their bedchambers. But as he passed the door of the room in which his daughter was, as he supposed, sleeping, her 99 100 GEOWING TOWAED GOD father heard some smothered sobs coming from the room. Pausing for a moment, he heard her call, " Oh, papa, please come in and see me!" Upon entering the room he was surprised to find his daughter, usually so happy, sobbing bitterly on her pillow. " Oh, papa, I am so lonesome," she exclaimed. Supposing the lonesomeness arose from the fact that they were away from home, and she separated from her usual com- panions, some words of comfort and cheer were spoken with that thought in view. To this mis- directed miaistry the girl exclaimed, " No, no, papa, that is not it; I am very happy here among our kind friends, but I am so lonesome for God. He seems so far away from me, and I can't find him anywhere, and I have tried so hard to have communion with him. It seems like I am just a formal Christian and not a real one at all, or God would not be so far away from me, and I would not be so lonesome all the time for him in my heart. It has been so long that I have waited for him to come to me since I gave myself to him, and- he does not come to me. Oh, do pray for me, papa, and help me to find God!" SPIEITUAL LONESOMENESS 101 Thus this little Christian cried out in her bit- ter heart-lonesomeness for God. Yet how deeply some of us can sympathize with her, and her spiritual desolation. David was not a little child, he was a grown, strong, intellectual man, yet he exclaime^d in spiritual homesickness: " My heart and my flesh crieth out for the liv- ing God." Ton have had that feeling, and so have I. "Well do I remember a time, after months and months of longing, when out under the stars and the wide spreading branches of a tree, I opened my boyish heart to my own dear father, and how, putting his arms about my shoulders he told me how glad he was that I had yielded to this longing after God. But this longing comes a great many times in life, and is not confined to any first experience as a Christian. It is not more pleasant than the pangs of hunger or the cravings of thirst; yet it is something for which we cannot be too thankful. For one reason because it is the sign of a most blessed fact, namely, of the posses- sion of a heaven-born nature. It tells of the divinity within us. When God breathed into 102 GROWING TOWARD GOD man the breath of life he became a living soul — a living, longing, aspiring soul. " Our sotjl," says Augustine, " was created by God, so for God, and is therefore never quiet until it rests in God." Since the fall there have been two natures in man, each constantly striving for the mastery. " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other." We have within us the Spirit of Christ, the image of God, causing us continually to aspire ; while the old Adam in us ever drags us downward. Our body looks down and searches the ground for its delights. The soul looks up among the stars and beyond. The body lives in the world, with the world and for the world. The soul, like a bird caged from its native forest, yearns for liberty and that life for which it was meant by the Creator. Every season of soul yearning is also the sign of a blessed condition. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. " Their longing shall be realized. Their hunger shall be fed. Their thirst shall be satisfied. It is a condition in which a great blessing is near at hand. The SPIRITUAL LONESOMENESS 103 old divines used to speak of the experiences of the " fullness of God's presence." And the words referred to a reality possible to every Christian. One speaks of God's gracious in- filling " until I had to call upon God to stay the flood. I had enough ; I thought I could not contain more and live." What is the reason there is not more of such experience in these days? One is because we do not allow ourselves enough time in religion. We live in such a hurry that we are " jostled out of our spirituality." We allow ourselves almost no time for devotional study of the Bible, or for prayer, or for spiritual meditation. Let us prize every impulse of spiritual long- ing, every yearning for God, for it is the sign of a blessed condition in which we may enjoy him to the full. In other words, we are in reach of a very happy experience. Having this longing it is of the utmost im- portance that you shall yield to it. It is not a forcing the door of the heart, but a call to priv- ilege. " My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." At every such season God's response is : " Behold, I stand at the door and 104 GROWING TOWAED GOD knock ; if any man will liear my voice, and open the door, I will come ia to him, and wiU sup with him, and he with me. ' ' In Hohnan Hunt 's meaningful picture illustrating this verse the door at which Christ stands and waits is made knobless. It teaches this same lesson — the im- portance of our yielding. Our spiritual home- sickness is ia fact God's knock. He is at the door of our heart. He has come to see us. Your heart and your flesh cry out for the living God! It is a sign of a blessed nature, akin to God. It is the sign of a blessed condition,— in reach of a happy experience. It is the sign of a pressing duty upon you,— of yielding to God's gentle knock at the door of your heart. Open the door, and he will come in and satisfy your longing. XVI. THE GEACE OF BEING TENDER- HEAETED. "We are not naturally tender-hearted. This may be due to the struggle of the race upwards from lower levels of life. In the pushing of the weak to the wall and the success of the strong- est there is much that is cruel and tending to elimiaate tender-heartedness from the category of human virtues. At all events it is certain that the struggle of life as we see it every day has a strong tendency to form in us and en- courage traits the very opposite of tenderness. The awful competition of business life in these days is anything but encouraging to the grace of tenderness. The hot struggle that goes on in social life, though covered with the courtesies of education and refined manners, often brings about an awful refinement of cruelty in the treatment people give each other. The hurry, the pressure, the weariness of hard work, for 105 106 GROWING TOWAED GOD those who must labor with their hands, act as a foe to tenderness of heart in the lives of men and women. These reasons only press upon us all the more strongly the duty of cultivating the grace of beiag tender-hearted. "We ought to be moved to this, for one thing, by the great example we have of tenderness in God. Tenderness is one of the attributes of our Heavenly Father. How often occur in the Bible such expressions as, " the tender mercy of God," " the tender mercies of our God," etc. There is among men such a thing as mercy with- out its being tender; just as there is kindness without its being loving kindness. Some people bestow kindness so roughly that it is scarcely kindness at all. "We have known a man to send help to a poor relative with great regular- ity, but it was always accompanied with such harsh and hurting words that his could never be called loving kindness. But God's kindness is loving ^kindness, and God's mercy is tender mercy. One of the features that marked the pathway of Christ when in the world was his great tenderness in his treatment of all,— the widows, the children, the suffering, the sick, the TENDER-HEAETEDNESS 107 sinning — how tender he was toward them all ! Tenderness is not weakness. Some seem to think that it is a sign that they are weak if they manifest tenderness. On the contrary it im- plies the possession of strength. Not necessa- rily physical strength, but it implies self-posses- sion, a collected mind, self-command, moral strength. It is the stronger bending to lift the weak. For tenderness is an active, not a pas- sive trait. It is not the indolent sentimentality that weeps over novels and sympathizes with imaginary woes. It is something that serves, that does something to relieve actual need. It is the Good Samaritan actually pouring the oil and the wiae into the wounds and helping the faUen to their feet. Neither is tenderness a sort of enthusiastic folly, helping indiscrim- inately and falling in with unwise forms of manifesting sympathy. There is a good deal more of tenderness in giving sensible help than in the mere emotional, thoughtless, indiscrim- inate giving such as is done by many who think they are making themselves most commendable for their goodness of heart and charity. It is our duty to be tender-hearted. iWe 108 GROWING TOWAED GOD should be tender-liearted toward God. Some miglit think of tender-heartedness as a grace to be manifested exclusively toward our fellow men. *' Past feeling," is a condition the Bible tells ns people get into in their treatment of God. There is no more hardened condition of heart one can get iuto than to become wanting in susceptibility to divine influences. How many there are who are actually heedless of and unmoved by the story of the Cross! Nothing could mark them as more lacking in the grace of tenderness of heart. No one is tender-hearted who is not tender toward God. We ought also to be tender-hearted toward our fellowmen. Not alone to the sick, the feeble, the poor, the aged; we ought to be very tender toward all of these, but we owe more of general tenderness than we usually manifest toward those who are on equal footing with our- selves. All human souls are sensitive ; all have their troubles; all are in need of human help and cheer. Let us recognize our duty to be tender toward all our brother men. We ought to be tender, too, toward the ani- mal creation. There is room for great improve- TENDEE-HEAKTEDNESS 109 ment here, even among people who will not strike a dog, beat a horse, starve a cat, or neglect a wounded bird. Do we always con- sider the weariness and pain of onr horses when we make them hold np their heads in one constrained position by a tight check rein? Men and women who would be insulted if told they are not tender-hearted are going up and down our country roads and city streets every day practicing this form of cruelty. How many women there are who need to cultivate this grace of tenderness enough to prevent the most cruel slaughter of millions of God's creatures, the beautiful birds, and the causing of other millions of little nestlings to starve, by the killing of the parent birds, while the wearers advertise their shame by setting up the dead bodies as so-called " ornaments " on their hats. Tenderness of heart is a choice grace, one through which we commend both ourselves and the Saviour we serve by its careful cultiva- tion. Let us be watchful against all hardness of heart. Let us cultivate the beautiful grace of tenderness of heart. xvn. THE MAEKS OF THE LORD JESUS. In early life we were acquainted with a man who was anything but fair to look upon. He was crippled, so that he could walk only with tmsteady step. There was upon his face a look as if he were in constant paia and weakness, and his features were disfigured also with scars. But these blights and scars were for him the insignia of the noblest honor. He had been a soldier, in the Army of the Potomac. In a gallant charge he had greatly distinguished himself; but he received wounds from which he never* recovered. He never knew a well day again. He must henceforth bear the marks of that heroism. He was not ashamed, but proud of them. He knew they were brands of honor. He could well have said, in the very spirit of Paul, the Apostle, " Henceforth let no man trouble me, question my loyalty to duty; for I 110 MAEKS OF THE LORD JESUS 111 bear in my body the unextinguishable marks, the very brands of my fidelity." The Apostle Paul was a much scarred man. His body was branded with marks he must carry to his dying day. He had also other wounds, wounds of the spirit, deep and sore. He had had trouble on every side and of almost every kind, and the reference he had to these " marks " was as if he had said: " From this time on for the remainder of my life, let no man trouble me." Look at me! Behold these brands of scars, the wrinkles of care and weari- ness on my face, the welts made by the Eoman lictor's rods, with which I was thrice beaten, the red lines of those nearly two hundred stripes laid upon me by the Jews, the scars left by the stones which bruised and beat me down until I was left for dead ; whence did these come but from my battlings for Jesus? Call them slave- brands if you will, but I glory in being thus branded as the slave of Christ. Henceforth let no man trouble me ; for I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus ; I am scarred all over with the plainest evidences of my loyalty to him. 112 GEOWING TOWAED GOD There are marks or brands of some sort wMch every one wlio is devoted to Christ must carry. Christians are not now subjected to such stripes and scourgings as Paul had to endure. At the same time, the period has not come yet when we can be " carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease." The being a Christian requires no lit- tle conflict with evil, no little self-denial, and must yield some marks of our attachment to the Lord. There must be a difference between those who are Christians and those who are not, and men ought to be able to see the difference. By a holy life; by self-denial; by subdued ani- mal affections; by zeal in the cause of truth; by an imitation of the Lord Jesus ; and by the marks of suffering in our body, if need be, we should have evidences that we are Christ's — some slave-brands or wound-scars indicating that we belong to the Son of God. As some one has said, " Nowhere is a Christian anything but a Christian." If that be true, and it is true, then there must always be some marks of differ- ences of life and choice and affection which will make the fact of being a Christian evident. We bear each in his body the brand of the MAEKS OF THE LORD JESUS 113 master we serve. The horny hand of the la- borer bespeaks him the slave of unceasing toil. The dinted brow of the merchant tells how his ledgers, his gain and loss, his balances — that old master, business, has him under subjection. The thoughtful features of the student reveal his servitude to a higher master, the love of knowledge and truth. Sin, too, brands itself on the body. Sottishness and sensuality, sel- fish indulgence of appetites and passions leave their marks in disfigurements which betoken no honorable servitude. But if the life be given to God's service, if the soul be filled with love to Christ and brought under subjection to his will, if his Spirit pervade our spirit and we be intent on the fulfillment of his gracious pur- poses toward ourselves and toward all mankind, then there will scarcely fail to be some outward signs of that, too, so that even the careless ob- server would become aware of the purity of the soul within, of the Master who rules the life, and of the peace and joy and blessedness that come in serving him. Being a Christian should show even in the face. The marks of the Lord Jesus will be seen also 114 GEOWING TOWAED GOD as brands of service. A slave once carried a written message in punctures on the skin of his head, which had first been shaved bare to re- ceive the writing. When his hair had grown so as to hide the writing he went unsuspected ; and the person to whom the message was sent, having shaved the letter carrier's head, read the message. So completely as this should we be at our Master's disposal and ready to ac- cept the brands of his service. The brands Paul spoke of were slave-brands. He delighted to write himself down as the bond-servant of Christ. Now, the very essence of slavery is to have no will of our own, to be the possession, the property, of another; to enjoy nothing, to have nothing, to do nothing, to be nothing save at the beck or command or will of another. This is a dreadful state to be in if that other one be a man like myself. But suppose my master be my King, my Creator, my dear Eedeemer and Lord, how exalted I am to become the servant of such an one! The marks of the Lord Jesus Christ being scars of battle will therefore be greatly to our honor. How often has an old soldier shown his MAEKS OF THE LORD JESUS 115 scars with pride and exultation as a proof of Ms attachment to his country! As some one has said, "It is not gold, precious stones, statues, that adorn a soldier, but a torn buckler, a cracked hemlet, a blunt sword, a scarred face." " I prize this wound," said Lafayette, when struck in the foot by a musket ball at Ger- mantown, " as among the most valuable of my honors." So Paul felt in regard to the wounds he had received in the cause of the Lord Jesus. They were his boast and his glory, the pledge that he had been engaged in the cause of the Saviour, and therefore a passport to all who acknowledge themselves as lovers of his Lord. Let us not forget that we must expect to have scars as the result of the Christian conflict. It is not dress-parade, it is war, and we must ex- pect to fight; and if we fight, we must expect to get wounds. He who has no " marks " must be an extremely poor, inefficient and cowardly Christian. A day is coming when all ' ' marks ' ' gotten in the service of Christ will be honorable and receive the rewards of our Lord's recog- nition. xvni. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LEADERSHIP. Peter was a bom leader. He was impulsive, but strong and always influential. The days immediately following Christ's crucifixion were very disheartening. The Lord, upon whom his hopes had been fixed, was crucified, dead and buried. It was hard to keep up hope. Doubt had begun to iavade the minds of all the dis- ciples. We picture them out on the shore of the lake. One says, " Why does not our Lord come to us as he told us he would?" Another says, " How long it is since our Lord went away!" A third says, " Will he ever return again, after all ? " A boat is just starting out for the night 's fishing. One of the seven, of whom five had been fishermen, remarks, " How beautiful the water looks this evening!" Then it is that Simon Peter takes his, as ever, impulsive part, and says, "I go a fishing." The break has been made, and at once the others yield to the 116 EESPONSIBILITY OF LEADERSHIP 117 drift, and say, " We also go with thee." We are not surprised now to read a moment later in the account, " They went forth." That is the way it always goes. When there is an " I " man there will always be a " we " man, and when there is an " I " man and a " we " man there will soon be " they " men. " They went forth." First a leader astray; then followers with him; then sure evil to result. " They went." There is a very important lesson in this as to the " I " man's evil influence. " I go a fish- ing." " We also go with thee." When there is one young man or young woman or older man or older woman to say, " I go," to any wrong place, there will be others to go along. And they will encourage one another in evil untU mischief is done, and you read, " They went." No one can over-emphasize this influence and responsibility of leadership. There is great so- cial power in wrong doing. " None of us liveth to himself." We are moved and swayed irre- sistibly by each other. Sin loves companion- ship. Peter did not want to go a fishing alone. Few ever do. Half the drunkards of to-day 118 .GEOWINa TOWAED GOD owe their condition to the unnecessary tipples they took when some comrade invited them. The story of a large proportion of all the down- falls we see to-day could be written in the words of this conversation we are studying: " I go — and we go with thee." Well we need the warning to follow not a multitude to do evil. Because of this social power of wrong doing we see, moreover, the multiplied responsibility of the leader in wrong. " When ruin starts it rushes," but great is the responsibility of the one who starts it. Peter's sudden impulse was very contagious. As by one inspiration they all say, " We go along," giving a most notable instance of the power of unconscious influence to evU which a strong man exerts over those aroimd him who may be in any degree careless or listless or inclined to self-indulgence. It would not be proper to speak of this act of Peter's as an act of the worst sort of evil, for what he did was comparatively innocent. But it is true for us to assert that the most awful sort of condemnation is the condemnation that awaits those who having the influence and re- sponsibility of leadership use their powers and EESPONSIBILITT OF LEADEESHIP 119 opportimities to lead others astray. The old mad man of Sicily threw himself headlong into the crater of -