Beauty of Self Control

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DE. J. R. MILLEE'S BOOKSA Heart GardenBeauty of Every DayBeauty of Self-ControlBethlehem to OlivetBuilding of CharacterCome ye ApartDr. Miller's Year BookEvening ThoughtsEvery Day of LifeFinding the WayFor the Best ThingsGate BeautifulGlimpses through Life's

WindowsGo FORW^ARDGolden Gate of PrayerHidden Life BOOKLETS

Joy of ServiceLearning to LoveLesson of LoveMaking the Most of LifeMinistry of ComfortMorning ThoughtsPersonal Friendships of

JesusSilent TimesStory of a Busy LifeStrength and BeautyThings to Live ForUpper CurrentsWhen the Song BeginsWider LifeYoung People's Problems

Beauty of Kindness Marriage AltarBlessing of Cheerfulness Mary of BethanyBy the Still WatersChristmas MakingCure for CareFace of the MasterGentle HeartGirls : Faults and Ideals

Master's FriendshipsSecret of GladnessSecrets of Happy Home

LifeSummer GatheringTo-day and To-morrow

Glimpses of the Heavenly Transfigured LifeLifeHow? When? Where?

In Perfect PeaceInner LifeLoving my Neighbor

Turning NorthwardUnto the HillsYoung Men: Faults andIdeals

THOMAS Y. OEOWELL COMPANY


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^tmtp of telecontrolBY

J. R. MILLERAUTHOR OF silent TIMES,'' '* MAKING THE MOST OF

LIFE, upper currents, ETC.

** Self-reverence9 self-knowledge, self-control

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS


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y^'fi^^Copyright, 1911

By Thomas Y. Crowell CompanyPublished September, 1911

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.

CI.A295732


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AUTHOR'S WORD1 HE writer has no excuse for sending outanother volume save that a good many peopleare Mnd enough to say that his books help them.So long as this is true it would seem to be worthwhile to write them, A good many of us needto be cheered and encouraged in order that wemay do our best in duty and struggle. We cando nothing better therefore in life than to beencouragers of othe7's and helpers in little waysas we go on in our pilgrimage.

J. R. M.Philadelphia, U. S.A,


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TITLES OF CHAPTERSI. The Beauty of Self-Control Page 1

II. The Work of the Plow 15III. Finding our Duties 29IV. Into the Right Hands 45V. Living unto God 59VI. The Indispensable Christ 71

VII. The One Who Stands By 85VIII. Love's Best at Hojvie 97

IX. What about Bad Temper? 113X. The Engagement Ring 127XI. What Christ's Friendship Means 143XII. People as Means of Grace 157XIII. What Christ is to Me 173XIV. Our Unanswered Prayers 189XV. The Outflow of Song 203XVI. Seeing the Sunny Side 217XVII. The Story of the Folded Hands 231XVIII. Comfort for Tired Feet 245XIX. The Power of the Risen Lord 259XX. Coming to the End 273


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Sentinel at the loose-swung door of my impetuous lips.Guard close to-day I Make sure no word unjust or cruel slipsIn anger forth, by folly spurred or armed with envys whips;

Keep clear the way to-day.^'Arnold Townsend, in ** The Outlook^


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Cl^e 'Ztantv of ^elf*Control

LL life should be beautiful.God is a God of beauty.He never made anythingthat was not beautiful. St.Paul, in designating certain

qualities of character which every Christianshould strive to attain, names whatsoeverthings are lovely. Nothing that is unlovelyshould be allowed in the life of any Christian.We should always strive to be beautiful inlife. F. W. Farrar says, There is but onefailure ; that is, not to be true to the best oneknows. O. S. Harden names as signs of de-terioration in character, when you are sat-isfied with mediocrity, when commonness doesnot trouble you, when a shghted job does nothaunt you.

Self-control is one of the finest things inany life. It is not a single element in char-acter, but something that has to do with all

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Ci^e I3eautt of telecontrolhas self-control when he sits in his place andhas his hands on all the reins of his life. Heis kingly when he has complete mastery of histemper, his speech, his feelings, his appetiteswhen he can be quiet under injury and wrong,hurt to the quick but showing no sign, patientand still under severe provocation; when hecan stand amid temptations and not yield tothem.A man when insulted may break out into apassion of anger, and become a very son ofthunder in the vehemence of his rage. Butthat is not strength. The man who whentreated unjustly remains silent, answers nota word, with cheeks white, yet restraininghimself, showing no resentment, but keepinglove in his heart, is the strong man. The|Wise Man puts it thus:**He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.

There are men who rule other men andcannot rule themselves. They are victori-ous in battle, but they cannot control their

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Cl^e OBeautt of ^clf^Conttolown temper, restrain their own speech, orhold in calm quiet their own spirits. Thereis nothing beautiful in such a life. Nothingmore effectually mars a life than fretfulness,discontent, worry, impatience. Nothing ismore pitiful than a life made to be strong,kingly, noble, cahn, peaceful, but which is, in-stead, the play of every excitement, everytemper, every resentment, every appetiteand passion. Some one says, Alexan-der conquered all the world, exceptAlexander.Not only is self-control strong it is also

beautiful. Anger is not beautiful. Ungov-erned temper is not lovely. Rage is demonic.But a spirit calm, strong, and unflustered,amid storms of feeling and all manner of dis-turbing emotions, is sublime in its beauty. A temper under control, a heart subduedinto tenderness and patience, a voice cheer-ful with hope, and a countenance bright withkindness, are invaluable possessions to anyman or woman.''The Bible furnishes examples of self-con-

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Cl^e TStmtv of ^elf Controltrol. One is in the story of King Saul'sanointing. The people received him withgreat enthusiasm. All the people shouted,and said, Long live the King. He thenwent to his house, and there went with himthe host. But there were a few who refusedto shout. Certain worthless fellows said,How shall this man save us? And they de-spised him, and brought him no present.Saul might have resented the insult offeredhim, for he was king now, and might haveslain those who refused to receive him; buthe restrained himself and spoke not a word.Amid the sneers and scoffs of these worthlessmen he was as though he heard nothing of allthey said. He held his peace.We are apt to resent insults and retaliatewhen others do us evil. But the Christian

way is either not to speak at all, or to givethe soft answer that turneth away wrath.The way to conquer an enemy is to treat himwith kindness. Ignoring slights and quietlygoing on with love's duty, returning kindnessfor unkindness, is the way to get the true

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Ci^e istautv of ^elf^Controlvictory. The best answer to sneers, scoffs,and abuse is a life of persistent patienceand gentleness.

It is in Jesus that we have the finest illus-trations of self-control, as of all noble quali-ties. The tongue is the hardest of all themembers of the body to control. No mancan tame it, says St. James. Yet Jesus hadperfect mastery over his tongue. He neversaid a word that he would better not havesaid. He never spoke unadvisedly. Whenbitterly assailed by enemies, when theysought to catch him in his words, when theytried by false accusations to make him speakangrily, he held his peace and said not a word.Not only did he refrain from hasty and ill-tempered speech, but he kept his spirit incontrol. Some men can keep* silence withtheir lips though in their hearts the fire burnshotly ; but Jesus kept love in his heart underall provocation. He was master of histhoughts and feelings. He never grew angryor bitter. When he was reviled he revilednot again; when he was hated he loved on;

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Cl^e peautt of ^eU*Controlwhen nails were driven through his hands theblood from his wounds became the blood of re-demption. Nor was it weakness in Jesus thatkept him silent under men's reproaches andrevilings, and under all injuries and insults.There was no moment when he could nothave summoned legions of angels to defendhim and to strike down his persecutors. Hevoluntarily accepted wrong when he couldhave resisted. He never lifted a finger onhis own behalf, though he could have crushedhis enemies. He returned kindness for un-kindness. Thus he set us the example ofpatient endurance of wrong, of silent suffer-ing, rather than angry accusation.

In his words, also, Christ teaches us thislesson of self-control. Meekness is one ofthe Beatitudes. It is the ripe fruit of re-straint under insult and wrong. Accustomyourself to injustice was the counsel of anEnglish preacher. It is not easy to acceptsuch teaching. We do not like to be treatedunjustly. We can learn to endure a goodmany other things and still keep patient and

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Cl^e Beautt of ^elf^Controlsweet. But to endure injustice seems to bebeyond the seventy times seven includedin our Lord's measurement of forgiving.Yet it is not beyond the limit of the lawof love. Certainly the Master in his ownlife accustomed himself to injustice. Hewas silent even to this phase of wrong,and he leaves the lesson of his exampleto us.The beauty of self-control It is always

beautiful, and the lack of it is always a blem-ish. A lovely face which has won us by itsgrace instantly loses its charm and winsome-ness when in some excitement bad temperbreaks out. An angry countenance is dis-figuring. It hides the angel and reveals thedemon. Self-control gives calmness andpoise. It should be practiced not only ongreat occasions but on the smallest. A hun-dred times a day it will save us from weak-ness and fluster and make us strong andquiet. It is the outcome of peace. If theheart be still and quiet with the peace ofChrist, the whole life is under heavenly

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Ci^e TStautv of ^elf*Controlguard. The king is on his throne and thereis no misrule anywhere.How can we get this self-control which

means so much to our lives? It is essentialif we would live beautifully. We are weakwithout it.

Unless above himself he canErect himself, how poor a thing is man

How can we get the mastery over our-selves? It is not attained by a mere resolve.We cannot simply assert our self-masteryand then have it. We cannot put self on thethrone by a mere proclamation. It is anachievement which must be won by ourselvesand won by degrees. It is a lesson whichmust be learned, a long lesson which it takesmany days to learn. As Lowell says:

Beauty and truth and all that these containDrop not like ripened fruit about our feet;We climb to them through years of sweat and pain.We need divine help in learning the lesson.

Yet we must be diligent in doing our part.God helps those who help themselves. Whenwe strive to be calm and self-controlled he

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Cl^e I3eautt of telecontrolputs his own strength into our heart. Thenwe shall find ourselves growing strong andgaining in self-mastery. The attainmentwill come slowly.But however long it may take us to reach

this heavenly achievement we should neverbe content until we have reached it. This isthe sum of all learning and experience. Itis the completeness of all spiritual culture.The man in us is only part a man whilewe are not master of ourselves. We are ingrave peril while any weak hour we may loseour kingliness and be cast down. It tookMoses forty years to learn self-control, andhe did not learn it in the world's universitiesit was only when God was his teacher and hisschool was in the desert that he mastered it.Then in a sad, unwatched moment he lost hiskingly power for an instant and spoke a fewwords unadvisedly, and failed and could notfinish his work.

Think what the want of self-control iscosting men continually One moment'sdropping of the reins and a wrong de-

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Ci^e QBeautt of ^elf-Controlcision is made, a temptation is accepted,a battle is lost, and a splendid life liesin ruin. Let us achieve the grace of self-control.

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Ci^e moxfi of ti^e l^lotJj


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**Ra{n, rainBeating against the pane.How endlessly it poursOut of doorsFrom a blackened sky;

/ wonder whyFlowers, flowers

Upspringing after showers.Blossoming fresh and fair

Everywhere;Ah, God has explainedWhy it rained '*

E, W. F.


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II

Ci^e motk of ti^e l^lotDHE figure of plowing, muchused in the Bible, is verysuggestive. The initialwork in making men is plow-work. Human hearts are

hard, and the first implement to go over themmust be a plow, that they may be brokenup and softened. In our Lord's parablesome seeds fell on the trodden wayside. Thesoil was good it was the same as that which,in another part of the field yielded a hundred-fold but it was hard. It had been long aroadway across the field and thousands offeet had gone over it, treading it down.There was no use in sowing seed upon it, forthe ground would not receive it, and, lyingupon the hardened surface, the birds in eagerquest for food would pick it off. The onlyway to make anything of this trodden road-side was to have it broken up by the plow.

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Ci^e OBeautt of telecontrolThe first work of Christ in many lives is

plowing. The lives have not been cultivated.They have been left untilled. Or, like thewayside ground, they have been trodden downinto hardness. Many people treat their livesas if they were meant to be open commonsinstead of beautiful gardens. They do notfence them in to protect them, and so beastspasture on them, tramping over them, chil-dren play upon them, and men drive theirlight carriages and their heavy wagons acrossthem, making roadways hard as rock. Wereadily understand this in agriculture, and itis little more difficult to understand it in lifeculture. A good woman said that Godwanted her heart to be a garden filled withsweet flowers. A garden needs constant care.Our lives should be watched continually, thatthe soil shall always be tender, so that allmanner of lovely things may grow in them.But there are many lives that are not thuscared for and cultivated. They are un-fenced, and all kinds of feet go treading overthem. No care is given to the companions

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i^t mot^ of ti^e pio'vDwho are allowed admittance into the field;soon the gentle things are destroyed and thetender, mellow soil has become hard. Thosewho are intrusted with the care of childrenshould never fail to think of their responsi-bility for the influences which are allowed totouch them. On a tablet placed in the high-school building at Sag Harbor, Long Islanti,are inscribed these words by Mrs. RussellSage : I would like to have the people im-pressed with their obligations as guardians ofchildren, to see to it that their training andeducation be such that in the future of thislittle hamlet, as in the past, its good womenand noble men may enrich the world.For the lack of such care many men and

women become hardened, without capacity toreceive tender impressions. They have largecapacities for rich, beautiful life and forsplendid service, but they are permitted toread all manner of books and to have all kindsof amusements and to see all kinds of evil life,and they grow up without beauty, really use-less and without loveliness. They need to be

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Ci^e motfi of ti^e pioia>condemned them. They became troubled.The word was plowing its way in their hearts.Next evening, as they read again, the senseof sin in them became still deeper, and theman said, Wife, if this book is true, we arelost. They became very greatly distressed.The words they had read had shown themthat they were sinners, guilty, lost. Nextnight they read again, and found somethingof hope they had read of divine loveand mercy, and the man said, Wife, ifthis book is true, we can be saved. Theword of God does mighty plow-work inmen's hearts before they can be madefruitful.

Sorrow ofttimes is God's plow. We dreadpain and shrink from it. It seems destruc-tive and ruinous. The plow tears its way,with its keen, sharp blade, through our heartsand we say we are being destroyed. Whenthe process is completed and we look upon thegarden with its sweet flowers growing, we seethat only blessing, enrichment, and beautyare the result. We complain of our suffer-

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Ci^e idtantv of telecontroling, but we cannot afford to have sufferingtaken away. One writes,*The cry of man's anguish went up unto God:

* Lord, take away pain The shadow that darkens the world thou hast made.

The close-coiling chainThat strangles the heart, the burden that weighsOn the winds that would soar;Lord, take away pain from the world thou hast made.

That it love thee the more 'Then answered the Lord to the cry of his world:

* Shall I take away painAnd with it the power of the soul to endure.Made strong by the strain?Shall I take away pity that knits heart to heart.And sacrifice high?

Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fireWhite brows to the sky?

Shall I take away love that redeems with a price.And smiles at its loss?Can ye spare from your lives that would climb unto mine

The Christ on his cross?'

We cannot afford to lose pain out of theworld or out of our life. It means too muchto us. We owe too much, get too many joysand treasures from it, to have it taken out ofour lives. We owe to suffering many of thetreasures of experience. Without pain wenever could know Christ deeply, intimately,

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%^t mott of ti^e ^lotDexperimentally. Two friends may love eachother very sincerely, without suffering to-gether, but it is a new friendship into whichthey enter when they stand side by side ina great sorrow. Grief reveals Christ anddraws him closer to us, and we love him betterafterwards. To take pain from the worldwould be to rob life of its divinest joy, itsrichest blessings. If the share never cutthrough the soil there would be no furrowsand no golden harvests.

Put pain from out the world, what room were leftFor thanks to God, for love to man?

This plow-work is for every one of us.God is making us, and that is the way hehas to do it. A little child had a garden,which her father had given her. But noth-ing would grow in it. The flowers and plantswould begin to come up, but in a short timethey would wither and die. She had littlepleasure from her garden. One day herfather brought some workmen with heavy irontools, and they began to tear up her garden.

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Ci^e QBeautt of telecontrolThey removed the soil. They destroyedeverything beautiful in it. The child beggedthat the men would go away. She said theywere ruining her garden. But they heedednot her implorings and tears. They brokeup the ground and found a great rock justbelow the surface. This they took away,then smoothed down the soil, and made itbeautiful again. After that the flowers andplants grew into beauty. Then the childunderstood the value of the plow-work, whichat first seemed so destructive, but in the endleft her garden a plac^ of rare beauty.

Christ has in his love for us a wonderfulvision of what he wants us to become. Hewould have us share his own glory. Letthe beauty of the Lord our God be upon us is a prayer God loves to answer. He wantsus to become radiant in loveliness. He wantslove to blossom in our lives into all gentleness,sweetness, purity, and patience, into idealmanliness, heroic nobleness, splendid sacri-ficial life. But we never can attain this visionin ways of ease. To spare us from pain,

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Ci^e mov^ of ti^e l^lotostruggle and suffering is not the way oftruest kindness for us. It needs the plowand sharp plow-work to bring us to ourbest beauty.

Plowing is hard work. It is hard for himwho follows the plow through the long fur-rows. There seems to be no reward for him.It is all painful work that he does cuttingand crushing the soil. He sees no growingseed, no golden harvest. It is all weariness,ache and toil for him, with nothing to cheerhis heart, nothing to enrich him. The reaperrejoices as he thrusts in his sickle and thenthreshes out the yellow grain. But the workof the plowman seems destruction for thetime. Yet in the end it proves to be gloriouswork. In a little poem quoted in The BritishWeekly^ the plow is represented as speakingthus of its work

* I feed the peoples.Eagerly wait on meHigh-born and low-bom, pale children of want.Kingdoms may rise and wane.War claim her tithe of slain.Hands are outstretched to me.Master of men am I, seeming a slave.I feed the peoples, I, the plow.

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C]^e OBeaut^ of telecontrol**

' I prove God's words trueToiling that earth may giveFruit men shall gather with songs in the sun.Where sleeps the hidden grainCornfields shall wave again;Showing that while men liveNor seed nor harvest-time ever will cease.I prove God's words true, I, the plow/

It IS hard also for the soil, to have theplow of God driven through our hearts andover our lives, breaking them and crushingthem. Oh, how heavy God's plow is, as itis dragged over us, its sharp share cuttinginto the very quick of our being. Rough isthe plow-work. It has no comfort in it. Noreward is apparent. The plow cuts remorse-lessly. But the plowman may have visions ofa rich outcome from all his toil. There willbe a harvest by and by, when, in the placewhere his share now cuts, golden grain willwave, and he will fill his bosom with sheaves.You cry out to-day because of the pain yousuffer as God's plow cuts into your lifeand seems to be spoiling all its beauty.But look forward. First the plow, thenthe fields with their glorious grain. Now

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you know nothing but pain; hereafter youwill reap joy from the places now scarredand furrowed.

There is a picture in Revelation whichexplains it all. There appeared a great com-pany, wearing white robes and carrying palmbranches. Who are these? was asked. These are they that come out of the greattribulation, was the answer. The way toheaven's highest glory lies through pain.To-day the plow is cutting through your lifeto-morrow a blessed harvest will wave. Dr.Babcock's little poem tells the story

The dark brown mold's upturnedBy the sharp-edged plow.And I've a lesson learned:My life is but a field

Stretched out beneath God's sky.Some harvest rich to yield.

Where grows the golden grainWhere faith? where sympathy?

In a furrow cut by pain.

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** Lord, keep me one in deed, and word, and thought;With such distractions all the world is rifeAnd different aspects cleave as with a knifeIn fragments small the good that must he sought.Give the controlling motive, for untaughtBy Thy divinity I am at strife.And shreds and patches make my troubled life;From out my chaos order must he brought.Oh, unify, direct, suhdue, control

These warring elements, diverse desires.These conflicts of the timid flesh with soul;Hush Thou the voice that breathes the worldly word.Attune these ears to hear Thee speak, LordQuench zoith Thy Spirit all the earthly fires '*

Caroline Hazard, in The Congregationalist.


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Ill

fintiin^ out H^ntit^

OME people have trouble indiscovering God's guidancein everyday life. Perhapsthe trouble is that they lookfor the direction in some un-

usual way, whereas, ordinarily, it is shown tothem very simply. Lowell tells of one whojourneyed to Horeb that he might see a reve-lation of God. After long search he foundthe revealing in some common little flowers.When he came home again he found thesesame flowers growing by his own doorstep.He need not have gone to Horeb to get whathe sought.Duty never is a haphazard thing. There

never are a half dozen things any one ofwhich we may fitly do at any particular timethere is some one definite thing in the divinethought for each moment. In writing musicno composer strews the notes along the staff

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^ Cl^e iBtantv of ^elf^Controljust as they happen to fall on this line orthat space ; he sets them in harmonious orderand succession, so that they will make sweetmusic when played or sung. The builderdoes not fling the beams or stones into theedifice without plan ; every block of wood, orstone, or iron, and every brick has its place,and the building rises in graceful beauty.The days are like the lines and spaces in

the musical staff, and duties are the noteseach life is meant to make a harmony, and inorder to this, each single duty must have itsown proper place. One thing done out of itstime and place makes discord in the music oflife, just as one note misplaced on the staffmakes discord. Each life is a building, andthe little acts are the materials used; thewhole is congruous and beautiful only whenevery act is in its own true place.

Far better in its place the lowliest birdShould sing aright to Him the lowliest songThan that a seraph strayed should take the wordAnd sing its glory wrong.

The art of true living therefore consists[32]


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fi'nnfng out ^ntit^largely in doing always the thing that be-longs to the moment. But to know what isthe duty of each moment is the question whichto many persons is full of perplexity. Yetit would be easy if our obedience were butmore simple. We have only to take the dutywhich comes next to our hand ye nextethynge, as the quaint old Saxon legend putsit. Our duty never is some far-away thing.We do not have to search for it it is alwaysclose at hand and easily found. The troubleis that we complicate the question of duty forourselves by our way of looking at life, andthen get our feet entangled in the mesheswhich our own hands have woven.Much of this confusion arises from taking

too long views. We try to settle our duty inlong sections. We think of years ratherthan of moments, of a whole life work ratherthan of individual acts. It is hard to plana year's duty; it is easy to plan just forone short day. No shoulder can bear up theburden of a year's cares all gathered backinto one load, but the weakest shoulder can

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C]^e OBeautr of ^elf-Controlcarry without weariness what really belongsto one little day. In trying to grasp thewhole year's work, we are apt to overlookand to miss that of the present hour, just asone, in gazing at a far-off mountain top islikely not to see the little flower bloomingat his feet, and even tread it down as hestumbles along.

There is another way in which peoplecomplicate the question of duty. They tryto reach decisions to-day on matters whichreally are not before them to-day, and whichwill not be before them for months, pos-sibly for years. For example, a young mancame to his pastor in very sore perplexityover a question of duty. He said he couldnot decide whether he ought to go as a foreignmissionary or devote his life to work in somehome field. Yet the young man had onlyclosed his freshman year at college. It wouldrequire him three years more to complete hiscollege course, and then he would have tospend three years in a theological seminary.Six years hence he would be ready for his

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if(nntng our ^utit^work as a minister, and it was concerning hischoice of field then that the young man wasnow in such perplexity. He said that oftenhe passed hours on his knees at prayer, seek-ing for light, but that no light had come. Hehad even tried fasting, but without avail.The matter had so taken possession of hismind that he had scarcely been able to studyduring the last term, and he had fallen be-hind in his class. His health, too, he felt,was being endangered, as he often lay awakemuch of the night, thinking about the mo-mentous question of his duty, as betweenhome and foreign work.

It is very easy to see what was this youngman's mistake he was trying to settle now aquestion with which he had nothing whateverto do at the present time. If he is spared tocomplete his course of training, the questionwill emerge as a really practical one five orsix years hence. It is folly now to compela decision which he cannot make intelligentlyand without perplexity. It is very evidenttherefore that this decision is no part of his

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Ci^e iBeautt of telecontrolpresent duty. He wonders that he can getno light on the matter that even in answerto agonizing prayer the perplexity does notgrow less. But is there any ground to ex-pect God to throw light on a man's path sofar in advance? Is there any promise thatprayer for guidance at a point so remoteshould be answered to-day? Why should itbe? Will it not be time enough for theanswer to come when the decision must reallybe made?

It is right, no doubt, for the young manto pray about the matter, but his presentrequest should be that God would direct hispreparation, so that he may be fitted for thework, whatever it may be, that in the divinepurpose is waiting for him, and that, at theproper time, God would lead him to his al-lotted field. Lord, prepare me for whatthou art preparing for me, was the dailyprayer of one young life. This would havebeen a fitting prayer for this young studentbut to pray that he may know now where theLord will send him to labor when he is ready,

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Cl^e OBeautt of telecontrolaltogether to the future, than there are thosewho are anxious to do well the duty for thepresent moment. If we would simply do al-ways the next thing, we would be relieved ofall perplexity.The law of divine guidance is, step by step.One who carries a lantern on a country road

at night sees only one step before him. Ifhe takes that step, however, he carries hislantern forward and this makes another stepplain. At length he reaches his destinationwithout once stepping into the darkness.The whole way has been made light for him,though only a step at a time. This is theusual method of God's guidance. The Bibleis represented as a lamp unto the feet. It isa lamp, or lantern, not a blazing sun, noreven a lighthouse, but a plain, common lan-tern, which one can carry about in his hand.It IS a lamp unto the feet, not throwing itsbeams afar, not illumining a whole hemi-sphere, but shining only on the bit of roadon which the pilgrim's feet are walking.

If this is the way God guides us, it ought[38]


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ifintiing out J^utiejSnever to be hard for us to find our duty. Itnever lies far away, inaccessible to us, it isalways ye nexte thynge. It never lies outof sight, in the darkness, for God never putsour duty where we cannot see it. The thingwe think may be our duty, but which is stilllying in obscurity, is not yet our duty, what-ever it may be a little farther on. The dutyfor the moment is always perfectly clear, andthat is as far as we need concern ourselves.When we do the little that is plain to us, wewill carry the light on, and it will shine onthe next moment's step.

If not even one little step of duty is plainto us, ye nexte thynge is to wait a little.Sometimes that is God's will for us for themoment. At least, it never is his will thatwe should take a step into the darkness. Henever hurries us. We would better alwayswait than to rush on as if we were not quitesure of the way. Often, in our impatience,we do hasten things, which we find after a littlewere not God's next things for us at all.That was Peter's mistake when he cut off

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Ci^e I3eautr of telecontrola man's ear in the Garden, and it led to soretrouble and humiliation a little later. Thereare many quick, impulsive people, who arecontinually doing wrong next things, andwho then find their next thing trying toundo the last. We should always wait forGod, and should never take a step whichhe has not made light for us.

To wait is naughtWhen waiting means to serve.Yet we must not be too slow. This is as

great a danger as being too quick. Thepeople of Israel were never to march untilthe pillar moved they were neither to runahead nor to lag behind God. Indolence is asbad as rashness. Being too late is as bad asbeing too soon. There are some people whoare never on time. They never do thingsjust when they ought to be done. They arecontinually in perplexity which of severalthings they ought to do first. The troubleis, they are forever putting off or neglectingor forgetting things, and consequently each

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ftnDing out '^utit^morning finds them not only facing that day'sduties, but the omitted duties of past days aswell. There never really are two duties forthe same moment, and if everything is donein its own time, there never will be any per-plexity about what special right thing to donext.

It is an immeasurable comfort that our du-ties are not the accidents of any undirectedflow of circumstances. We are clearly as-sured that if we acknowledge the Lord in allour ways, he will direct our paths. That is,if we keep eye and heart ever turned towardGod, we never shall be left to grope after thepath, for it will be made plain to us. We areauthorized to pray that God would orderour steps. What direction in duty could bemore minute than this ? He that foUowethme shall not walk in the darkness, said theMaster. He that foUoweth me. We mustnot run on ahead of him, neither must welag behind; in either case we shall finddarkness, just as deep darkness in advanceof our Guide, if we will not wait for him,

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Ci^e laeautt of ^elf^conttolas it is behind him, if we will not keepclose up to him.

Prompt, unquestioning, undoubting follow-ing of Christ, takes all perplexity out ofChristian life, and gives unbroken peace.There is something for every moment, andduty is always ye nexte thynge. It maysometimes be an interruption, setting asidea cherished plan of our own, breaking intoa pleasant rest we had arranged, or takingus away from some favorite occupation. Itmay be to meet a disappointment, to take upa cross, to endure a sorrow or to pass througha trial. It may be to go upstairs into ourroom and be sick for a time, letting go ourhold upon all active life. Or it may be justthe plainest, commonest bit of routine workin the home, in the office, on the farm, atschool. Most of us find the greater numberof our nexte thynges in the tasks that arethe same day after day, yet even in the in-terstices, amid these set tasks, there come athousand little things of kindness, patience,gentleness, thoughtfulness, obligingness, like

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finlitng our J^utit^the sweet flowers that grow in the crevicesupon the cold, hard rocks, and we should beready always for these as we hurry along, aswell as for the sterner duties that our com-mon calling brings to us.

There never is a moment without its duty,and if we are living near to Christ and follow-ing him closely, we never shall be left in ig-norance of what he wants us to do. If thereis nothing, absolutely nothing, we can do, atany particular time, then we may be sure thatthe Master wants us to rest. For he is nota hard Master, and besides, rest is as need-ful in its time as work. We need to rest inorder that we may work. So we must notworry when there come moments which seemto have no task for our hands. Ye nextethynge then is to sit down and wait.

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into ti^e mqfyt l^anDjS


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IV3Into ti^e mm mnn^

ERTAIN ancient marinerswere accustomed to say, asthey put out to sea, Keepme, O God, for my boat is sosmall and the ocean is so

great and so stormy. There could not be afitter prayer for a life any life as it setsout on its career. The world is vast and fullof perils, and a life, even the greatest, is verysmall and frail. It has no ability to facethe difficulties, the obstacles, the hardshipsit must face, if it is to pass successfullythrough life.

Probably one-half the children born in thisworld die as infants. Then of those who getthrough infancy, how many drop during theearly decades that follow? How many ofthose who reach adult years live vigorous livesand accomplish things worth while, attain suc-cess in business, in the professions, in life's

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Ciê OBeaut^ of êlf*Controlcallings? It has been stated, perhaps cor-rectly, that only four or five per cent of thosewho enter business pursuits succeed, whileninety-five or ninety-six per cent fail. Thewôrld is large and full of storm and struggle,and only a few get through it safely.

If there were no one greater and strongerthan ourselves into whose keeping we maycommit our lives, as we go out to meet theperils, what hope could we have of ever gettingthrough safely? The Breton mariner be-lieved that there was a God who ruled in allthe world, whose footsteps were on the sea,and as he went out on the wild waters he en-trusted his frail boat to the protection ofthat divine Keeper. Blessed is he who doesthe same with his life. He cannot guide him-self. He cannot master the storms. He can-not shelter himself. ^' Keep me, O my God,''should be his prayer, not once only, when helaunches his barque, but daily, hourly.

But does God care for little individuallives? Does he care for the child that haslost the shelter of human love, and has no one

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9Into ti^e mm ^auDisto think of it or provide for it? Does thegreat God give thought and care to one littlechild among the millions of the world?Some one asks and answers the question:

***Among so many, can he care?Can special love be everywhere? *I asked. My soul bethought of this, * In just that very place of hisWhere he hath put and keepeth youGod hath no other thing to do.' j

The very thing Jesus Christ wants to dofor us is to be the keeper of our lives asthey pass through the world with its stormsand dangers. We do not know what we losewhen we keep our lives out of the hands ofChrist. No other can make of us what hecould make. No other can bring out thepowers and possibilities of our being as hecan. Our lives are like instruments of music.They have marvelous capacities, but onlyone who has the skill can bring out the music.Only one who understands our lives, with alltheir strange powers, can call out theirpossibilities. There is a story of an organistin one of the cities of Germany, who one day

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Ci^e QBeautt of telecontrolrefused to permit a visitor to play upon hisorgan. The visitor begged to be allowed atleast to put his hands upon the keys and playa few notes, and the old man reluctantly con-sented. The moment the stranger began toplay, the organ gave forth such music as itnever had given forth before. The custo-dian was amazed, recognizing the fact thata master was at his keys. When he askedwho it was, the player answered, I amMendelssohn. And I refused you permis-sion to play upon my organ the old mansaid, in grief and self-reproach.

It is said that one day, many years ago,there was an auction in London which wasattended by distinguished people. Amongother things offered for sale was a Cremonaviolin, more than a hundred years old. Itwas reputed to be a Stradivarius. The auc-tioneer raised the violin and held it gently,almost reverently, as he told its story andspoke of its wonderful qualities. Then hegave it to a musician who was present, askinghim to play upon it. The man played as well

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9Into t})t Eigi^t i^anDisias he could, but the violin in his hands failedto win enthusiasm from the audience.The auctioneer began to call for bids. But

the responses came slowly. Then there cameinto the room a stranger, an Italian. Hepressed his way to the side of the auctioneerto see the violin. He took it into his ownhands, examined it carefully, held it to hisear as if it had some secret to whisper tohim, and then laid it gently on his breastand began to play upon it, and marvelousmusic at once filled the room. The peoplewere strangely affected. Some smiled, somewept ; every heart was stirred. It was Paga-nini, the great master, whose fingers wereon the strings. When he laid the instru-ment down, the bidding began again, andthere was no trouble now in selling it.In the hands of the first player, the quali-ties of the violin were not brought out, andmen did not know what a treasure was be-ing offered to them. But in the hands of thegreat master its marvelous powers were dis-covered and brought out.

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C]^e OBeautt of ^elf^ConttolOur lives are like violins. In the right

hands they will give forth wonderful music.But in unskillful hands their powers are notdiscovered. It is strange with what want ofthought and care many people entrust theirlives into the hands of those who cannotbring out the best that is in them, ofttimesof those who only do them harm. This isseen in the recklessness which many youngpeople show in choosing their friends. In-deed, they do not choose their friends atall, but let themselves drift into associationand intimacy with any who come their way.The influence of friendship is almost irresist-ible. The admission of a new companioninto our life is the beginning of a new epochin our course. If the friendship is pure,inspiring, and elevating, if the friend is onewho in his own character will set before usnew visions of beautiful life, and in all hisinfluence over us will prove inspiring, the dayof his coming to us will ever be a day tobe remembered. But if the new friend isunworthy, or if his hands are unskillful,

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nothing good can come from his friendship.His coming into our life is a tragedy.Young people should seek association with

those who are wiser and more experiencedthan themselves, those who can teach themlessons they have not yet learned, lead themin paths they have not yet walked in, andhelp them to find their own powers and pos-sibilities. It is a great mistake merely tochoose a friend with whom to have a goodtime, one who will flatter us and make usfeel satisfied with ourselves, one with whomwe may get on pleasantly. We should havefriends who, like Paganini with the Cremona,can discover and call out the best that isin us. Our best friend is he who makes usdo what we can.

It is the same with the teachers to whomwe may go. There are those who have wis-dom enough to teach, and who honestly dothe best they can with those who come tothem, but who lack the mental vision to dis-cover the faculties that are in their pupils,or who lack the ability and skill to bring out

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m^t Tdtaut^ of ^elf'Conttoltheir possibilities. There are other teacherswho may know less themselves, but they havethe power to find the talents that are in theirpupils, and then to call them out. The sameis true of the value and influence of books.There are books which we may enjoy read-ing, and which may give us entertainmentand pleasure, but which leave in our mindsno new knowledge, no stimulating of thought,no new visions of beauty, no wonder to impelus to research, and no strengthening of char-acter. On the other hand, there are bookswhich stir our hearts, which wake us up, whichkindle in us upward inspirations, and whichincite us to the attaining of better things.These are the books we should read, for theywill give us the help we most need if we areto grow into fullness of life and power.But whomsoever or whatsoever we may take

into our life, Christ should always have thefirst place as Master, Guide, and Friend. Noother one knows the capacities that are in us,and no other can find and bring out thesecapacities and train them for the highest ser-

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into ti^e mtgi^t fanD0vice. Into Christ's hands, therefore, weshould commit our lives for teaching, fordiscipline, for the developing of their powers.Then we shall reach our best, and realize thedivine thought for us.

Christ is able also to keep our lives. Hebecame Master of all the world. He metevery power and conquered it. He faced allevil and overcame it. We never can find our-selves in the hands of any enemy who is toostrong for him. One of the most beautifulascriptions in the Bible is that which says: Now unto him that is able to guard youfrom stumbling, and to set you before thepresence of his glory without blemish in ex-ceeding joy ... be glory. In all thisworld's dangers, he can guard our lives fromharm, and he can present us at last withoutblemish.Then Christ is able to guide us. The

world is a great mass of tangled paths. Theyrun everywhere, crossing each other in all di-rections. Hands are forever beckoning ushere and there, and we know not which beck-

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Ci^e idtautv of telecontroloning to follow. Even friendship, loyal asit may be, sincere and sympathetic as it is,lacks wisdom and may guide us mistakenly.There is One only whose wisdom is infallible,whose advice never errs, and he would beour Guide. There is a little prayer in oneof the Psalms which pleads : Cause me toknow the way wherein I should walk. Thisprayer, if sincere, will always be answered.We may see no hand leading us. We mayhear no voice saying, as we walk in the dark-ness, This is the way, walk ye in it. Yetif we seek divine guidance and accept it im-plicitly, we shall always have it. We have itin Browning:

I go to prove my soulI see my way as birds their trackless way.I shall arrive what time, what circuit first,I ask not: but unless God send his hailOr blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow.In some time, his good time, I shall arrive:He guides me and the bird. In his good time

Not only do we have keeping and guidancein Christ, but everything we need on the way,and then eternal blessedness. We may com-

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It'tJing unto (IB>oD


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** Settle it in your heart that it is the sum of all businessand blessedness to live to God.''

John Wesley.** The glory is not in the task, but in doing it for Him.''

Jean Ingelow.


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litt'ng unto (0oli

HE object of our life de-termines its character.WJiat we live for tells whatwe are. If a man's aim isto get rich, if that is the

ruling motive of his Hfe, greed for gold ishis absorbing passion. If a man lives todo good to his fellowmen, if this is his singlepurpose, the desire will inspire all histhoughts and actions.

It is interesting to put ourselves to thetest to discover just what is the real pur-pose of our living. When we know this wecan tell whither our life is tending, what itwill be when it is finished, what impressionwe are making on the world, what our livingmeans to God.

That which distinguishes a Christian lifefrom others is that it is God's. We belongto God. To live to any other, therefore, is

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C]^e Beauty of ^elf*Controldisloyalty and idolatry. St. Paul in one ofhis epistles asserts this truth very strongly.He says : None of us liveth to himself,and none dieth to himself. For whetherwe live, we live unto the Lord; or whetherwe die, we die unto the Lord; whether welive therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.All our relations are with the Lord. To himwe owe our full obedience we have no othermaster. It is his work we are doing, whetherit be what we call secular work, or whetherit be what we consider religious work. In allour acts, words, thoughts, feelings, we areliving to the Lord, if we are living worthily.We may not be conscious of this relation, butwhether we are or not, it is to the Lord thatwe are living. We may not think definitelyof God every time we speak, every time wedo anything, but if we are sincere our desirealways is to please God, to honor him, to havehis approval. It is to the Lord that we mustanswer in judgment. We shall all stand be-fore the judgment-seat of God . . . each oneof us shall give account of himself to God.

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Iftjing unto (BohThe truest life is that which is lived most

fully and unbrokenly unto God. In one ofhis books Dr. W. L. Watkinson relates thatJenny Lind said to John Addington Sy-monds, in accounting for the motive andspirit of her wonderful singing, I sing toGod. She meant that she looked into God'sface, as it were, and consciously sang to him.She did not sing to the vast audience thathung on her words and was held spellboundby them. She was scarcely conscious of anyface before her but God's. She thought ofno listening ear but God's. We may notall be able to enter into such perfect rela-tion with God as did this marvelous singer,but this is the only true ideal of all Christianlife. We should do each piece of work forGod. The business man should do all hisbusiness for God. The artist should painthis picture for God. The writer shouldwrite his book for God. The farmer shouldtill his ground for God. This means thatwe are always engaged in the Father's busi-ness and must do it all in a way that he

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Ci^e OBeautt of ^elf-Controlwill approve. Jesus was a carpenter, formany years working at the carpenter's bench.We are sure that he did each piece of workfor his Father's eye. He did it skillfully,conscientiously, beautifully. He did notskimp it nor hurry through it so as to getaway from the shop earlier.What a transformation it would make in

all our work if we could say in truth, I doit for God. Now this is not an impossibleideal for Christian life. It was this that St.Paul meant, in part, at least, when he said, To me to live is Christ. He was livingin Christ. He was living for Christ. Hislife was all Christ Christ living in him.He had the same conception of Christian lifewhen he wrote : Whether therefore ye eat,or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to theglory of God. Even our eating and drink-ing are included in this high ideal. The sinsof gluttony and intemperance in drinkingare condemned. We must also eat hygien-ically eat to live and not live to eat. Todo anything to the glory of God is to do

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ILtting unto dBioDit so that it will reflect the divine glory andbe for the divine honor. This is part ofwhat St. Paul meant when he said, We liveunto the Lord.''

It is possible to follow the guidance ofconscience in all things, doing always whatis right, and yet not live unto the Lord, notto have any consciousness of God, any senseof a personal God, any thought of God atall, in what we say or do. It is possible toaccept the Christian moralities as our ruleof life, following them even in the smallestthings, yet not be living unto God, not evenbelieving in God nor having any love for him.When the singer said, I sing to God,she meant that she thought of God as shesang, and poured forth her song directly inpraise and love to him. So we should seekto do all our work for God.

There cannot but be a wonderful inspira-tion in living in this way unto God, if we makeit real. It is not always easy to work underthose who are over us. Sometimes they areunjust, unfair in their treatment of us, un-

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Cl^e OBeauti? of ^elf^Conttolkind toward us, tyrannical in their exactionsof service or in their manner of enforcingtheir commands. It is easy for us to fretand chafe when we have to endure severityor unkindness in the performance of ourdaily tasks. But it changes everything ifwe are conscious of another Master backof the human master, and remember that heis the one for whom we really are working.He is never unfair, or unjust, never severe orharsh. We can work joyfully with him andfor him, unaffected by the hardness or the in-humanity of the human master who is imme-diately over us. We may bear the harshness,the injustice, the unkindness we have to en-dure, if it is our duty to stay in the place,seeing ever the eye of Christ, with its love andsympathy, looking upon us and enduring allthe harshness for him.

St. Paul exhorts servants to be obedientto them that are their masters, as servantsof Christ, doing the will of God from theheart.'' Whatsoever ye do, he says, work heartily, as unto the Lord, and not

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litjing unto d^oDunto men; knowing that from the Lord yeshall receive the recompense of the inheri-tance: ye serve the Lord Christ. It makesthe most trying service easy when it is donein this way looking beyond the humanmaster and seeing Christ as the real Master,for whom we are working. We are livingunto him. We are serving him. From himwe shall receive the reward for our faithful-ness.

St. Paul speaks in this same connection ofdying. It does not seem strange to hearhim say, Whether we live, we live unto theLord. But when he goes on and says, Whether we die, we die unto the Lord, thewords strike us as unusual and startle us.Dying does not interrupt nor in any wayinterfere with our relations to Christ. Itis just like any other passage in life. Dyingis only a phase or experience of living. Weare as really Christ's when we die and afterwe die as we are when we are living. Thewords are wonderfully illuminating; theythrow a bright light on the mystery of dying.

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Ci^e OBeautt of ^elf*ControlWe are not separated from Christ in death;the bond between us and him is not broken.When we die we do not pass out of Christ'sservice; we only pass to another form ofservice. We have the impression that deathcuts our life off, interrrupts it, makes anentire change in everything that concernsus. But the truth is, life goes on throughdeath and after death very much the same asit did before. There will be nothing greatlynew in our experience, nothing strange orunusual, when we are dead. Life and deathare all one, parts of the same continuedexistence. Whether we live, we live untothe Lord; or whether we die, we die untothe Lord; whether we live therefore, or die,we are the Lord's.

There really is nothing to dread, there-fore, In dying. The Old Testament Scrip-tures represent it as a walk through thevalley, the valley of the shadow of death,accompanied by the Shepherd, whose pres-ence allays all fear and gives peace. Inthe New Testament what we call dying Is

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tMn^ unto d^oDa departure from earth, in the companion-ship of Christ. There is a mystery in itbecause it is away from all that we know orunderstand and all that we can see, but thereis nothing in it to be dreaded, for it does notseparate from Christ for an instant, and ittakes the person to Christ to be with him for-ever. We are to die unto the Lord, withno interruption to our attachment to him,and then continue, in the heavenly life, livingunto the Lord. For life will go on with itsblessed activities in heaven. Our work maydiffer in its character, but we shall ever beloving and serving Christ.

Thus our relation with Christ is for alltime, through death, and through eternity.He does not become our Saviour merely todeliver us in some emergency. Ofttimes thisis all that we can do for a man who is indistress or need. We can relieve him for thetime, but when the occasion is past he dropsaway from us, perhaps back into his oldtrouble, and our relation to him ceases. Butwhen we accept Christ as our Saviour it is for-

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Cl^e I3eautt of ^elf*Conttolever. He takes us into his love and intohis life. He establishes a relation with usthat never shall be broken. He will neverweary of us. We may sin against him, buthe will not cast us off. We may be un-faithful to him and may wander far away,but when we repent and creep back to him,he will forgive us and receive us again tothe place of love. The marriage covenanthas a limitation, for it is till death do uspart. But there is no such limitation inthe covenant made between Christ and us.Death will not part us from him. We be-long to him in the heavenly life. We areto follow him in this world to the very last,and then forever in the world to come. Weare to do the will of God on earth as it isdone in heaven, and then continue to do hiswill when we reach heaven.

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Cl^e 91ttt)fjspeni2ial)le Ci^rfjsit


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man had made this compact with Hermas.He assured him of wealth, of favor, of suc-cess, and Hermas was to give him only aword he was to part forever with the nameof Him he had learned to worship. Letme take that word and all that belongs toit entirely out of your life, so that you shallnever need to hear it or speak it again. Ipromise you everything, said the old man,** and this is all I ask in return. Do youconsent? Yes, I consent, said Hermas.So he lost the word, the Blessed Name.He had sold it. It was not his any more.

He went back to Antioch, to his old home.There he found his father dying. For hourshe had been calling for his son. The oldman received him eagerly, said he had for-given him, and asked his son for his forgive-ness. He then asked Hermas to tell him thesecret of the Christian faith which he hadchosen. You found something that madeyou willing to give up life for it. Whatwas it you found? The father was dyingand his pagan belief gave him no comfort.

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Ci^e I3eautt of ^elf^ConttolHe wanted now to know the Christian's se-cret. Hermas began to tell his father thesecret of his faith. Father, he said, youmust believe with all your heart and souland strength in Where was the word?What was the name.^^ What had become ofit.'^ He groped in darkness, but could notfind it. There was a lonely soul, crying outfor the Name, but Hermas could not tell evenhis own dying father what it was. The wordwas lost.

Love came into his life and happiness washeaped on happiness. A child was born tohim. But in all the wondrous joy some-thing was wanting. Both he and his wifeconfessed it. They sought a dismantledshrine in the garden and Hermas sought topour out his heart. For all good gifts,he said, for love, for life, we praise, webless, we thank But he could not findthe word. The Name was beyond his reach.There was no one to thank. He had lostGod.The boy grew into wondrous beauty.

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One day Hermas was victorious in the char-iot races. Then he took his boy in thechariot and again drove round the ring toshow him to the people. The tumult fright-ened the horses and they ran away. Thechild was tossed off and when his fatherturned to look for him, he was lying hke abroken flower on the sand. His distress wasgreat. Days passed. Is there nothingthat we can do? said the mother. Isthere no one to pity us? Let us pray forhis life. Hermas sank on his knees besidehis wife. Out of the depths, he began, Out of the depths, we call for pity. Thelight of our eyes is fading. Spare thechild's life, thou merciful But therewas only a deathly blank. He could notfind the Name. The word he wanted was lost.

This story has become true in actual lifethousands of times. People have given upthe name of Christ, sold it for money, orpleasure, or power, or sin. Then when timesof need came, and they turned to find help,there was only blankness. In a home there

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Ci^e I3eaut^ of ^elf^Controlis some great distress. One is nigh untodeath, and friends want to pray for him.But they cannot pray. In childhood theywere taught the words, Our Father, butlong since they have lost the holy Name, andnow, when they would give worlds to go toGod they cannot find the way.

In all the world there is no sadness sodeep as the sadness of one who has lost Christand then in some great need is trying tofind him. There is no ear to hear. It is afearful thing to give up Christ, to lose him. Without me ye can do nothing.''We must not press these words too far.Of course there are certain things men cando who are without Christ, who have no con-nection with him. There are people whoare very useful, benefactors to others, whonever pray, who do not love Christ. Onemay be an artist and paint lovely pictures,pictures which the world will admire, and yetmay not believe in Christ, or even think ofhim. One may be a writer and prepare beau-tiful books which shall interest others and

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enlighten, cheer, and inspire many lives tonoble deeds, and yet really disregard Christ,be altogether without Christ. One may be apatriot soldier, fighting the battles of free-dom or country, or a statesman leading hisland to honor, and yet not know Christ, norbe able to get to him. A man may be agood father, kind to his family, making hishome beautiful with the loveliest adornments,and rich with refinement and gentleness, pro-viding for his children not only things theirbodies need, but providing also for their men-tal needs and cravings, and know nothing ofChrist. There are homes of luxury and re-finement, homes of culture, in which there isno prayer, where Christ is never welcomedas a Guest. There may be natural affec-tion, father-love, mother-love, love of hus-band and wife, love of friends, yet no lovefor Christ. When Jesus says, Apart fromme ye can do nothing, we must under-stand his meaning. He does not say wecannot live good lives, cannot be good mer-chants, good lawyers, good teachers, good

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%^t TStautv of telecontrolfathers and mothers what he means is thatwe cannot have the joy and blessing ofspiritual life, cannot do the things of God.The relation between Christ and his

friends is closer than any human relation.No one can say to any friend, Without meyou can do nothing. The mother can-not say it to her child. It is a sore losswhen the mother of a baby is taken awayhow sore a loss no words can explain. EvenGod cannot twice give a mother. No otherone, however loving and tender in spirit,however gentle in care, however wise in guid-ing and helping the young life, can be to itall its own mother could have been. Yeteven the best and holiest mother cannot sayto her child, Without me ye can donothing. The child, though so bereft, livesand may live nobly without a mother.

There are other earthly friendships thatbecome so much to those to whom they aregiven that they seem to be indispensable.The trusting, clinging wife may say to herhusband, who is being taken away from her:

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m)t 9InDijspen?jable ^ti^t I cannot live without you. If you leave meI will die. I cannot face the cold winds with-out your shelter. I cannot go on with thetasks, the cares, the struggles, the respon-sibihties, the sorrows of life without yourcomradeship, your love, your cheer, yourstrong support, your brave confidence andwise guidance. So it seems to her as shestands amid the wrecks of her hopes. Butwhen he is gone, the strong man on whomshe has leaned so confidingly, she takes upthe duties of hfe, its cares, its trying experi-ences, its tasks, its battles, and goes on forlong years with splendid faithfulness andgreat bravery. I never dreamed that Icould possibly get along as I have, said awoman after a year of widowhood. Thenshe told of her utter faintness when she real-ized that she would no more have her hus-band's comradeship. She had never had acare or a responsibility unshared by him.As she turned away from his grave it seemedto her that now she was utterly alone. ButChrist was with her. Peace came into her

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Ci^e OBeaut^ of telecontrolheart, calmness came, then courage beganto revive. She grew strong and self-rehant.She was a marvel to her friends as she tookup her work. She showed resources whichnone ever dreamed she had. Her sorrowmade her. She lived and lived grandly nowwithout the one who had seemed essential toher very existence.

So we learn that no human life howeverclose it has been is ever actually indispen-sable to another life. To no one, no humanfriend, can we say, I cannot live withoutyou.'' The taking away of the human re-veals God.

But note what Jesus says, Apart fromme ye can do nothing. As the vine is es-sential to the life of the branch, so is Christessential to us. We cannot meet any of theserious experiences of life without Christ.A wonderful change came upon the disciplesas they lived with Christ, heard his teach-ing, let his influence into their lives. Theywere transformed. They never could havedone anything without Christ.

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Do without Christ You do not knowwhat Christ has been to you, even when youwere not aware that he was your Friend.You think he has not been doing anythingfor you, when, in fact, he has been crowningyou with loving-kindness and tender mer-cies all your days. If we were to lose Christto-day out of our life, as Hermas in the storylost him, if his name were utterly blotted out,his friendship and help taken utterly fromour life, what a dark, sad world this wouldbe for us Think of going out to-morrowto your duty, struggle, danger, responsi-bility, without Christ, unable to find him inyour need. Think of not having Christ inyour day of sorrow Think of dying with-out Christ

But we do not have to do without Christ.Only by our own rejection can we cut our-selves oif from him.

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Ci^e Dne mi^o ^tanDjs OB^


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* Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move ;Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art.And make me love Thee as I ought to love.Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love.One holy passion filling all my frame;

The baptism of the heaven-descended Dove,My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.


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VIICi^e flDne mi^o ^tatiH I3t

i1|ESUS spoke to his disciples

of the Holy Spirit as theParaclete. The word usedin our translation is Com-forter. The name is very

beautiful and suggestive. We think of acomforter as one who gives consolation introuble. There is much sorrow in the world,and there is always need of those who under-stand the art of comforting. Not many do.Job spoke of his friends, who came to offerhim consolation in his great trouble, as mis-erable comforters.^' They certainly were.Their words as he heard them were likethorns. They only added to his suffering.There are those in every place who want tobe comforters. When they see one in painor in tears they think they must comforthim. So they begin to say things which theysuppose they ought to say. They are sin-

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Ci^e flDne 2211^0 ^tanDjs :Btnal life to those who are bereft. He bringsthe gentleness and healing of divine love tohurt hearts. The name Comforter describeswell one kind of work the Spirit does in theworld.But the best scholars agree that com-

forter is not the word which most fully andclearly gives the sense of the Greek wordwhich our Lord used. It is Paraclete. Theword is used only a few times in the New Tes-tament, and only by St. John. In the FourthGospel it is always translated Comforter.Then, in St. John's First Epistle, it is trans-lated Advocate. Advocate is perhaps themore accurate translation not merely acomforter who consoles us in trouble, andmakes us stronger to endure sorrow, but onewho stands for us. The word Advocate isvery suggestive. One of its meanings is, aperson who stands by; strictly, a personcalled to the side of another. The thoughtof one who stands by is very suggestive.

It may be said that this is one of the finestdefinitions of a friend that could be given.

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Ci^e istautv of ^elf^ControlHe must be one who always stands by you.This does not mean in a human friend thathe must always be close to you, always mani-festing affection in some practical way, al-ways speaking words of cheer. He may bemiles away in space, but you know that heis always loyal to you, true to you, yourfriend, wherever he may be. He alwaysstands by you. He may not be able to domany things for you. Indeed, it is but littlethat a friend, your best friend, really can doat any time for you. He cannot lift awayyour load no other one can bear your bur-den for you. Each one must bear his ownburden. Each one must meet his own life'squestions, make his own decisions, endure hisown troubles, fight his own battles, accept hisown responsibilities. The office of a friendis not to do things for you, to make life easyfor you.But you know that he always stands by

you. You know that if ever you need him inany way and turn to him, he will not fail younor disappoint you ; that if you do not see him

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Ci^e >ne mt^o ^tanDis i$tfor months, or even for years, nor hear fromhim, and if you then should go to him withsome question or some appeal, you will findhim unchanged, the same staunch, strong,faithful friend as always. Though your cir-cumstances have changed, from wealth topoverty, from influence to powerlessness,from popular favor to obscurity, fromstrength to weakness, still your friend is thesame, stands by you as he did before, meetsyou with the old cordiality, the old kindness,the old helpfulness. Your friend is one whostands by you. That is the kind of friendthe Holy Spirit is. You are sure he is al-ways the same, always faithful and true.

Jesus said the Father would give anotherComforter, that is, one like Jesus himself.He was an advocate for his disciples, whoalways stood by them, their comrade, theirdefender, and their shelter in danger. Hisfriendship was unchanged through the years. Loved once was never said of him. Hav-ing loved, he loved unto the end. His dis-ciples failed him, grieved him, disappointed

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%^t QBeautv of ^elf*Controlhim, but when they came back to him theyfound him the same, waiting to receive them.Peter denied him in the hour of his deepestneed, saying he did not know him ; but whenJesus was risen again, the first one of hisdisciples he asked for was Peter, and whenPeter found him, he was still standing by,the same dear, loyal friend. Now he saidthat they would receive another comforterwhen he was gone. He wanted them to un-derstand that he was not really going awayfrom them. They would not see any face,would not feel any hands, but he would bethere, as he always had been, still standingby. They would lose nothing by his goingaway. Indeed he would not be gone fromthem at all. In the Paraclete he would stillbe with them and would still be their Com-forter, their Comrade.

Jesus tells us that the Comforter is moreto us than he himself was to his disciples.He said that it was expedient for them thathe should go away, for then the Comforterwould come. Think what it was to have their

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Ci^e flDne mt^o ^tanD^ OBtMaster for a personal friend. There neverwas such another Friend. Think of hisgentleness, his tenderness, his sympathy, hiskindness, the inspiration of his life. Thinkof the shelter he was to them, the strength,the encouragement. Then remember whathe said the Holy Spirit would be anotherComforter, one like Christ, and that itwould be more to us to have the Holy Spiritfor our friend than if Jesus had stayed withus. He is everything to us that Jesus was tohis personal friends. He is our Advocate. Healwaj^s stands by us, and for us. His love isunchanging. We talk of the love of theFather. We are his children. He loves us.He comforts us with his wonderful tenderness.We talk and sing of the love of Christ asthe most marvelous revelation of love theworld ever saw. But we do not speak or singso much of the love of the Spirit. Yet theSpirit's love is just as wonderful as theFather's or the Son's. For one thing, heloves us enough to come and live in ourhearts. Does that seem a little thing.? We

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Ci^e I3eautt of ^elf^Controlspeak a great deal, especially at Christmastime, of the condescension of the eternal Sonof God in coming to earth, to be born in astable and cradled in a manger. Is it a lesswonderful condescension for the Holy Spiritto make your heart his home, to be bornthere, to live there as your Guest? Thinkwhat a place a human heart is. The stablewhere Jesus was born was lowly, but it wasclean. Are our hearts clean .'^ Think of theunholy thoughts, the unholy desires, the im-pure things, the unlovingness, the jealousy,the bitterness, the hate, all the sin of ourhearts. Then think of the love of the Spiritthat makes him willing to live in such a foulplace, in order to cleanse us and make usgood and holy.The love of the Spirit is shown in his won-

drous patience with us in all our sinfulness,while he lives in us and deals with us in theculturing of our Christian life. We speakoften of the patient love of Christ with hisdisciples the three years he was with them,having them in his family, at his table, en-

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Ci^e Dne oai^o ^tanDjs Btduring their ignorance, their dullness, theirnarrowness, their petty strifes, their un-faithfulness. It was a marvelous love thatnever grew weary of them, that loved on inspite of all that so tried his love, that en-dured the hate of men, their plottings, theirtreacheries, their cruelty. We never canunderstand the depth of the love of Christin enduring all that he endured in saving theworld. But think also of the love of the HolySpirit in what he suffers in his work with us.St. Paul beseeches us that we grieve not theHoly Spirit. The word grieve '' in the orig-inal is from the same root as the word used inthe Gospel when we are told that the soul ofJesus in the Garden was exceeding sorrowful.Think of that. We make a Gethsemane inour heart for the Holy Spirit every time wedoubt him, grieve him by our thoughts, ourdisobediences.A young Christian woman relates an ex-perience which greatly saddened her. Shehad a girl friend whom she had long loveddeeply. The two were inseparable. They

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i Ci^e QBeautt of ^elf^Controltrusted each other implicitly. One who tellsthe story says she had regarded her friendas like an angel in the truth and beauty ofher life. She never had had a shadow ofdoubt concerning her character and conduct.Then she learned that this girl had beenliving a double Hfe for ye^rs. The discov-ery appalled her. At first she refused to be-lieve it, but the evidence was so clear, sounmistakable, that she could not but believeit, and it almost killed her. It was painfulto hear her words and see her distress. Thenshe wrote : I understand now a little ofthe bitter sorrow of my Saviour in Geth-semane, as he drank the cup of his people'ssins.

If a human friend can be thus broken-hearted over the sin of a friend, how the HolySpirit must suffer in his cherishing of us, inhis watching for our sanctification, in hiswondrous brooding over us how he mustgrieve when we fall into sin

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toW^ hm at i^ome


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Let us he kind ;The sunset tints vnll soon he in the west.Too late the flowers are laid then on the quiet hreasiLet us be kind.And when the angel guides have sought and found us.Their hands shall link the broken ties of earth that bound us.And heaven and home shall brighten all around us

Let us he kind.Quoted by The British Weekly.


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VIIIJLoije '0 ism at i^ome

1 N the home love should cometo its best. There it shouldreach its richest beauty.The song it sings thereshould be its sweetest. Alllove's marvelous possibilities should be real-ized in the life of the home. Whatever lovemay achieve in any other relation or con-dition, home is the place where its lessonsshould be most perfectly learned. Homeought to be the holiest place on earth. Itis to be a place of confidence. We are totrust each other perfectly there. There isnever to be a shadow of doubt, suspicion, orwant of confidence in the home fellowships.There should need to be no locked doors, nohidden secrets, no disloyalties, no enmities,no diverse interests, in the home relations.We should understand each other there. Weshould live together in perfect frankness and

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Ci^e OBeautt of ^elf*Controlconfidence. Each should honor the other.We should see good and never evil, the onein the other. We should believe in eachother. Our life together in the home shouldbe characterized by perfect truth. Famil-iarity should never make us treat one anotherin any way that would give offence. Themost familiar intimacy should not permit usever to disregard the proprieties and ameni-ties of the truest refinement. We shouldbe more courteous in our homes than any-where else in the world.

All the Christian virtues should find theirexemplification in the home life. Love suf-fereth long and is kind. That is, love neverwearies in suffering whether it be in its ser-vice of others or in the enduring of unkind-ness at the hands of others. Love continu-ally demands self-denial and sacrifice for thesake of others. When we say to another inwhatever relation, I am going to be yourfriend, we do not begin to know what itis going to mean to us to keep our word. Wehave to be always denying ourselves, giving

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tou '^ 'hm at i^omeup our own way, sacrificing our rights, giv-ing our friend the pleasures we had expectedto enjoy ourselves.The story of friendship anywhere is a story

of cost and suffering, but it is in the homethat it must suffer the most, make the great-est sacrifices. When husband and wife clasphands at the marriage altar, they can fulfilltheir covenant of love only by mutual lovingunto death. It may cost either of them agreat deal to love as they have promised todo, until death separates them. Here is aman who loves his wife with a devoted affec-tion. For ten years she has been a help-less invalid, and he has carried her from thebed to the chair, and up and down stairs, andhas ministered to her in a most beautiful way,failing in nothing that she needed or craved,pouring out his life's best treasures to giveher comfort or pleasure. This is ideal. Soit should be in all the home relations. Lovethat stops at no cost, at no sacrifice, shouldbe the law of the home life.

It should be the same with all the qualities[101]


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Ci^e OBeautt of ^elf-Controlof love. We are to exercise patience withevery person we may meet, in all the rela-tions of life, but we should show the sweetestand most Christlike patience in our ownhomes. Kindness is the great law of Chris-tian life. It should be the universal law. Weshould be kind to everyone, not only to thosewho treat us with love, but also to those whoare ungentle to us, returning to them love forhate. But in our own home and toward ourown, our kindness should not only be unvary-ing, but be always exceptionally tender.A writer suggests that members of a fam-ily, when they separate for the night or evenfor the briefest stay, should never part inany but an affectionate way, lest they shallnever meet again. Two incidents illustratethe importance of this rule. A distinguishedman, when much past middle life, related anexperience which occurred in his own home inhis young manhood. At the breakfast tableone morning he and a younger brother hada sharp quarrel about some unimportantmatter. He confessed that he was most un-

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note '^ 'Bm at l^omebrotherly in his words, speaking with bitter-ness. The brother rose and left the tableand went to his business, very angry. Be-fore noon the younger man died suddenly inhis ofBce. When, twenty years afterward,the older brother spoke of the occurrence, hesaid that it had cast a shadow over all hislife. He could never forgive himself for hispart in the bitter quarrel. He had neverceased to regret with sore pain that no oppor-tunity had come to him to confess his faultand seek forgiveness and reconciliation.The other incident was of the parting of

a workingman and his wife. He was goingforth to his day's duties and there was apeculiar tenderness in his mood and in theirgood-bye that morning. He and his wife hadtheir prayer together after breakfast. Thenhe kissed the babies, sleeping in their cribs,and returned a second time to look into theirsweet faces. The parting at the door neverhad been so tender as it was that morning.Before half the day was gone the men broughthim home dead. The wife got great com-

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Cl^e Beauty of telecontrolfort in her sorrow from the memory of themorning's parting. If their last words to-gether had been marked by unkindness, bywrangling or quarreling, or even by indiffer-ence, or lack of tenderness, her grief wouldhave been harder to bear. But the loving-ness of the last parting took away much ofthe bitterness of the sorrow.

If we keep ourselves ever mindful of thecriticalness of life, that any day may be thelast in our home fellowships, it will do muchto make us gentle and kind to each other.We will not act selfishly any hour, for it maybe our last hour together. We will not letstrife mar the good cheer of our home lifeany day, for we may not have another day.Not much is told of our Lord's home life,

but the few glimpses we have of it assureus that it was wondrously loving. Jesus wassinless, and we are sure, therefore, that noth-ing he ever said or did caused the slightestbitterness in any home heart. He never losthis temper, never grew angry, never showedany impatience, never was stubborn or will-

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tou '0 ism at l^omeful, never was selfish, never did anythingthoughtless, never failed in kindness. Wehave enough hints of his gracious love for hismother down to his last kindly thought of heron his cross, to make us sure that he contin-ued to the close to be to her the perfect son.

It will help us in learning our lesson inits details if we will look at some Scripturewords about love and apply them to the lifeof the home. Love suflfereth long, and iskind. There come experiences in the lifeof many homes in which one has to suffer,make sacrifices, endure pain or loss, bearburdens almost without measure, for the sakeof the others. This is Christlike, thoughcostly. She is wasting her life, said one;,indignantly, of the eldest daughter of a fam-ily. She is denying herself all leisure, allgood times, staying at home, working for theother children and her little mother, whilethey go out into society and have theirpleasures. She is pouring out her life to givethem the privileges they crave. Yes, butalways some must toil while others rest ; some

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> Ci^e OBeautt of ^elf-Controlmust bear burdens while others go trippingalong without question or care ; some mustsacrifice to the uttermost, while others in-dulge themselves. It may seem unfair, un-just, yet that is love, and it is by love thatthe world lives. The oil wastes in the lamp,but the room glows with light. One life isconsumed in service, misses the world^spleasures, goes without rest, but the home ismade joyous and all things go smoothly. Itscarcely seems fair to the one who sacrificesso, but that is love, and love is the greatestforce for good and blessing in the world.

There is more of the picture. There arefew more hateful things in the world thanenvy, and in no other place is envy so hatefulas when it appears in the home. Love drivesout envy. Love vaunteth not itself, is notpuffed up. Love is humble, lowly, doesnot strut, does not assert itself, does notassume superiority. There are homes inwhich there

Beauty of Self Control

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