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ago had such a tremendous sale,— “In His Steps, or What Would Jesus Do?” The idea was to study and find out what Jesus would do in busi ness, what would Jesus do if He ran a newspaper; imitate Christ, in other words. That, we are told, is the very substance of Christianity. It is not Christianity at all. You cannot do it. The most discouraging thing that any man can undertake is to attempt to live like Christ. The most utterly futile thing that anybody can undertake to do is to attempt to live like Christ. It is not the Bible method. God does not expect it of anybody, for God knows it is absolutely impossible. ,If you start out in all earnestness to imitate Christ in everything, you will be the most discouraged and utterly hopeless man on earth ; for though you go at it earnestly and honestly, you can not do it ; and God does not ask you to do it. That is not the Bible way. The Bible way is to look to the Holy Spirit to form a living Christ within us; and instead of our imitating Him, just let Him live out His life through us in our daily life. That is the easi est thing in the world. As you do that, you will be like Christ, as you let Christ do the living, abiding in Him, just as the branch abides in the vine. The branch does not bear grapes of itself. It just lets the sap and life of the vine flow in, and the grapes come, and cannot help coming, from the life that comes from the vine. When you and I get to the end of our self-efforts after likeness to Christ, and let Christ come in to dwell down in- the very depths of our souls, we will be like Christ without trying. There is a woman in the State of Iowa, who, 1 am'told, is a very holy woman. I do not know her intimately, but those who do have told me that she is a very holy wom an. A friend of mine who had been
special seasons of fellowship like these, but “at every season.” 5. If you will turn to the First Epistle of John, the second chapter, 28th verse, you will find the fifth Biblical aspect in which the Return of our Lord is held out as a Motive for Holiness of life: “And now, my little children, abide in him; that, if he shall, be manifest ed, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming" Here the Return of our Lord is held out as a reason why we should ‘‘abide” constantly in Him. Abiding in Christ is not merely an essential to holiness, but it is the very heart of holiness. It is the whole secret of real holiness,—abiding in Jesus, and He abiding in us, an utter giving up of any self life, an utter giving up of any attempt to become what we ought to be in our own strength, simply the surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ, to come in and indwell, and live His life out through us. We can never be holy in any other way. Struggle as much as you please, pray as much as you please, study the Bible as many hours a day as you please, attend as many Conferences as you can, but you will never attain unto holiness that way. We hear a great deal in these days about the imitation of Christ, about taking Christ as our example and imitating His life. We are told nowadays by a certain school of teachers that this is the very essence of Christianity, walking in His steps, imitating Him, following Him, being what Jesus was. In that great classic of “the dark ages,” which has come down to what we may be disposed to call the bright ages,—but which are very dark still— “The Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas aKempis, the whole thought was that we are to study Christ and imitate Him. That was the whole thought of the book that a few years
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