THE KING’S BUSINESS
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of the Lord, and rejoicing in the thought that He might come at any time; but as he iwas thinking about it he was’ puffing away at a cigar. The thought suddenly came to him, “See here! You are rejoicing about the coming of the Lord; how would you like .to; have Him come and meet you on Washington Avenue, right now, with this cigar in your mouth'?” That was enough. He took the cigar out of his mouth and threw ’it into the gutter; and never lighted another. It has, always been a difficult ■ thing for me to come onto a ‘ platform, along with ¡some brother who was on the program to speak on the Coming of our Lord, and be hardly able to sit near him because he was so' reek1 ing with the stench of tobacco. But may there not be something in your life or mine that is far more displeas ing to God—if you can compare things that are displeasing to God— than indulgence in this filthy habit? Never do anything you would not be glad to have the Lord find you doing, if He should come! The other very simple rule is this : Never go anyzvhere that you would not like to have the Lord find you if. He should come. When I lived here in Chicago I used to get letters from some of the more respectable theatrical managers, telling me that they were putting on some so-called classical play of a very high order, and suggesting that they would be very much complimented if I would occupy a box at the play. I have had this happen time and time again when some especially fine play, “highly spoken of by bishojps and clergy,” was to be put on. Did I go? Well, if that particular thing had not been so clear to me that I did not have to settle it, I would simply have asked myself, “Would you like to have the Lord come and find you sitting in a private box at the theater, which the
That is a very comprehensive descrip tion of holiness, readiness for the Coming of the One with the searching eyes of fire, Who knows us through and through, Who knows not only our acts, but our words spoken in secret, before Whom not one single imagination of the heart is hidden. That suggests TWO ' VERY, SIMPLE RULES FOR DAILY LIVING, The first is. this: Do not do .any thing that you would not be glad to have your Lord find you doing if He should come. I have found that one of the simplest rules, to sat isfy my heart about questions, that have perplexed a great many people. A great many quetsions arise with every one of us. Oftentimes we say that we are trying to find ,6ui; the will of our Lord, when in reality we are simply trying to get the Lord to fall in with our desire. One of. the simplest rules I ever found to make it clear to me whether a thing was right or not was to simply ask myself this question: “If the Lord should come this moment, would you like to have Him find you doing that ?” It is simply wonderful how that clears things up. Time and time again I have thought about entering upon a certain course of action, and then I have thought to myself, “The Lord may come; I do not know. He may come within an hour; I do not know. Would you like to be doing that if He should come?” And I have.left undone a great many things I thought of doing. I had a friend in Minne apolis who was very fond of the doc trine of our Lord’s return. He was one of the “ (Plymouth) Brethren,” as they are called. This doctrine was a very precious one to him. One day he was walking up Washington Avenue, thinking about the Coming
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