We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse. The preacher who is always talking about the money he could make out of the ministry is probably in the ministry for the money. The great preachers of the world are not the men who master their messages but the men who are mastered by their messages. If you would lift, you must be on higher ground. The essence of all the New Testament is the Lord’s Prayer, which has neither “ me” nor “ I” in it. It is important for us to speak to men about God; but it is vastly more important that we speak to God about men. Your arrows must be winged with faith, else orthodoxy, and wise arrange ments, and force, and zeal, will avail nothing. Trust that man little who praises all, less the man who censures all, and least of all the man who is indifferent about all. Without actual work to do, the head is just a loafing place for thoughts and ideas. We must be safe at the center before we can be free at the circumference. When in affliction, remember it light ens the stroke to draw near the One who handles the rod. Sanctified afflictions are spiritual pro motions. A half hour of communion in the morning will save an hour of confession at night. Trust God without terms. Adversity, like winter weather, is of use to kill those vermin which the sum
mer prosperity is apt to produce and nourish. The wise Lord loves to feed us with hunger and make us fat with wants and desertions. Going back begins generally by look ing back. Freedom is not the right to do as you please but the liberty to do as you ought. It is the burdens we drag, and not those we bear that are too heavy. We go from strength to strength be cause we go from struggle to struggle. There is a difference between using the Bible as a text book of life and a book of texts. You could fill a church with your ac quaintances and seat your real friends in the pulpit seats. He who can take take advice is some times superior to him who can give it. Merely to share another’s heavy bur den is noble; to do it cheerfully is sub lime. Read of the sufferings of the great and you will discover the springs of their greatness. Perhaps some of our most costly mo ments are spent in mourning over those sins which God has forgiven. There can be no greater missionary incentive than the hope of completing the Body of Christ. The man who has never offended any one by his religion has no religion worth having. To be swift to discern the faults and follies of others does not argue for the possession of superiority. The man who recognizes the fittest moment to crush his enemy and neglects it, deserves to be a conqueror.
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