KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS.
By M. P. STILES.
WHEN the darkness and gloom of the world, with the labor and cares of life bear heavily upon us, let us keep our eyes on Jesus. See him bearing the heavy cross up Calvary, fainting by the way, while he endures, in untold agony, the penalty for man's transgressions, suffering, the just for the unjust. When persecutions are heaviest, when friends forsake, and watch us for evil, saying things falsely against us, and when they separate us from their company, and cast us out, let us remember that we are but strangers and pilgrims on the earth, and have here no continuing city. Let us then keep our eyes on Jesus. Behold him, the meek and lovely One, fleeing from place to place, spit upon, reviled, scourged, having not where to lay his head. When oppressed with the burden of this last message of mercy, and we feel that the Lord has a great deal for us to do, let us look at Jesus, a lad of twelve years, chiding his parents for expecting him home, saying, Wist ye not, I must be about my Father's business? Follow him in his arduous labors of love and mercy, with the sins of the whole world upon him, weeping and lamenting for the sins of his people, until he finished the work his Father gave him to do on the earth. And now where do we look for him? Dressed in priestly attire, in the holy of holies, he is now doing the last work he will ever do for us as sinners. Oh! let us not now lose sight of him for a moment. Let his blessed Spirit fill our hearts and being with the light that surrounds him. Many years He labored for us on the earth, and many years has he been pleading and laboring in Heaven to prepare a people, who, for the glory set before them, and in view of his great love and sacrifice for them, will be willing to give all for him, bear the cross, despise the shame, and fear not those who can only destroy the body, but him who is able to destroy both soul and body. When we realize all that Jesus has done for us, does the way of life seem any too rugged? Is the recompense of the just any too dearly bought? Why do we desire ease in this world? We are laborers working for an inheritance. Oh! let us work with a will, doing our Father's business, be it ever so little that is required. Are we lukewarm? Let us not rest separated from Jesus. Let us keep our eyes upon him. He still pleads for us. He still invites us, with his sweet Spirit and loving words, to come to him. Let us be zealous and repent, and buy the gold. Oh! let us do something for Jesus, to advance his cause. This is a good way to dispel the clouds. Let us afflict ourselves, make a sacrifice unto the Lord, even that of a broken heart, and contrite spirit. Let us be sure we draw nourishment from the true Vine. May we not be cast off as withered branches, but bear fruit to the glory of God. Soon, if faithful, he will take us home, to enjoy that “rest that remaineth.”