How Shall We Begin to Be Christians?
MAKE that one corner, room, house, or office as like heaven as you can. Begin?—Begin with the paper on the walls; make that beautiful; with the air, keep it fresh; with the very drains, make them sweet; with the furniture, see that it is honest. Abolish whatsoever makes abomination, in food, in drink, in luxury, in books, in art; whatsoever maketh a lie, in conversation, in social intercourse, in correspondence, in domestic life. This done, you have arranged for a heaven, but you have not received it. Heaven lies within—in kindness, in humbleness, in unselfishness, in faith, in love, in service. To get these in, get Christ in. Teach all in the house about Christ,—what he did, and how he dwells in them, and how he makes all one. Teach it not as a doctrine, but as a discovery, as your own discovery; live your own discovery.—Selected.