Reflections on Christian Character
By JOS. CLARKE
To PREACH or write well, is a good acquirement; but to live aright, is far better. A good life makes a good sermon or exhortation, forcible and weighty; a bad life makes all these null and void. Faith and confidence in God is better than all the treasures earth can afford. A contented mind continues so by contracting its desires for superfluous wealth; a discontented mind becomes more and more so, by coveting what it does not need. It is not by dreading coming evil that we shall escape misfortune; but by preparing for it. He who does not know the sweetness of the gospel, cannot affect its sternness; he who does not love God and his neighbor, cannot hate sin, though he may have a spite toward some sins. Godliness in the heart, produces a strong character; godliness worn as a cloak produces a weak one. “Christianity,” says the worldling, “is too insignificant for my attention;” the truth is, it is too high for him. The good man, sees God in everything around him; the wicked man sees God nowhere. Love works out deep and difficult problems in life; hatred tangles up all it touches. Love gives strength, beauty, and courage; hate gives weakness, deformity, and gloom. A good conscience waits God’s time: a bad one cannot abide any one’s time. Wisdom quietly prepares, then waits the coming storm; foolishness does not believe that a storm is coming.