BENEFITS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
By William T. Heald
CHRISTIANITY is a conduct of life according to a given standard, and that standard is Christ. It is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Its attributes are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance; and we are told that against such there is no law. Now let us expand upon the above statements. A life with the above attributes is said to be profitable unto all things. Is it? If there were no hatred (the opposite of love), there would be no war. Would the world be better off without war? There would be no murder. Would the world be better off without murder? “O, yes,” says one, “but that word ‘long-suffering,’ I don’t see the profit of that.” Yes, that is hard to see. But what is the proposition upon which these attributes are named?—Why, they are to be profitable both in this life, and in the life to come. Then what are the attributes of this life? Not the same as of the life to come, I am sure; for in this life we have to contend with cares, perplexities, obscurities, sickness, and sorrows without number. What are we going to have with which to combat these many grievances?—It is only long-suffering that can stand the pressure of the afflictions of this life. We are not told that these attributes will produce a perfect state in this life, but only that they have promise both of this life and the life to come. But, says one, if it is to be only promise, then it is not worth my while to bother with all this conformity for the sake of promise. Ah, but that is where we become near-sighted again! Were the promise only for this life, it would, indeed, be a fleeting vanity. But the promise is twofold; and the promise of the life to come is conditional on our acceptance of the promise of the life that now is. Here in this life we are not promised a perfect state, but in the life to come the state promised is perfect. “Well, then,” says our inquisitive friend, “I don’t see as the promise for this present life amounts to anything.” That is a wrong conclusion. That last little statement, “against such there is no law,” may seem to be of no consequence in this connection, but in reality it is of the greatest moment. The instant one embraces this life of Christ, he is a free man. He is free from the bondage of the law, because his life is in harmony with the law, and against him the law can not operate, or, in other words, against him there is no law.