Knowing our Whereabouts.
By C. M. Shepard
ALL sailors understand how necessary it is at all times to know exactly where they are. If they have lost their reckoning, and the sun, moon, and fixed stars, have been obscured for some time, they are in great danger of being wrecked. There is a great similarity between their condition and ours on the sea of time. There are many influences brought to bear upon the minds of the people of this age that are calculated to unsettle opinions and lead to infidelity and confusion. Only one light in all the world ever shines with undiminished brightness,—the Bible. By this light we may ever know of our course and of our destiny. Though doubts and perplexities may be pressed about the soul, until they seem like a thick fog amounting almost to darkness, if we earnestly endeavor to obey the written word, and continue to obey God and trust in him, they will disperse, and we may rejoice in the blessed hope that is like an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast, and entering into that within the vail. In all the world, there is nothing stronger than the Christian’s hope. Oh, the blessed hope! Do perils increase? Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Our way is well lighted up, and of all the dangers we are warned. Many have chosen a wrong course, still believing that they are right; yet no one need be deceived. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” He kept his Father’s commandments, and directed us to follow in his steps. He says, John 15:10, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” Again we read, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous.” His yoke is easy and his burden is light. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” C. M. SHEPARD.