Brevities: Fear of God, Murmuring, and Judgment
Fear of God and reverence for his name and character are very important characteristics of the Christian; indeed, these qualities are indispensable. Murmuring is the effect of ingratitude; and ingratitude is caused by a forgetfulness of God's mercies, and neglect of praise and thanksgiving. Christians fail to exercise love for sinners because their Christianity is so diluted with error and worldliness that little difference exists between them and sinners. The reason people do not pray is, that they see no necessity for it, just as a man who is intoxicated, does not know his craft is floating rapidly toward the Niagara Falls. Men tremble in fear of poverty, and imaginary evils; but they are very calm in view of the Judgment. Few men are honest from a purely honest motive. None but those who have beheld the iniquity of their hearts in the light of God's word, will appreciate the above proposition. You may rob a sheep of his covering of wool, and though he is thus disfigured, he still remains a sheep, and his covering will grow again, even and beautiful; so you may rob a Christian of his reputation, but it will grow again. Danger of Reverie.—Do anything innocent rather than give yourself to reverie. I can speak on this point from experience. At one period of my life I was a dreamer and a castle builder. Visions of the distant future took the place of present duty and activity. I spent hours in reverie. I supposed I was seduced in part by physical debility. But the body suffered as much as the mind. I found, too, that the imagination threatened to influence the passions, and that if I meant to be virtuous I must dismiss my musings. The conflict was a hard one; I resolved, prayed, resisted, sought refuge in occupation, and at length triumphed. I beg you to avail yourself of my experience.—Channing. Lived It Down.—An honest blacksmith was once grossly insulted and his character infamously defamed. Friends advised him to seek redress by means of law, but to one and all he replied, “No; I will go to my forge, and there in six months I will have worked out such a character, and earned such a name as all the judges, law courts, and lawyers, in the world could not give me.” He was right. It is by honest labor, manly courage, and a conscience void of offense, that we assert our true dignity and prove our honesty and respectability. There is many and many a candle that will burn distinctly in a room where the air is still, which, if you take it into the wind, flares and flutters and burns every way but the right way; and there are Christians that are able to have the pure flames of Christian life burn steadily if you only shield them, but that, if you move them about, and bring them in conflict with one another in circumstances of temptation, show their weakness of Christian feeling. Will you say that there are no real stars, because you sometimes see meteors fall, which for a time appeared to be stars? Will you say that blossoms never produce fruit, because many of them fall off, and some fruit which appeared sound is rotten at the core? Equally absurd is it to say that there is no such thing as religion, because many who profess it fall away, or prove to be hypocrites in heart. Or will you say that medicine does no good, because, though it moves the fever, it does not restore the patient to perfect strength in an instant? Equally groundless and absurd is it to say that religion does not make them as perfect as the angels of God.—Payson. Influence of Sisters.—“That man has grown up among kind and affectionate sisters,” I once heard a lady of much observation and experience remark. “And why do you think that?” I asked. “Because of the rich development of all the tender feelings of the heart which are so much apparent in every word.” A sister's influence is felt even in manhood's later years; and the heart of him who has grown cold with its chilling contact with the world will warm and thrill with pure enjoyment, as some incident awakes within him the tones and glad melodies of his sister's voice; and he will turn from his purposes which a warped and false philosophy has reasoned into expediency, and weep for the gentler influence which moved him in his earlier years.