DO YOU NEED TO BE LABELED?
By W. M. Punshon
THE brutality of the old persecution has passed. Saul does not make havoc of the church now, but the spirit of the oppressor lives, and there is room enough in the most uneventful life for exemplary religious decision. I want you to be God's heroes in humble life; in quiet life to exemplify your fidelity in the midst of opposition and discouragement, and you shall be recompensed with the promised crown. The urgencies of the time in which you live, regard for your own character and honor, the absolute requirements of God, all summon you to this nobleness of religious decision. Resist all temptation to become recreant from the truth. Remember that the Christian is not to be like Achilles, who could be wounded in the heel—that is a part of the body that good soldiers do not show. Do not let the question ever be asked about you, “Is such a one a Christian?” Why, don’t you see the very asking of the question suggests the negative answer? The old painters used to put underneath their crude compositions, “This is a horse,” and it was quite necessary. Ah! it is a poor sign if the followers of Christ need labeling. The very fact of the existence of doubt goes far in the abnegation of their Christianity. Let consistency be stamped upon every action, and then your Christianity will shine out with a steadfast glory which the world cannot fail to understand. I am a Christian; I can’t go to that place of amusement. I am a Christian; I can’t enter into that equivocal companionship. I am a Christian; I can’t do anything that will throw a suspicion on my godliness. I am a Christian; I can’t gamble myself into riches by those questionable means.—Rev. W. M. Punshon.