THE CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE MAN IN THE WORLD.
By Charles F. Thwing
CHARACTER, not greatness, is God's measuring line. Men saw in Moses a disappointed pioneer. God saw in Moses the deliverer of his people. Men saw in Tyndale and Huss and Cranmer misguided enthusiasts. God saw in Tyndale and Huss and Cranmer strong pillars in his church. Men saw in Newell, Hall, Not, and Judson, blind enthusiasts. God saw in them the calm, mighty piety that crosses the globe to save a soul. Seen from the stars, the palace and the hut are equally splendid and humble. Seen from heaven's battlements, the shining pile of gold, the result of strife and labor, may seem a dull and trivial pile of stone. The judgment-day is to reverse many decisions of the lower courts. Therefore look upon life as God looks upon it,—as an opportunity of Christian influence, in the formation of your own character and aid in forming other men's character. Let not, therefore, the applause of the multitudes nor their hisses move you. Let not obscurity give despair, nor eminence elation. Measure things not by the yard-stick, but by celestial diameters. Weigh things not in scales, but in divine balances. When you feel keenly the difference between your daily work and the Sabbath worship, when you see your aspirations soaring and your attainments trailing in the dust, look to Jesus Christ. He made the ideal real. He transfigured the work of the carpenter into a school for himself, the world's Saviour. He lifted common duties by the might of divine motives. He made heavenly callings real and steady by common duties. He looked upon life and work as God looks upon them. Love him, serve him, be one with him. Hide your life in his life as a baby hides his face in his mother's bosom. Stay in this world, into which he came, in which he stayed, as long as God wills. Pray not to go, pray to stay, pray to be a faithful son, pray to be kept from the evil.—Rev. Chas. F. Thwing, D.D., in Homiletic Review.