OVER AGAINST YOUR OWN HOUSE.
By Richard Cordley
In a sense, every man works over against his own house. All the motives of the highest self-interest combine in favor of good work. In Nehemiah's time, personal security, patriotism, and piety all urged the same thing. The wall each man built to defend the city was also the defense of his own house, and of the temple of God. It is a good deal so now. A man serves his country and the church the best by being faithful in his own place and work. A man serves his country best by being a good citizen. The noisy advocate of public reform is of doubtful use if he fail to reform his own life. The public service a man does will avail but little if he fail in the service of good citizenship about his own home and in his own neighborhood. The same law prevails in the spiritual commonwealth, the Jerusalem of God. Her walls are her citizens, and its defense as strong as they are pure. "Ye are God's building," "Ye are God's husbandry," "Ye are the temple of God." As in the Jerusalem of old, so here every man has his part to maintain. No man can do another man's portion, and no man can leave his own portion for another man to maintain. If a man does not bear his own burden it will not be borne; if he does not do his work, it will not be done; if a man is not over against his own house, it will be left exposed. It is a good thing to be concerned for the public good, but a great many will deplore the low tone of public morals, when it would very perceptibly raise that tone if they would bring up their own lives to a fair standard. A great many will mourn over the desolations of Zion, when the most desolate place in the whole outlook is the spot where they stand. They could brighten the prospect marvelously by an increased fidelity in their own field. Parents sometimes wonder why their children are so indifferent to religious things; why their sons neglect the house of God, and their daughters put society before Christ. They will bemoan the coldness of the church, the pointlessness of the pulpit, the inefficiency of the Sabbath-school. They might find the reason nearer home, not only why their children are so indifferent, but also why the church and the pulpit and the Sabbath-school are not more effective. Christ has been put aside in their own homes. And those homes would not have been much different had Christ never been known. It is not at all strange that their children should cast away altogether what with them has been made to yield to every other interest and pleasure. It is easy to say that the tone of piety in the church has been so feeble that their children have not been impressed by it. And this may be sadly true. But how much above the average of the piety about you is your own life, my brother? How successfully have you struggled against the worldly spirit of which you complain? How much have you raised the average spirituality of your circle? You say the walls of Zion are low, and her gates are broken down. How is it about your house, where you are set to build and guard? There is no better way to brighten up the moral aspect of the world than to brighten up your own lives. There is an old rythme which runs,—
"If the world seem cold,
Build a fire and warm it." The day never seems so hopeless as to the deserter in the rear. The church never seems so cold as to him whose spiritual life is nearly frozen out. None speak so discouragingly of the failings of the church as those members who themselves fail most. A man never judges his brethren so harshly as when he judges them by his own short-comings. The church will not seem half so cold to you if your own heart is warm; the prospect will not seem half so gloomy if your own faith is bright. He who is vigorously at work himself is most apt to appreciate the work of his brethren. Every man should encourage and help his brother; but he can best encourage and help him by faithfully filling his own place.—Richard Cordley, D.D., in Advance.