A Gainful Surrender

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 2, 1859

A Gainful Surrender.

WHEN you give yourself to Christ, you make the best bargain you ever made. You will receive yourself back, ennobled, exalted, purified, made free. You will be more your own than ever. That which ought to rule will rule within you. That which ought to obey will obey. The true balance of power will be restored within you, and God will be as he ought to be, supreme.

Many a liege has assisted his lord to reconquer his own castle and estates which had been taken away from both by some freebooter. When he sees his lord's banner float over the keep, he knows that it is his own again. So when you labor to subdue yourself to Christ, you are laboring to drive out the tyrants and robbers who have usurped possession of you; and when heart and will are recovered to Christ, they are restored to you, and you shall rule over that mysterious citadel of the will and vast domain of the affections and faculties, lord of yourself and loyal servant to him.—Sel.