Live the Life of Jesus—All else is Nothing.
Such were the dying words of the excellent and devoted Jean Louis Rostan, the companion and fellow-laborer of the faithful Felix Neff. When asked by the friend who stood by his bedside, a witness of the triumph of his closing hours, "Have you any personal counsel or advice to give me?" he replied, "Live the life of Jesus: all else is nothing." Memorable words! How deeply should they be impressed on the memory and heart of every one of us! The life of Jesus! How much is comprehended in those four short words! Humility, self-denial, benevolence, earnestness, constant converse with heaven, entire consecration to God, unwearied effort to do good to men—all these rise to our view as we think of the life of Jesus! But to live his life, we must come to him with full faith in him as the only and all-sufficient Saviour; giving up all that we have and are to him and his service; asking, as the one great question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" confessing his name, obeying his laws, cherishing his spirit, imitating his example, laboring for the extension of his kingdom, aiming in all things at the advancement of his cause and the promotion of his glory. Like the apostle to the Gentiles, we must be able to say, "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." "For me to live is Christ." Such a life indeed is the only one worth living. It is the only life that can satisfy the sober judgment, or meet the demands of conscience, or fulfill the requirements of God; the only life that has peace and self-approbation in its progress, and joy in its end; the only life that is worthy of a rational being; the only life that will bear the test of the final judgment, and prepare for endless blessedness in heaven. Live for fame, and even if you gain its plaudits, they are not sure for a moment. The "Hosanna" of to-day may be the "crucify him" of to-morrow. Live for pleasure, and though it may gratify for a season, you will find it like poisoned food, satisfying a present hunger, but leaving death behind. Live for wealth, and in the very aim you will "fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition," and be in danger of "erring from the faith, and piercing yourself through with many sorrows." And even if you are successful, and gain the riches you desire, you can hold them but a little while, and cannot bear them with you to eternity; and if misimproved, "your gold and silver will be cankered, and the rust of them will be a swift witness against you, to eat your flesh as it were fire." Live for the world in any form, and what shall it profit you though you gain it all, if you lose your soul? Live, then, the life of Jesus, for all else is nothing.