Many Truths in Few Words.
By J. Clark
You would not worship in a house until you had swept it, so we cannot expect to do much for God, until our hearts are cleansed. When children need anything they ask their parents for it, why should we not do the same to our Heavenly Father, in seasons of trial, in war, or famine, or drouth, or pestilence, or want? A profession of humility and teachableness is all very well; but the practice of these virtues is necessary to make such professions valid; just as you sign your name to a note to make it current and of par value. A person should be just as careful of the use of his pen, as of his tongue. Dignity is not increased by pride: humility is the crown of dignity. The test of man is in time of trial. Give me the man who is a man, when and where he is crowded close. Then let him show himself a man, when all around him falter, and he stands out in his calling, noble and true, and others rejoice and take courage. Sanctification is in some respects like education, progressive; he who should assert that he had received an education instantaneously by a single act of the mind, would not be more fanatical than the person who boasts of being perfectly sanctified and made holy in the same length of time. If people would be as careless and inconsistent in their ideas of practical every day worldly affairs, as they are in their opinions upon religious matters, governments would crumble, kingdoms would fall, and nations would soon disappear, in disgraceful idiotic confusion and ruin. The proudest people imagine themselves very condescending. Ignorant people are generally the greatest of bigots, and most full of pride.
J. CLARK.