Grace Gems

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Character

(J.R. Miller)

Reputation is what a man's neighbors and friends think of him.
Character is what the man IS.

Character is personal. It is not a possession we can share with someone else. We can give a hungry person part of our loaf of bread; we can divide our money with one who needs it; but character is something we cannot give away or transmit. The brave soldier cannot share his courage with the trembling recruit who fights by his side in the battle. The pure, gentle woman cannot give part of her purity and gentleness, to the defiled and hardened woman she meets.

Character is our own--a part of our very being. It grows in us over the years. Acts repeated become habits, and character is made up in the long run, of those habits which have been repeated so often, that they become a permanent part of our lives.

Sow a thought--and you will reap an act;
sow an act--and you will reap a habit;
sow a habit--and you will reap a character;
sow character--and you will reap a destiny!

As the tree falls--so must it lie;
As the man lives--so must he die!
As a man dies--such must he be;
All through the ages of eternity!

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Two men look at the same scene:

(J.R. Miller)

"Be joyful always!" 1 Thessalonians 5:16

"In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy!" 2 Corinthians 7:4

Thankfulness or unthankfulness is largely a matter of the attitude of our heart.
Two men look at the same scene:
  one sees the defects and the imperfections;
  the other sees the beauty and the brightness.

If you cannot find things to be thankful for today, and every day--the fault is in yourself, and you ought to pray for a changed heart--a heart to see God's goodness and to praise Him.

A joyful heart transfigures all the world around us! It finds something to be thankful for in the barest circumstances, even in the dark night of the soul. Let us train ourselves to see the beauty and the goodness in God's world, and in our own circumstances--and then we shall stop grumbling, and be content and thankful in all situations.

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful!" Proverbs 15:13

"The cheerful heart has a continual feast!" Proverbs 15:15

"A cheerful heart is good medicine--but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

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What are you doing with your time?

(J.R. Miller)

"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise--making the most of the time" Ephesians 5:15-16

Our days, as God gives them to us--are like beautiful summer fields.
The hours are like trees with their rich fruit, or vines with their blossoms of purple clusters.
The minutes are like blooming flowers, or stalks of wheat with their golden grains.

Oh the endless, blessed possibilities of our days and hours and minutes--as they come to us from God's hands!

But what did you do with yesterday? How does the little acre of that one day look to you now?

What are you doing with your time? Every moment God gives you, has in it a possibility of beauty or usefulness--as well as something to be accounted for.

Are you using your time for God?

"Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life!" Psalm 39:4

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Think of all the hard things there are in your life

(Susannah Spurgeon, "Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!" 1898)

"Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You!" Jeremiah 32:17

"Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?" Jeremiah 32:26-27

Dear reader, your difficulties and trials may not be similar to those of "the weeping prophet," but they are very real, and seemingly insurmountable to you; and it is a fact that, of yourself, you can neither overcome nor endure them, so I want to remind you that the Lord's hand is not shortened--that what was true of His power in Jeremiah's time, is as certainly true today--and that whatever present hardship may press upon you, or whatever burden may be weighing you down--you, yes, you may look up to Him with confident faith, and say, "There is nothing too hard for You!"

Oh, the blessed peace which such an assurance brings! I do not know what your particular sorrow or hardship may be--but I do know that, whatever its nature--cruel, or bitter, or hopeless--it is as "nothing" to Him! He is able to deliver you--as easily as you can call upon Him for support and help.

Now, dear friend, think of all the hard things there are in your life:
  hard circumstances,
  difficult duties,
  grievous pains,
  sore struggles,
  bitter disappointments,
  harsh words,
  sinful thoughts,
  a hard heart of your own,
  a hard heart in others.
Gather all these, and many more together, and pile them one on another till you have one great mountain of afflictions--and your God still calmly asks the question, "Is there anything too hard for Me?"

When our hearts are weary of life's cares and crosses, when our courage flags because of our helplessness, and we cry out with the patriarch, "All these things are against me!"--what a support and stronghold is the fact that our God has all power in Heaven and on earth! There is nothing too mighty for Him to manage--there is nothing too insignificant to escape His notice! Jeremiah's faith . . .
  sees no obstacles,
  stumbles at no hindrances,
  faints under no burden,
  shrinks from no responsibilities--
because he realizes the sublime Omnipotence of God, and fortifies himself by calling to remembrance His "outstretched arm" in the creation of the Heavens and the earth. Cannot we do likewise?

I took up a book, in a leisure moment the other day, opened it carelessly, and this is what I read: "It is a scientifically proved fact, that this great globe on which we live, spins around on its axis at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, and propels through space in its orbit at a speed immensely greater!"

The thought of this, seemed almost to take away my breath! Was I calmly and constantly living in the swirl of such a stupendous miracle as this? Then surely I could say, "Ah, Lord God! there is nothing too hard for You! My little troubles and afflictions--how small they must be to You; yet with what tender compassion, do You stoop from guiding the worlds in their courses, to support and comfort the hearts of those who fear You!"

Never let us give up in despair, while we have such a God to trust in. If there is a great mountain of sorrow or difficulty in your way, dear friend--do not be cast down by the darkness of its shadow. Your God can either make a way for you through it--or He can guide you around it--or, just as easily, He can carry you right over it! There is nothing too hard for Him! Expect Him to make the crooked things straight, and to bring the high things low; and while you keep humbly at His feet, He will work wondrously, and you shall see His salvation!

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Soul-Comfort

(Susannah Spurgeon, "Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!" 1898 )

"When my anxious thoughts multiply within me--Your comforts delight my soul." Psalm 94:19

"Your comforts delight my soul!" Blessed Lord, how sweet is this text in my mouth! The taste of it is "like wafers made with honey." It is both food and drink to my heart, for every word has joy and refreshing in it; so that, like the "best wine" of the Canticles, it "goes down sweetly."

The first of Your comforts, gracious God, is this--that You have said unto my soul, "I am your salvation!" He saves us, not because of any merit in us, or any deservings of our own; but because sovereign grace chose us, and Divine compassion redeemed us. And when we were afar off, infinite pity brought us back, and made us near by the precious blood of Christ. This may well comfort our hearts--coming as it does directly from "our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace!" A saved and pardoned sinner can truly say, "Your comforts delight my soul!"

The next thought is that, having saved us--He keeps us. "We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Comparatively few Christians put God's keeping power fully to the test. If we would trust Him for the keeping, as we do for the saving--our lives would be far holier and happier than they are. "I will keep it every moment," is one of those grandly unlimited promises which most of us are afraid of; and we store them away in the background because we dare not believe them, and bring them out into the light of our daily practice. O foolish and unbelieving hearts, how much of soul-delighting comfort do we thus miss!

Then comes another thought--He cares for us. Dear friends, if you are His, you know the exceeding comfort of casting all your care upon Him--and being quite sure that He will "undertake" for you. Have we not often come to Him oppressed and burdened with an intolerable weight of anxiety and distress--and been enabled to roll the whole mass of it on Him, leaving it all at His feet, and returning to our work with a lightened and restful heart? Some of us have had burdens and sorrows, which would have crushed the very life out of us--if we had not been enabled to look up and say, "You, O Lord, have helped and comforted me!" Yes, truly, God's care for us is one of the sweetest comforts of our mortal life!

Closely linked with this, is the thought that He knows all about us. Our enemies--sometimes, even our friends--misunderstand and malign us; they misconstrue our words and actions, and impute to us motives which never actuated us. But our God knows the thoughts and intents of our heart, and never makes a mistake in the judgment He passes on us. The comfort of this knowledge on the Lord's part, to those who are "suffering wrongfully," is inexpressibly precious. They can lift up their heads with joy, and say, "The Lord is good. He knows those who trust in Him." I have known this comfort to so delight my soul, that trials and temptations had no power to vex or annoy it, for my soul was hidden "secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues."

Lastly (though there are many, many more), one of the multitude of thoughts which stand out prominently from the rest, as a comfort which delights the soul--is that He loves us. This truth has been running through the fields of previous thought, as a silver streamlet glides through the meadows--here, it would deepen and expand to a broad and fathomless ocean, had I the power to speak of its height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and to tell of the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge! But my pen utterly fails here. You who love Him, and know that He loves you--must each one say to himself what that "comfort of His love" is to your own heart. This will be a better commentary than any I can offer.

And, if some poor distressed soul is mourning the loss of the sweet consolation which Christ's love alone can give--let him call to remembrance a tenderly precious promise which the Lord put into the lips of the prophet Isaiah, "I have seen his ways--but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him!" Isaiah 57:18

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What a compassionate, gracious arrangement!

(Susannah Spurgeon, "Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!" 1898 )

"My times are in Your hand!" Psalm 31:15

Why then, need I worry or tremble? That great, loving, powerful hand keeps all the events of my life sealed and secure within its almighty clasp! And only He, my Maker and my Master, can permit them to be revealed to me as His will for me. What a compassionate, gracious arrangement! How eminently fitted to fulfill that sweet promise of His Word, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You!" If we fully believed this, we would be absolutely devoid of the worry which corrodes and chafes the daily life of so many professing Christians.

"My times." Not one or two important epochs of my history only--but everything that concerns me:
  joys that I had not expected,
  sorrows that must have crushed me, if they could have been anticipated,
  sufferings which might have terrified me by their grimness, had I looked upon them,
  surprises which infinite love had prepared for me,
  services of which I could not have imagined myself capable
--all these lay in that mighty hand--as the purposes of God's eternal will for me.

But, as they have developed gradually and silently--how great has been the love which appeared enwrapping and enfolding each one!
Has not the grief been measured--while the gladness has far more abounded?
Have not the comforts and consolations--exceeded the crosses and afflictions?
Have not all things been so arranged, and ordered, and undertaken, and worked out on our behalf--that we can but marvel at the goodness and wisdom of God, in meting out from that dear hand of His, all the "times" that have passed over us?

You agree with me in all this, do you not, dear reader? Then, I beg you, apply it to your present circumstances, however dark or difficult they may be. They have come directly from your Father's hand to you, and they are His dear will for you!

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The master-key which fits the locks!

(Susannah Spurgeon, "Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!" 1898 )

"The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loved you!" Deuteronomy 7:7-8

My gracious God, there is a honeycomb of delight and sweetness in these words! Will You put the rod of faith into my hand, this morning, and enable me to dip the end thereof into this rich provision, that my soul may eat and be satisfied, and that the eyes of my understanding may be enlightened?

"Because the Lord loved you!" This is His great "reason" for all of God's dealings with His redeemed people. It is a full and convincing answer to all the doubts and questionings with which Satan can perplex and distress the Lord's timid ones. The enemy of souls has, alas! a powerful confederate in the wicked unbelief which lurks within us; but they will both be vanquished when we have learned to use this weapon of war against them.

Come, my heart, try its blessed force and quality at this moment! The foe says, "Why does God send you affliction, and sorrow, and suffering--when those who do not fear His Name have continual quietness and abounding prosperity?"

If you can boldly answer, "It is because the Lord loves me!" then you will have given him such a sword-thrust as will free you, for a time, at least, from his cunning devices and fierce onslaughts.

Or, look at the text as a shaft of sunlight, piercing through a chink in the shuttered window of some dark experience. Bring your fears and forebodings out of their dusky corners, and place them within the radiance of this light of love--you will be amazed to see them transformed into confident trusts--your doubts will vanish as if they had never been, and the evil and bitter things of life will all be transformed into blessings in a moment.

"Because the Lord loved you!" is the master-key which fits the locks of the hardest question, and opens the mysteries of the deepest problem! It is a charm of wondrous efficacy, and every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ may not only rejoice in its possession--but use it constantly to obtain all the desire of his heart in spiritual things.

What ails you, poor soul? Is it loss of health, or friends, or means? Has God taken from you some dearly-loved one, and left you alone on this sad earth? Is He trying and proving you, by many and varied tests and troubles, "to know what was in your heart"? Whatever may be your immediate and peculiar sorrow, if you have grace and faith enough to say, "This is because the Lord loves me!"--then I dare to promise you that all the bitterness of the affliction will melt away--and the peace of God will fill you with a sweet contentment which surpasses understanding. No distress can withstand such Divine solace, no anguish can refuse the relief of this balm of Gilead. If all that happens to you can be traced directly or indirectly to the hand of your loving Lord--then how gladly should you bear life's burdens, and how perfect should be the rest in which heart and mind should dwell!

O gracious Master, looking back over the years that are gone--the interminglings of grief and gladness, pass before my eyes as the clouds sail by on an April day. And though the memories of great affliction and sore bereavement cast deep shadows across the scene, and seem for a time to blot out all the brightness--yet, above and beyond those changeful skies--the sun has never ceased shining, and darkness as well as day has proclaimed the immutability of Your love. When the ears of my soul are attuned to catch the soft whisper of Your voice, I hear You saying: "All this, My child, was because I loved you! Left to yourself; you would have destroyed yourself; but in Me was your help found. All the tribulations you have endured, were but My servants to whom I entrusted the necessary discipline of your earthly life. Do not forget those words of Mine: As many as I love--I rebuke and chasten!"

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Mother, don't you love me?

(Susannah Spurgeon, "Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!" 1898 )

"I have seen his ways--and will heal him!" Isaiah 57:18

Here is one of the blessedly incomprehensible paradoxes of God's love and mercy, which startles us by its excess of compassionate grace: "I have seen his ways, and . . ."--one would have thought that the next sentence must be, "I will punish him," or at least, "I will rebuke him!" But, instead of wrath--here is pardon! Pity makes room for love; and in the place of bitterness, the Lord gives a blessing! "I have seen his ways--and will heal him!"

O wanderer, will not these tender words cause you to return to your Lord?
O stony heart--will you not break at so loving a touch as this?
O cold and half-dead soul--will not such a Divine cordial revive you?

"I have seen his ways." What "ways" has God seen in you? Have they not been "wicked," "crooked," "perverse," "your own ways"--"the ways of death?" Have you not turned aside from the path of life, and refused to walk "in all His way," and chosen "a stubborn way" for yourself?

Our heart must give a sad assent to all these charges. As we bow humbly before Him, and say, "You are acquainted with all my ways"--we feel that such knowledge of us on His part, intensifies our wonder and gratitude at the loving compassion with which He regards us!

When I was a little child, and had been troublesome to my mother--her reproof or punishment would often be followed by my trembling question, "Mother, don't you love me?" And my mother's reply invariably was, "Yes, I do love you; but I do not love your naughty ways!" Poor mother! Doubtless I tried her very much, and this was the best that grieved parental love could say. But our heavenly Father has sweeter, choicer words than these, for His erring children.

His love is Divine, so He says, "I have seen his ways--and will heal him!" O sweet pitifulness of our God! O inexplicable tenderness! O love surpassing all earth's loveliest affection! Do not our hard hearts yield under the power of such compassion as this?

God knows all our wickedness, He has seen all our waywardness; yet His purpose towards us is one of healing and pardon--and not of anger and estrangement.

As I learn more of God, I get so sick of my sin--indwelling-sin, heart-sin, that my soul welcomes this Word of the Lord, as a condemned prisoner embraces a pardon, or as a drowning man clutches the life-buoy thrown out for his rescue. To be healed of the disease which wastes us, to be delivered from the deadness and indifference which enchain us, to have a perfect heart with the Lord our God, and to walk before Him in a perfect way--this, I take it, is the blessed prospect held out by this promise. Who will claim its fulfillment at once? Who will take our gracious God at His Word, and believingly receive the priceless blessing which His love offers?

O blessed Lord, Your forbearance with us in the past, has been a miracle of mercy! You have seen so much in us which Your soul has abhorred--and yet You come now with this gift of healing in Your hands, which means not only pardon--but the power to be holy.

Lord, we lift up our empty, beseeching hands--to Your full ones. Our own ways have led us farther and farther from You; now let Your forgiving, healing love draw us so close to You, that we can never again be among those "who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness."

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The plank of free grace!

A minister lay dying in Scotland. A fellow-minister called to see him, and inquired, "Well, my brother, what are you doing?"

"Doing?" answered the dying servant of God. "Doing? I will tell you: I am gathering together all my prayers and sermons, all my good deeds and bad deeds--and am going to throw them all overboard together, and swim to glory on the plank of free grace!"
"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved!" Acts 15:11

"It is by God's grace that you have been saved!" Ephesians 2:5

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Our plans and dreams

(J.R. Miller)

"In his heart a man plans his course--but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

"Many are the plans in a man's heart--but it is the LORD's purpose which prevails." Proverbs 19:21

There are few entirely unbroken lives in this world; there are few men who fulfill their own hopes and plans, without thwarting or interruption at some point. Now and then, there is one who in early youth marks out a course for himself--and then moves straight on in it to its goal.

But most people's lives are very differently from their own early dreaming. Many find at the close of their life, that in scarcely one particular, have they realized their own life-dreams; at every point God has simply set aside their plans--and substituted His own. There are some people whose plans are so completely thwarted, that their story is most pathetic. Yet we have but to follow it through to the end, to see that the broken life was better and more effective, than if their own plans had been carried out.

"We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

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Christian liberty

(J.R. Miller)

We should keep watch over our words and deeds, not only in their intent and purpose--but also in their possible influence over others. There may be liberties which lead to no danger for us--but which to others with less stable character, and less wholesome environments--would be full of peril. It is part of our duty to think of these weaker ones, and of the influence of our example upon them. We may not do anything in our liberty, which might possibly harm others. We must be willing to sacrifice our liberty--if by its exercise, we endanger another's soul. This is the teaching of holy Scripture:

"Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." Romans 14:19

"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall." Romans 14:20-21

"Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience--you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." 1 Corinthians 8:9-13

"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

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Black seeds without beauty

(J.R. Miller)

"Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Luke 22:42

"Lord, what do You want me to do?" Acts 9:6

The first condition of consecration, must always be entire readiness to accept God's will for our life. It is not enough to be willing to do Christian work. There are many people who are quite ready to do certain things in the service of Christ, who are not ready to do anything He might want them to do.

God does not send us two classes of providences--one good, and one evil. All are good. Affliction is God's goodness in the seed. It takes time for a seed to grow and to  develop into fruitfulness. Many of the best things of our lives--come to us first as pain, suffering, earthly loss or disappointment--black seeds without beauty--but afterward they grow into the rich harvest of righteousness!

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

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Think about such things!

(J.R. Miller)

"The cheerful heart has a continual feast!" Proverbs 15:15

We pretty much see just what we are looking for. If our mind has become trained to look for troubles, difficulties, problems, and all gloomy and dreary things--then we shall find just what we seek. On the other hand, it is quite as easy to form the habit of looking always for beauty, for good, for happiness, for gladness--and here too we shall find precisely what we seek.

It has been said that the habit of always seeing the bright side in life, is worth a large income to a man. It makes life a great deal easier.

None of us are naturally drawn to a gloomy person, who everywhere finds something to complain about--but we are all attracted to one who sees some beauty in everything. Joy is a transfiguring quality. Its secret is a glad heart.

"Finally, brothers,
 whatever is true,
 whatever is noble,
 whatever is right,
 whatever is pure,
 whatever is lovely,
 whatever is admirable--
 if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--
think about such things!" Philippians 4:8

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Our best striving

(J.R. Miller)

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on" Philippians 3:12

The highest reaches of holiness which we can attain here on earth, are but broken fragments of the full Divine beauty. At the best, we can only become dimly transfigured; only faintly does the beauty of the Lord appear in us.

The last design made by the great painter, Albert Diirer, was a painting showing Christ on His cross. It was all completed, except the face of the Divine Sufferer, when the artist was summoned away by death.

Just so, at the end of the longest and holiest life--we shall have but a part of the picture of Christ wrought upon our soul. Our best striving shall attain but a fragment of His matchless beauty. We cannot reproduce the glory of that incomparable Face. But when we depart from our little fragment of transfiguration, we shall look a moment afterward upon the Divine features, and, seeing Jesus--we shall transformed into His lovely image!

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is!" 1 John 3:2

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We are not saved by believing a creed

(J.R. Miller)

"Do not be amazed that I said to you: You must be born again!" John 3:7

That which makes one a Christian, is not . . .
  the agreeing with Christ's teachings,
  the uniting with His Church,
  the adoption of His morals,
  the espousing of His cause--
but the receiving of Him as our personal Lord and Savior, and entering into a covenant of eternal friendship with Him. We are not saved by believing a creed which gathers up in a few golden sentences, the essence of the truth about Christ's person and work--we must have the Christ Himself, whom the creed holds forth, in His radiant beauty and grace!

Many people think that being a Christian is . . .
  to pray a few moments morning and evening,
  to read a daily chapter or two in the Bible,
  and to attend church on Sundays.
These duties are important as means of grace--but they are not true religion. Real religion is living out the principles of Christianity in one's ordinary week-day life. It is getting the Bible and the prayers and the services--into our thoughts and acts and character.

We must not cut our lives in two, and call one part secular, governing it by one set of principles--and regarding the other part as sacred, to be controlled by another set of rules. All of life is to be made sacred in the sense that everything is to be done in such a way as to please God, under the direction of His counsel. We have just as much true religion as we get into our week-day life, and not a whit more!