Article September 12, 1903 Issue

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with contributions from HENRY GILES

Stevenson has said—we quote from memory and not with exactitude, "There is one person whom it is my duty to make good, that is myself. My duty toward others is better expressed by saying, Make them happy. You go to church, not to look rebuke at others because they did not go, but with a sunny face, happy yourself and better fitted to make them happy. Live your own life so joyously that your friend will envy you, but do not live it for the purpose of making him envy you. The fruit of the Spirit, is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,—all men like these fruits. If your orchard is full of these, your friend will wish that he had an orchard like it. Do not preach; simply practise. And always remember that God has seen fit to make him the master of his own life, and any wish on your part to become master of his life and bend it into conformity with your liking and your conscience would be a wish to violate the divine order." —The Outlook.

The dark shadows of evil consciousness and of foreboding are thick across men's paths. And in their deepest hearts their longings are for some message that will show that they are not alone, that God holds a relation of helpfulness to them, that there is an escape from sin and a possibility of realizing in themselves the best ideals. There is no occasion for wonder that certain styles of preaching fail to interest and hold men. They become utterly weary of fine-spun philosophies, of analytical accounts of mental and spiritual phenomena. They ask, not always audibly, but actually, for something outside themselves that will be a real help to them in their trials and struggles and overthrows. And one of the questions that should be put to every candidate for the ministry of the evangelical churches is: What is the Gospel? Is it so conceived as to make it an evangel, a message of actual objective helpfulness to weary and sinful men?—The Watchman.

No man is base who does a true work, for true action is the highest being. No man is miserable that does a true work, for right action is the highest happiness. No man is isolated that does a true work, for useful action is the highest harmony. It is the harmony with nature and with souls, it is living association with men, and it is practical fellowship with God.—HENRY GILES.

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