No matter how brilliant a beginning one may make in the divine life, if he does not learn to act from a sense of his obligations to God, his religious career will, in all probability be a short one. A road all the way down hill is not generally long.
Good impulses are often of only short duration.
If veterans in the excitement of battle need the inspiration which a sense of duty only can impart, much more do Christians in the conflicts which come upon them in the midst of depression and discouragement. Our course, as followers of Jesus, should be determined by what we ought to do, and not by what we feel like doing. We must, then, pay the highest respect to the commands of God. Let us consider one of these commands. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.