St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-10-26
Conservation.

SOl1SCO1
/ was once trying to explain TO a
physician who had charge of Il large
hospital, what conservation meant, and
its necessity, but he seemed unable to
understand. At last | said to him,
Suppose in going your rounds among
your patients, you should meet with
one man who entreated you earnestly
to take his case under your especial
care in order to cure him, but who
should at the same time refuse to tell
you all the symptoms, or to take all
your prescribed remedies and should
say to you, Il am quite willing to follow
your directions as to certain things, be-
cause they commend themselves to my
mind us good, but in other matters
prefer Judging fol- myself and following
my own directions What would you
do in such a case ~ / asked. ''Do ~ he
replied with Indignation, "DO | would
soon leave such man as that to his
own care. For, of course" he added,
~ could do nothing for him, unless he
would put his whole case into my hands
without any reserves, and would obey
my directions implicitly" at is ne
cessary them" l said, ''for doctors to be
obeyed, if they are to have any chance
to cure their patients ?" "Implicitly
Obeyed ~ was his emphatic reply. ''And
that is conservation, !" continued. "God
must have the whole case put into His
hands without any reserves, and His
directions must be implicitly followed y
II see it," he exclaimed, 81 see it And
l will do it. God shall have His own
way with me from hencefOrth."
Perhaps to some minds the word
abandonment might express this idea
better. But whatever word we use, we
mean an entire surrender of the whole
being to God-spirit, soul, and body
placed under His absolute control, for
Him to do with us just what He pleases.
We mean that the language of our
souls, under all circumstances, and in
view of every act, is to be "Thy will be
done" We mean the giving up of all
liberty of choice. We mean a life OF
inevitable obedience.
To soul ignorant of God this may
look hard. But to those that know
Him, it is the happiest and most restfui
of lives. He is our Father, and He
loves us, and He knows just what is
best, and therefore, of course, His will
is the very most blessed thing that can
come to us under all circumstances. |
do not understand how it is that Satan
has succeeded in binding the eyes of
the church to this fact. But it really
would seem as if Gods own children
were more afraid of His will than of
anything else in life-His lovely love-
able will, which only means loving
kindnesses and tender mercies, and
blessings unspeakable to their souls
| wish | could only show to every one
the unfathomable sweetness of the will
of God. Heaven is a place of infinite
bliss, because His will is perfectly done
there, and our lives share i'll this bliss
just in proportion as His will is per-
fectly done in them. He loves us-lOUes
uS-and the will of love is always bless
ing for its loved one. Some of us
know what it is to love, and we know
that could we only have our way, our
beloved ones would be overwhelmed
with blessings. All that is good, and
sweet, and lovely in life, would be
poured out upon them from our lavish
hands, had we but the power to carry
out our will for them. And if this is
the way of love with us, how much
more must it be so with our God, who
is love itself? Could we but for one
moment get glimpse into the mighty
depths of His love, our hearts would
spring out to meet His will, and en-
brace it as our richest treasure. And
we would abandon ourselves to it with
an enthusiasm of gratitude and Joy,
that such wondrous privilege could
be ours.
A great many Christians actually
seem to think that all their Father in
heaven wants is chance to make them
miserable, and to take away all their
blessings; and they imagine, poor souls,
that if they hold on to things in their
own will they can hinder Him from do
ing this. 1 am ashamed to write the
words, and yet we must face a fact
which is making wretched hundreds of
lives.
"A Christian lady who had this feeling
was once expressing to friend how
impossible she found it to say, Thy will
be done, and how afraid she should be
to do it. She was the mother of one
only little boy, who was the heir to a
great fortune, and the idol of her heart.
After she had stated her difficulties
fully, her friend said, ''Suppose your
little Charley should come running to
you tomorrow and say, Mother, have
made up my mind to let you have your
own way with me from this time for
ward. am always going to obey you,
and / want you to do just whatever you
think best with me. know you love
me, and am going to trust myself to
your love- How would you feel to-
wards hint Would you say to your
self, 'Ah, now l shall have chance to
make Charley miserable. l will take
away all bis pleasures, and Eli his life
with every hard and disagreeable thing
can find. will compel him to do
just the things that are the most difficult
for him to do, and will give him all