The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-01-09
WE ARE WHAT WE WANT TO BE.


In the first place, we are what we
want to be; if one has for years earnest
ly desired to be rich man, wise man,
an honest man, religious man, the de-
sire has shaped his conduct and his
character. He may not be rich, but he
intensely admres riches and nothing
else. He may not be wise, but wisdom
is the thing he is most capable of striv-
ing for. He may not be perfect man,
but perfect manhood is his ideal. The
thin and rocky soil means first OF all
that the soil is barren only as to par
ticular kind of growth. 1t can grow
weeds, but it can not grow grain-carea
and the love of pleasures, but not faith
and purity. The barrenness OF the soul
begins in its want of Heavenly desire.
Grace will not flourish in a soul that
does not want it. Faith is not thing
that comes to men unawares and takes
imperious possession of them; it is a
fruit of thoughtfulness, of prayerful
temper, of heedful attention to the great
principles of religion, of an active de-
sire to know the things of God, of q
habit of strenuously thinking and work.
ing toward spiritual vision and spiritual
character. If the soul does not 60 out
with persistent habitualness toward
Divine truth and the claims of eternity,
there cannot be any religious attain
ment. We do not expect a man who
now and then thinks of business to be-
come successful in trade. We do not
expect lad who detests books, but now
and then looks at one, to become a
scholar.
We expect no success for men in
lines on which they do not move. Men
who do not really want to be religious
will not be religious Grace is not
forced on the human heart. If we live
for pleasure and wealth, we may or may
not get them, but we certainly shall not
get the Heavenly things for which we
have not lived. A man who thoroughly
knows that he is worldly to the core Of
his nature ought to know also that he
has not made serious effort to be any
thing else; and he has not made such
effort because he has not wanted to be
successful in the pursuit of Christian
character. No; our Lord does not NEAR
tkat we are born, some of us, incapable
of Heavenly vitality. We are, in fact
none OF us born so. These forces that
are driving us toward the world, Oh
toward Heaven. are forces under which
we have placed ourselves, which we have
cultivated in ourselves. They are the
result of habits of thought and affection
which have grown in us out of the hear
Of our dominant desire. We shall es
cape from the worldly forces when WI
seriously desire to escape, and begin tc
run. We shall be what we are until W,
want and try to be better. When W,
are altogether honest with ourselves, W,
confess the feebleness of our religion
desires, and that they come to us nov
and then-are not our constant compan
ions and our best-loved occupations. o
this persistent dominion of worldlines
we shall have to rid ourselves by q ia
more methodical religion than we hav
ever dreamed of. We must cultivat
our religious nature as methodicallv as
scholar cultivates his mind, as a bilsi
ness man cultivates his capacity TO
trade. Until religion becomes to u
what care or wealth or pleasure ha
been-something that is with us whel
we are asleep, and when we are awake
was with us yesterday, and will be wit
us to-morrow--we shall be poor ant
feeble and good-for-nothing Christians
We lack religious ardor, religious hab
it, religious patience, religious energy
We are shiftless Christians Christian
little now and then, by fits and starts
but not Christians moved by the full
and forceful stream of Heavenly de
sire which has borne us on to religion
habit. We repeat that it is possible TO
us to change. We could not do it alone
but God is ready to help us. We ca
cease to be shiftless and spasmodi
Christians, because infinite strength j
in the reach of whoever will seek it; be
cause God helps in grace, as in every
thing else, those who help themselve:
~ W. Christian AdUOcate.