Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-07

difficulty is not one which God has added in
any arbitrary way. God has not deliber-
ately made the ideal Christian life hard, as
retreating army cuts down trees and filings
them across the path to impede the progress
OF the pursuers. God doesn't pile up bard
things in our path, as the inquisitors laid
the redhot ploughshears in the way for the
Queen to walk over with bare feet, so that
they could see whether she was good or not.
NECESSARY CONDITIONS.
No, the difficulty is there in the nature of
things. The teacher doesn't insist upon all
the hard text books, out Of any delight in
the toll of the scholar. The hard text books
are simply the necessary conditions of
knowledge. All those monotonous and
wearisome exercises which small fingers get
SO tired OF are not appointed, as the little
players sometimes think, for the sake of
their difficulty, in order to make the study
OF music hard. They are the necessary con-
dition OF learning music. The perplexing
conjngations of the German verbs were not
invented by the grammarian. They grow.
iney are in the grammar because they are
IN the language. They have to be mastered
not as piece of mental labor, but as neces-
sary condition of understanding German
speech. Work, self-denial, perseverance,
are the necessary conditions of any kind of
success, just as climbing is the necessary
condition of getting to the top OF hill.
And the difficulties of the religious life
are only the necessary condition of follow
ing Christ and of obeying God. 1t is like
this: God wants us to love him. He wants
rs to be loyal to Him. He wants us to live
after certain high ideal. But we cannot
be loving and loyal toward God or follow
this divine ideal without doing hard
things, any more than we can learn without
studying or ascend hill without climbing.
BY nature we please ourselves. By nature
tne lower part of us masters the higher.
we must say "no." We must do hard
things If we will obey the will of God.
Gods will is SO high that we cannot obey
1t without trying, and trying hard. 1t is
not easy to be loyal to God The world, the
nesh and the devil get in between us and
every act of loyalty, as the Philistine army
stood between the hero and the WELL Now
comes the test of loyalty. Are we loyal or
not? Are we loyal and loving enough to
night our way through these opposing forces
OF the world, the flesh and the devil, and do.
that loyal thing? If we are, then we show
God how much we love Him. The hard
things which we are willing to do in order
to obey Him testify to that.
And for that reason, not for their own,
sake, but as conditions OF all worthy living
simply as symbols of our law-for that
reason only. the hard things please our
Heavenly Father. God is not taskmaster.
God is our dear loving Father. He does
not like to see US staggering under burdens
and carrying crosses-no, but He does like
to see us loyal to Him, desirous of pleasing
Him, eager to do for Him however hard the
deed. He doesn't want US to seek for hard
things to do, but he does want us, when the
hard things come in the way, bravely and low
ingly to do them. He likes to see our love,
and He sees it when we hold fast to our
loyalty and keep his word, and do His will
even in the midst of difficulty.
GEORGE HODGES.