Nevada County picayune., 1891-01-15
FOOD AND WORK.

,l;H.r a. nuch in size as dO IheiE bodie. and alas! this i. true or Christian men. There are dwarls and giants in the Church; but spif- itual dwarfs, unlike physical, are re- suonsible for their own littIeness. Any Christian can become large souled who will carefully observe the laws of spiritual growth, and feed daily upon the bread which is from heaven. Eat ye that which Is good" Say. Isaiah, "and let your soul delight itself in fatness.' v The mlhd must be fed with the kno~ledge or God, derived from meditation upon the great truths of his holy Word, and upon the works of his hand above and around us. Though knowledge is distinct from grace, the love of converted soul for God should be, and we think generally is' proportonate to it's knowledge of the Creator and his works.
 While this is an age Of great intel lectual activity, in which all tie problems of theology are more pro- foundly investigated than they ever were before, this work is done by comparatively few. With the mass es of our laity, the newspaper and the magazine cause neglect of those great works on the evidence of Christianity, which gave the Church so much faith and power fifty years ago, before our present fcverlsh, ab- normal life began. A general return to the works of Wesley, Fletcher, D'Aubigne, and Butler, to the biog- raphies of our ministerial fathers, supplemented by some solid books ln our generation, would mean revi- val of Christian zeal, in the presence of which infdels would stand in dumb amazement.
 To be growing Christians we must not only have the right kind of food but we must also exercise our spirit ual faculties in the work winch Goo requires us to do. Our Christian life should be divided between thought and action, between devo' tional meditation and earnest Chris tian labor for the salvation of th' lost. As Protestants, we are op posed to monish life, yet the monas tery is an institution in which We set the abuse of great religious truth God is not pleased to have any cias' of men and women exclude them selves from the world, and spend al their time in meditation; but it IS hl: |
 will that every Christian should have some secret place of devotion, where portion of each day can be spen in that sweet communion with him self by which the soul will b' strengthened and disciplined for th'
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 The most healthy children arr those who receive wholesome foo' regularly, take thelr rest regularly and exercise their limbs at play O light work in the open air. Iher' are some children whose mother conline them in thc-housc to keel them out of danger, or to prevent tn sun from spelling their complexion and, though they receive all the foo' they want, how weak they are 1he' remind us of vegetables that grow II the cellar. Now, the Christian wh' attempts to develop his spirltua powers without exercise in the at mospherc of the world, without earn est work to save his fellow man, wll either not grow at all in grace, or h will have a very sickly growth. "B' grace we arc saved through faith, but faith without works is dead. We must feed our souls to keep on faith alive, and we must prove to tn world that we have living faith D. our good works. II Advocate.