The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-01-10
RELIGIOUS READING.
Bend not thine arms for tomorrow's load
Thou may'st leave that to thy gracious God-t
Daily only he saith to thee, s;a ~,
''Take up thy cross and ollow me-"
WORKING WITH THE ii HEART.

. Il .| ~ - 10y % "
"He did it with all his heart. - Chro. 81 a.
This is said OF Hezekiah. 1t is said In re.
lation to the work Of reform he had UNDER
taken In Judah, or as we find it expressed,
SIN every work that he began in the service
of the house Of God and in the law. and in
the commandments, to seek his God. he did
1t with all his heart and prospered. % That Is,
evidently, he prospered because he did it
with all his heart.
Now every Christian Is, professodly, en-
gagged In the work Of the Lord. This Is the
very meaning Of his profession. And aa
every man who has made choice Of an OBJ
ject Of pursuit wishes to succeed In 1t, ths
Christian must needs desire to prosper In hiss
Here, then. he may learn how to do It. He
has here set before him the example Of q
iect, and who succeeded In attaining it; and
the secret Of his success is pointed out. Il Is
important to us, then, who wish to avail our
selves OF the same secret, to weigh narrowly
the meaning Of the expression. 'sHe did II
with all his heart" and to ascertain its exact
meaning, and its whole meaning We can
not hope to attain the same result unless Wo
use precisely the same means.
The word heart Is sometimes employed by
the sacred writers to signify the affections,
and sometimes all the power Of the soul The
principal affections. are love. Joy, hope and
tear.-Hezekiah therefore, entered upon this
work with love. Hebegan where the law be-
gina. he was not actuated by mercenary or
self-righteous motives. he hoped Tor no
emolument or glory to himself he was In
fuenced by love to his Maker, desire to see
bis cause prosper. Moreover, he engaged In
the work with Joy. This was necessary
consequence of his love. We always rejoioo
to labor for those whom we love. Hezekah
labored not as slave, fulfilling an imposed
task, with grudging reluctance and repining.
but freely and joytully, like a child at work
for beloved parent. Again, he performed
the work with hope. Without the stimulus OF
hope no good work can be begun or carried
forward. Hezehah knew that he had reason
20 hope forsuccess, laboring as he was for 80
good Master, and he did hope. BE hoped
In the perfecHons Of God, In his promises,
and In the experience of bis past faithfulness.
And lastly he labored In fear. Not servtle
fear, but flial, tender, reverential fear, Q
fear of displeasing the God whom he loved
and wished to serve; q fear Of depending on
himself and being left to his own resourcesi
fear which blended with and sweetly tenn
pered the other affections OF hope, love and
Joy.
But Hezekiah not only worked with his
heart, but with all his heart. That Is, he ex-
ercised all the above-named affections In
supreme degree. He loved and feared God
more than he loved and feared all other
things. he hoped for success and reiotced
In the prospect Of it more than he hoped for
any personal good or rejoiced In its posses
sion when attained. Z.
And as the word heart should undoubtedly
be regarded in this place as denoting all the
powers Of the soul, we may add that Heze-
kiah consecrated NOT Only every affection. but
every faculty to the work Of God. BE set
himself to seek the Lord = he laid aside, In
measure, every other object, and devoted
himself unweariedIy and perseveringly to
this, until 1t was accomplished
Here then Is the secret. This, oh, Chris-
tian, is what you must do, If you would pro-
mote the work of God in your own heart or
In the hearts of others. "Then ye shall find
me-" says God, "when ye shall seek for me
with all your hearts" And this is the only,
the indispensable secret of success. For "the
double-minded man is unstable In all his
ways; let not that man think that ne shall
receive anything of the Lord"