Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-10-01
MOTIVE POWER.
1t Is Not In That Which Is Behind, Busi
Reforp.

Before.
Experience is good as warning and en-
couragen,ent, but not as motive powers
That must come from before not from
behind. He who would grow in strength
% whatever kind must never allow him-
self to be driven. Yet there are great
many people whose chief aim seems to
he TO learn from experience. They
seize upon all sorts of events in their
past, scrutinize them carefully and pro-
coed to extract lessons rom them. If
they do not find sufficient material I'M
their own lives, they go foraging in
other peoples lives, and form judg-
ments as to what they would do I'M
;sindred circumstances. They live in
the past. Their future is often only a
repeated past. "The thing that haiti
been it is that that shall be-" They
seem to project the past into the future,
live toward that and think that they
ore advancing. This is to be found to-
greater or less degree in every depart
ment of life, but espec ally in the re-
.igious. There are very many who carry
about with them sort of spiritual
thermometer, and try to gauge their
growth in grace by the number Of de-
grees of faith, hope, love, which one day
shows in comparison with another.
This is all wrong AS well expect ai
sick man to recover by keeping record
If his pulse-beats each hour; a racer
to gain the prize by carrying n yard
stick to measure each leap, or a student
to win honors by comparing the num-
her of hours and minutes Of problems or
solve a certain number of problems or
read certain number OF pages. Prog
ress depends upon the degree of inten-
s;ty with which every energy Is didect-
cd to thu one purpose of reaching the
goal; and for this the eye must constant
ly look forward, not backward. The
past must be forgotten. Not that it Is
to be as IL it had neer been, but IL must
I've crowded out by the future. We are
not to brood either over our failures or
our blessings. The former must not
discourage us, nor the latter over-en-
courage us. The simple duty is each
day to concentrate the whole attention.
on the duty of that day and prepare for
future success. Another essential Is a
CleuT perception VI tnc Bohi 'huo IN
striven for. Misguided effort is little
better than no effort at all. The eye will
make II picture of some kind. Each
step leads somewhere. IL the picture be-
a wrong one the step in false direction,
true success is simply impossible.
In Christian life success is measured
by the degree of likeness to Christ. The
different graces for which so many
strive arc simply manifestations Of his
.ife. To seek for them distinctiyely Is
often to miss the aim. II is easier to be-
come more patient by following Christ
than by striving after patience itself.
SO with faith hope, love, meeSness.
Each il included in the Christ life.
Strive for the life and they will all be
reached. Strive for them and there il
great danger of losing all. The Apostle
Paul, in setting forth his idea OF the
practice of Christian life, said that he
forgot the past and pressed toward the
prize, which was the full knowledge OF
God In Christ. just so far as we do the
same shall we succeed.-N. Y. indie
Dendeut