The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-06-11
THREE STEPS TO TAKE.

Come unto me, and l will give you
rest-Matthew, XII, %.
He will give you rest by giving you
what will produce rest.
If l cannot understand why my
burdens should have been placed on
my shoulders l naturally feel that /
am the victim of an injustice, and SUE h
a state of mind doubles the weight OF
the burden. When one who knows
more about these things than
do sits at my side and convinces me
that this burden bearing is for a good
purpose, and that | shall receive more
benefit from it than l could do from
ease and comfort and luxury, he not
only removes from my mind the fee.
ing that | am victim of njustce, but
also the half of the burdens weight
which resulted from that thought. He
does even more than that, for if I am
sure that the burden is profitable to
my soul, my mental condition greatly
lightens the other half of it's weight,
because, after all, it is not the burden
which makes it heavy.
The benetactor who has the patience
and good will to thus convince me will
literally give me rest.
Your best self is just three PAGES
distant from your present self, or, in
other words, you are only three PAGES
from God. Take those three steps
and you will become what you were
intended to be.
The first step may be called inform
alton. There is curious impression
abroad that religion will not stand the
test of critical examination, while, on
the contrary, it courts it. The emo
tions must always have reasonable
faith under them. The heart and brain
should work in double, not in single,
harness. The feeling that, like white
cap on a wave crest, conviction is
the divinest thing in the world, but
you must have the wave before you
can have the crest. No one can pos
sibly hurt himself by honest thinking
or questioning
When a man discovers that God has
so made the world that an acorn never
produces anything but an oak he is
not far from the discovery that an evil
course of life cannot produce happi-
ness. When the star is in its orbit it
is the symbol of activity and peace
combined, but you never saw comet
in the sky without associating with it
the idea of unrest. The noblest life,
is the religious life. If as the result
of careful observations yon reach tina
conclusion you have taken the first step,
and there are only two remaining
PAGES between you and God.
The second step may be called Con
formation. When you see clearly that
the way of the tendency is to conform
to it, Man is naturally ambitious and
wants the best. If he is about to in
vest himself he will be as thoughtfully
careful as when he invests his money
and in both cases he examines the Sc
curitv offered and the returns which
may be expected in the way of interest.
There is no reason why he should not
make as good an investment spiritual
ly as financially.
He cannot walk along along the
shore of life without seeing some
wreck-a poor fellow whose childhood
was bright, whose early life was full
Of promise, but who has gone all to
pieces. on the rocks. and it is easy to
conclude that it would not be we'll to
follow such an example. If, therefore
he really reason with himself he sees
that it is better to obey Gods
laws than to defy them, and so the Sc.
cond pace has been covered.
The last step may be called Trans.
f>rnratin,, 'Nhn iIno, hn hnc fnI
the loyalty to them which he has
pledged, work on his character chemi
cally and makes Encouragement OF the
very molecules Of his nature He be-
comes through the normal action Of
law different creature. You notice
the change and say that miracle has
been performed. The simple truth is
he has followed the injunction to" "Come
unto me" and has received the prom
iscl rest
A mans body even becomes differ
ent when his ideas becomes different
The old achemist tried in vain tc
change pebble into nugget of gold
What the alchemist's retorts were un-
| able to achieve can be done, not hy
man, but in men 10y the wondrous
subtlcty of faith. The composure Of
of the mind is rest for the body. Dis
sipation disturhs the physical func
tions, and immoral ideas do the same
thing; but the consciousness that you
belong to God, and that in some sub
tie sense He belongs to you, is a
"Peace, be still,' which the physical
organs as we'll as the mental structure
recognize.
The sorrows of life are not all done
away with, but they are greatly les
sened. We need discipline in our ma
turity as in our childhood, for we are