Arizona republican., 1899-02-05

1 tLj 1Ltt-A ilAC lAtio q t-34t-LAS-~ sS-- l pac-ty, and that capacity mus be kept | full. Net a habit nor an appetite nor
 passion in any life but represents
 some need Of the nature. ReDcve any l one. though it be the least or the most harmful, and it leaTes I vacuum which must be filed Neglect to fill it. and
 the evil will surely return with nut t.Plied fierce
 Today there is many life with cn6 CT more empty corners. Manfully the UIclean spirits of haEit and desire have been driven out. Heroic is the struggle 10 keeD them out But it is
 useless They receive -c-enfO~cements
 daily, and the struggle against them
 can only end in failure Et is the in
 evitable result Cf a pu-ely negative
 effort
 Consideration. on the other hand i5 positive. It drives out the evil by fill
 ing the life with the good. Let one oc-
 CUpy his time and thought and power
 with active service for God and his feI-
 low men, end the evil will be crowded
 cut and kept out without any direct
 thought or effort on his part There
 is Q wonderful and blessed truth e-n-
 bodied in DT, Chalmers phrase, The
 eNpulsiVe power of 9 new affection"
 John 3. Cough conquered his apDe- tite fer strong drink net solely O.
 chiefly by the direct effort of his will against it-though this may have been 3 necessary first step-5ut by giving himself heart and soul to the rescue 0f others who had fallen under the same Cu-se. It WAS by filing his life with positive effort fer others that he kept the demon outside the door, And many Q man who is vainly struggling against some sin would find it con QleTed almost without a struggle if he would forget himself in the effort to help other struggling ones.
 Again, resolution works chiefly at long range. Conservation is hand to hand. How many New Years resolu- tiCns take in the whcle twelve months al single sweep, Another element or weakness. The burden of a years duty is too great for any man. It is like carrying load at arms length. Who does the duty of a single day faithfully lives magnifcently The man in the moon is not more secure f-cr1 the stone hurled by q child than is 't2o temptation Of next December from tfe puoriIe east of our January resolutions. 2ut, after all. it is not s5 much the futility of trying to reach the distant sin 25 it is tha- in our effort to reach it We shoot quite over that which is near. Through much gazing gf the hcriZCn tue soul becomes far sighted, and falls into temptation cioze at hand because 1t is unseen.
 Conservation is immediate. It is a
 matter for today. There is no such thing as nticipatilS c0nsccrs stiOn. All UUC consecratio1 deals with the duty and the need and the temptation of the present hour Or the future 1t says, Let the morrow take thought for the things of itself" The consec. .ation of today ls the best preparation for vic tory tomor- OW. 6u5 fLe resolution f2r conquest tomorrow may be the SuflI- cient cause cf defeat today.
 The most significant point Of cou- i -rast yet remains. Resolutions ava only partial. Ccnsecratton is corr | Dle,e. Resolution denis with single sins e f1iiings- and these Cften of mi | nor Importance. C0nsecrat'on aims at ! inc conquest of all sin by ug-ootinS t ] from tho heart.
 Now. it is easier to fulfH .he perfect | deaI than an imperfect one Of all | the tasks which men have set for ] themselves, the most hopeless are | theirs who have resolved to do right | T part. Whoever cCnsecrates his life l D God. with the firm purpose to Go | tight in all things and at all times i nay claim all the promises of God. i md may feel confident of Omnipo- | -ence: but there is no promise of 5ivine aid to him who qualities his striving and is content with imYarfec- ion. He must fight his battle single 2anded, and he has given the enemy l fatal advantage at the outset. He ,as admitted the thin edge of @ wedge, which if driven home. will cleaye the lC5Iest character and Tend the strong est purpose asunder-
 Broken resolutions are worse than lseless. But there is no broken con ecrati0n. Who makes resolutions 0ust keep them himself Who c0nsc- rates his life to Christ is kept by the ,cwer of God unto salvation. Let us, hen, as we look upon the failures of 6e past month and of past years the hattered fragments Of our good res luti0ns s"-nct trust in our own tTength alone, but rely U3.cn divine elp to meet successfully the remain eI of the year. and of life, enc day at time, saying confidently, with St. 'aUl, "I can do all things through 'hrist, which strengtheneth me"
 ;,J 7o