The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-08-09
The EpWOrth League.



Sunday evening. August 30. 1902. the
Epworthians throughout the land viii
consider at their devotional meetings
"A Suggestion in Addition" II Peter
i:49. Whereby are given unto US ex-
ceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers Of
the divine nature. having escaped he
corruption that is in the world through
lust And besides this, giving all dill
gence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; and TO knowledge
temperance; and to temperance pa
thence; and to patience goodness: and
20 godlines brotherIy kindness: and 70
brotherIy kindness charity. For il these
thingg be in you, and abound, they make
you that ye shall neither be barren nor
Unfru;tfuI in the knowledge Of our Lord
Jesus Christ But he that Iacketh these
things is blind, and cannot see afar of.
and hath forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins"
This subject is Of mathematical ma
tUre and begins with its first rule. Be
fore one can become a proficient math-
cmatieian ne must first learn rudi-
Tnentary arithmetic. and from that he
advances TO the higher branches. Sc
It is in the Christian life ''Precept upon
precept; line upon line: here a little.
there little" Growing daily IN the
Christian graees, step by step. First.
fain; second, virtue; third. knowledge;
fourth, temperance; fifth, patience;
sixth. gedlincss; seventh, kindness;
eighth, charity. The person who is
weak in any one Of these graces fails
to measure up TO the standard which
God requires of Us
Rev. Louis Albert Banks, D. D. said.
I saw some men not long ago who
were moving some very heavy stones.
They had three horses hitched to q
chain, and the chain, which was a long
one, was then fastened around the stone
I noticed that the man who had charge
OF the WORT was very careful. In fast
ening the chain, to hook 1t so that a GER
tain link, which did not seem as strong
as the others, was thrown outside into
the slack Of the chain, so that the strain
did not come on It. But after a while
this man was called away TO look after
something else, and another took charge
OF the work He either did not know
about this bad link. or else he though
that the other man was too careful. and
hooked iae chain so that the strain
came on the weak link. the same as on
the rest. The result was that as soon
as the horses Strengthened themselves
down 70 pull, that link was snapped
asunder and the chain was broken II
was a new illustration to me- of that ola
saying which We have all heard repeated
so frequently. "a chain is no stronger
than its weakest link" That proverb is
true always when every part of the chain
is permitted TO take equal chances.
4 walked away from the broken chain
with my mind on it's application to some
broken lives 1 have known-men whom
am sure had been converted to Christ.
and yet the weak link in their chain of
character was still weak and needed 70
be specially guarded I have noticed that
if man has been accustomed 20 strong
drink. and that has been his besettfne
sin, you may depend upon it that 10
matter how thorough his conversion. nor
how completely ne is devoted tc Christ.
The devil will come again and again to
that point, and do his best to get
chance to bring the strain of life on that
particular link. A man with such a his
tory needs to be on his guard at that
point, and all of rs are wise to keep our
ives open concerning the one weak link
n the chain, and not only pray. but
watch lest We enter into temptation
Ones character is like unto q build
ng; it is not built in day There
must first be firm foundation. To make
he building substantial and able to
withstand all kinds of weather the ma
e-iaI in the wills must be Of the best.
or few poor bricks may cause the
structure &c collapse.
What Goo requires is nc more than |
What the world expects of US. for we
nay possess several of these virtues and /
{ We lack in one the world condemns /
IS. as, for instance: One may seem /
HSAg De q eOOd, moral man, would not 4
nfiict physical pain upon another. is 1
otal abstainer, gives OF his means lib /
rally TO the poor. and yet if he cheats /
lis feilow-man in a business transac- /
ion all Of these virtues are as naught. /
Additions.
L Brick by brick, stone by stone, |
magnificent temples rise Grace added 1
o grace and virtue to virtue will issue |
n the still more magnificent temple of 1