Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-07-19
A TRANQUIL LIFE.
me Peace That Christ Promised to
Those Who Would Follow Him
How to Secure It,


go to prepare place for YOU" and we
need have no disturbing thoughts, but,
on the contrary, perfect confidence.
Our chief concern should be how to
make the best and the most of this life,
for if we are in the right now we surely
cannot go wrong hereafter. God has
hidden certain benefits in the expert
ences through which we are called to
pass, and it is important that as we go
through the experiences we find way
to gather the benefits. am convinced
that no event in our lives is without its
purpose, and if our minds and hearts
are properly developed we shall not
only discover what that purpose is, but
have cause for gratitude and increased
faith even amid sorrows and tears and
bereavements.
1t should be our aim, therefore, to
live as peacefully as possible-that is
to say, we should reduce the friction of
life to its minimum, and nothing will
serve this end except a brainfelt and
heartfelt religion. Peacefulness de-
ponds on interior qualities more than
on environment and external circum-
stance. 1t is possible to have every
thing and at the same time to prac-
tieally have nothing. 1t is also possible
to travel a rugged and wearying path
with light heart. 1t does not follow
that you are well of because you are
rich, but you may, if you will, be well
off in spite of carking cares and
strange uncertainties.
Everything depends on your outlook
toward God and your inlook at your
self. If you can see a dim something
beyond the stars when you look forth,
and something worth your attention
when you examine your own soul you
have the firm foundations on which TO
build grand and glorious life. The
riches disclosed by those two Visions
are beyond computation. In the con-
seriousness that your destiny out
reaches the limits of time. that you are
capable of appreciatiug the spirit OF
the Christ and of appropriating Il in
the economy Of life. a. He desired you
to do, you become TO large extent
independent Of what Is called good or
i'll fortune. You have priceless com
fort in your heart which nothing can
purchase and OF which no cunning
theft can despoil you, for the most
secure of all your possessions is the
ideal which you hope to attain.
While it might be rash to assert that
you can become wholly indifferens TO
circumstances, il is safe to declare that
if you have a comforting faish you can
be infinitely happier as poor man
l., III IL
of the world at command II you had no
faith at all. II is not the soft bed
which gives refreshing sleep,. but a
quiet conscience and serene trust.
We know this to our sorrow. II is
what you have IN your heart, not what
you have in your pocket, that makes
you enviable. A large bark account
has certain magic 10 X, but II YOU
hope to find therein the means of hap
piness you will be disappointed. The
necromancy of life has its source in
heartbeats.
You wrong yourself and waste beth
time and energy in accumulation an the
sole aim Of life. il Is impossible that
. God can have so arranged the world
that dollars will buy what the poor
need as well as the Reh. The most
desirable things must be within reach
of the multitude, and / am sure that
though you toll from day TO day and
bend your shoulders to the burden of
hardship you ought to have, and you
can have, great comforts and great
joys. True religion is thoroughly dem
ocratic. 1t, favoEs no class, but gives
as plentitully to the unlettered as to
the learned.
The picture Of an ideal life which
Christ offers us IS wholly enticing and
alluring-a Father who listens to
every cry Of your heart; an Elder
Brother who trod the path Of anguish
and sorrow, and who tells US how we
may possess our souls in peace; a
heaven in which there will be no more
partings, for in its wide territory there
Is NO graveyard; host of~angelS with
whom we may communicate, and whose
influence is round abozt us from day to
day. Can any soul SIX for more? What
is there else that you can desire? With
these faiths you are armed and
equipped for whatever exigsncy may
occur.
l do not say that life will not still be
a very serious business, taxing your re-
sources at times to their utmost; but
/ venture to assure you that you will
have many comforts which can be
earned, but not bought, and a certain
quietness Of soul which he alone can
enjoy who knows what the present
means and who sees the reckoning
hand Of the future. To rest calmly on
the watchful care of Providence even
when the way Is dark and stormy; to
feel in the inner depths that the Hand
which guides knows how to guide; to
yield to submissive resignation to
whatever befalls, looking ever to the
Undiscovered fields of Paradise as the
refuge from grief and toil--this is to
lead very profitable and very com
Portable life, one that viii be a daily
blessing unto yourself and an encour-
hgement to every struggling soul in the
world.-George II. Repworth, in N. Y.