The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-02-03
,e author of this, epistle means all, this

Make me- aspire.
When days with petty cares are filled,
Let me with holy thoughts be thiilled,
Of something higher"
This must be our constant prayer, II we
are to run the hurried and hurrying race OF
modern life and preserve our equlpoIse
through it all; and that something high
er" to which we must aspire is the seryrse
of Christ. Let man Eegln to live his lie
in devotion to Him. for His sake and unto
His honor, turning all the intensity and en-;
terprise of his strenuous. existence toward
that as his goal, and his life will speedily
lose it's feverish heat and grow calm and
steadfast and serene. He Iced not slacken
his pace bit. If that be its goal, be may
continue to run and on: to it's close he will
remain patient despite his enviroLing con.
ditions. He may make haste to get rich,
to acquire leadership, to attain success, to
exalt Jesus Christ instead of self, it the un:
seen be his chief aim and aspiration, and
the material but a means thereunto, pc
will go through life patient-proof. and the
t,mult and fever Of the age will never get
into his soul.
For this is peace-to lose the lonely note
Of self in loves ,celestial-ordered strain;
And this is joy+to find ones self again
In Him whose harmonies forever float
Through all the spheres of song, below,
above,
For God is music, even as God is love-"
Oh! this is. what our hard-headed busi.
ness men need, this is what our nervous,
self-centered. society women need, this IS
the great need of our ambitious and eager
youth, to make Jesus Christ, His glory and
service the SOLDERING, absorbing, controlling
ambition of stheir lives. IL this not the
first great look our author commends to 'us
looking nnto Jesus, as our supreme pur'
pose? And what is the second?
Second-Looking unto Jesus for power in
our lives, as our great emancipat0r from
the bondage Of this materialistic age. =.
"Have you ever thought, my friend,
As you daily toll and plod
In the noisy paths Of men,
How still are the ways Of God?
ss'eHaye you ever paused in, the din )
Of traffics insistent cry, : %.
TO thin. of the calm in the cloud,
Of the peace in your glimpse OF the sky!
"Go out in the quiet fields,
That quietly yield you; meat.
And let them rebuke your noise,
Whose patience is still and sweet"
Jesus Christ alone can bring the quiet
ness of the fields and the :ealmncss of the
t, its first great source, would we have the
same atmosphere blowing through our
souls. You know Nine. Guyon's. definition
of prayer: "The silence of soul absorbed
in God" And Tennyson's, if possible, was
even better: prayer is like opening a
sluice between the great ocean and our it-
tie channels, when the great sea gathers it:
self together and flows in at full time" 1t
you and I, would run with patience. we,
too, must let this tide! flow into our lives,
and that can never be until we live in close
touch with Jesus Christ, seek His help at
strength and depend upon His grace for
sustaining and Transforming power. Henry
Drummond once said: Give minutes in
the morning alone with Christ will change
for us the whole day. What then would
all the minutes of all the days in union
with Him do for us? .
'Have you and ! to-day ..-fsr ~
Stood silent as with Christ, apart from JOY,
or fray
Of life, to see His face; -.Gt,Es =.
To look, if but moment, in its grace;
And grow, by brief companionship, more
true,
More nerved to lead, to dare, to do
For Him at any cost? Have we to-day
Found time, in thought, our hand to lay
LII HIS. anu LuuS COIupdIS 4 Z .
His wills ours, andSwear -. -, S%'oS
The impress of His wish? Be sure
Such contact will endure ,e-s- .s.,:, 80.
Throughout the day; will help US walk :
Through storm and food; detect ~
Within the hidden life sims .dross, its
stain; -. - r..
Revive thought Of love for Him again;
Steady the steps which waver; hep ,,s see
The footpath meant for you, and me." =,
Forever true it is that those. who run
life's race patiently are pre-eminently men
Third-What is the third look? Look.
ing unto Jesus as pattern for our lives.
There is something about this pattern, Pc
culiar to itself. Expressed in a word, it
has the perspective Of eternity. Christ
lived His Life not to- crafty feeting,
success, pleasure, but to fulfill God-given
mission, to reach up to divine standard,
and work out an eternal equation. Put to-
gether three heart utterances of His and
the full pattern will be before you: q! do
always the things that please Him'-duty
to His Father, His will ever yielding itself
to2the will Of God "I am come that they
might have life and that they might have
it more abundantly'-duty to men and
complete dedication of Himself to the full.
fillment of that duty. II must work the
works of Him that sent Me"-duty to Him.
self as "the sent of God" whose one pas.
sion was to make His life justify its high
purpose. As some one has phrased it.:
ION one great mission bent,
He sped for God, forever unencumbered
Of earthly clogs whereby our souls arc
numbered,
Tn o1oru eycellento - =. gs,sys
Keep this pattern before you. my fellow
runners, consult it the first thing, IN the
morning. turning to it often through the
day, and let it be the last thing you look
upon at night ere your eyes forget to see,
and you will be too serious to be otherwise
than calm of soul; too much in earnest to
lose your poise, too set upon linking every
moment of time with eternity and work.
inG out the answer of your life to God to
let temporal aim command you or sordid
things enslave you. Then the weights shall
be lifted off the inner and laid hard down
Upon the outward life, and you will con-
tinue to run-perhaps, your pace may
quicken-life will be prompt, an earnest,
eager, intense race, but you will run it
clean down to the end with patience. This
is The trinal secret bring you: Christ the
purpose of our lives. Christ the power in
our lives! Christ the pattern for our lives!
Common Days.
One OF the chief dangers of life is trust
ing occasions. We think that conspicuous
events, striking experiences, exalted mo-
ments, have most to do with our character