Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-17
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvOR HOUR
Conducted by Grace Livingston Hill.

Conducted by Grace Livingston Hill
For Sunday, Decembef IS. 1904.
Topic: whatever He Would Like to Have Me Do. ;
Matthew 6 10; John Is 1916.
Matthew WHO, Thy kingdom come. Thy
will be done in earth, it is in heaven
John xv:10-If we keep my command
ments ye shall abide in my love, even
as 1 have kept my Fathers command
nents and abide in His love.
11-These things have 1 spoken unto you
that my joy might remain in you, and
that your JOY might be full
12-This is my commandment, That ye
love one another. as have loved you.
13-Greater love hath no man than this
that a man lay down his life for lis
friends.
14-Ye are my friends if We do whatso-
ever I command you.
15-Henceforth I call you not servants
for the servant knoweth not what His lord
doeth, but I have called you friends, for
all things that / have heard of my Father
I have made known unto YOU
The Lesson.
There is story told of one Of the terri
bic revolutions Of the worst days of Inn
perial Rome, when one of the cruelest
mobs of all time was raging about the
palace Of the Caesars, and any moment
might decide whether Galba or Ohio should
rule the world. 1t is said that one of the
officers of the guard rushed into Galba' 8
presence with a bloody sword and boosted
that he had slain Ohio. Galba only said
'My comrade, by whose order?' A great
historian has brought the sentence down
through nineteen centuries IN these words:
''Comrade, who ordered thee? whose will
art thou doing?" Thus many q Christian
rushes into the midst Of the warfare of
life with a bloody sword and boastful
spirit and thinks to win the world for
Christ single handed. Then he wonders
why he does not succeed, and why the
love of the Heavenly Father does not seem
to side with him. He no longer feels the
sweet Joy that came when first he gave
himself to Christ. nor the sense of Christ s
nearness, and he does not understand it.
Now no other kingdom or nation In the
world would think to win a battle or gain
a point If each soldier took his own way
and worked his plan of fighting out by
himself. In every army there Is head,
and that head must be obeyed. Even the
commonest soldier recognizes the necessity
for that. Some commanders gain obedience
by severity; some, by their great person
atty, gain 1t through love. This is the
to trust implicitly, and therefore as natu-
raj consequence obeys perfectly the every
wish.
And we have been praying for years
'9Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven" and yet we have
been trying just as hard as we possibly
could to have our own will done. When
Gods will seems to be another way we
fight so hard and we pray SO long that it
may change to our way. Oh, how much we
want our own way in this world! Yet His
kingdom only can come on this earth when
His will Is perfectly done. His kingdom
will never come in your heart nor mine I'M
til we let His will be done perfectly in
them.
And If we feel discouraged over the loss
of our Christian JOY. over the fact that
church gatherings so precious, and that our
prayers do not seem to be answered, Gods
promise comes to us today showing us the
reason why all this is. and how it may be
remedied. IF ye keep my commandments
we shall abide in my love-" Stay there,
live there, never go away from that close,
happy communion with our Savior, iii
we keep the commandments" That Is II
we study to do whatever He would like to
have us do.
Is not that the secret of every earthly
love? The young man and the maiden
who first begin to care for one another
study to please each other in every way.
They dress to look well in one another's
eyes, they bend their habits and behavior
to please. They are at their best as they
grow to love one another and still strive
more and more to please. And the secret
often Of many and many an unhappy mar
riage is that after the man and maiden
are bound to one another in the eyes of
the Lord and the world and have there
fore, no longer any fear lest they shall
lose one another, that then they cease to
try to please. They grow careless about
the little gentle ways they had with one
another. They no longer respect each
others likes and dislikes, but even bring
them into scorn before others. Now 1t is
no wonder that love grows cold under thu
opposite treatment from that which
brought 1t into being. And in the DAYS
xyb N o. fr
do the things that pleased, even though
they were not naturally pleasant to the
doer. Some great senator is quoted as
saying that he always tried to be Just a
polite to his wife and children as h,
would be to strangers; that it was the
only way to keep man from being {
beast So the constant study Of how to
please another keeps the love for that
other warm and fresh and sweet
Are Gods commands then SO grieyous
and is His will so hard to do, that for the
priceless treasure of His abiding love we
cannot bend our fitful wills to His? What
is the great command, the earnest wish in
this earnest appeal-one of His last spoken
on earthp What did He want His children
to do more than all other things after low
ing Him and abiding in His love. What
made 1t condition of His love % us abid.
Ing with us forever? Why just this, that
we should love one another. And the APP
peal goes on to plead that 1t is for our own
sakes: THAT your Joy may be full" We
then should be happier If we followed His
will in this. He brings as an example for
us His great sacrifice for u.s. Can we not
lay down our lives, our wishes for others
whom He loves when He has done 1t for
US?
There are many things that come into this
question, Whatever He would like to have
me do" as 1t Is comprehended in our Chris
tian Endeavor pledge. but perhaps none
more to the point than this very wish OF
our Father that We should love one an
other. And especially does 1t need empha-
sis in connection with the thought II our