Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1907-11-25
n Of the directions I'VE have mention.

who are strictly worldly and Goddess,
but it does surprise us when We see
it in men and women who profess to
be the followers of Him who was the
Incarnation of unselfishness. There
are men who have and feel the in
finite nature of duty and ever put it
before self-interest, but many instan-
ces might be adduced to show that
hundreds of so-called Christians will
permit ease or pleasure or profit to
drown the loudest call of duty
The second is that of public opinion;
they trim their sails to the winds of
other mems ideas. There are matters
in which public opinion may be a
wholesome guide, for 1t may repre-
sent the best, for lit is the combined,
the condensed and the consecrated wis
dom of the many as against the wis
dom OF the individual. But speak of
those who always look to the opinion
of the public-whether right or wrong,
before taking any independent action
of their own. Take for example the
'many artificial manners and customs
| that society has established They
may be right or wrong, good or bad
/ that is not the question; but we all
know that there are persons who suf-
fer more because they have violated
one of these artificial laws of socie-
Ivy than they do when they have vio-
lated one of the fundamental and
eternal laws of God.
The third motive--and the one which
is and ought always to be--is whether
our thoughts, words and actions are
acceptable to God. To find out IL this
is our motive we must first go to
Gods word--the Bible--and there see
what thought, words and actions, He
would have us think and speak and
do; and then return within to see If
III. they agree with ours. 1t is difficult
but it must be done. AS man thinks
so is he.
If we would know ourselves as God
knows us we have but to keep an ac-
curate account of what we think about,
just for one day. for every day is
but miniature Of whole life. Let
us try for one day for it is we'll worth
the effort.
There is one othr thought in the
text to which we would call atten-
ton and that is the utter helpless
ness of man to make his thoughts and
words acceptable to God.
With our words is is easier, but we
all know how difficult it is to control
our thoughts. They come unbidden and
at the most unexpected times. Evil
thoughts intrude themselves when we
engaged in our most sacred exercises,
and we are all but helpless to Danish
read in the ntext the two words,
'redeemer and strength. The evil
thoughts come from Satan, the adver-
lsary and enemy of our souls. He
dared to suggest them, even to our
dear Lord himself, but Christ not only
overcame Satan but. he redeemed us
from his power, and gave us an adj
ded power to become the sons of
.God and to think Gods thoughts. The
'evil lies not in the suggestion, but
in dwelling upon the thought sug-
gested. We cannot prevent men from
knocking at our door, but we need
not invite them into our homes. We
have above observed that we cannot
think and speak Alright and acceptably
to God in our strength, but we further
observe that the Psalmist calls God
his strength. And so did Paul. But
he did not stop there; he went on to
tell the Corinthians of the more hope
full truth; he tells themrof what Christ
said unto him, MY grace is sufficient
for thee; for my strength is made
perfect in weakness" And he said to
the Philippians, II can do all things
through Christ which strengthened
me-"