1887 



GLt^ANlNGS IN BEE CULTUi^E. 



479 



0a^ pejiEg. 



Thou shalt have no other gods before uie.— 

 Ex. 20:3. 



Y wife reminds me that she tears I 

 am getting to write tlie same tiling 

 over to you in these Home Papers; 

 to which charge I plead guilty, but 

 otter, as a reason, that God's truths 

 need repeating over and over again. As 

 for myself, I liave great cause to feel that I 

 need line upon line, precept upon precept ; 

 and sometimes I feel almost discouraged to 

 think I have to go over the same ground 

 again, and (i^ht the same battles over again, 

 liiat I have been lighting in the Christian 

 warfare for these years that are past. As I 

 grow older, temptations of a different char- 

 acter present themselves to me, to some ex- 

 tent ; but at the same time it is the old, old 

 story— the conflict with sin— with inborn sin 

 — with sins that are possessed in every hu- 

 man heart ; and one of my greatest conflicts 

 just now is to hold fast to that flrst and 

 greatest commandment at the head of our 

 talk to-day — '' Thou shalt have no other 

 gods before me/' I used to laugh at the 

 idea of the healhcn bowing down to images 

 of wood and stone ; but now I feel more like 

 bowing my head in shame and sorrow, be- 

 cause, as it often seems to me, I am but lit- 

 tle better than they; and considering the 

 light that surrounds us now, and the op- 

 portunities that were before them in thiise 

 dark ages, I do not know but I need more of 

 Christ's grace than they did. AVhat did God 

 mean when he gave this as tlie first and 

 greatest commandmentV Jesus makes the 

 matter plainer, especially to us of the pres- 

 ent day, when he says : 



Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 

 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

 —Matt. 23:37. 



He furtlier adds : " This is the first and 

 great commandment." The reason why 

 this is the first and great commandment is, 

 that it covers all the rest substantially. The 

 man who loves God, loves his fellow-man; 

 and the man who loves his fellow-man as 

 himself, will surely be in no danger of 

 wronging liis fellow-man, for he will take 

 more pleasure in seeing him happy than in 

 being happy himself. 



This truth, like other scriptural truths, 

 seems easy and simple enough in the ab- 

 stract. We may hear it from the pulpit, 

 and may nod our heads approvingly, and we 

 may lament that all mankind do not see it 

 as we do ; but, alas ! alas ! when it comes 

 to putting it into practice in every-day life, 

 the depravity and deceitfulness of the hu- 

 man heart become painfully apparent. My 

 friends, I do not feel like speaking of the 

 sins of otliers when I take up this text to- 

 day, therefore I want to say, when I start 

 out to live this text, and try to make God's 

 righteousness foremost, it is with great 

 sadness that I contemplate the depravity of 

 my own heart. At every turn I see selfish- 

 ness taking the place of God. I see all sorts 

 of things belonging to this world threaten- 

 ing to take the place in which God alone 



should stand. In my plans for giving em- 

 ployment to my fellow-men, wherein 1 have 

 found so much enjoyment, even there I find 

 plans creeping in for my own up-building — 

 for my own— shall 1 say my own honor and 

 glory V 1 have been fondly tliinking for 

 some years past, that I had_ got over all 

 ambitious plans and feelings ;' 1 have been 

 fondly hoping I was truly content to labor and 

 to put self aside— keeping out of the way or 

 out of sight as far as possible — not caring to 

 be mentioned ; not caring for praise, but 

 preferring, rather, in the language of the 

 closing words of the Lord's prayer, " Thine 

 is the kingdom, and the power, and the glo- 

 ry for ever." 



1 know by past experience that there is 

 no comfort nor real substantial satisfaction 

 in the praise of the world ; I know by past 

 experience that there is no real enjoyment 

 in any thing the world has to offer, where 

 I can not take God along with me ; but for 

 all that, there are continual longings —there 

 is a continual grasping after things that I 

 know are not wisest and best. These con- 

 flicts are out of sight of the world, or, at 

 least, I take care that they do not result in 

 open action, and yet the world judges pretty 

 fairly after all. There is nothing so decep- 

 tive in this world as sin itself. I know by 

 past experience there is no comfort or sat- 

 isfaction in transgressing any of the ten 

 commandments, even in thought. It was 

 Jesus, remember, who suggested that we 

 could transgress in thought if not in deed. 

 1 have tasted of the pleasures of a sense of 

 God"s love and of his approval. Then why 

 should I for one instant contemplate swap- 

 ping these for any thing that this world has 

 to offer V I know by experience that David 

 spoke tlie truih when he said, '-If I cherish 

 iniquity in my heart, God will not hear 

 me ;" yet for all that, almost day after day 

 I voluntarily and of my own free will grieve 

 the presence of the Holy Spirit, and drive it 

 away. Vf\\y. oh why, shoiild I do this ? At 

 such times it is a comfort to me to read the 

 words of Paul— words which I feel sure 

 were uttered under circumstances at least 

 somewhat similar. Just think of saint 

 Paul himself, who was more devoted to the 

 kingdom of God and his righteousness than 

 any man who lived before, perhaps, or since, 

 saying of himself, " For the good that I 

 would. I do not ; but the evil which I would 

 not, that 1 do." And further on he says, 

 '' Oh wretched man that I am ! w'ho shall de- 

 liver me from the body of this death '/ '' 

 Over and over again, of late, I have been off 

 by myself, and breathed out this little verse, 

 and somehow peace and quietness have al- 

 ways come from it afterward. Some invisi- 

 ble presence has seemed to say, " There, 

 there, child, that is enough. Be careful to 

 remember how weak and imperfect and err- 

 ing you are. My grace is suflicient for thee." 

 And then come the words of that wonderful 

 little hymn. 



Just as I am, without one plea. 

 But that thy blood was shed for me. 



One of my great trials is to keep humble — 

 to forbear vising the authority which I might 

 use if I choose. At the noon service some 



