God Alone Permanent

1905

How hard it is to keep our footing firm amid the ebb and flow of things! To-day is not yesterday. New things have come to claim attention; many cherished things have gone. An unseen hand is shaking this kaleidoscope of a world, and nothing can last that depends merely upon the present aspect of things. The great problem, therefore, is to seek God with a thirst which will persist through all changes.


Test of Truth of Doctrine

The truth makes free, brings joy, hope, encouragement. The truth of a doctrine may consist in this, does it cause the mind to rejoice? If a doctrine does this, it may be set down as true, as coming from God. If a doctrine casts a shadow over the soul, if it is destructive of calm delight, if it causes faith to halt, trust to doubt, hope to falter, it is surely not of God and His gospel; it is an error of human origin.


Character

Character is great and worthy in itself and not because of the greater or less fame of a deed through which it manifests itself. The sad sacrifice of Gordon at Khartoum, for the sake of England and of Egypt, is of the same heroic quality as the sacrifice of the missionary among the Arabs or the Chinese, of whose name and fame the world hears but little. It is not the kind of thing through which we show ourselves, but the kind of self we have to show, that counts with God.