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 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 •d^t- 
 
 BV 4647 .S5 T5 1860 
 This one thing I do 
 

 J 
 
 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 CALL TO CHRISTIAN EARNESTNESS 
 ADDRESSED TO NEW DISCIPLES. 
 
 " I count not myself to have apprehended : but this one thing I 
 DO. * * * I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling 
 of God in Christ Jesus."— Phiuppians iii. 13, 14. 
 
 " I tell thee, if thou wilt observe but this one thing for thy soul, I 
 make no doubt of thy salvation. Shake off thy sloth and put to all thy 
 strength and be a Christian indeed: I know not then what can hinder 
 thy happiness. But * * * * jf thou loiter when thou shouldst 
 labor, thou wilt lose the crown." — Saint's Rest. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 , PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE, 
 
 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 NEW YORK : A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 683 BROADWAY. 
 CINCINNATI: VTM. SCOTT. .. .ST. LOUIS: J. W. McINTYRE. .. .DETROIT: 
 F. RAYMOND.... CHICAGO: WM. TOMLINSON. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 
 
 WILLIAM PURVES, Treasurer, 
 
 in trust for the 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Eastern Distiict of Pennsylvania. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON k CO. 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The reader of the following pages will find 
 a slightly varied repetition of familiar and 
 thoroughly discussed truths. Yet the writer 
 believes that, though there is neither novelty 
 in the subject nor obvious peculiarity in the 
 mode of treating it, the little book will not 
 altogether fail to promote inquiry, illustrate 
 truth, and define duty. '^ Each messenger," 
 says a late eminent divine, '' has some pecu- 
 liarity in his way of influence; and every 
 man who thinks long and deeply upon the 
 plan of grace has certain views which he 
 cherishes with delight and in which he 
 strongly desires that others may participate. 
 Even truths as old as Christianity itself 
 strike him in such a way that he flatters 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 himself he can bring them home with a 
 kindred freshness to his neighbors and 
 brethren." If, by an individual mode of con- 
 sidering an important question, some degree 
 of clearness and precision has in one case 
 been attained, it seems natural to apply to 
 other minds the same process, and reasonable 
 to expect a similar result. There are many 
 in the Christian community who, owing to 
 youth, to manner of education and con- 
 version, to habits of superficial thought, and, 
 especially, to the undue predominance in the 
 present day of active over contemplative reli- 
 gion, have never comprehended their posi- 
 tion nor duly estimated their engagements. 
 When, heretofore, the writer's attention was 
 directed to the import and obligations of the 
 ordinance of the Lord's Supper, she became 
 sensible of the insufiiciency of general reli- 
 gious reading and reflection, and perceived 
 a probable advantage from arranging for her- 
 self, in relation to this subject, some simple 
 form or system of opinion and meditation. 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 In her search after truth, she found much 
 requisite information and many valuable 
 directions; but the precious ore and shining 
 metal seemed to need the coinage of her own 
 brain and the touchstone of her experience 
 before they could become available to her 
 purpose and sufficient for her wants. She 
 was thus first prompted to write in a private 
 record some portion of what here appears as 
 preparation for the Communion, and after- 
 ward found interest in amplifying the sub- 
 ject until it reached a shape in which she 
 hopes it, will not be deemed inappropriate to 
 publication nor prove serviceable only to 
 herself. 
 
 January. 1860, 
 
 1« 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 Earnestness in the pursuit of an ob- 
 ject is the surest pledge of its attain- 
 ment. Involvmg faith in the value of 
 the thing sought, it gives diligence and 
 perseverance to effort, and often com- 
 pensates for defect of strength and lack 
 of means. Especially is this true in 
 reference to the religious life. The 
 Christian is to strive for the prize of 
 the high calling which is in Christ 
 Jesus, is to follow after that holiness 
 which is at once the condition and evi- 
 dence of his acceptance with God. On 
 the character of his first convictions and 
 
8 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 puriDOses his after-course will in a great 
 measure depend, and in proportion to 
 his standard of Christian excellence will 
 be his progress in grace and his advance 
 in the divine life. According to his 
 sense of sinfulness, of gratitude to his 
 Redeemer, of desire to evince by his life 
 the sincerity of his repentance, will, in 
 general, his self-surrender be complete 
 and his holy desires abiding. With low 
 and unworthy aims and views, he can 
 rarely be other than a feeble, wavering 
 Christian, if indeed he be a Christian 
 at all; and, after having faithfully 
 sought the answer to the question, 
 "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 
 he can scarcely fail to obtain a more 
 perfect acquaintance with self and a 
 clearer insight into the will of God, — to 
 know and do which constitutes the 
 whole of human duty. 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. \) 
 
 It is this sense of the importance of 
 earnest thought and action in the com- 
 mencement of a religious life which has 
 led us to consider particularly the first 
 duty of a Christian as such, — the act hy 
 which he assumes the name and obliga- 
 tions of a follower of Jesus Christ, — and 
 to endeavor, in describing the prepara- 
 tion for partaking of the Lord's Supper 
 and the right use of prayer and the 
 study of the Scriptures, as the main 
 helps to holy living, to trace an outline 
 of what we deem should be a Christian's 
 Avalk and conversation. With the com- 
 memoration of the death of his Saviour, 
 the religious life of the professing Chris- 
 tian begins ; and perhaps no portion of 
 his duty has been more ably discussed 
 or more fully enforced. In our Pro- 
 testant age and country, there is less 
 danger of ignorance or misapprehension 
 
10 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 on this point than on almost any other. 
 Still, it may be of use to attempt to 
 elicit from the mass of what has been 
 written, the simj)lest form of doctrinal 
 truth and the niost profitable sug- 
 gestions for practice. As minds vary, 
 so will religious experience vary; and 
 often that which will be most valuable 
 in one case should in another occupy a 
 less prominent position, and may indeed' 
 be altogether unnecessary and irrele- 
 vant. But in the ordinance designed to 
 be the bond of union and the pledge of 
 obedience to Christ, there are general 
 considerations adapted to each under- 
 standing, and general directions which 
 cannot fail to secure to the sincere in- 
 quirer the desired benefit. To such a 
 one, if this little book should meet his 
 eye, we would address the word in 
 season, hoping, in considering this sub- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 11 
 
 ject, to propose nothing calculated to 
 perplex and oppress his mind, but to 
 offer to him that only which he can 
 readily embrace, easily recall, and ad- 
 vantageously practise. 
 
 Let us first briefly review the history 
 of the institution of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Our Saviour, knowing that the time 
 of his departure was at hand, and that 
 the great sacrifice must soon be accom- 
 plished which would at once close his 
 ministry on earth, separate him from 
 his dependent followers, and exalt him 
 to be their advocate and intercessor in 
 heaven, "the same night in which he 
 was betrayed took bread, and when he 
 had given thanks he brake it, and said, 
 Take, eat; this is my body which is 
 broken for you : this do in remembrance 
 of me. After the same manner also he 
 took the cup when he had supped, say- 
 
12 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 ing, This cup is the new testament in 
 my blood : this do ye, as oft as ye drink 
 it, in remembrance of me." The apostle 
 adds, " For as often as ye eat this bread 
 and drink this cup, ye do show the 
 Lord's death till he come." So far as 
 we can learn from this narration and 
 from the early history of the church, 
 this was regarded as a perfectly simple 
 transaction, — a direction to refer at cer- 
 tain periods to the Saviour of mankind, 
 and to keep ever, through all time, in 
 all subsequent states of the church, "till 
 he come," the recollection of his life and 
 death by means of this visible observ- 
 ance. It was during the commemora- 
 tion of the Jewish passover that Jesus 
 Christ gave this command to his dis- 
 ciples. To their minds, then directed 
 to the typical deliverance of their nation 
 from bondage and death, and to the 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 13 
 
 shedding of blood as their salvation and 
 hope, this reference to the predicted 
 sufferings and death of their Master, 
 the true Paschal Lamb, the end of the 
 law, the thing signified in all their cere- 
 monies, must have presented itself with 
 peculiar force. 
 
 To the Christian church, since the 
 days of the apostles, the obligation to 
 this commemoration of the Saviour is 
 his command ; the virtue of it, that it 
 is an act of love, of faith, of gratitude, 
 of self-consecration to Him who requires 
 these exercises of our minds, and with- 
 out them will not bestow the blessings 
 of pardon and eternal life. It is also 
 the sign of the Christian church, — that 
 by which it declares its Master to be 
 Christ, its Head, the crucified Redeemer 
 of the world. Christians, therefore, 
 from that period until now, have obeyed 
 
 2 
 
14 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 the dying command of their Lord, and 
 from time to time have united in a feast 
 which has thus become the bond of their 
 union and the token of their obedience 
 to Christ. To constitute a fitness for it, 
 there is nothing requisite but faith in 
 him, repentance for sin, and a conse- 
 quent 23urpose to lead a holy life. In 
 our day this memorial of the Saviour 
 has been described as a mystery and a 
 sacrifice. But surely in no sense can 
 either of these terms be a23propriate, 
 and the use of them confuses and 
 darkens a subject than which none in 
 revealed truth is simpler and more ma- 
 nifest. We believe that much of the 
 hesitation and fear often felt by those 
 who desire to make a pubhc profession 
 of faith in Christ arises from some such 
 false view of this ordinance and from 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 15 
 
 imperfect examination of its history and 
 import. ' 
 
 He who wishes to unite himself to the 
 church of Christ should ask, Do I be- 
 lieve in my Saviour? Does my faith 
 influence not only my intellect but my 
 heart, inclining it to embrace the gospel 
 scheme of redemption and to submit to 
 its terms of pardon ? Do I feel true 
 repentance for my sins, not only for 
 single offences which out of the multi- 
 tude of the past may stand forth pre- 
 eminent, but repentance for ^^ the inward 
 principle of contrariety to the law of 
 God," for the continual proneness to 
 evil, for that other law in my members 
 ever warring against the law of my 
 mind ? Do I purpose to lead a holy 
 life, and is it my most earnest desire to 
 do the will of my Maker, to honor his 
 cause and to glorif)^ his name? Who- 
 
16 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 ever can before God and his conscience 
 faithfully answer these questions, may 
 come with confidence, though with humi- 
 lity, and receive the emblems of his Sa- 
 viour's body and blood. Still, it is most 
 needful that sufficient evidence be fur- 
 nished that this is indeed the state of 
 the heart. Many, it is true, hesitate 
 without cause ; but we hold — though in 
 opposition to some writers on this sub- 
 ject — that the communion of the body 
 and blood of Christ, though unquestion- 
 ably a means of grace, is not solely or 
 primarily such. It marks a position 
 already attained, it states a fact, it sup- 
 poses the partaker to have already 
 chosen whom he will serve and on what 
 side he will stand. Something of grace 
 and of the work of the Spirit must then 
 be perceptible in the life of him who 
 enrols himself in the Christian ranks. 
 
THIS ONE THINC I DO. 17 
 
 If he expects to wage a conflict with 
 sin and Satan, he must see to it first 
 that he has his weapons, and that they 
 are tempered for the strife. The as- 
 surance of hope, the certainty of being 
 in a state of reconciliation with God 
 and of having become the subject of his 
 grace, are not possessed and enjoyed by 
 every believer; nor is any such con- 
 fidence, however much it may com- 
 fort and elevate, essential to conversion 
 or a necessary condition of acceptance 
 with our Maker. But he who designs 
 to connect himself with the visible 
 church of Christ must have the con- 
 sciousness of his sinfulness and the de- 
 sire for holiness so far developed as to 
 have induced, by the influence of the 
 Spirit, some degree of repentance for 
 the one, and of faith in Christ as the 
 means of obtaining the other. These 
 
18 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 internal principles cannot exist without 
 their outward expression. They must 
 lead to the state of heart and the mode 
 of life which the Bible describes and 
 enjoins. This conformity to the law 
 of God is not the less real because it 
 may vary from circumstances of educa- 
 tion, temperament, position, health, and 
 belief. Neither should its existence be 
 doubted because it is not at all times 
 equally discernible in the life of the 
 penitent who desires yet hesitates to 
 call himself by the name of Christ. His 
 experience so far has been, and, we can 
 tell him, will continue more or less to 
 be one of grievous sins, sad declensions, 
 frequent coldness, and, perhaps, unbe- 
 lief But if he can through this dark- 
 ness see the faintest spark of desire 
 after God and holiness, if he earnestly 
 seeks to be delivered from sin, — ^not 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 19 
 
 merely from its consequences, but from 
 sin itself, — if he honors the name and 
 day of God, loves his people, feeds his 
 poor, and frequents his house, then may 
 he take heart and come forward to his 
 Master's table, there to declare his de- 
 votion to him and to unite with Chris- 
 tians in celebrating the love which will 
 ^accomplish their redemption. 
 
 By all who recognise the ordinance 
 of the Lord's Supper it is admitted that 
 ^ special preparation is ordinarily essen- 
 tial to its worthy and profitable recep- 
 tion. The teaching of Scripture is ex- 
 plicit on this point : — " Examine your- 
 selves whether ye be in the faith." 
 " But let a man examine himself, and so 
 let him eat of that bread and drink of 
 that cup; for if we would judge ourselves 
 we should not be judged;" — and it is be- 
 lieved that in proportion to the careful- 
 
'20 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 ness of the preparation is the benefit 
 accruing and the comfort enjoyed. The 
 work of the heart is not, it is true, de- 
 pendent on set times or serial exercises. 
 It may be, and doubtless often is, as 
 fully accomplished in moments as in 
 hours. Such, however, is not generally 
 the mode of the Spirit's dealing with 
 us ; and, free and boundless as is God's 
 mercy, he will still be inquired of in the 
 bestowment of his blessings. His word 
 declares what our experience confirms, 
 — that here, also, we must walk in the 
 appointed way, must ask if we would 
 obtain, seek if we would find, and be 
 willing to give an undivided attention 
 to the consideration of this solemn act 
 of faith and love if we truly desire com- 
 munion with Christ and fellowship with 
 his disciples. The heart is by nature 
 so sluggish, so averse from holy thoughts 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 21 
 
 and spiritual exercises, it so shrinks from 
 groping in its own darkness and tracing 
 the windings and doublings of its own 
 deceitfulness, that, unless constrained 
 by repeated efforts, it will relax in vigi- 
 lance and become satisfied with a formal 
 and imperfect self-examination. It will 
 also in almost every instance be found 
 that, however weak the sense of sin and 
 self-abasement, it will strengthen by 
 meditation, and the breath of prayer 
 will kindle within us what were before 
 the dying embers of faith and love. 
 
 Give yourself, then, young or un- 
 thinking disciple of Christ, in earnest to 
 this work. Leave not to the latest 
 period that consideration which you 
 dare not altogether neglect, but which 
 is unwelcome and painful to you. Re- 
 strain the demands of society, and, as 
 far as possible, of business, upon your 
 
22 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 time. Put your mind in a posture of 
 though tfulness, of prayer, and of self- 
 examination. If not at other times, at 
 least noio when you are about to engage 
 in one of the most solemn acts of your 
 spiritual life, give yourself up to direct 
 communion with your God, to remem- 
 brance of your Saviour, to supplications 
 to the Holy Spirit for aid in all the 
 parts of your duty, for strength to resist 
 the adversary of your soul, who would 
 tempt you to unbelief, to wandering and 
 lightness of mind, to hardness and in- 
 difference of heart. 
 
 You have very much to ponder ; — the 
 prevailing state of your spiritual con- 
 cerns, — the particular sins to which pecu- 
 liar circumstances and temptations have 
 inclined you, — the besetting sins against 
 which is your hardest struggle and 
 wliich have either been successfully 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 23 
 
 combated, or, obtaining the mastery, 
 have rendered you feebler than before. 
 You have to ask what is your repent- 
 ance for thrice-multiplied transgressions 
 against the law and love of God. Is it 
 repentance^ — a grieving for and a turn- 
 ing from the sin ? Is it, with sorrow for 
 the offence, an earnest purpose of a ncAV 
 obedience ? Do you view with loathing 
 and self-abhorrence the desperate wicked- 
 ness of your heart and the evil of your 
 life ? Or if, in the providence of God, 
 you have been kept from gross sins, if 
 by natural temperament you are not 
 susceptible of strong emotion, and can- 
 not bring yourself to feel the keen 
 anguish and remorse that the sense of 
 sin occasions to others, still do you en- 
 tertain a clear conviction of having 
 offended God ? Do you consider sin as 
 hateful in itself as well as awful in its 
 
24 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 consequences? Do you feel a positive, 
 if not overwhelming regret for your past 
 misdeeds ? 
 
 What is the character of your faith 
 in Christ? Have you accepted him as 
 3'our Eedeemer, and are you continually 
 trusting to him for salvation ? Do you 
 view him in his human nature as your 
 friend, your elder Brother, your counsel- 
 lor, your guide, your comforter? Have 
 you discerned the loveliness of his un- 
 equalled character? Have you felt his 
 tenderness? Have the tears he shed 
 over Lazarus seemed again to flow for 
 you dead in trespasses and sins ? Has 
 that look which fell on Peter seemed at 
 times to rest on you and rebuke you 
 for your faithlessness and indifference ? 
 Peter denied his Saviour thrice ; but 
 you, who went not up amid the fury and 
 tumult of a mob to the judgment-hall, 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 25 
 
 you, who have now learned the triumph 
 of his death and the wonder of his re- 
 surrection, — how often have you denied 
 him ? In his divine nature, do you 
 view Jesus Christ as the brightness of 
 the Father's glory and the express 
 image of his person, the Creator of 
 worlds, the Judge of men ? Is he 
 equally with the Father the object of 
 your praise, and do you exalt him in 
 your heart as one with the Father, God 
 over all, blessed forever ? 
 
 You have also to recall your conduct 
 and examine your feelings toward your 
 fellow-men. If you have enemies, are 
 they such without fault of yours, — or 
 with strenuous efforts on your part 
 to repair whatever injury you have 
 done, to forgive every injury you have 
 suffered, joined to a willingness to re- 
 turn good for the evil received ? How 
 
26 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 have you performed your duties to your 
 family, your friends, your neighbors, 
 and your country? 
 
 If a husband or a wife, how have you 
 acted in this tenderest and closest of 
 human relations ? Have you been faith- 
 ful to your pledges and to vows made 
 before God and recorded in his book? 
 Have you loved and honored, cherished 
 and clung to, the companion of your 
 life? or, at least, have you been kind 
 and tender-hearted, forbearing and for- 
 giving, and has this been not your 
 occasional but your habitual practice ? 
 Have you been self-denying and patient, 
 not only in the emergencies, but in the 
 ordinary trials and anxieties, of your 
 condition ? You could perhaps have 
 found strength to forgive and meekly 
 endure exaggerated offences and gross 
 wrong. Have you, in like manner, for- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. Z< 
 
 given and endured, not sullenly or 
 sternly, but with gentleness and tender- 
 ness, the petulance, suspicion, and dis- 
 trust which without cause may have 
 wrung your spirit and marred your 
 peace ? Es23ecially, have you sought 
 the spiritual advancement and eternal 
 salvation of the partner of your bosom ? 
 Have you prayed and striven that you 
 might be joined not only in the flesh 
 but in the love and service of God, that 
 you might be one in Christ, one in hope 
 and aim, and one at last in heaven ? 
 
 If you are a parent, have you asked 
 for your children what Solomon de- 
 sired chiefly for himself, — not riches or 
 honors, but the only true wisdom? 
 Have you early and uniformly purposed, 
 with Hannah, that you will lend these 
 children unto the Lord, that " as long 
 as they live they shall be lent unto the 
 
28 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 Lord"? Have you ever tried to mea- 
 sure the length and breadth of your 
 duty to them? Pause, now, and look 
 at it for a moment. Your helpless, 
 innocent, unconscious children, who can 
 now look to you alone for temporal and 
 spiritual good, who must lean on you — 
 alas ! it may be a broken reed — until 
 their eyes are strong to discern and 
 their feet to tread the right path, whose 
 tempers are to be moulded to gentleness 
 and Christian meekness, whose minds 
 are to be directed to whatsoever things 
 are true and pure and lovely, who are 
 to be led away from contemplating the 
 dross of this world to perceive and value 
 the pure gold which adorns the ever- 
 lasting temple of God, into whose open, 
 thirsting minds are to be carefully, con- 
 stantly instilled — yea, poured, drop by 
 drop — lessons of that wisdom which 
 
THIS ONE THINCx I DO. 29 
 
 only can secure to them salvation ; — oh, 
 who is to be faithful to them in these 
 things ! Pray, parent, for them, and 
 pray for yourself, that a God of mercy 
 may not let you lie down on a dying 
 bed conscious that you have utterly 
 come short in all. Ask him to direct 
 you and aid you to keep ever before 
 your mind that these are immortal souls 
 committed to your charge, and that it 
 will perhaps depend on you, in his mys- 
 terious dealings, whether they are to 
 dwell forever with the damned, or to 
 rise to light and holiness and bliss. 
 
 In your intercourse with the vv^orld, 
 is it your endeavor to lead the life and 
 show the spirit of a Christian ; and, 
 Avhatever be your time, influence, tal- 
 ents, and attainments, do you use them 
 for the furtherance of the interests of 
 religion ? Is it the office of your tongue 
 
 3* 
 
30 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 in season to instruct, to warn, to exhort^ 
 and to convey to other minds sound 
 opinions, pure sentiments, and the most 
 decided testimony to the truth and 
 power of the religion of the Bible ? 
 
 Lastly, if you have already become a 
 member of the church of Christ, what 
 has been your position there ? Have 
 you added one to its number, but 
 nothing to its strength? Have you 
 been the unfruitful tree which hath 
 cumbered the ground and hindered the 
 growth of other plants in the vineyard 
 of the Lord? Has the light and heat 
 of ordinances been shed on you in vain, 
 and has the breath of prayer in God's 
 house been in vain wafted over your 
 soul and failed to bring forth the fair 
 blossoms of Christian love and hope, 
 the fruits of Christian righteousness and 
 usefulness ? Or have you perceived that 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 31 
 
 the end of your faith is not simply to 
 secure your own salvation, but to glorify 
 God and to honor your Saviour by ex- 
 tending his cause, co-operating in his 
 work, and conforming to his will ? 
 
 Such is a somewhat extended outline 
 of the duty of self-examination ; and it 
 is to be filled up with whatever arises 
 from individual or peculiar obligations, 
 temptations, and capabilities. 
 
 Another means of preparation for the 
 Lord's Supper is meditation upon his 
 life, sufferings, and death, the wonderful 
 love which induced his sacrifice, and the 
 glory of his reappearing. Indeed, this 
 is the subject which should pre-emi- 
 nently engage our attention. "Jesus 
 Christ and him crucified" should be at 
 such a time the chief theme of our reflec- 
 tions, — a theme from which not even 
 our unworthiness, repentance, or any 
 
32 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 other topic connected with the occasion, 
 should long distract us. We should aim 
 at exercising such faith and trust in him 
 as that, when pressed down by a sense 
 of sin, by doubts of our perseverance, 
 and by despairing views of our weakness 
 and the strength of our spiritual adver- 
 sary, we may look to the cross, and, there 
 beholding the full atonement for all sin 
 and recalling the precious benefits and 
 pledges aftbrded us by this perfect satis- 
 faction of our Redeemer, may overcome 
 every doubt and fear, and draw supplies 
 of strength and hope from the contem- 
 plation of his boundless love and unfail- 
 ing mercy. Chiefly, therefore, should 
 you dwell on the great work of Christ 
 jind his ability to save. Your soul will 
 thus be filled with awe and tenderness 
 hi view of his amazing sufferings, with 
 gratitude and admiration, and with ear- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 33 
 
 nest desire to appropriate the blessings 
 of his death. Remembering your past 
 omissions, yea, carefully recalling them 
 and striving for a due sense of shame 
 and sorrow, you will, in view of that per- 
 fect purity and that infinite compassion 
 for your infirmities, the more earnestly 
 form purposes of amendment, and this 
 not in your own strength, but fervently 
 supplicating the influence of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 But self-examination and meditation 
 on the character and work of Christ will 
 be insufficient to your preparation for 
 the solemn ordinance which you design 
 to observe, if you add not to them 
 humble, fervent, believing 'prayer. At 
 no time, perhaps, can you offer j^our 
 supplications at the throne of grace with 
 greater hope of their being heard and 
 answered. If you have faithfully pur- 
 
34 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 sued the course that has been indicated, 
 you have, as a natural result, obtained 
 clearer views of your lost condition, of 
 your inability to regain the forfeited 
 favor of your God, and an almost de- 
 spairing sense of your proneness to evil 
 and of your feebleness to oppose the 
 attacks of the great enemy of your soul. 
 If your meditations have been blessed 
 by the influence of the Holy Spirit 
 which you have invoked, you have a 
 more perfect apprehension of the worth 
 and mercy of the sacrifice which the 
 Son of God has made for you, of the 
 spotless purity of his human and of the 
 glorious majesty of his divine nature. 
 He has appeared infinitely precious to 
 your soul, so that you could cling to 
 him as your Master and Lord, and de- 
 sire no other attainment than to be 
 " like him," no other portion than to be 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 35 
 
 "forever with the Lord," — a partaker 
 alike of his nature and his glory. You 
 have for once felt some longing to be 
 done with the sin as wellas the misery 
 of your state, — to bid adieu to every 
 doubt, regret, and fear, — to serve without 
 imperfection or distraction that Saviour 
 whose claim to your gratitude and love 
 is lasting as eternity, — to bask in the 
 light of that uncreated sun whose far- 
 reaching beams reveal in the fair works 
 of the heavenly world no stain or de- 
 formity, but only truth, order, and 
 beauty to your bewildered intellect, and 
 purity and peace to your longing and 
 wearied heart. You have in these con- 
 templations so refreshed and strength- 
 ened your soul that it has ranged with 
 ever-new delight from each manifesta- 
 tion of the Saviour's perfection to his 
 promises of pardon, from the holiness 
 
36 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 of the law to the satisfaction of the 
 atonement; and to you have perhaps 
 been granted those " permitted moments 
 of exultation through faith when we 
 cease to feel our own emptiness save as 
 a capacity for our Kedeemer's fulness." 
 What more fitting, then, than that at 
 such a time you should seek direct and 
 personal communion with Him who has 
 been the glorious and inexhaustible 
 theme of your meditation, and that, 
 when you have reason to think he has 
 graciously visited your soul and afforded 
 it some clearer view of his perfection, 
 you should, with increased humility, 
 faith, fervor, and hope, bring unto him 
 the offering of your praise and plead for 
 forgiveness and eternal life? Sensible 
 how feeble are even the strongest mo- 
 tions of your soul toward him, how dim 
 your brightest views, and how imperfect 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. .) t 
 
 your best apprehensions ol' liis presence 
 and character, you will pour out your 
 heart in supplications for the especial 
 aid of the Holy Spirit to enable you to 
 obtain a more full conception of the 
 great scheme of redemption, of its sub- 
 lime commencement, its wonderful pro- 
 secution, and its stupendous accomplish- 
 ment. You will ask the same gracious 
 influence, that your heart may be deeply 
 affected by the remembrance of the sor- 
 rowful life and agonizing death of Him 
 who showed such love to your soul that 
 he left the glory and bliss of heaven 
 that he might provide the means for its 
 salvation, and, if possible, induce you to 
 adopt them. 
 
 From supplications like these you 
 will rise prepared to go, not with doubt- 
 ing and trembling, but with confidence, 
 yea, joy, to that feast spread out for 
 
 4 
 
38 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 you, and you will experience Avhat we 
 believe is not merely the desirable, but 
 the only suitable state of feeling when 
 partaking of the memorials of our Sa- 
 viour's death. Humble you will feel 
 yourself to be. deeply self-abased, even 
 as after the commission of some heinous 
 sin; but, unlike that humility, your 
 present prostration of spirit will be un- 
 accompanied by bitterness and degrada- 
 tion. Self and sin will almost be lost 
 sight of in the contemplation of an in- 
 finitely lovely Saviour, in transporting 
 views of the freeness and sufficiency of 
 the salvation he has worked out for 
 you, in exulting anticipation of his 
 second coming, when joii shall taste 
 with him that " new wine," — the bless- 
 ings of redemption, — and, freed forever 
 from sin and sorrow, shall have perfect 
 and eternal scope for the highest exer- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 39 
 
 cise of your gratitude and love to this 
 blessed Lord and Master. Self and 
 sin! — what have jou now in these fa- 
 vored moments to do with them ? Has 
 not the one been devoted to your Re- 
 deemer, consecrated to him for time 
 and for eternity, and will he refuse the 
 offering he died to secure ? ''■ Will he 
 lead thee to death who died to save 
 thee from it ?" Sin ! — has it not been 
 abhorred, repented of, renounced ? Has 
 not He who is faithful pronounced that 
 it shall not have lasting dominion over 
 you ? What more can you ask ? No : 
 your communion is noio to be with 
 your Redeemer, and his matchless con- 
 descension the theme of your reflections. 
 You are to catch some rays from the 
 glory of his countenance, to rejoice for 
 a season in his smile, and to hear the 
 gracious tones of his voice speaking 
 
40 THIS OXE THING I DO. 
 
 peace to your soul with the j^i^^cious 
 and eternal words, '' I will come again 
 and receive you unto myself, that where 
 I am there ye may be also. I will that 
 they also whom thou hast given me be 
 with me where I am, that they may 
 behold my glorj^" 
 
 Bat, like Moses, we must leave our 
 mount of vision and blest meditation 
 and return to the cares and duties 
 which too often hide heaven from our 
 eyes and attract so long our gaze that it 
 cannot return to the prospect that had 
 cheered and strengthened us. Here in- 
 dexed is the problem of Christian life; 
 here the rock on which 50 many split ; 
 here the darkness through which so 
 many grope, and, alas ! never learn to 
 direct their eyes to the light. How can 
 
THIS ONE THING 1 DO. 4] 
 
 we reconcile the earthly walk to the 
 heavenly mind ? How are we, being 
 of the earth, earthy, to fulfil the lawful 
 requirements of this our nature, — to eat 
 and drink, to love and rejoice, to labor 
 and repose, — and yet live in heart and 
 mind in that heaven whither we would 
 go, and habitually value the objects of 
 faith and hope far beyond those of sense 
 and sight? This is the lifelong per- 
 plexity of almost every Christian. Even 
 though theoretically he may have re- 
 moved the difficulty, practically it is 
 ever renewed till death translates him 
 to a state where his nature is no more 
 subjected to adverse and debasing in- 
 fluences. And yet, on right views of 
 this subject, on persevering efforts and 
 constant direction of the mind to the 
 truth, depends most of Christian attain- 
 ment and perhaps all of Christian com- 
 
42 THIS OKE THING I DO. 
 
 fort. We complain of drawbacks, of 
 want of peace, of broken resolutions, 
 of misspent time and misused influence, 
 of inability to make any advance in the 
 divine life, of coldness in prayer and 
 ever-wandering thoughts in the house 
 of God ; and, if a careful review be 
 made, it will be found that our sinful- 
 ness and misery have formed the chief 
 subjects of our religious meditations. 
 Needful as are an acquaintance with 
 self and an abiding sense of infirmity to 
 occasion humility, w^atchfulness, and de- 
 pendence on God, still w^e shall never 
 walk in the light nor enjoy the liberty 
 of the gospel, if from the stepping-stone 
 of self and earthly circumstance we 
 ascend not into that higher region 
 where we may ever behold the perfec- 
 tions of God, obtain glimpses of the 
 paradise above, and discern more clearly 
 
THIS OXE THING 1 DO. 43 
 
 the wonders of creation and providence. 
 If we admit that conduct is the result 
 or development of mental operations, 
 we must perceive the value, nay, the 
 indispensable necessity, of such views 
 of our relations to God, of the uses and 
 duties of the present life and the cha- 
 racter of the future, as are adapted to 
 dismiss perplexity, — so often ending in 
 doubt and disbelief, — to elevate and en- 
 lighten the intellect, and to diffuse peace 
 through the heart. But for the benefit 
 and enjoyment of such meditations there 
 is a training necessary, — a training which 
 no Christian parent or teacher can give, 
 and which is the result of a deep con- 
 viction of the paramount importance of 
 heavenly things and of faithful, perse- 
 vering prayer. 
 
 Bishop Wilson said. He who has 
 learned to pray has learned the secret 
 
44 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 of a holy life. Here, then, we offer you 
 the solution of the problem we have 
 sj)oken of, — answer now the question 
 which to philosophy, to a formal reli- 
 gion, to your own understanding, you 
 have so often and so vainly proposed, — 
 furnish you with the only means by 
 which, in the necessities and enjoy- 
 ments, the temptations and trials of 
 your condition, you may ever walk 
 with God, — and point out to you the 
 bridge which, unseen by so many mortal 
 eyes, connects earth and heaven, and 
 passing over which you may discover 
 the richest treasures and return laden 
 with the most precious gifts. How can 
 it be otherwise, when it is i^rayer which 
 opens to us the holy of holies of our 
 faith, which affords us the nearest vicAV 
 of the heavenly glory, the clearest mani- 
 festation of the Avill and, perchance, of 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 45 
 
 the favor of our God, and, clearing the 
 film from our eyes, enables us to behold 
 in vision our destiny and freedom, our 
 true life and completed happiness ? 
 
 In entering upon this duty, which so 
 remarkably connects the reward with 
 the performance, we should endeavor to 
 view ourselves as in the presence of the 
 Godhead, to exclude as far as needful 
 earthly objects, and to feel our own in- 
 significance and the greatness of the 
 triune Being whom we address. In the 
 efiort to do this, we must bear in mind 
 God's revealed character, the heaven — 
 whether place or state it matters not — 
 into which he invites us to enter, the 
 promises of pardon to repenting sinners, 
 and of salvation throuo'h the atonement 
 
 o 
 
 of Jesus Christ. We should avoid 
 straining after conceptions which, as we 
 find them in recorded prayers of many 
 
46 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 holy men, seem generally the product 
 of a morbid, over-stimulated fancy, 
 wliicli are scarcely sanctioned by the 
 Bible, and which, even if natural and 
 legitimate to some minds, are neither 
 possible nor profitable to others. There 
 are those who feel ever the glowing 
 fervor and mounting enthusiasm, who 
 decorate their daily life, and even the 
 hour of death, with the golden coloring 
 of that faculty which, in its renewed 
 state, is effulgent with the glory of 
 heaven, and, seeking ever there its 
 loved forms of perfection, returns to the 
 dark and defiled objects of earth only to 
 reflect on them its own brightness and 
 to transform them into its own purity 
 and beauty. 
 
 Other minds, again, know nothing of 
 this affluence of thought. To their 
 less susceptible intelligence. Imagination 
 
Til is ONE TIIIXG I DO. 47 
 
 neither makes near and visible the un- 
 seen, nor, acting in her most valuable 
 capacity,* does she aid them to appre- 
 
 * This mode of operation of the imagination — not 
 stated, so f;ir as we have seen, in any treatise on 
 -mental science — is occasionally elsewhere adverted to. 
 Bishop Butler's rare discrimination and candor could 
 njt but perceive and admit that the " vain, delusive 
 faculty" was of "assistance to apprehension." Cole- 
 ridge wrote that "if imagination is sometimes an i(/nis 
 J'atuiis to lead us astray, it is more often a torch of 
 light to guide us in our Avay." Shelley, in his " De- 
 fence of Poetry," says that " poetry" — which may here, 
 as its result or expression, 1d€ considered synonynivius 
 with imagination — "is at once the centre and circum- 
 ference of knowledge ;" and a living writer has the 
 same thought Avhen, describing this power, he says, 
 "Penetrating always to the innermost nature <-f every 
 thing it grasps, piercing the very lieart (f tilings, 
 poising itself at the positive centre, &c., imagination 
 is in man the brightest intellectual reflection of the 
 Godhead." And again, the same writer says, in an- 
 other article, " Imagination discovers", by modes pecu- 
 liar to itself, truths wdiicli no other mental power does or 
 can discover. * * * The peculiar force of imagination is 
 <;onnected with such intuitive perceptions of otherwise 
 unnoted truth as Justify the *^hought that it is the 
 chief of intellectual powers, tlie very vivifying soul 
 of reason." See articles on Coleridge and Tennvsou 
 
48 THIS ONE THING I J)(). 
 
 hend truth, to collect materials for the 
 operations of reason, and, indirectly, thus 
 to lay a broader foundation for their re- 
 ligious faith. But even to them the his- 
 tory and facts of revelation are a lamp 
 in darkness, and, with less of exulting 
 joy, they may still offer their praise, 
 make known their requests to God, and 
 wait in confidence and peace for the un- 
 sealing of the mystery^ 
 
 To a third class of Christians, whose 
 type may have been Thomas, the flights 
 of a sanctified fancy, even if possible, 
 seem forbidden. They feel oppressively 
 the wonder, the solemnity of existence, 
 and, in viewing the awful uncertainty 
 of the future, the heights and depths of 
 God's nature and government, their flesh 
 seems to tremble and their heart to fail. 
 
 in '' Presbyterian Quarterly Review" of Juno, 1855, 
 and Marchll 1858. 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 49 
 
 They ask for facts, for simplest truths. 
 They will not rest content with the tes- 
 timony of even a Mary or a John ; but, 
 with every sense strained as for the life 
 and death of their souls, must look at, 
 must handle the evidence of their hope. 
 Such find it often fearful to pray. They 
 come more humbly than boldly to the 
 throne of grace, and think of heaven 
 with yearning desire, it may be, but 
 with modified expectation. They might 
 adopt the language of one who had, 
 more than most men, and unrestricted 
 to poetic perception, a " vision and fa- 
 culty divine," and whose diligent study 
 and careful pondering of revealed truth 
 made him pause and reverently tread 
 where the thoughtless rush in unawed 
 and confident. '' To pray," says Cole- 
 ridge, — " to pray as God would have us, 
 — this is what at times makes nie turn 
 
50 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 cold to my soul. Believe me, to pray 
 with all your heart and strength, with 
 the reason and the will, to believe 
 vividly that God will listen to your 
 voice through Christ, and surely do the 
 thing he pleaseth thereupon, — this is 
 the last, the greatest achievement of 
 the Christian's warfare on earth. Teach 
 us to pray, Lord !" The typical lan- 
 guage which pictures the scenes and 
 employments of heaven or describes the 
 horrors of hell, — the green fields and 
 still waters, the harp and the crown, 
 the white robes and seraph wings, the 
 unquenchable fire and the worm that 
 dieth not, — though David and Isaiah, 
 Wesley and Cowper, have hallowed it 
 to our thoughts and almost made it a 
 part of our belief, — is all unwelcome to 
 that earnest mind which wants proof 
 
THIS ONE ti;i::g i do. 51 
 
 alone, and turns impatient from only 
 illustrative imagery. 
 
 It matters little, then, what our con- 
 ceptions are, if we can receive with faith 
 the declarations of the Bible and make 
 our approach to a holy God as reverent 
 and penitent children. He requires of 
 us not so much the exercises of the in- 
 tellect as the tribute of the heart. Just 
 sentiments in well-selected words may 
 be indeed a tongue to the dumb and a 
 help to the inexperienced believer whose 
 sense of his want has as yet not prompted 
 the expression of it; but, unless the 
 words we use, whether our own or 
 another's, are the soul's pleadings with 
 God, they are in vain addressed to him. 
 We must — to use the Scripture paradox 
 — strive to see Him who is invisible, 
 and speak as if we were well persuaded 
 of what we profess to believe and 
 
52 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 do constantly acknowledge, — that '' he 
 heareth us." 
 
 The subjects of prayer have been 
 arranged under the heads of Adoration, 
 Confession, Thanksgiving, Petition, and 
 Intercession. These divisions embrace 
 all direct intercourse with our Maker, 
 and a reference to them will be a guide 
 to our thoughts and enable us to order 
 well our words. But a close and uni- 
 form adherence to the order of address 
 or the form of expression will be found 
 a hindrance rather than a help, will 
 make a burden and labor of prayer, and 
 cramp the free movement of the soul 
 toward God; One of the best prayers 
 ever made — for it was recorded with 
 commendation and rewarded Avith im- 
 mediate blessing — was a single petition 
 and single confession : — " God be merci- 
 
THIS ONK THING I DO. OO 
 
 ful to me, a sinner !" The character of 
 prayer, though it should not solely de- 
 pend on our frames and feelings, must 
 in a measure be modified by them ; and 
 our spiritual perceptions and require- 
 ments vary like our ph^'sical needs. 
 There are occasions when views of our 
 unworthiness and doubts of our accept- 
 ance may forbid any utterance but that 
 oi confession ; when dread of an impend- 
 ing calamity or threatening of spiritual 
 enemies will resolve all our thoughts 
 into the language of petition; when 
 anxiety for the salvation of beloved 
 friends will cause us to pour out our 
 heart, our self, in agony of intercession 
 for them. But in the ordinary perform- 
 ance of the duty of prayer, our personal 
 condition and relative claims should find 
 their appropriate expression. It is pos- 
 sible to dwell too long upon a sin or a 
 
54 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 want, to be one-sided in prayer as in 
 opinion, to look so long at self as to im- 
 pair our perception of God and contract 
 our sympathy with man. 
 
 We f(iil greatly more than anywhere 
 else in prayer in the duty of Adoration. 
 If it is to be a prominent employment 
 in heaven, why should we not more fre- 
 quently engage in it on earth ? Why 
 delay to enjoy blessings which are of- 
 fered now ? Why reject the privileges 
 of a sonship which is already ours ? 
 Why withdraw ourselves like Adam, 
 when, like Enoch, we might walk with 
 God ? Mary sat at the feet of her 
 Saviour. John — perhaps from accident 
 of Oriental attitude, but, we love to 
 think, from the promptings of affection 
 — leaned on the bosom of his Lord. 
 Thus, Adoration places the soul in a 
 position before its Maker which it ought 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 00 
 
 more often to assume. Looking on Him 
 who has revealed himself, even though 
 it be as through a glass, darkly, we be- 
 come more familiar with his attributes, 
 more sensible of his presence. Our fear 
 purifies our love, and then — blessed be 
 God! — perfected love forever " caste tli 
 out fear." There is a poverty in the 
 Christian meditation so long as it stops 
 with self To look only at ourselves 
 will not help us in the onward course. 
 We shall — to apply otherwise the lan- 
 guage of Baxter — only turn over bones 
 and read our lesson in the dust. Are 
 the glories of the Godhead, the wonders 
 of creation, and the hopes of redemption, 
 to be set aside by our own comparatively 
 pitiful wants and offences? Why can 
 we not look above these ? Whj^ return 
 ever to our wallowing in the mire ? If 
 we have repented of sin and accepted 
 
oG THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 Christ as our Saviour, why not receive 
 instruction and comfort from the as- 
 surances of Scripture ? " Ye are washed, 
 ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus and by tlie 
 Spirit of our God." ^' We have received 
 the Spirit which is of God, that we 
 might know the things that are freely 
 given to us of God." '' Now being made 
 free from sin and become servants of 
 God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, 
 and the end everlasting life," " We 
 have access by faith into this grace 
 wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope 
 of the glory of God." 
 
 We practise most imperfectly, also, 
 the duty of Intercession. Every one 
 who prays at all, prays for some parent, 
 brother, child, or friend. Many, doubt- 
 less, pray, with desires as vague as the 
 petition is general, "for all classes and 
 
THIS ONE THING 1 DO. 57 
 
 conditions of men ;" but such is not the 
 pleading for others Avhich the Law of 
 love requires. Our daily intercourse 
 with the world brings us into contact 
 with many who need our prayers if ^v^e 
 cannot always address to them our 
 warnings. The beggar who receives 
 your alms scarce knows there is a God. 
 The philosopher whom you honor and 
 admire may only have that wisdom 
 which is '' foolishness in the sight of 
 God." The laborer, mechanic, or artist 
 who cultivates your land, erects or 
 adorns your mansions, year after year 
 receives your directions and your money; 
 yet you remember him no more when 
 he has fulfilled your need, and never 
 ask God to save his immortal soul. He 
 who ministers to you in holy things 
 may point the Avay, yet not walk in it; 
 and even if he is eax^nest and faithful, 
 
58 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 he is liuman, and needs fellow-helpers 
 in uplifting his arms to God. Still fur- 
 ther; — along your crowded streets you 
 hear the language of passion and pro- 
 fanity : you see not perhaps him who 
 utters it, but pause a while, and, how- 
 ever engaged, lift for a moment your 
 heart to God and ask for pardon and 
 redeeming grace for that poor outcast. 
 Do not despair of being heard. Whether 
 heard or not, if you love your brother 
 man, you cannot but pray for him. 
 Plant your seed : in due time it may 
 come forth. Pray! labor! that you may 
 save one soul, or at least help it on to 
 happiness and heaven. 
 
 We may not omit here what might 
 seem an almost needless remark, — that 
 prayer is not confined to the reverential 
 posture and to the appointed hour of 
 demotion. Valuable and necessary as 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 59 
 
 these are, thej are adjuncts only, not 
 prayer itself, — the stays and props of 
 our feeble spirituality, the hedges and 
 fences to our wandering attention and 
 affections, but not to be mistaken for 
 the soul's communion with its Maker. 
 The man who has the spirit of prayer 
 may on the battle-field, on the ocean, 
 on a sick-bed, have small opportunity 
 for the regular devotion of ordinary life ; 
 but the presence of his God is with him 
 to afford him spiritual strength, and in 
 each varied scene, in the enticements of 
 pleasure, the hurry of business, or bear- 
 ing the burden of sorrow, he seeks con- 
 tinually divine help, — like the child 
 who neither in the flowery pathway nor 
 the rugged road ever wanders far from 
 his parent, but turns still to catch the 
 glance of sympathy or grasj) the ex- 
 tended hand. 
 
60 THIS ONE THIXG 1 DO. 
 
 In conclusion, we shall best learn the 
 spirit of prayer and its appropriate ex- 
 pression by making the word of God 
 our guide. Those who daily transfer 
 the subjects of their Scriijture-reading 
 into their addresses to God, and adopt 
 its sentiments and language, will find 
 an enlargement and encouragement in 
 this exercise which no other human 
 means — if indeed it can be called such 
 — will so fully afford. The Christianity 
 which is daily baptized at the ever- 
 springing fountain of Scripture will con- 
 tinue to wear the freshness and purity 
 of its youth, and to display the vigor 
 and devotedness of new consecration. 
 He who — to change the figure — daily 
 dons that divine panoply will go forth 
 well defended against the attacks of 
 Satan and the world, and with ample 
 compensation for his own feebleness. 
 
THIS OXE THING I DO. . 61 
 
 We fall so often in the combat because 
 we forget or lay down part of our 
 armor, have let fall our shield of faith, 
 or, while we wield the sword of the 
 Spirit, are unshod by the temper and 
 principles of gospel peace. 
 
 We need a power beyond our own to 
 enable us to distinguish and resist not 
 only ordinary temptations, but such as 
 are peculiar to our favored times. If in 
 heathen lands men grope in the dark- 
 ness of ignorance and vice, we seem to 
 see them in Christian lands blinded also 
 and stumbling by reason of the light 
 which now in its noonday blaze is dif- 
 fused over the doctrines of theology and 
 the rules of practice. Routine and for- 
 mality on the one hand, and a spurious 
 enthusiasm, a perverted activity, on the 
 other, lower the standard of Bible Chris- 
 tianity, impair its influence, and en- 
 
62 THIS ONE THING I BO. 
 
 clanger its life. In no way can we avoid 
 these evils but bj faithful study and con- 
 stant, prayerful apj)lication of the teach- 
 ings of Scripture. " Thy word have I 
 hid in my heart, that I might not sin 
 against thee." " To the law and to the 
 testimony" the prophet directed his 
 people ; and so, in our day, to no other 
 source of wisdom and peace can we 
 point you tlian to a law so perfect, so 
 searching, that it discerneth the thouglits 
 and intents of the heart, and casteth 
 down every imagination even that un- 
 duly exalte th itself; to a testimony so 
 full, so impartial, of the character, sins, 
 and sufferings of God's people, so abun- 
 dant, and convincing, of his long-suffer- 
 ing and love, of his willingness to re- 
 ceive and pardon, of his grace conferred 
 through life, and his suj)port promised 
 and bestowed in death, that it readier 
 
THIS OXE THING I DO. bo 
 
 every conceivable case of guilt and 
 affliction, and reveals the only method 
 of recover V and release. Well mioht 
 the sacred writer exclaim, with seem- 
 ingly irrepressible emotion, and with 
 forcible and welcome repetition through- 
 out the Psalm, '^ Oh, how T love thy 
 law ! How sweet are thy words unto 
 my taste ! Thy testimonies have I 
 taken as a lieritage forever : they are 
 the rejoicing of my heart ! Thy word 
 is very pure : therefore thy servant 
 loveth it ! I have longed for thy salva- 
 tion, Lord, and thy law is my de- 
 light ! The righteousness of thy testi- 
 monies is everlasting : give me under- 
 standing and I shall live." 
 
 We have finished what we proposed 
 to do. We have endeavored to urge 
 upon those commencing a Christian life 
 
64 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 the necessity of an earnest and careful 
 consideration of the duties of the service 
 they have chosen ; to point out the im- 
 portance to their subsequent course of a 
 high standard of excellence and of right 
 views of the ordinance which signifies 
 their union to Christ ; and we have con- 
 cluded this portion of our discussion by 
 a warning that the strongest convictions 
 and the warmest emotions will become 
 faint and cold, and the heart relaj^se 
 into worldliness, unless the Christian 
 abide in the spirit and practice of 
 prayer. As bearing directly upon the 
 argument, we have added some general 
 and desultory, but, we believe, im- 
 portant observations on the mode of 
 conducting this our intercourse with 
 God. 
 
 From what has been said, it is plain 
 that our aim is to set before the mind 
 
THIS ONE THING 1 DO. 65 
 
 of the reader that the love and service 
 of God are to be considered " the grand 
 affair of life ;" and that the resolve to 
 embrace the doctrines and conform to 
 the requirements of the Christian reli- 
 gion is to be — as has been admirably 
 stated in a kindred connection — " the 
 result of foresight and deliberate pur- 
 pose, not a matter of indolent ac- 
 quiescence or passive resignation, but 
 what we arrive at by bent of soul, ple- 
 nary choice, and a decision which dis- 
 regards all risks.'' Other objects, not 
 opposed to the spirit of Christianity, 
 but very distinct in character and 
 sphere, will demand and were designed 
 to receive a large portion of your in- 
 terest and attention ; Ijut, more than all 
 else, value the favor of God, and chiefly 
 endeavor to obtain the holiness and 
 happiness of heaven. 
 
66 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 We would carefully avoid misleading 
 jou in a most momentous matter. The 
 practice of self-denial has in men of 
 widely-differing religious creeds run into 
 asceticism and self-righteousness. The 
 teaching of enlightened and otherwise 
 moderate men has, in this regard, often 
 been characterized by exaggerated state- 
 ments and misjudged emphasis. Many 
 inquirers, we well knoAV, stand perplexed 
 between the apparent design of God in 
 creation and providence, and his re- 
 vealed will as humanly expounded or 
 inferred from disconnected passages of 
 Scripture. Everywhere in Holy Writ 
 we are warned to love not the world 
 nor the things of the world, to mortify 
 the affections, to cast aside every weight, 
 and not to entangle ourselves with the 
 affairs of this life. 
 
 In urging you to receive these direc- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 67 
 
 tions with the proper rules of interpreta- 
 tion, and to look at them in the light 
 which the rest of Scripture and the 
 plans of Providence throw around them, 
 we think we neither intermeddle rashly 
 nor abate a jot or tittle of the law. 
 Why should Ave be wise beyond what 
 is written ? Think you that He who 
 formed the eye to behold each minute 
 glory of a world robed in beauty as in 
 a garment, who attuned the ear to 
 catch the many-toned melodies which 
 from wind and ocean, from insect and 
 bird, swell into so marvellous a har- 
 mony; — think you that He who mag- 
 nificently adorned the spirit as well as 
 the abode of man, who filled the soul 
 with wonders of perceptive and creative 
 power, with desires, hopes, affections 
 more varied and beautiful than philoso- 
 pher can analyze or poet describe, — 
 
68 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 think you that He bestowed on you 
 these capabilities for the instruction 
 and enjoyment which with such Lavish 
 bounty he has provided, and then bade 
 you stand aloof^ close your eyes, harden 
 your heart, and become a mysterious 
 exception to the reciprocal action and 
 well-fitted relations of his universe ? 
 No : let us magnify our God ! Not 
 thus do we read his will. In accord- 
 ance with that will we believe that 
 science, which is the knowledge of 
 creation, the description, including their 
 arrangement and classification, of all 
 observed appearances in the worlds of 
 matter and of mind ; — that art, which 
 is combination and representation of 
 materials already furnished, — that the 
 higher forms of intercourse of mind 
 with mind and heart with heart, — may 
 remain to us sources of ever-new in- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 69 
 
 terest and occupation. The danger 
 attending our enjoyment of them is that 
 we become unmindful of the end for 
 which it was bestowed ; that we for- 
 get, in the temporary refreshment and 
 strengthening, the appointed progress 
 and toil, the inevitable burden of life; 
 and that we continually essay to slake 
 in these wayside wells a thirst which 
 only " the fountain of living waters" 
 can quench. But, in the design of God, 
 every blessing has its corresponding 
 temptation, and the very evil, which is 
 thus always with the good offered to 
 our choice, is, strangely, a more abound- 
 ing mercy and a fuller proof of wisdom 
 and love. If the arrangements of pro- 
 vidence seem framed to afford us this 
 discipline of trial, the Scripture Avord 
 of warning and consolation was surely 
 given to sustain and encourage us in 
 
70 THIS ONE TillXG I DO. 
 
 the process. We stand on the brink 
 of many a moral precipice, and have 
 need to pray, " Order my steps in thy 
 word." ^' Hold up my goings, that my 
 footsteps slip not." The lesson is re- 
 peatedly taught us to " use without 
 abusing," and to let our '^ moderation 
 be known unto all men." 
 
 And what is the great end of tJiis 
 care and watchfulness, this sell-mastery, 
 this training of an infant and imperfect 
 mind, this diligent inquiry into the will 
 of God, this obedience to the precepts 
 and imitation of the example of Christ ? 
 Let the word of inspiration itself declare 
 it : — " And I saw a new heaven and a 
 new earth ; for the first heaven and the 
 first earth Avere passed away." ^* If any 
 man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; 
 old things are passed away, behold all 
 tilings are become new." Observe the 
 
THIS ONE THlN(x I DO. 71 
 
 ^new" and final adaptation. The ma- 
 >terial creation was "very good," but 
 perishable and finite. In the soul of 
 man is a strange commingling of con- 
 flicting principles and dissimilar quali- 
 ties. Godlike we may call it, for '' God 
 ■created man in his own image ;" but, 
 alas ! hatred and variance, wrath and 
 malice, murders and drunkenness, are 
 '^ the manifest works of the flesh," of 
 that nature whose glory has become its 
 shame. Why it was thus constituted 
 is an unexplained mystery of his will. 
 We confess that the questions of the 
 origin of evil and the decrees of God 
 are none the clearer to us for all the 
 attempts that have been made to eluci- 
 date them. But it matters little " how 
 these things can be." It is enough to 
 know that God m his own time will 
 justify his ways to man; that the glory 
 
72 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 of the terrestrial is one^ — an imperfect, 
 fading glory, — but the glory of the 
 celestial is another and a brighter ; that 
 incorruption must spring from corrup- 
 tion ; that the raised and beautified 
 body shall be the meet companion of 
 the redeemed and purified soul. In the 
 heaven revealed to the Christian there 
 can be no sin, for nothing that defileth 
 will find entrance ; no sorrow, for God 
 himself shall wipe away all tears ; no 
 separation, for the " sons and daugh- 
 ters" — the redeemed of all ages — shall 
 be gathered from the ends of the earth ; 
 no death, for " they which shall be 
 accounted worthy to obtain that world" 
 cannot " die any more ;" no end to all 
 this blessedness, for ^'this God is our 
 God for ever and ever :" — '^ his king- 
 dom is an everlasting kingdom^ and 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 73 
 
 his dominion endureth throughout all 
 generations. 
 
 We leave the subject to the mind 
 and conscience of whosoever will follow 
 us to the end. friend, though we 
 meet not eye to eye, the heart of the 
 writer yearns over you, longs intensely 
 that these words may not have been 
 written for you in vain, that you may 
 know the new birth, or, if you have 
 known it, that you may grow to the 
 stature of a man in Christ Jesus. Oh, 
 be persuaded, if not by this reason- 
 ing, — and we believe we have spoken 
 unto you gospel truth, — by any thing 
 more powerful to move you, — by the 
 pleadings of the preacher, by the pious 
 example of some beloved, perhaps de- 
 parted Christian friend, by the sorrows 
 of life and the coming solemnities of 
 
74 THIS ONE THING I DO. 
 
 death, to do tJiis one thing which is the 
 burden of our message to you. " So 
 run, not as uncertainly;" press toward 
 the mark, for it is certain that you 
 will reach it and receive the prize if 
 you falter not in your course. Enter 
 ye in at the strait gate. Many seek — 
 indolently, carelessly seek — to enter in, 
 "and shall not be able." But as for 
 yoit, agonize, wrestle with God in prayer, 
 ^lest you be suddenly and forever shut 
 out. Go to your Saviour ; listen as he 
 asks, " Lovest thou me ?" and if you 
 can utter, even feebly, the response of 
 Peter, — once wavering and unfaithful 
 Peter, — in any calling or place feed the 
 sheep and lambs of that Saviour's flock ; 
 like him, having obtained mercy, be 
 steadfast unto death, and He who 
 prayed not for Peter only, biit for them 
 also who should in future time be peni- 
 
THIS ONE THING I DO. 75 
 
 tent and believing, will show you the 
 path of life and will finally bring you 
 into that Presence where are "fulness 
 of joy and pleasures for evermore." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY I.. .TOHNSON 4 CO, 
 PHlLADELPniA. 
 
Semmsry-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 01002 4133 
 
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