\t 
 
 \ 
 
 -«# 
 
 im 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 Sk^r 
 
 y^^^ 
 
 IX 
 
 w 
 
 U ■•:. 
 
 V 
 
3Fr0m tl|F ICtbrarg of 
 
 litt{mtit^th hg l|!m to 
 
 tl|F SItbrartf of 
 
 J^rtnrrtott StjMlngtral ^^mtttar^ 
 
 BV 4501 ,H25 1899 
 
 Hallock, G. B. F. 1856-1953 
 
 Upward steps 
 
Upward Steps 
 
upward Steps 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 GERARD B. F. HALLOCK, D.D. 
 
 Author of " The Psalm of Shepherdly Love,'' «' A Square 
 Man,'' •* Church Homelessness,'' etc., etc. 
 
 " Heaven is not reached by a single bound; 
 We build the ladder by which we rise 
 From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies: 
 And we mount to the summit round by round. 
 
 THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 1899 
 
Copyright, 1899, by 
 The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi- 
 cation AND Sabbath-School Work. 
 
Contents 
 
 PAOB 
 
 I 
 
 Upward Steps 9 
 
 II 
 
 Practicing the Presence of God 19 
 
 III 
 Things that Keep Us from God 33 
 
 IV 
 Love the Master Passion 43 
 
 V 
 
 The Life More Abundant 53 
 
 VI 
 
 Our Divine Friend 61 
 
 VII 
 In His Footprints 73 
 
 VIII 
 The Discipline of Difficulties 81 
 
 IX 
 Grace Abounding 89 
 
 X 
 
 The Making of Character 97 
 
 XI 
 Chorusing Our Graces 109 
 
 XII 
 Going the Second INIiLE 119 
 
 5 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XIII 
 The Seriousness of Working for God 127 
 
 XIV 
 Daily Strength for Daily Duty 135 
 
 XV 
 
 Presenting Jesus to Others 145 
 
 XVI 
 The Faith Measure 153 
 
 XVII 
 Following a Vision 163 
 
 XVIII 
 Influence 179 
 
 XIX 
 
 The Chamber of Communion 197 
 
 XX 
 
 The Prayer that Teaches to Pray 203 
 
 XXI 
 A Closed Door and a Waiting Saviour 213 
 
 XXII 
 Heaven in the Heart 221 
 
Introduction 
 
 Brooklyn, Oct. 29, 1897 
 Dear Bro. Hallock : 
 
 I am right glad that you propose to put into 
 a more permanent form your truly admirable and 
 deeply spiritual articles. 
 
 You are one of the few men who know how to 
 present vital truths in such a way that people will 
 read them. 
 
 God bless .you and your forthcoming book ! 
 As ever, yours lovingly, 
 
 Theo. L. Cuyler. 
 
I 
 
 Upward Steps 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Upward Steps 
 
 To be saved is to be safe, and that is the thing of 
 infinite importance to every soul. '* BeHeve on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." But 
 there is an attainment possible and very desirable 
 to Christians beyond the fact of being safe through 
 Christ. It is that of knowing that we are safe. A 
 Northern soldior inside the Southern picket lines was 
 safe ; but he did not know it, for he had not heard 
 that the war was over. It is a Christian's privi- 
 lege both to be, safe and to feel safe. Many get no 
 further than to a state wherein they think they may be 
 safe, or hope that they are ; but the Bible says, '* He 
 that beheveth on the Son hath eternal life." Con- 
 scious that we have fixed our trust on Christ alone 
 for salvation, it is our privilege to know that we 
 have eternal life dwelling within us, to come to 
 Christian assurance, to arrive at spiritual certainty. 
 
 One cannot be either strong or happy while in 
 uncertainty. If you do not feel safe, do not know 
 that you are a Christian, you are likely to be both 
 unhappy and weak. Imagine the feelings of the 
 father and mother of one of our boys who went to 
 the Cuban war. Their only and greatly loved son 
 II 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 sails away with his regiment. There is terrible 
 fighting at Siboney, San Juan Hill and Santiago. 
 The parents hear all about this. There are many 
 killed, many more wounded, and more yet dying 
 of exposure and disease. The parents know this. 
 Who can tell the anguish of those parents' hearts 
 until the time when upon rehable authority they are 
 assured that their boy is safe? '^ Thinks" and 
 " hopes " and " maybes " do not satisfy them con- 
 cerning their son's welfare. Will '< thinks" and 
 ''hopes" and "maybes" satisfy you, then, in the 
 matter of your soul's eternal good ? No, you must 
 continue comparatively weak and unhappy until 
 you can arrive at certainty about it. The fact is 
 that Christian assurance is an attainment of a great 
 deal more importance than people usually think. 
 
 The matter of our safety as Christians is quite 
 independent of our thoughts or feelings about 
 safety. The Northern soldier was safe inside the 
 Southern lines, however fearful and cautious he 
 felt. The one who believes on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is saved whether he feels saved or not. 
 Safety does not depend on feeling, but on the sav- 
 ing work of Christ. As the Rev. F. B. Meyer says : 
 "The order is not feeling, fact, faith; or feeling, 
 faith, fact ; but it is, first, God's facts, which are 
 laid as a foundation of adamant ; then our faith, 
 which apprehends God's facts and rests upon them ; 
 finally feelings come when we fulfill the conditions 
 upon which they depend." But safety is independ- 
 
 12 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 ent of feeling. One Israelitish family, the night 
 of the first passover, may have been in great dread ; 
 another may have been peaceful and confident. 
 But which was safer ? The fact is that the firstborn 
 of both were safe alike, the blood being sprinkled 
 on the doorposts, no matter what were the feelings 
 of the families. All the Old Testament offerings for 
 sin brought safety to the offerer in the same way. 
 The substitute died and the sinner went free. Our 
 safety is in Christ — his finished work. When we 
 accept him as our Redeemer our safety is secured 
 by his sacrifice and constant intercession for us. 
 It does not depend on fluctuating feelings, but upon 
 his atoning work. 
 
 But it is the privilege of Christians to go on to 
 the higher attainment — that of knowing we are 
 safe, of having certainty. Both Israelitish families 
 we have referred to were safe. But the family that 
 was both safe and certain, that was both safe and 
 felt safe, was the one that rested upon God's un- 
 failing word of promise. Certainty does not de- 
 pend on feeling. How is the Christian to know 
 that he has eternal Hfe ? There is a definite 
 answer in God's word : '' These things have I 
 written unto you that believe on the name of the 
 Son of God ; that ye may know that ye have eter- 
 nal life." I John v. 13. I have written ! It de- 
 pends, then, upon our resting in something God has 
 said. Our safety depends upon a work of God, a 
 provision he has made for us ; but our certainty de- 
 13 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 pends upon our believing his word. We get safety 
 when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ; we get 
 certainty when we wholly rely upon God's word. 
 The sprinkled blood makes us safe; the spoken 
 word makes us sure. " Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you. He that believeth on me hath everlasting 
 life." That settles it; no 'Mfs " or ''ands" or 
 "perhapses" about it. If you would be sure of 
 your own blessing, then listen not to the unstable 
 testimony of inward emotions, but to the infallible 
 witness of the word of God. 
 
 «' Once it was the blessing, 
 Now it is the Lord ; 
 Once it was the feeling, 
 Now it is his word." 
 
 '^But if I am saved," says one, '' how is it that 
 I have such a fluctuating experience, so often 
 losing all my joy and comfort, and becoming 
 almost as wretched and downcast as I was before 
 my conversion ? " 
 
 This brings up the matter of the still further at- 
 tainment we may reach, that of Christian joy. 
 The sustained enjoyments of salvation, how are 
 these attained ? We will find by a careful study of 
 the Scriptures that while we are saved by Christ's 
 work, and assured by God's word, we are main- 
 tained in comfort and joy by the Holy Spirit, the 
 source of spiritual life and light. Our spiritual joy 
 will be in proportion to the spiritual character of 
 14 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 our walk and conversation. If we abide in Christ 
 our joy will be full. When we are walking worthy 
 of the Lord the Holy Spirit will be producing in 
 our souls his blessed fruits, — ''love, joy, peace." 
 When we are walking in a carnal, worldly way the 
 Spirit is grieved, and these fruits are wanting in 
 greater or less measure. Our safety hangs upon 
 Christ's work for us ; our assurance upon God's 
 word to us ; our enjoyment upon our not grieving 
 the Holy Spirit in us. 
 
 Your child disobeys you. Only a few moments 
 before you were strolling together in affectionate 
 conversation. In other words, he was in com- 
 munion with you ; his feelings and sympathies were 
 in accord with yours. But now all is changed, and 
 as a naughty, disobedient child he stands off at a 
 distance, the very picture of misery. Where is the 
 joy of a few moments ago ? All gone. Why ? 
 Because communion between you and him has 
 been interrupted. Remember that it is communion 
 which is interrupted, not relationship. He is your 
 son still. You are his father still. Relationship 
 depends upon birth; communion upon behavior. 
 By and by the boy comes out of the corner, rushes 
 into your arms and confesses his fault. Communion 
 is restored. 
 
 When David sinned so greatly in the matter of 
 
 Uriah's wife, he did not say, ''Restore unto me 
 
 thy salvation," but, " Restore unto me the joy of 
 
 thy salvation." The father would save his boy out 
 
 15 
 
upward Steps 
 
 of a burning building just as surely and as quickly 
 while out of communion as if all were well between 
 them. The love of relationship is one thing, the 
 joy of communion is quite another. If we want 
 spiritual joy we must confess and watch against and 
 fight and pray against our sins, and cultivate in 
 every possible way the grace of fellowship with 
 Christ. "Abide in me, that your joy may be 
 full." We all want Christian joy. We long for it; 
 we pray for it. Yet it is possible to become all the 
 more miserable trying to get joy. For joy does not 
 come that way, — by trying. Joy is an effect. Ful- 
 fill the cause and you will have the effect without 
 trying. We get joy by fulfilling its condition, 
 which is abiding in Christ. Struggling after Chris- 
 tian joy without fulfilling its condition is like agon- 
 izing with God in prayer for a crop on your field 
 without fulfilling the conditions of plowing, sowing 
 and cultivating. Fulfill the condition and you will 
 have Christian joy; and the condition is abiding in 
 the vine, the maintaining of communion with Christ 
 through faith and loving obedience. Grieve not 
 the Holy Spirit of God with willful sin. Cultivate 
 the grace of communion. Abide in ^Christ that 
 your joy may be full. The nearer we live to him 
 the more joy we shall have. 
 
 Trust Christ's work for your safety. Trust his 
 
 word for your certainty. Walk in the Spirit for 
 
 your joy. Do not mistrust God if your joy ceases ; 
 
 but confess and forsake your sins, which interrupted 
 
 i6 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 communion, and begin anew to serve him. ^' Prac- 
 tice the presence of God." Live the hfe of priv- 
 ilege, and your days will be filled with joy and peace 
 in believing. The upward steps are from safety to 
 certainty and from certainty to enjoyment. " Covet 
 the best gifts." 
 
 Filled with the Spirit ! oh, marvelous gift ! 
 Filled with the Spirit ! oh, blessed uplift ! 
 Filled with his presence, my Saviour I see, 
 See him as never before seen by me. 
 Precious Redeemer ! O Jesus my all, 
 Gladly I give thee my life at thy call ! 
 
 Free from all envy and free from all strife. 
 Filled with the Spirit, how sweet is my life ! 
 Trials may come ; nay, they do come to me, 
 Come like the waves of a tempest-rocked sea ; 
 Wounded I s-m, yet I'm kept sweet and calm, 
 Finding in Jesus a precious, sure balm. 
 
 Claiming the promise in Jesus' dear name. 
 Emptied of self, and with love all aflame, 
 Filled with the Spirit, I walk with my I>ord, 
 Kept by his power in sweetest accord ; 
 Safe in his presence, secure from all ill, 
 Weak though I am, I can do my Lord's will. 
 
 Filled with the power of the blessed Holy Ghost, 
 Given through grace alone, lest I should boast. 
 Though I speak not with miraculous tongue, 
 Jesus is in every song that is sung ; 
 Strengthened with might by the Spirit within, 
 Precious lost souls for my Lord I can win. 
 
 17 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Filled with the Spirit ! oh, glorious feast, 
 Promised to all ; aye, even to the least ! 
 Brought to his banqueting house by the King, 
 Rapturous joy to the soul he doth bring ; 
 Glad hallelujahs and p?eans of praise 
 Rise unto him, when we walk in his ways." 
 
 i3 
 
II 
 
 Practicing the Presence of God 
 
Practicing the Presence of God 
 
 That in these busy, hurrying times we need to be 
 stirred afresh to the exercise of fellowship with God, 
 few Christians will deny. That fellowship with 
 God is a blessed exercise, all who know anything 
 at all about Christian experience will agree. '< It 
 is good for me to draw near to God," is a common 
 sentiment of Christians ; but the drawing near and 
 the living near are not nearly so common as attain- 
 ments. The fact that we can draw near to God 
 implies the fact also that it is possible to live at a 
 distance from God, which too many among even 
 professed Christians do. 
 
 God is always near us. He is not an absentee 
 needing to be brought down from the heavens or 
 up from the deep. But we too much fail to realize 
 his presence. We often pass hours, days, and even 
 weeks, almost without thought of God. 
 
 How different is this failure to realize the pres- 
 ence of God from the experience of his nearness 
 realized by some ! Brother Lawrence, the simple- 
 minded cook, tells us that for more than sixty years 
 he never lost the sense of the presence of God, but 
 was as conscious of it while performing the duties 
 
 21 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 of his humble office, as when partaking of the Holy 
 Supper. 
 
 It is said to have been the humbly-confessed ex- 
 perience of Mr. Spurgeon that he never passed 
 fifteen minutes of his waking life without the con- 
 sciousness of God and his nearness. If only such 
 an experience of the nearness of God were always 
 ours, enwrapping us as the air or light ; if only we 
 could feel, as the great apostle put it on Mars' Hill, 
 that God is not far away, that '' in him we live, and 
 move, and have our being," then we should know 
 what David meant when he spoke of our ** dwell- 
 ing in the secret place of the most high," or of our 
 " abiding under the shadow of the Almighty." 
 Then, too, we should acquire the blessed secret of 
 the Spirit-filled life, the life of privilege, the overcom- 
 ing life. 
 
 Let none of us get the impression that this kind 
 of living is something vague and visionary and be- 
 yond our reach. It does not require that we should 
 hide away from the world as monks or nuns in con- 
 vent or monastery. It is something both desirable 
 and available and also intensely practical, and not 
 in the least incompatible with the duties of do- 
 mestic, social and business life. Indeed it is some- 
 thing to be maintained in the midst of all these. 
 The practicing of the presence of God is never a 
 hindrance to the best sort of daily, secular living ; 
 but, on the contrary, it is a great help toward ac- 
 complishing the same most calmly, most comfort- 
 
 22 
 
Practicing the Presence of God 
 
 ably and also most successfully. It is simply 
 the life of which so busy a man as St. Paul speaks 
 when he says: "Nevertheless I live; yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me." To live this interior life 
 is to have an abiding sense of God's presence. It 
 implies the maintenance of an unbroken conscious- 
 ness of our union with him. 
 
 ''Just what is involved," it may be asked, '*in 
 this practicing of the presence of God ? " As a 
 first step, it involves the yielding of ourselves cor- 
 dially and fully to God. It is not enough for us to 
 give time, talents, energy and money. *' Yield ye 
 yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from 
 the dead." Many will gladly give anything lather 
 than themselves. But what God wants is not ours, 
 but us. At least he wants us first of all. His call 
 is, " My son, my daughter, give me thine heart." 
 There must 'be, first, a full surrender of ourselves 
 unto God before any abounding blessedness can 
 come. The one is the result of the other, — the 
 blessedness of the yielding. 
 
 This yielding of ourselves to God should be also 
 a definite response to recognized duty. We belong 
 to God. It is for us, then, to recognize his owner- 
 ship, — to say with Paul, "Whose I am," as well 
 as, "Whom I serve." We are first of all to be 
 God's, given up to his ownership, yielding over to 
 his possession, set apart to his name. Abstracting 
 ourselves from all other claims of ownership, not 
 belonging to the world, not belonging to Satan, not 
 23 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 belonging to ourselves, but recognizing God's en- 
 tire right in us, we are to honor that right exclu- 
 sively and yield ourselves heartily, fully and forever 
 to his control. 
 
 This yielding, too, must be a definite and deci- 
 sive act of the will. The reason so many fail in 
 attaining the Spirit-filled life is, not that they do 
 not desire it, but that there are certain points of 
 mental reserve on which they hold back from God, 
 preferring to have their own way and will rather 
 than his. It is one essential step in practicing the 
 presence of God that we yield our will entirely to 
 him. 
 
 Not only so, but this yielding should be an 
 irrevocable act of faith. It should be a deliberate, 
 intentional, once-for-all going over to God, will- 
 ingly, gladly, trustingly, and without mental reserve 
 or any set conditions. Whether with a sense of his 
 acceptance or without it ; whether with a rush of 
 feeling or without such an experience, it should be 
 such a casting of ourselves upon God with such a 
 manifestation of faith marking the act that we will 
 believe that God has accepted us, and go forward 
 in that belief. We will not wait to feel that God 
 has accepted our self-dedication, but we will be- 
 lieve that he has, reckoning upon his faithfulness to 
 his word. When we draw near it must be with '* a 
 true heart in full assurance of faith." 
 
 The practicing of the presence of God involves, 
 furthermore, the absolute putting away of every 
 24 
 
Practicing the Presence of God 
 
 known sin and a determinate decision to resist 
 every assault of evil. We cannot expect to have 
 God's special manifestations of favor unless we 
 bring our life under the full light of his countenance 
 and let him show us everything that is wrong in us. 
 Whatever he sees there that is wrong, or makes 
 known to us as wrong, we are to make it our first 
 business to do the work of rooting out. Letting in 
 the light may reveal much dust in the corners of a 
 room. So letting in the light of God's gaze may 
 discover much that is evil in our life. But never- 
 theless we are to welcome the light, whatever it 
 may reveal, and then set ourselves at once to the 
 clearing away of the debris. Does God discover 
 to you some evil practice or habit you have been 
 indulging ? Is there some secret sin that has been 
 gnawing at the vitals of your spirituality? Have 
 you permitted your affections to roam unrestricted 
 after forbidden objects? Do you cherish resent- 
 ment or hate toward some one and refuse to be re- 
 conciled? Is there some injustice you refuse to 
 forgive, some charge you refuse to pay, some wrong 
 you refuse to confess? Alas, in the case of the 
 most of us it needs but little searching; for we 
 know the besetting sin, the favorite idol, which 
 keeps God out. Too often we lack the desire or 
 the will to cast it out of our heart. But we must 
 do it ; otherwise we can never enter into the de- 
 sired experience of this inner life. We cannot prac- 
 tice the presence of God while cherished sin is 
 25 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 there. Mark, I do not say sin, for we all sin and 
 come short of the glory of God ; but I say we 
 cannot practice the presence of God while cherished 
 sin, permitted sin, sin unwatched-against, sin un- 
 fought-against, sin unprayed -against is there. If 
 we would draw near to God it must be with true 
 hearts as well as with full assurance of faith. 
 
 This practicing the presence of God involves, 
 furthermore, the diligent cultivation of every 
 spiritual grace. For one thing, we must think of 
 God. That is to say we must strive constantly to 
 realize his presence, rejoicingly desiring him near 
 as the Friend from whom we would never be 
 separated, in work, in prayer, in recreation, in re- 
 pose. For the practice of the presence of God you 
 must to some worthy degree realize that wondrous 
 truth revealed by John, that man dwells in God 
 and God in man. You must try to realize the 
 presence of God with you and within you. Say to 
 yourself over and over again every day, and many 
 times in the day : " God is here." '' God is with 
 me." *' God is within me." " God is my Father." 
 '* I am God's child." <' I am in my Father's pres- 
 ence." ''God is love, and God loves me." Abide 
 in him. Let his words and will abide in you. 
 Cultivate this habit of mind, this grace of inter- 
 course with God, and by and by you will arrive at 
 the state of an unbroken and delightful conscious- 
 ness of God's nearness to you, his presence with 
 you. 
 
 26 
 
Practicing the Presence of God 
 
 Dear fellow-disciples of Christ, let us not fail to 
 understand that all this is infinitely more than 
 worth our while. No one can overstate the de- 
 lights there are in a Christ-filled life. The happiest 
 days you have ever known were the days when you 
 were living nearest to Christ and most conscious of 
 his nearness to you. Think what joy it would be 
 to get into a sustained and stable Christian expe- 
 rience like the best you have known, walking with 
 God all the day and every day. 
 
 There is one thing we must not overlook which 
 is almost essential to such a life — it is the being 
 frequently alone with God. We can have him 
 with us in life's activities in any full degree only 
 when we give ourselves suitable pause in which to 
 think of God, to commune with him, and let him 
 come in and iill our souls. The time need not be 
 long, but it should be habitual ; preferably in the 
 early part of the day when our minds are fresh and 
 our hearts unburdened. Every soul of us needs 
 this intercourse with God, and when we get it the 
 effect is like when one looks at the sun. You gaze 
 a moment at the sun, and then look about you on 
 the earth, and everywhere you see the sun. Up 
 the street, in yonder doorway, among the hurrying 
 people ; you seem to have brought the sun down 
 by your look and now you see it all about you. 
 This same thing is what happens too, disciple of 
 Christ, when you recognize the religious value of a 
 quiet hour and give yourself pause to look into the 
 27 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 face of God. By so doing you bring him down 
 into your immediate surroundings. In the midst of 
 the thronging people who press upon your daily 
 life, when you enter the doorway of your office, 
 store or shop, or duties pursue you in the home, 
 everywhere you see God, are conscious of his pres- 
 ence, and walk with his light irradiating the whole 
 horizon of your activities. We break the law of 
 spiritual growth and fail to learn one of the lessons 
 of the life of Christ if we fail to take such hours. 
 No Christian has a right to undertake so much and 
 to be so busy that he cannot, at least occasionally, 
 take them. They give spiritual refreshment, and 
 a firmer, steadier hand and a warmer heart for 
 every task. 
 
 But we must not only think about God, and some- 
 times be alone with him : we must listen to his 
 voice. He is not a silent God. He speaks to us, 
 — through his works, through his word, through 
 his Spirit. If we would practice the presence of 
 God we must listen to him when he speaks. We 
 must be attentive to his counsels. We must heed 
 his commands. We must answer his invitations. 
 We must enter into communion with him. Some- 
 times when we talk with him by the way he tarries 
 to make one with us and to open to us the Scrip- 
 tures. Let us listen to him then, for he will cause 
 our hearts to burn within us with holy joy. Take 
 time to listen to him. Have set times to meet him. 
 Prize every opportunity for intercourse with him. 
 28 
 
Practicing the Presence of God 
 
 Let your attitude be always, '' Speak, Lord; for thy 
 servant heareth." Be sure of this, that God has 
 much to say to all those who will attentively listen 
 to his voice. 
 
 It is well to listen, but you should also speak to 
 God. Express your love for him; bring your de- 
 sires to him ; make known your gratitude for the 
 gifts of his love. Hold converse with him in the 
 hours of morning meditation, in the set times for 
 prayer and the study of his word, in the quick, 
 ejaculatory petitions of the busiest moments of the 
 day. Tell him of your failures, confess to him 
 your sins, ask him for his help. Talk with him 
 thus ; do it often, taking to him all your purposes 
 and your plans, your duties and your desires, and 
 make of him your most intimate companion and 
 friend. 
 
 Then, love' God. Be devoted to him, and to 
 him supremely. Have no affections apart from 
 him. All lawful loves, — your wife, your children, 
 your kindred, your friends, — love them in God, 
 not them and God. Serve God, but see that you 
 serve him out of love, — not because you must, but 
 because you will. Wait upon him in prayer, in the 
 study of his word, in his sanctuary, in the ordinan- 
 ces of his house and in the ways of active service, 
 not out of mere custom, but because through these 
 all you grow in the knowledge of God, into inti- 
 macy with God, and into all the manifold experi- 
 ences of his grace. 
 
 29 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 There are some blessed secrets connected with such 
 a life as this, — a life spent in the practice of the pres- 
 ence of God. We can recount such secrets only 
 in the briefest possible way ; but it is worth our while 
 to know that this practice of the presence of God is 
 the secret of peace. One cannot be greatly dis- 
 turbed with God so near. It is the secret of con- 
 tentment. Having God, we have all. It is the 
 secret of power. In touch with God, we .are con- 
 nected with the great dynamic source of all power. 
 It is the secret of a life of highest happiness and 
 joy. It is the secret of living a life of love and 
 of highest usefulness to others. Guidance mid life's 
 perplexities, wisdom for life's decisions, cheer for 
 life's sorrows and help over life's hard places, all 
 come with it. Both for the sake of the present and 
 the future good it is worth the while of every Chris- 
 tian to set about the deliberate, sensible, love- 
 prompted and persistent practicing of the presence 
 of God. Each one who thus drawing near to God 
 shall " abide under the shadow of the Almighty," 
 can say with some such sense of blessedness as was 
 felt by Ellen Lakshmi Goreh, of India, that de- 
 vout convert from heathenism, when she penned 
 the beautiful words and thoughts of that remarkably 
 sweet and spiritual poem, *'In the Secret of His 
 Presence ' ' : 
 
 " In the secret of his presence how my soul delights to hide ! 
 Oh, how precious are the lessons which I learn at Jesus' 
 side! 
 
 30 
 
Practicing the Presence of God 
 
 Earthly cares can never vex me, neither trials lay me low; 
 For when Satan comes to tempt me, to the secret place 
 I go. 
 
 «• When my soul is faint and thirsty, 'neath the shadow of 
 
 his wing 
 There is cool and pleasant shelter, and a fresh and crystal 
 
 spring ;■ 
 And my Saviour rests beside me, as we hold communion 
 
 sweet : 
 If I tried, I could not utter what he says when thus we 
 
 meet. 
 
 " Only this I know : I tell him all my doubts, my griefs, 
 
 and fears ; 
 Oh, how patiently he listens ! and my drooping soul he 
 
 cheers : 
 Do you think he ne'er reproves me ? what a false friend 
 
 he would be, 
 If he never, never told me of the sins which he must see. 
 
 " Would you like to know the sweetness of the secret of the 
 Lord? 
 
 Go and hide beneath his shadow : this shall then be your 
 reward ; 
 
 And when e'er you leave the silence of that happy meet- 
 ing place, 
 
 You must mind and bear the image of the Master in your 
 face." 
 
 31 
 
Ill 
 
 Things That Keep Us From God 
 
Things That Keep Us From God 
 
 Few Christians there are who are not regretfully 
 aware of living at far too great a distance from 
 God. Most of us are sensible of a sad lack of vital 
 religion, of depth of Christian experience, and of 
 loving and intimate communion with our heavenly 
 Father. We would like to live near to him, and to 
 experience the joy of fellowship ; but we do not 
 seem to succeed. To be sure, we do not make 
 much effort in this direction. Our attitude is 
 rather that of ijidefinite longing than of making any 
 downright effort to attain. In fact, either con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, we continue to do, or to 
 permit, the very things that increase the barriers 
 between us and God. 
 
 If any of us are mourning the coldness of our 
 Christian living, it is well for us to face the fact 
 that there are many easily enumerated things, pos- 
 sibly common in our life, that are sure to main- 
 tain a sense of distance between our souls and our 
 Saviour. It may prove a real help toward their 
 avoidance if we will definitely recall what some of 
 them are. 
 
 One of these things is simply the rush and hurry 
 35 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 of our modern life. Many of us are in danger of 
 being jostled out of our spirituality. We scarcely 
 take time to think. There is a hymn we sometimes 
 hear sung : " Take time to be holy." It takes time 
 to be holy. We need time for meditation and 
 prayer. Meditation kindles thought, and thought 
 kindles love. Someone has said that meditation 
 is a lost art. If so, then communion with God is 
 in danger of becoming a lost art. " Come ye your- 
 selves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." 
 Let us not fail to take seasons for thought and com- 
 munion with God, and for the cultivation of spir- 
 itual life. The rush and hurry of our days are 
 sure to stand between us and true living unless we 
 are very careful to live in the Spirit and walk in 
 the Spirit, and to allow ourselves time in which 
 to cultivate the grace of communion with God. 
 
 Irregularity of spiritual nourishment is another 
 thing that may stand between us and attainment in 
 grace. Some of us may take time for religion, but 
 it is only occasionally, or at long intervals. We 
 read God's word only at irregular periods. We 
 pray only occasionally. We attend God's house 
 too seldom. Instead, we ought to seek spiritual 
 nourishment at frequent and stated times. We 
 need communion with God as much as we need 
 our daily bread, and as regularly, too. There is 
 almost limitless resource in the way of holding us 
 to duty and of making us strong in all Christian 
 attainments in the mere fact of observing stated 
 
 36 
 
Things That Keep Us From God 
 
 and regular seasons for spiritual meditation and 
 prayer and nourishment ; while the opposite of this 
 keeps us far from God, makes us weak and sickly 
 in soul and lacking in Christian joy and usefulness. 
 
 Another barrier between us and God is found in 
 the attractions of worldliness. This is a beautiful 
 world. God wants us to be happy in it. We are 
 to live in the world, but we are not to have the 
 world live in us. We are to use the world as not 
 abusing it. We are told that while in the world 
 we are not to be of it. A writer suggests that it is 
 all right for the boat to be in the water, but when 
 the water gets into the boat, the boat sinks. So 
 when money-getting and pleasure getting fih us, 
 our spiritual life is submerged. Let us watch 
 against reserving the best of our time and the best 
 of our talents for self. Nothing more certainly 
 than selfishness will separate between us and God. 
 
 Grieving the Holy Spirit is another common 
 barrier that comes between the Christian and his 
 Lord. We too commonly think of this as a sin 
 only of those who are not Christians ; but we are 
 wrong. To us who are Christ's the good Mes- 
 senger comes over and over again, and we do not 
 receive him. He points out a duty and we do 
 not do it. He calls us to a higher life, and we do 
 not aspire, or try to climb. We turn him aside. 
 We drown his voice in the confusion of earthly 
 things. We go on heedless of his love and his 
 call. In so doing we certainly grieve him, and cut 
 37 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 ourselves away from the grace and blessing of God. 
 *' Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." 
 
 Furthermore, we often display a lack in the mat- 
 ter of frank, full and immediate confession of our 
 sins. We cover and excuse and make allowances 
 for the wrong things we do. We permit too much 
 time to elapse between sin and the seeking of par- 
 don. Both of these things separate between us and 
 God. '' If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord 
 will not hear me." '' He that covereth his sin 
 shall not prosper." Let us be careful not to cover, 
 or excuse, or apologize for our sins, nor delay re- 
 pentance or the seeking of pardon if we would not 
 experience a growing sense of distance between us 
 and God. 
 
 It needs scarcely to be added that deliberate dis- 
 obedience is sure to drive us away from God, and 
 turn his face away from us. " Your sins have 
 separated between you and your God." This is 
 always the result of sin. Sinful thoughts, sinful 
 imaginations, sinful deeds build a high barrier be- 
 tween us and our Lord. Of all sins those com- 
 monly spoken of as secret sins are liable to be most 
 harmful. Henry M. Stanley tells us that when he 
 was passing through the forests of darkest Africa, 
 the most formidable foes he encountered, those that 
 caused the greatest loss of life to his caravan, and 
 came near defeating his expedition, were the Wam- 
 butti dwarfs. These diminutive men had only 
 little bows and arrows for weapons, so small that 
 
 38 
 
Things That Keep Us From God 
 
 they looked like children's playthings; but upon 
 the tip of each tiny arrow was a drop of poison 
 which would kill an elephant or a man as surely 
 and as quickly as a rifle. Their defense was by 
 means of poison and traps. They would steal 
 through the dense forest, and, waiting in ambush, 
 let fly their arrows before they could be discovered. 
 They dug ditches and carefully covered them with 
 sticks and leaves. They fixed spikes in the ground 
 and tipped them with poison. Into these ditches 
 and on these spikes man and beast would fall or 
 step to their death. One of the strangest things 
 about it was that their poison was made of honey. 
 
 It is thus that Satan wages his destructive war- 
 fare against God's people. Stealthily, under cover 
 of darkness, by treachery, with weapons seemingly 
 harmless, through the sweets of life, he comes 
 clothed as ''an angel of light." Yet how deadly 
 are the little honey-coated sins which he adminis- 
 ters, how sure the destruction of him who is de- 
 ceived into wandering from the straight and nar- 
 row way ! 
 
 What are some of these sins usually thought of 
 as little sins ? There are sins which by comparison 
 with great sins men call little. Ill temper in family, 
 commercial and church relations ; a light and 
 frivolous spirit ; remissness in religious duties ; so- 
 cial whispering, slandering and backbiting ; vanity 
 and folly in dress ; indulgence in hurtful amuse- 
 ments ; careless and impure conversation ; pride, 
 39 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 etc. There is a host of these 
 might easily find. 
 
 What is the harm they do ? They injure our 
 consciences by hardening them ; they relax our de- 
 votion to and prevent our communion with God ; 
 they hinder the presence of Christ with us ; they 
 grieve the Holy Spirit ; and especially, they make 
 way for greater sins. 
 
 There is an Indian story of a morsel of a dwarf 
 who asked a king to give him all the ground he 
 could cover with three strides. The king, seeing 
 him so small, said, <' Certainly " ; whereupon the 
 dwarf suddenly shot up into a tremendous giant, 
 covering all the land with the first stride, and all 
 the water with the second, and with the third 
 knocked the king down and took his throne. 
 
 It is said that a man one day strolling along in 
 the country happened to see a magnificent golden 
 eagle flying bravely upward toward the sky. He 
 watched it with delight and admiration as it so 
 strongly mounted upward ; but presently he saw 
 that something was wrong with it. It seemed un- 
 able to go any higher. Soon it began to fall, and 
 presently it lay at his feet a lifeless mass. What 
 could be the matter ? No human hand had harmed 
 it. No sportsman's shot had reached it. He went 
 and examined the bird ; and what did he find ? 
 It had carried up with it a little weasel in its talons, 
 and as it had drawn its talons near to its body, for 
 flight, the little creature had wormed itself partly 
 40 
 
Things That Keep Us From God 
 
 out of them and had drunk the lifeblood from the 
 eagle's breast. 
 
 How hke this is it with sin ! It may appear a 
 very Uttle thing one is at first tempted to do, but 
 presently it fastens upon the soul and works death 
 and destruction^ 
 
 How must little sins be dealt with ? Not ten- 
 derly ; not connivingly ; but they must be taken. 
 We must take them or they will take us. We 
 must down with them or they will down with us. 
 We must watch against and pray against and fight 
 against even the smallest of sins, or by and by we 
 shall be overcome of sin and fall into utter spiritual 
 ruin. Look out for the little foxes that spoil the 
 vines ! Make no place in your life for so-called 
 minor evils. They are very dangerous, and even if 
 we are not actually slain by them, they are sure to 
 separate between our souls and any growth in grace 
 and enjoyment of communion with God. 
 
 Let us guard against the things that separate be- 
 tween our souls and God. Let us cling to the 
 things that promote nearness to God. The nearer 
 the stronger. The nearer the more useful. The 
 nearer the happier. 
 
 •'* Jesus keep me near the cross, 
 Bring its scenes before me ; 
 Help me walk from day to day, 
 With its shadow o'er me." 
 
 41 
 
IV 
 
 Love the Master Passion 
 
Love the Master Passion 
 
 There is certainly no more sweet or efficient con- 
 straint than that of love. The best way for a parent 
 to teach a child to be good is by appealing to its 
 love rather than to its fear. The child that is 
 frightened all the time is pretty sure to be ruined. 
 It is the drawing of the mother's affection, the re- 
 peated appeal of the father's love, that creates and 
 fosters good character. For the forming of high 
 character and for the accomplishing of successful 
 work for Christ, what we all need is to come more 
 under the power of his constraining love. 
 
 In a chaste, elegant little chapel, called the 
 ''Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus," in a 
 Roman cathedral, the principal object is a crimson 
 lamp in the shape of a heart. It is formed of glass 
 and partly filled with oil on which floats a tiny 
 flame illumining the crimson glass, so that the heart 
 seems on fire, — a burning heart, its flame ascending 
 before the altar by day and night ! 
 
 In a small box at the side of the chapel candles 
 
 are sold for twopence each. When a candle has 
 
 been procured the ministering acolyte lights it at 
 
 the flame of the sacred heart, and hands it to the 
 
 45 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 worshiper, who then proceeds, with the lighted can- 
 dle, to pray before a series of historical pictures, 
 following the various stages of the Saviour's toil 
 and suffering to his sacrifice on the cross. 
 
 Deeply as we may mourn the idolatry of Rome's 
 many altars and images, the scene may be full of 
 suggestion to us. What is it that many orthodox 
 churches and evangelical Christians most need ? 
 What but the reality (not the representation) of the 
 principle rudely indicated in the Chapel of the 
 Sacred Heart ? Let our feeble, dim intelligences, 
 and our poor, cold hearts come into contact with 
 the sacred heart of Jesus, and, through the power 
 of the Holy Spirit, be illumined and kindled by the 
 fellowship ; then shall we understand the apostle 
 Paul's experience and echo his testimony, when, 
 inspired with a quenchless enthusiasm of devotion 
 and consecration, he exclaimed, ''Whether we are 
 beside ourselves, it is unto God ; or whether we are 
 of sober mind, it is unto you. For the love of 
 Christ constraineth us." This is the impelling 
 motive we need as Christians, the constraining love 
 of Christ. 
 
 In order to appreciate more fully how great the 
 love of Christ is, let us think of some of the ways 
 in which his love has been displayed. 
 
 It was displayed in his coming to earth. He 
 came from heaven with all its glory down to earth 
 with all its lowly suffering. " The Word was made 
 flesh, and dwelt among us. ' ' He humbled himself. 
 
 46 
 
Love the Master Passion 
 
 He took the form of a servant. He placed himself 
 beside us. We are told that when Mrs. Booth, the 
 ''Mother of the Salvation Army" was a young 
 girl, she saw a prisoner being dragged to jail, and 
 his forlorn and lonely lot so appealed to her that 
 she ran to his side and walked with him on his sor- 
 roAvful way. This is what Christ did by his advent. 
 He took his place at our side, identified himself 
 with us in our need, and in this very act manifested 
 a wonderful love for us. 
 
 See, too, how it was displayed in his life while on 
 earth. ''He went about doing good." "He 
 came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. ' ' 
 How wonderfully he manifested love wherever he 
 went ! He did it by pardoning the sinner, by heal- 
 ing the diseased, by comforting the sorrowing, by 
 being a friend to the friendless, a helper to the 
 weak, the teadher of the ignorant, and by showing 
 the greatest of kindness to those seemingly most 
 unworthy of it all. His miracles were love- 
 prompted. So were all the gracious words that 
 proceeded out of his mouth. His life was indeed 
 a life of love. 
 
 Above all he showed his love through his death. 
 Behold him in Gethsemane ! Follow him to Gol- 
 gotha ! View him on the cross ! 
 
 " See, from his head, his hands, his feet 
 Sorrow and love flow mingled down ! " 
 
 Was there ever sorrow like that sorrow ? So, was 
 
 47 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 there ever love like that love ? Can we compre- 
 hend these mysteries, the baptism of blood, the last 
 mysterious agony, the complaint of being forsaken 
 of God ? We feel we cannot. They transcend all 
 thought. The love which made him stoop to them 
 is therefore love ^' which passeth knowledge." In- 
 finite love is displayed here, by the death of Christ 
 on the cross. 
 
 Our recognition of his great love is increased 
 when we realize the fact also that this dying was 
 not for the worthy, but for the unworthy, — for 
 sinners. *'Perad venture for a good man some 
 would even dare to die. But God commendeth his 
 love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us." There was not a favorable 
 trait in our characters to commend us. We were 
 rebellious and repulsive and sin-laden ; and yet 
 Christ loved us and died for us ! Unparalleled 
 love ! A Damon may offer himself to die for Pyth- 
 ias. David may wish that he had died for his 
 son Absalom ; but who would die for a criminal or 
 an enemy ? Such love as this, such wonderful love 
 was it Christ displayed. Who can fathom the 
 depth of such love as that ? 
 
 Such love, love so wonderful as we see Christ's 
 to be, may well prompt us to thoughts as to its con- 
 straining influence. To constrain means to urge, 
 successfully to persuade, to bear away, to transport, 
 to impel forward. The love of Christ certainly 
 possesses a mighty moving power. It is, indeed, 
 
 48 
 
Love the Master Passion 
 
 the great instrument to all high and holy attain- 
 ment. It is the true Christian motive. 
 
 By it we are moved to enter the Christian life. 
 Christ said, <' I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
 unto me." No one can stand before the cross, 
 realizing that Christ died for him, and not be 
 moved with an impulse to yield the heart to him 
 and accept him as his personal Redeemer. ''We 
 love him because he first loved us." 
 
 By it we are prompted to confess ourselves his 
 disciples, unite with his people and make open ac- 
 knowledgment of our devotement to him and his 
 cause. 
 
 A soldier on the Williamsburg battlefield had the 
 artery of his arm severed by the fragment of a shell, 
 and was fast bleeding to death. A physician an- 
 swered his call, came to him, bound up his arm 
 and saved his life. As the surgeon was passing on 
 the man exclaimed : 
 
 '* Doctor, what is your name? " 
 
 **0h, no matter," said the physician. 
 
 "But, doctor, I want to tell my wife and chil- 
 dren who it was that saved me ! " 
 
 So when Christ comes to us, binding up our 
 broken hearts, healing our wounded spirits and sav- 
 ing our dying souls, is it any wonder that there 
 comes to us at once a longing desire to tell others 
 what he has done for us and to show our gratitude 
 by an open acknowledgment of him who is our 
 Saviour ? '' The love of Christ constraineth us." 
 49 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 By it we are impelled to battle against sin. A 
 devoted love makes it easy for a wife to be true to 
 her husband or a husband to his wife. There is a 
 wonderful purifying power in love. Love has 
 mighty transforming influence. 
 
 There is a story of a young girl whose growth in 
 Christian character was very marked. No one 
 seemed to understand the secret of it. It was no- 
 ticed by a very intimate friend that she wore a 
 golden locket which she seemed to prize very highly. 
 Once this friend was sitting with her by the seaside, 
 on a beautiful summer day, and they were in most 
 delightful and affectionate conversation, when the 
 friend suddenly turned and asked if she might look 
 into the locket she had always kept so closely. 
 Being urged the girl consented. The friend opened 
 it to find within these words : '' Whom having not 
 seen I love." Here was the secret of her beautiful 
 life. She had come under the transforming power 
 of the love of Christ. She had a Friend. There 
 was One who loved her. There was One she loved. 
 Love had impelled her to struggle against sin, resist 
 the wrong and cultivate all that was pure and good, 
 all that could be pleasing to her unseen Friend. 
 
 By love we are led also to make sacrifices for 
 Christ. Love is the impelling motive back of all 
 self-sacrifice and labor for him. The heart-enlisted 
 Christian does not give up sinful indulgences be- 
 cause he must, but because he loves Christ and de- 
 lights to do what will please him. The love of 
 50 
 
Love the Master Passion 
 
 Christ constraining, he is glad to deny himself for 
 Christ's sake. Self-sacrifice becomes actual pleas- 
 ure, and work for Christ highest joy. The love- 
 constrained Christian realizes Christ's desire for 
 souls, and therefore tries to win them to him. He 
 knows Christ's longing for the extension of his 
 kingdom, and he therefore gladly gives according to 
 his ability for the spread of the gospel. Christ's in- 
 terests become his interests, Christ's glory his glory, 
 Christ's cause his cause, under the sweet impelling 
 constraint of love. 
 
 The lack we too commonly see of readiness to 
 confess Christ, of holy living, of sacrifice-making, 
 and of soul-saving effort is due to lack of love. 
 Have we this motive ? Is love for Christ the master 
 passion with us ? 
 
 This pointy out a remedy for all our slackness. 
 To bring Christ's love before our minds, to press 
 the thought of its exceeding greatness home upon 
 our hearts, this we should do in order to quicken 
 and kindle to a ruddy glow our own affections. 
 Only so can we set ourselves forward in the Chris- 
 tian life and become successful in Christ's service. 
 
 As a help in this direction let us also bear in 
 mind the fact that highest happiness comes in heart- 
 enlisted service. Duty becomes a delight when the 
 heart is in it. Love-constrained service is a glad 
 and joyous service. In a mother's devotion to her 
 child she scarcely hears the stern demand of duty. 
 Her warm heart beats to the sweet melodies of a 
 51 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 quenchless affection, and she never thinks of duty 
 while yet she is discharging it. So it is in regard 
 to obedience to God by the heart-enlisted. They 
 tell us that in the oil regions there are many wells 
 which must be laboriously pumped to get even a little 
 oil each day. But there are other wells that flow 
 of themselves. So there are some people Avho have 
 hard work forcing themselves to do duty, to serve 
 Christ, to accomplish his will. But it is not so with 
 those who are constrained by love. Duty becomes 
 a delight because the heart is enlisted. Let us do 
 all we can to bring before our minds, and press 
 upon our own attention the fact of Christ's love in 
 order that we may be led to live a life constrained 
 by that love. Christ's love is certainly a sweet 
 constraint ; let us strive increasingly to live under 
 its delightful sway. 
 
 52 
 
V 
 
 The Life More Abundant 
 
The Life More Abundant 
 
 The student of biology becomes acquainted with 
 a large number of organisms that manifest only a 
 very low degree of vitality. This lack of vitality 
 discovers itself by the limited powers of motion, 
 little sensibility to pain and pleasure, and compara- 
 tive absence of intelligence. A sponge, a jellyfish, 
 a mollusk, has life, but it is the very opposite of 
 life abundantly. This same distinction applies also 
 in human life. Men and women differ very much 
 in the amount of life they possess. With many 
 who are sickly and delicate, the difficulty is nothing 
 but low physical vitality — little life. In the matter 
 of mental life the same difference is seen. Of 
 course, in many cases it is nothing but difference in 
 culture or education ; but among people who have 
 enjoyed equal advantages the variations of mental 
 life are sometimes very marked. You hear persons 
 spoken of as slow of understanding, cold of heart, 
 feeble of will, and you know at once that what is 
 meant is that with them life is scanty. On the 
 other hand, you know men and women of quick 
 perception, keen wit, warm feelings, filled with 
 energy and ardor, and you say that these are the 
 55 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 signs of abundant life. So we see at once that life 
 is a matter of degrees. Some have life, but it 
 flickers like a dying candle. Others have life at 
 its full, like the fire on the blacksmith's forge when 
 the bellows are blown at full blast. Life abounding, 
 life abundantly, is what we all like and covet. We 
 want to live while we live, life at its full, life at its 
 best, life abundantly. 
 
 There are those who will have it that personal 
 piety narrows the soul and contracts the life. They 
 say that religion's pleasures are few, its prohibitions 
 innumerable and fixed, with nothing to do but to 
 repeat in each sensitive ear its " Thou shalt," or 
 '' Thou shalt not," with the discord of a perpetual 
 command. Even good people are sometimes mis- 
 led into the thought that life is in some way nar- 
 rowed down and circumscribed by religion ; while 
 many who are not Christians are deterred from 
 ever becoming such by this same misunderstand- 
 ing. But the system of faith and practice which 
 Christ came to proclaim admits of no such morose- 
 ness, severity or gloomy views; but, instead, it 
 proposes to bring in as its own free gift a new and 
 increased experience of every kind that renders life 
 valuable, worthy and worth living. So it is that 
 when we urge rehgion upon any one and the 
 spoken or unspoken excuse is, '* Oh, but I want to 
 see more of life first," the gospel, as if anticipating 
 the objection, or rebuking the one who utters it, 
 answers, ' * Very well, but you are making a great 
 
 56 
 
The Life More Abundant 
 
 mistake, for the Redeemer came that you might 
 have life, and that you might have it yet more 
 abundantly." In other words, this is the doctrine 
 of the New Testament, that the devoted Christian 
 life is a fuller life, a freer life, a brighter, more 
 welcome, more joyous, more abounding life than 
 any other life whatsoever. Why, some people live 
 as much in ten years as others would in fifty. 
 Under certain conditions life is wonderfully en- 
 riched. '' Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle 
 of Cathay." Christ gives us an added capacity 
 for life, an added talent for life, an added amount 
 of life ; so that a Christian actually lives more in 
 the same length of time than one who is not 
 a Christian. Christ's blessing for his people is not 
 that they may have simply life, but that they may 
 have it more abundantly. 
 
 But just here an honest questioner might exclaim ; 
 '' Yes, this sounds well; it makes the Christian life 
 seem very desirable, but I do not see how this larger 
 life is brought about ; how is it done ? ' ' We an- 
 swer ; *' In no way more markedly than by enlarg- 
 ing the capacity of the soul." 
 
 Not long ago we made the acquaintance of a 
 young girl who is nearsighted. Until she was 
 nearly ten years of age neither she nor her parents 
 realized her lack. But finding that she had diffi- 
 culty in studying at school they took her to an ocu- 
 list who furnished her with suitable glasses. 
 When she put them on and looked about she ex- 
 57 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 claimed : " Why, mamma, I can see the grass, that 
 it has separate blades, and the trees, that they have 
 separate leaves. I could never see so before, for 
 they always appeared like one mass of green." 
 We know the secret. She could see more and she 
 could see better simply because her capacity for 
 seeing was enlarged. Just so it is with religion 
 in the soul; it enlarges its capacity. Before, the 
 eyes of the understanding were darkened, and there 
 was blindness in the heart. Now, the whole being 
 is brought ''out of darkness into God's marvelous 
 light." There are beauties the unregenerate heart 
 can never see. There are joys it can never know. 
 "And Elisha prayed, and said. Lord, I pray thee, 
 open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord 
 opened the eyes of the young man ; and he saw : 
 and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and 
 chariots of fire round about Elisha." Just so with 
 us is the opening of our spiritual vision but a 
 superadded capacity to see. To the renewed soul 
 it becomes actually true that the whole landscape 
 of life, its mountains and its valleys are filled with 
 the horses and chariots of God's hitherto unseen 
 power and protecting care and manifestations of 
 love. In innumerable ways the Christian has the 
 advantage over one who is not a Christian. His 
 field of vision is wider and more far-reaching, 
 because it takes in things spiritual and therefore 
 eternal. His cup of bliss is not only fuller, but it 
 holds more. While others may have real earthly 
 58 
 
The Life More Abundant 
 
 joys, Christ's follower has these and the joys of the 
 Christian added. Not only can he say, '< My cup 
 runneth over," but he can add, '< My heart hast 
 thou enlarged." While the pint cup may be full, 
 the quart cup holds more. 
 
 There is another fact that ought to be noticed, 
 namely : that the Christian's capacity for joy is one 
 that is to go on ever increasing, while the very op- 
 posite is the tendency for all who are self-seeking 
 and worldly. With all such there is a constant 
 contraction of life going on from the beginning to 
 the end. 
 
 It is said that one of the tortures of the tyrant 
 kings was that of a cell which at the prisoner's first 
 entrance presented an air of comfort and ease, so 
 that it was not until he had been a few days con- 
 fined that he noticed the dimensions of his chamber 
 beginning to contract. But the fact became more 
 appalling every day. Slowly the sides drew closer ; 
 and the unhappy victim was at last crushed to 
 death. 
 
 The selfish and worldly life is nothing less than 
 such a death chamber. Tyrant-like it imprisons, 
 and torture-like it crushes, until the lines of a slowly 
 contracting existence destroy the soul in the catas- 
 trophe of sin. 
 
 Ordinarily rivers run small at the beginning, 
 grow broader and broader as they proceed, and be- 
 come widest and deepest at the point where they 
 enter the" sea. It is just such a river the Christian 
 59 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 life is like. The life of the worldly is like those 
 other rivers, in Southern Africa, which, proceeding 
 from mountain freshets, are broad and deep at the 
 beginning, but grow narrower and more shallow as 
 they advance, until they waste themselves away by 
 soaking into the sands. At last they pass from 
 sight entirely. The farther they run the less there 
 is of them. But the very opposite of this is the 
 life Christ gives. Let us not forget that there is a 
 capacity for full and abounding life which every 
 man or woman must lack until the heart is yielded 
 cordially and lovingly to God. Only then does 
 joy abound at its full. *'I am come that they 
 might have life, and that they might have it more 
 abundantly j ' ' and one of the ways he gives it is by 
 increasing the capacity of the soul. Christ came 
 to be a mighty fountain of life to every one who 
 will receive him. 
 
 60 
 
VI 
 
 Our Divine Friend 
 
Our Divine Friend 
 
 " Give me a friend," says one ; *' I am not my- 
 self till I have a friend." Every one needs a 
 friend. Christ is the Friend we need. We need 
 other friends, but we need no others so much as we 
 need him. Some we would have as our friends may 
 be indifferent to us. Christ is never indifferent to 
 any, but is wiUing to be the friend of all, even the 
 most lowly. 
 
 The Lord Christ is a friend for every one. He 
 calls us friends without regard to our race or na- 
 tionality, our condition of wealth or of poverty, 
 our learning or lack of learning, without regard to 
 the religious sect or social set to which we belong, 
 the family connections or social acquaintances we 
 have made, or the peculiar infirmities of tempera- 
 ment and temper we manifest. Here is the miracle 
 of miracles, that Christ can manifest himself the 
 Friend of every one. Explain this miracle and we 
 explain the most wonderful of all miracles. Look 
 out on broad humanity and you find it broken. 
 It is broken into nationalities, broken into tribes, 
 broken into sets of every sort. It is further broken 
 into circles of acquaintances, into families, into in- 
 timacies of two or more within families, into vary- 
 
 63 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 ing temperaments. Nation does not altogether 
 coalesce with nation, set with set, family with 
 family. But here is the wonder, that Jesus, be- 
 longing to the most sectarian of nations, spending 
 his youth in the little provincial town of Nazareth, 
 never passing outside the bounds of Palestine, 
 trained in the exclusive Jewish system, should yet 
 possess a heart so grand and so great as to be in 
 fundamental kinship with every man of every na- 
 ture in every nation the broad earth over, and that 
 all these various souls should turn to him and find 
 in him exact adjustment with themselves, — this is 
 the miracle of miracles and the one which above all 
 others pronounces our Saviour divine. It is the 
 moral miracle of friendship — of divine friendship, 
 that to the infinite variety of human hearts the one 
 Christ so accurately mates himself as Friend. 
 Every one needs a friend, and Christ is the one 
 Friend every one needs. 
 
 The love of friends is an active passion, and de- 
 lights in rendering service and bestowing benefits. 
 If Christ is our Friend he will treat us accordingly, 
 and we may expect from him whatever the most 
 perfect friendship can insure. 
 
 For one thing, he will honor us with his confi- 
 dence. This is the very thing he mentions in a 
 recorded conversation with the disciples. '* Hence- 
 forth I call you not servants; for the servant 
 knoweth not what his Lord doeth : but I have 
 called you friends ; for all things I have heard of 
 
 64 
 
Our Divine Friend 
 
 my Father I have made known unto you." A 
 servant is intrusted not with secrets, but with 
 orders. But << the secret of the Lord is with them 
 that fear him ; and he will show them his covenant." 
 The unreserved confidence is for friends. There 
 is nothing concealed between them. Abraham was 
 called the friend of God, and God said, ** Shall I 
 hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" 
 How constantly Christ unbosomed himself to his 
 disciples, saying, "To you it is given to know 
 the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," when he 
 was alone with them ''expounding all things unto 
 them," manifesting himself to them as not unto the 
 world. So Christ is now ready to honor us with 
 his confidence, take us into this intimacy of rela- 
 tion and to tell us secrets which those v/ho will not 
 abide " in the secret of his presence " cannot hear. 
 Have we sought his confidence, admitted him to our 
 lives, kept our hearts open toward him and listened 
 as we should when he has spoken ? 
 
 If Christ is our Friend he will give us freedom of 
 access to himself. Distance and ceremonies may be 
 necessary to regulate the approach of others ; but 
 they are all laid aside for a friend. The heart, the 
 arms, the house are all open to him. And does 
 our divine Friend desire to keep us at a distance ? 
 On the contrary all his language is that of invita- 
 tion — " Come." He allows us to " come even to 
 his seat," to enter ''the secret of his pavilion," 
 permits us to tell him all, even to our most minute 
 
 65 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 affairs, allows us to live in his house, sit at his 
 table, walk at his side, lean on his bosom. Such 
 honor have all his saints. 
 
 But we may well question ourselves : Have we 
 accepted his invitations ? Have we availed our- 
 selves of the offered privileges ? Have we shown 
 ourselves at all suitably appreciative of all his many 
 offered opportunities for intimacy ? 
 
 If Christ is our Friend he will counsel us. He 
 is the "Counselor." He gives us the benefit of 
 his wisdom. '' The meek will he guide in judg- 
 ment : and the meek will he teach his way." The 
 counsel of a wise and true friend, how good it is ! 
 We are encouraged to bring to him all our plans, 
 all our doubts, all our fears. Are we in the dark ? 
 He will be to us light. Have we doubts ? He 
 will be the dissolver of doubts. Are we perplexed 
 regarding the way to take ? He will be our guide. 
 The trouble with most of us is altogether this, that 
 we do not seek his counsel as we should. Were 
 we to do so, he would lead us in wisdom's ways, 
 which are pleasantness, and into her paths, which 
 are peace. 
 
 If Christ is our Friend he will reprove us. Gentle 
 reproof is one of the proofs and privileges of a 
 friend. 
 
 " Do you think he ne'er reproves me ? 
 What a false friend he would be, 
 If he never, never told me 
 
 Of the sins which he must see." 
 66 
 
Our Divine Friend 
 
 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." ''Let 
 the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness." 
 Our divine Friend is faithful to us, and so he re- 
 proves when we go wrong, to the end that we 
 may learn to do better. ' ' As many as I love, I 
 rebuke and chasten." With both counsel and 
 reproof he has been ready ; but have we been always 
 glad to hear the good counsel or to heed the faith- 
 ful reproof? 
 
 If Christ is our Friend he will sympathize with us. 
 There is no true friendship unless we make the 
 pleasures and pains of the chosen ones our own, 
 rejoicing when they rejoice and weeping when they 
 weep. This is the sort of a friend Christ is to us. 
 It was to this end he came to earth and assumed 
 our nature. He became a man to be a friend. 
 He became a man in order that he might be 
 ' ' tempted in all points like as we are. ' ' He became 
 a man in order that he might be "touched with a 
 feeling of our infirmities." "For in that he him- 
 self hath suffered being tempted, he is able to 
 succor them that are tempted." In all our afflic- 
 tions he is afflicted. There is nothing concerns us 
 that does not concern him. He sympathizes with 
 us in all the events of our human existence. Do 
 we permit him to enter into them all with us as we 
 might ? If we lack consciousness of his sympathy 
 in either joy or sorrow, it is not his fault but ours. 
 
 If Christ is our Friend he will afford us assistance 
 and succor. He will not stand by and see us need. 
 
 67 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 '* A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born 
 for adversity." He is a very present help in every 
 time of need. We might have friends who in a 
 time of need would love us and sympathize with us, 
 but sorrowfully find themselves without power to aid 
 us. But not so with Christ as our Friend. '' Noth- 
 ing is too hard for the Lord." He is both able and 
 willing to give us aid, and prove himself the very 
 friend we need. And this he will do all our life 
 through and in death will not forsake us. "I have 
 called you friends." Meaningful message ! En- 
 dearing title ! To us what a blessed privilege thus 
 to be called by Christ ! 
 
 If Christ is our Friend and we profess to be his, 
 what has he therefore a right to expect from us? 
 How will our love for Christ make itself manifest ? 
 There are self-tests we may wisely apply in seeking 
 to know our real relationship toward Christ. 
 
 If we love Christ we will love to think about him. 
 It is a characteristic of love that it delights to dwell 
 in thought upon the object of its regard. If love to 
 Christ is true it will be carried about continually in 
 the Christian's mind and heart, an ever-present 
 reality. There is an old story that when a surgeon 
 was probing the breast of one of Napoleon's sol- 
 diers to extract a bullet, the wounded man sighed 
 as he felt the thrust : "A little deeper and you will 
 find the emperor ! " Do we love Christ like that? 
 so that he may be found there always, in the heart ? 
 It is a good test of our friendship toward him for 
 68 
 
Our Divine Friend 
 
 us to put to ourselves this question as to just how 
 much we keep him in mind and dwell upon him in 
 thought. 
 
 If we love Christ we will delight to hear about 
 him. We always like to hear about those we love. 
 '* How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a be- 
 liever's ear ! " Is your friendship such as to make 
 his name sound sweet to your ear ? Do you find 
 joy in hearing him spoken of, the beauties of his 
 character mentioned, his gracious words repeated, 
 and his loving works and ways recalled ? Such 
 is the way one true friend feels in hearing about 
 another. 
 
 If you love Christ you will love his friends. This 
 is a well-known trait of all true love. We love our 
 friends* friends. It will be one of the best proofs 
 of the sincerity of our friendship toward Christ if 
 we love air those he loves. "This is my com- 
 mandment, That ye love one another. So shall ye 
 be my disciples." 
 
 If we love Christ we will be careful of his good 
 name and honor. As a true friend we will care- 
 fully guard both him and his cause from any stigma 
 or dishonor, and especially from any that might re- 
 sult from the least lack of loyalty or faithfulness on 
 our part. We will also take his part against any 
 who would strive to take away from the honor of 
 his names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, or 
 works. 
 
 If we love him we will love to be with him. It is 
 
 69 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 this love that leads Christ's friends to go to places 
 where he is especially sure to be found, places 
 where he promises to meet them. The hour of 
 prayer, the place of prayer, the house of prayer, 
 and all the ordinances of religion are as sweet as 
 when a lover tarries with the loved one, all because 
 they carry us into the very presence of Christ, our 
 Friend. This also is the reason why Christians 
 look forward with so much delight toward their 
 residence in heaven. " They shall see his face." 
 *' God himself shall be with them, and be their 
 God." **We shall be like him, for we shall see 
 him as he is." 
 
 Let us test ourselves. Let us strive to know the 
 real quahty of our friendship. Christ was the 
 friend of Peter and John and James, of Martha and 
 Mary and Lazarus, in Palestine long ago. They 
 knew him, walked with him, talked with him, and 
 found highest delight in him then. Why may not I, 
 by faith, do the same now ? There are those who 
 do. They walk with him, talk with him, and 
 *' practice his presence" every day. They meet 
 him every morning when they awake ; he is with 
 them in the street and at their work ; they tell to 
 him their secrets and appeal to him in every time 
 of need; they know him better than any other 
 friend. I need such a friend, and I know that he 
 is willing to be such to me. I resolve to accept 
 his love anew, to cherish it afresh, to value it more, 
 to grieve it less, and to strive to live under the 
 70 
 
Our Divine Friend 
 
 consciousness of it and its transforming influence 
 every day. 
 
 "0 Holy Saviour! Friend unseen, 
 Since on thine arm thou bid'st me lean, 
 Help me throughout life's changing scene, 
 By faith to cling to thee ! " 
 
 71 
 
VII 
 
 In His Footprints 
 
In His Footprints 
 
 John Bunyan, in The Pilgrim's Progress, puts, 
 into the mouth of Mr. Standfast these beautiful 
 words : *' I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of, 
 and wherever I have seen the print of his shoes in 
 the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot." 
 Applied to the question as to how a Christian 
 should walk these words accord exactly with the 
 matured judgment of the apostle John, for in one 
 of the last, if not the very last, of his writings he 
 says: "He that saith he abideth in him ought 
 himself also to' walk, even as he walked." 
 
 How did Christ walk ? Well we know that he 
 walked holily. " Who did no sin, neither was guile 
 found in his mouth." He never walked in any 
 wrong path, and therefore those who put their feet 
 in his steps are sure to go right. It is a good test 
 for us to put always to ourselves, if we doubt as to 
 any course of action, "What would Jesus do ? " 
 A close study of his life is the very best guide to a 
 holy walk. There is no possible perplexity in 
 which we may not find a solution by studying the 
 life of Christ upon earth. 
 
 It is said that the disciples of Plato carried their 
 75 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 imitation of their master to such a length that their 
 very gait was like his. Of a great minister of a 
 generation ago, in one of our leading denomina- 
 tions, it was said that "the young preachers in his 
 district carried their heads on one side, to be like 
 Dr. Bangs." When we copy a model we are more 
 apt to follow its defects than its excellences ; but fol- 
 lowing Christ we are sure of a perfect pattern. 
 Even Paul found it needful to warn people to follow 
 him only as he followed Christ. Let us try to solve 
 all our difficulties as to duty by asking ourselves 
 what Christ would do if he were in our place, or 
 whether we could take him with us into the things 
 we wish to do. 
 
 William Wye Smith gives a striking illustration 
 which may fix this thought more firmly in mind. 
 " I once spoke to an old farmer," said he, "about 
 his drinking — a man who was pious on Sunday, 
 and who would have been vexed to be considered 
 anything else than a Christian. He said he had a 
 long distance to haul his crop of wheat for sale in 
 winter, and found it absolutely necessary to call at 
 a half-way tavern and drink something. I said to 
 him that Christ went about from place to place 
 preaching, when he was upon earth, and was very 
 kind and familiar, and talked to people on the way. 
 Now, if he should overtake Jesus on the road, and 
 he was going to the same market town, what would 
 he do with him ? Why, he would ask him to ride, 
 and give him a good seat on his sleigh, on his bags 
 
 76 
 
In His Footprints 
 
 of wheat. But what would he do when he came to 
 his half-way house ? Would he leave Jesus sitting 
 on the load of wheat in the wintry wind, while he 
 himself went into the barroom for his whiskey ? or 
 would he take him into the bar with him ? He in- 
 terrupted me at this point, and said he < didn't 
 think it was right to talk about our Lord in that 
 way.' But he would not answer my question. 
 Dear fellow-disciples, we need to find Christ's 
 tracks every day in the week. We want to have 
 him with us everywhere and at all times. And if 
 it would degrade Christ to be with us and to do as 
 we do, then we are degrading ourselves by going 
 where Christ would not go and doing what Christ 
 would not do. Now that is one very good way of 
 finding ' the prints of Christ's shoes in the earth.' 
 And the habit of thinking, ' What would Christ do 
 if he were in my place ? ' or * What would Christ 
 say if he were here ? ' — this habit will soon become 
 so strong and fixed that even in dangers and diffi- 
 culties suddenly arising, the mind will decide at 
 once : * If Christ were in my place he would do so 
 and so ' ; or, ' If Christ were here he would speak 
 thus.' " 
 
 Christ's was also an humble w^alk. We are not 
 walking as he walked if we ever indulge in a proud 
 or haughty spirit or think of ourselves more highly 
 than we ought to think. '' Let this mind be in you, 
 which was also in Christ Jesus : who, being in the 
 form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
 77 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 with God : but made himself of no reputation, and 
 took upon him the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men : and being found in 
 fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 
 
 Again, let us not forget that Christ's walk was a 
 serviceable walk. <' He went about doing good." 
 He came *' not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
 ister." He even ''gave his life a ransom for 
 many." It will not be walking in his steps unless 
 we make our lives serviceable lives. '' Ye are the 
 light of the world." Ye are leaven. Ye are salt. 
 Then let your light shine. Let the truth you have 
 pass on to permeate other souls. Let your saving 
 qualities come in contact with those needing their 
 application. Be a personal, individual worker. Do 
 not copy others, but ask the Lord what he would 
 have done by you. Say, ''Lord what will thou 
 have me to do ? " Do not depend on committees 
 or societies, however good, but work as if all de- 
 pended on individuals. You will have to give to 
 God a personal account. See that you have a per- 
 sonal work to show and a personal reward to re- 
 ceive. Walk as Christ walked in the way of per- 
 sonal and loving service. 
 
 Do not fail to recognize the fact also that his 
 was a walk of close fellowship and communion with 
 his Father. If we would walk as he walked we 
 must "practice the presence of God." He spent 
 much time apart from the hurried throngs in prayer 
 
 78 
 
In His Footprints 
 
 and deep communings with God. So should we 
 do. If we would walk as Christ walked we must 
 take time to think of God, to realize his presence, to 
 commune with him. We must take time to listen 
 to God. He is not a silent Father, but speaks to 
 us. If we would practice his presence we must 
 listen to him when he speaks. We must be atten- 
 tive to his counsels, heed his commands, answer 
 his invitations, enter into sympathy with him and 
 his plans. We must speak to him, express our love, 
 bring our desires, tell our gratitude for his gifts, and 
 be in close touch with him and his thoughts. 
 
 Let us not forget that there is but one perfect life, 
 and that is the life of Jesus Christ. Let us strive 
 continually to walk as he walked. All other good 
 lives are but imperfect imitations of this perfect one. 
 
 A young woman with some ambition as a painter 
 submitted specimens of her skill to a successful 
 artist. ''Don't copy copies," said he. ''You 
 have copied this landscape from a picture that was 
 itself an imperfect copy, with the result that all its 
 errors are reproduced and magnified. Go out into 
 nature and paint directly from your own landscape. 
 Or, if you must copy, copy a masterpiece. Any- 
 thing else is not worth while." So, in attempting 
 to live right, men and women will do well to look 
 above human examples and strive to copy the great 
 Masterpiece, Jesus himself. He is the perfect 
 model. Copy him. Walk as he walked. Put 
 your feet in the marks of his footprints. 
 79 
 
VIII 
 
 The Discipline of Difficulties 
 
The Discipline of Difficulties 
 
 No man ever worked his way spiritually in a dead 
 calm. We all need some retarding winds to help 
 us forward, some testing times to put force and fiber 
 into our souls. Take it, for instance, in the matter 
 of temptation. Do you ever think of your tempta- 
 tions as blessings ? And yet they are. At least 
 they may become blessings. It is an inspired 
 apostle who writes: ''Count it all joy when ye 
 fall into divers temptations." Do you count it 
 so? Again: ''Blessed is the man that endureth 
 temptation.". Do you esteem temptations as a 
 part of your blessedness ? And yet what kind 
 of a moral invertebrate would you be without temp- 
 tations? Men talk about the mystery of God's 
 ever having permitted evil to enter the world. It 
 is a mystery. And yet may not its presence re- 
 sult in blessing, after all ? Valueless is the char- 
 acter that knows no testing, and insipid is the hap- 
 piness that has in it nothing of the joy of over- 
 coming. The question in life is not so much how 
 to escape temptation as how to pass through it so as 
 not to be harmed by it. There is even a way of so 
 meeting temptations as really to get benefit and 
 blessing from them. Rightly meeting and victo- 
 
 83 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 riously resisting ever puts new fiber into the soul. 
 The Indians have a saying that when a warrior 
 slays a foe the spirit of the vanquished enemy 
 enters the victor's heart and adds new strength for 
 every coming contest. This becomes a literal fact 
 in the spiritual warfare. We grow stronger through 
 our struggles and our victories. Every time we 
 overcome a temptation we are made stronger to 
 overcome the next one, and then the next, and so 
 on. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall 
 into divers temptations ; knowing this, that the try- 
 ing of your faith worketh patience." "Blessed is 
 the man that endureth temptation : for when he is 
 tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the 
 Lord hath promised to them that love him." Thus 
 we see the discipline there is in difficulties, the help 
 there is in hindrances, the strength there is in 
 things that take our strength. 
 
 The same principle holds good in regard to all 
 the responsibilities we must bear. We learn to 
 walk by walking ; we learn to write by writing ; we 
 learn to work by working, and we learn to bear re- 
 sponsibilities by bearing responsibility. No devout 
 Christian worker ever began any service for God 
 feeling strong and self-reliant and self-sufficient. 
 He always faces the effort in conscious weakness 
 and fear and much trembling. But it is as he goes 
 on to do his duty that God's grace and cheer come 
 to him, and he becomes strong and capable and 
 successful as a worker. 
 
 84 
 
The Discipline of Difficulties 
 
 Trial and affliction work their good results in the 
 same way. Many of the sweetest joys of Christian 
 hearts are songs which they have learned in the 
 bitterness of trial. A story is told of a little bird 
 that would never learn to sing the song the master 
 would have him sing while his cage was full of 
 light. There was so much to take his attention. 
 He would listen to the many voices. He would 
 learn a snatch of one song, a trill of another, a 
 polyglot of all the songs in the grove, but never a 
 separate and entire melody of his own. But the 
 master at last covered the cage he was in, and made it 
 dark all about him, and then he listened and listened 
 to the one song he was to sing, and tried and tried, 
 and tried again, until at last his heart was full of it. 
 Then, when he had caught the melody, his cage was 
 uncovered, and he went on singing it sweetly ever 
 after in the light. It is often with our hearts as 
 with that bird. 
 
 "She sings well," said a great musician of a 
 promising, but emotionless vocalist, *' but she wants 
 something, and in that something everything. If I 
 were single I would court her ; I would marry her ; 
 I would break her heart ; and in six months she 
 would be the greatest singer in Europe." The re- 
 mark was a detestable one, but the thing the man 
 meant is true. On the other hand, God is our 
 heavenly Father; he loves us with a Father's love, 
 strong and tender, and he has the same right to 
 educate us that any earthly father has to send his 
 
 85 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 children to school ; and none of us could estimate 
 how much our lives might lack in the qualities 
 of sweetness and sympathy and power to bless, 
 were it not for the discipline of difficulty God sends. 
 
 " The good are better made by ill, 
 As odors crushed are sweeter still." 
 
 '• Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to 
 be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward" 
 — we all need to have regard to the afterward of 
 trial — ''afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of 
 righteousness unto them which are exercised 
 thereby." Like the photographer with his picture, 
 God brings out in many a life its loveliest beauties 
 while the curtain is drawn and the light of day shut 
 out. The darkness does not tell of displeasure; 
 it is only the shadow of the wing of divine love 
 folded down over us for a little, while the Master 
 adds some new touch of loveliness to the picture 
 he is bringing out in our soul. 
 
 This is a lesson we all need to learn from the 
 disciplines of life. They are intended not to 
 hinder, but to help us ; not to cast us down, but to 
 lift us up. "I never saw until I was blind," ex- 
 claimed a man who had neglected spiritual things 
 until this affliction came upon him. Many a man 
 never found himself until he lost his all. Adver- 
 sity stripped him only to discover him. He was 
 impoverished only to be made rich. Many a man 
 has been ruined into salvation. The lightning 
 86 
 
The Discipline of Difficulties 
 
 which smote his dearest hopes opened up a new 
 rift in his dark life, revealing in his nature possi- 
 bilities of patience and endurance and hope and trust 
 he had never dreamed before that he possessed. It 
 is a solemn prayer, and yet one we should be ready 
 to offer, 
 
 " Nearer, my God, to thee. 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 E'en though it be a cross 
 That raiseth me." 
 
 It is in this cheerful way we ought to regard all 
 the duties and difficulties and responsibihties God 
 in his wise providence puts upon us. They are in- 
 tended as helps, not hindrances ; not to weaken 
 but to strengthen. The very things we think would 
 hold us down are the things that lift us up ; just as 
 a kite flies up because the string holds it down. 
 
 The whole thought may be emphasized in a 
 brief but suggestive parable. It is about the 
 wingless birds. There is a myth about the birds, 
 that when they were first created they had no 
 wings. The story is that God made the wings, put 
 them down before the birds, and said: *<Now, 
 come, take these burdens up and bear them." The 
 birds had beautiful plumage and voices. They 
 could sing and shine, but they could not soar. 
 But at the word of their Maker, they took up the 
 wings with their beaks and laid them upon their 
 shoulders to carry them. At first they seemed to be a 
 
 87 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 heavy load and rather difficult to bear. But as 
 they cheerfully and patiently bore them, and folded 
 them close over their hearts, lo ! the wings grew 
 fast, and that which they once bore now bore them. 
 The burdens became pinions, and the weights be- 
 came wings. 
 
 Fellow-Christians, we are the wingless birds. 
 Our duties are the pinions. When at first we as- 
 sume them they do seem to be heavy loads. But, 
 glad and happy fact ! as we cheerfully bear them on, 
 as we obediently take up the tasks God gives, as 
 we meet the difficulties, as we do the duties, the 
 burdens change to pinions, the weights become 
 wings and lift us heavenward. Let us, then, with 
 the apostle, "glory in tribulations also : knowing 
 that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, 
 experience ; and experience, hope : and hope 
 maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is 
 shed abroad in our hearts." Thank God for your 
 testings. Thank God for the difficulties that de- 
 velop your strength. Thank God for all his dis- 
 ciplinary dealings ; for he makes each hindrance a 
 help and every retarding weight a wing to lift us 
 toward himself. 
 
 88 
 
IX 
 
 Grace Abounding 
 
Grace Abounding 
 
 The story is told of a woman who worked many 
 years between the confining walls of a cotton 
 factory in one of the great manufacturing towns of 
 England, and who, in a railway excursion, went 
 for the first time to the coast. When she caught 
 the earliest glimpse of the Irish Sea, the expanse 
 lying out before her eyes looking like the limitlessness 
 of the ocean in its rush and roll of billows, she ex- 
 claimed as she drew one boundless breath of fresh- 
 ness and glory; ''At last, here comes something 
 there is enough of!" It is some such boundless 
 benediction as the ocean and the air that grace is 
 in its never failing plenty. 
 
 Let us think of Christ's inexhaustible fullness. 
 "Of his fullness have all we received." Some 
 one has said: ''I have found it an interesting 
 thing to stand on the edge of a noble rolling river, 
 and to think that although it has been flowing on 
 for six thousand years, watering the fields and 
 slaking the thirst of a hundred generations it shows 
 no signs of waste or want j and when I have 
 watched the rise of the sun as he shot above the 
 crest of the mountain, or in a sky draped with 
 91 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 golden curtains sprang up from his ocean bed, I 
 have wondered to think that he has melted the 
 snows of so many winters, and renewed the verdure 
 of so many springs, and painted the flowers of so 
 many summers, and ripened the golden harvests of 
 so many autumns, and yet shines as brilliant as 
 ever, his eye not dim, nor his natural strength 
 abated, nor his floods of light less full of centuries of 
 boundless profusion. Yet what are these but images 
 of the fullness that is in Christ ? ' ' The fullness of 
 Christ is the treasury of his saints. He is the 
 fountain of life and light, the creator and preserver 
 of all, the author of human redemption and the 
 dispenser of an abundant salvation with all its un- 
 numbered benefits. " In him all fullness dwells." 
 He is '' full of grace and truth." 
 
 Let us think, too, of our great need of grace. 
 How utterly destitute and empty of spiritual good 
 we all are ! This abundance in Christ is exactly 
 suited and intended to meet our need — to supply 
 our deficiency, to relieve our poverty, to satisfy our 
 hunger and thirst. 
 
 Our need grows out of the state we are in by 
 nature. We are born in sin, with a disposition 
 that turns away from God and godliness. We need 
 his regenerating grace to change our hearts and 
 turn us about in our tracks, facing God ward. 
 
 Our need grows out of a too frequent and willful 
 refusal of the good. We choose to be spiritually 
 poor. It is sometimes necessary for God to press 
 92 
 
Grace Abounding 
 
 his blessings upon us. So gracious is he that in 
 spite of our willfuhiess he often pours out of his 
 abounding fulhiess until verily our ''cup runneth 
 over." 
 
 Our need too frequently grows out of the fact 
 that we have allowed the avenues of grace to be- 
 come choked or broken. Grace can be obstructed. 
 When our spiritual supplies fail the channel is 
 sometimes at fault, and not the stream. The 
 hindrance to their coming lies with us, not with 
 our heavenly Benefactor. The supply of fuel for a 
 great city may sometimes fail, not because the coal 
 fields are exhausted, but because the weather has 
 frozen up the rivers or blocked up the railways. 
 The supply of water or gas to our houses is some- 
 times insufficient, not because the reservoirs are 
 low, but because the pipes which connect our 
 dwellings with the main service are choked up or 
 broken. News fails to reach us, not because our 
 correspondent has neglected to write, but because 
 the means of transmission have been imperfect. 
 Grace has its channels. For one blessing it may 
 be the channel of prayer, for another it may be 
 that of our placing ourselves in the position where 
 the shower is sure to fall. We fail to keep in 
 position. We fail to keep the channel clear. 
 
 While there is this danger of obstructing the 
 
 channels of grace, yet it is a fact that in spite of all 
 
 our follies or failures Christ thinks of our lack and 
 
 so out of his fullness gives to meet our need. " Of 
 
 93 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 his fullness have all we received, and grace for 
 grace." 
 
 In early life the writer was a clerk in a hardware 
 store, and one of his duties was to look over the 
 stock and write in what was called the ''Want 
 Book " a list of all the things needed. How com- 
 forting it is to us to know that our Master has a 
 supply book which exactly meets our want book ! 
 Promises, providences, divine visitations, abundance 
 of grace to meet our every necessity ! 
 
 We need grace to receive grace. An English 
 duchess was visiting a friend in Scotland. While 
 there a peddler came to the house and laying down 
 his pack asked for a drink of water. The woman 
 of the house brought a drink, and as she handed it 
 to him asked the gentle question : "Do you know 
 anything of the water of life ? ' ' The peddler re- 
 plied : "By the grace of God I do." He drank 
 the water, and then offered to pray with them. This 
 was his prayer: "Oh, Lord, give us grace to feel 
 our need of grace. Oh, Lord, give us grace to re- 
 ceive grace. Oh, Lord, give us grace to ask for 
 grace. Oh, Lord, give us grace to use grace when 
 grace is given." He then took up his pack and 
 went his way having preached a powerful sermon 
 in those few words, — a sermon it would be well if 
 we all should hear and heed. 
 
 Grace comes like the waves of the sea. When 
 one blessing comes there is another close behind it. 
 There is a story of Rowland Hill, which we have 
 94 
 
Grace Abounding 
 
 no doubt is true, because it is so characteristic of 
 the man's eccentricity and generosity, which will 
 illustrate this abounding flow of God's grace. 
 Some one had given the great preacher a hundred 
 pounds to send to an extremely poor minister. But, 
 thinking it was too much to send him all at once, 
 he sent him five pounds in a letter, with simply 
 these words inside the envelope, '' More to follow." 
 In a few days' time the good man had another letter 
 by the post ; and letters by the post were rarities in 
 those days. When he opened it there were five 
 pounds again, with just these words, ''And more to 
 follow." A few days after there came another, and 
 still the same words, '' And more to follow." And 
 so it continued until the twentieth time, the good 
 man being more and more astonished at the letters, 
 coming always by post and with the same sentence, 
 "And more to follow." Now every blessing that 
 comes from God is sent in just such an envelope 
 and with the selfsame message, " And more to fol- 
 low." "I forgive your sins, but there's more to 
 follow." "I justify you freely through the right- 
 eousness of Christ, but there's more to follow." ''I 
 adopt you into my family, but there's more to fol- 
 low." '' I have helped you even down to old age, 
 but there's more to follow." '< I have brought you 
 to the brink of Jordan and am with you in crossing 
 the dark stream that divides the present world from 
 the future, but even over to the other side I will be 
 with you and as you enter the other world you will 
 95 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 find there is still more to follow." That is the way 
 God gives, ''More and more, always more to fol- 
 low." And eternal life means a life in which there 
 will never come a time when there is not more to 
 follow, more and greater blessings, larger and richer 
 experiences, and so on through a never-ending 
 eternity, while even here and now we have ''grace 
 for grace," abundance of grace, more and more, 
 according to our every recurring need. 
 
 96 
 
X 
 
 The Making of Character 
 
The Making of Character 
 
 The word character is from the Greek charassOy 
 which means to cut or to engrave. Character, 
 therefore, is that which is cut into the soul, en- 
 graven upon the tablet of the heart. It is the in- 
 effaceable cuttings and chiselings we are making 
 upon our soul's substance day by day. Men go on 
 in the way of filthiness until by and by you can 
 predict that each voluntary choice will be of filthi- 
 ness ; and so they remain filthy still — and all along 
 the way they are tending toward that condition. 
 So, too, of the righteous ; by the making of right- 
 eous choices they learn to love righteousness, and 
 to come into such a confirmed love of righteous- 
 ness that they are sure of being righteous still. 
 
 Character is not reputation. Character is what 
 a man is ; reputation is what a man seems to be. 
 The one is internal, the other external. Character 
 is what God sees and knows us to be ; reputation is 
 what men say and think we are. As a general 
 thing we need to pay very little attention to our 
 reputation. The thing we need to pay attention to 
 is character, and then our character will take care 
 of our reputation. A good man seldom, if ever, 
 99 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 needs to vindicate himself from charges which the 
 whole tenor of his life contradicts. Look out for 
 your character and your character will look out for 
 your reputation. 
 
 Character, therefore, we see, is the thing of real 
 value, the crown and glory of life, the noblest pos- 
 sible possession. Well did W. M. Evarts say: 
 *' As there is nothing in the world great but man, 
 there is nothing truly great in man but character." 
 It was said of the emperor Alexander, of Russia, 
 that his personal character was equivalent to a con- 
 stitution. Of Montaigne it was said his high repu- 
 tation for integrity was better protection for him 
 than a regiment of horse would have been, he be- 
 ing the only man among the French gentry who, 
 during the wars of the Fronde, kept his castle gates 
 unbarred. 
 
 It is a happy fact that this attainment of high 
 character is something available for all. There is 
 elbowroom for all the virtues in every trade or 
 occupation. One may have comparatively little 
 culture, slender abilities, and but small wealth, yet 
 if his character be of sterling worth he will always 
 command an influence, be a means of blessing to 
 the world and get the recognition due to true 
 nobility. "Manhood overtops all titles." ''One 
 ruddy drop of manly blood the surging sea out- 
 weighs." 
 
 " Better not be at all 
 Than not be noble," 
 ICO 
 
The Making of Character 
 
 says Tennyson. And Lowell adds a finest tribute 
 when he says : 
 
 " When all have done their utmost, surely he 
 Hath given the best who gives a character 
 Erect and upright." 
 
 Toward such a character, by every motive of 
 love to God and love to man and love to our own- 
 selves, we are bound to aim, if we would not each 
 become a decayed wreck of crumbling possibilities. 
 
 But the formation of character — what are some 
 of the secrets of its process ? For one thing., it is 
 always slow and silent. It is never an upheaval. 
 Its foundation is never laid in a day. There was 
 once a stupendous apartment without supports in 
 the great cav^ of Kentucky. But following the up- 
 heaval that formed the cave, water began to per- 
 colate through the dome and fall drop by drop to 
 the floor. An invisible sediment of carbonate of 
 lime was left by each drop on the ceiling and where 
 it fell on the floor. Nature's workmen had begun 
 to pillar that mighty dome. By day and by night, 
 without let or hindrance, the work went on. At 
 last the stalactite began to hang from the vault and 
 the stalagmite to rise from the floor, and long before 
 the eyes of man looked into that little world, the 
 pillars from above and the pillars from below had 
 met and a thousand columns supported the over- 
 hanging roof, until now all the railroads in the State 
 
 lOI 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 might roll their cars over the place, or you could 
 pile another continent upon it, and it would not 
 yield an inch. Thus character is always stalactitic 
 in its formation, begun in a moment, but running 
 on through a lifetime and coming to an absolute 
 permanence. Never a drop of truth percolates 
 through the heart that it does not leave a sediment 
 of strength. Never a thought, word or deed that 
 does not leave some eternal effect. 
 
 Not alone good character, but bad character is 
 formed in the same way. The rules which apply 
 to the forming of one apply to the forming of the 
 other. This is why the familiar and solemn 
 passage in the book of Revelation, '< He which is 
 filthy, let him be filthy still," etc., applies exactly 
 the same terms to the becoming confirmed in un- 
 righteousness and the becoming confirmed in holi- 
 ness. The white sediment of lime makes the beau- 
 tiful marble-like pillars in the Mammoth Cave, but 
 some dark and filthy sediment would make unlovely 
 pillars, just the same. You have seen an icicle 
 formed, and noticed how it froze one drop at a 
 time until it became a foot long, or more. If the 
 water was clear the icicle remained clean, and 
 sparkled brightly in the sun ; but if the water was 
 slightly muddy, the icicle was foul and its beauty 
 spoiled. Just so our characters are formed. One 
 little thought, one little act, one little feeling after 
 another adds its influence. If these thoughts and 
 acts and feehngs be pure and good, the soul will be 
 
 102 
 
The Making of Character 
 
 lovely and sparkle with beauty and blessing ; but 
 if they are impure and wrong the result can be only 
 deformity, unloveliness and wretchedness. It is 
 very important that we come to realize how entirely 
 the completed character we form, good or bad, 
 depends on the feelings and thoughts and doings 
 of each passing day. 
 
 It is just here that the question of our habits gets 
 its tremendous importance. Habit tends to make 
 us permanently what we are for the moment. Few 
 of us realize how constantly and how potentially 
 our lives are influenced and even dominated by our 
 daily habits. Shakespeare taught us ''how use 
 doth breed a habit in a man"; for the frequent 
 repetition of acts causes a tendency almost resistless 
 toward their regular recurrence, which has caused 
 habit to be called '' A kind of second nature grow- 
 ing up within us." For a middle-aged person 
 habit is practically fate. It is practically certain 
 that acts I have done for twenty years I will repeat 
 to-day. On the island of Cuba there are certain 
 roads down the mountains where the wheel tracks 
 are worn so deeply in the limestone that when the 
 wheels of a vehicle have entered them at the top 
 there is no getting out until they have gone to the 
 bottom. There is a fatality like that about habit. 
 What are the chances for a man who has been lazy 
 and indolent all his life starting in to-morrow morn- 
 ing to be industrious, or a spendthrift frugal, a lib- 
 ertine virtuous, or a profane, foul-minded man 
 103 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 clean and chaste ? Long practiced habit is prac- 
 tically fate. ''Habit," says Horace Mann, **is a 
 cable ; we weave a thread of it every day, and at 
 last we cannot break it." ''The chains of habit 
 are generally too small to be felt till they are too 
 strong to be broken," says the wise Samuel John- 
 son. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's 
 play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by 
 saying : "I won't count this time." He may not 
 count it, but it is being counted none the less. 
 Down among his nerve cells and fibers the mole- 
 cules are counting it, registering and storing it up, 
 to be used against him when the next temptation 
 comes, and the next and the next and so on. 
 There is nothing we ever do that in scientific 
 literalness can be said not to count. Every thought, 
 act, feeling, counts, and it counts for time and for 
 eternity. Fortunately it counts just as forcefully, 
 when right, in favor of good character, as when 
 wrong in favor of bad. We speak of the tyranny 
 of bad habits, let us give equal attention to the 
 advantages when they are good. 
 
 This brings us to another thought to which few 
 of us pay as much attention as we ought. We 
 mean that of the power of character, the mighty 
 force it exerts in the world. We can calculate the 
 efficiency of an engine to the last ounce of pressure. 
 We can tell the working force of a dynamo to a 
 single ohm. The power of these can be as accu- 
 rately and easily determined as the temperature 
 104 
 
The Making of Character 
 
 of a room. But who can reckon up the inherent 
 force of a man or woman of predominant char- 
 acter ? Wellington said of Napoleon that his pres- 
 ence with the French army was equivalent to forty- 
 thousand additional soldiers ; and Richter said of 
 the invincible Martin Luther that *'his words were 
 half battles." Character is power. ''My road 
 must be through character to power," wrote Chan- 
 ning in 1 80 1. *' I will try no other course; but I 
 am sanguine enough to believe that this course, 
 though not, perhaps, the quickest, is the surest." 
 Power is a proper goal of ambition, but it is well 
 for us to bear in mind that only through a noble 
 character can any one arrive at a personality strong 
 enough to influence men or nations. The gaining 
 of political campaigns, the triumphing in war, the 
 succeeding in business or the winning of souls for 
 the kingdom' of Christ is in almost every case, a 
 victory of character. Character is power, and we 
 all can have that kind of power if we will. '' If I 
 buy you, will you be honest ? ' * asked a kind- 
 hearted man of a colored boy he pitied at a slave 
 market, before the war. '* I will be honest whether 
 you buy me or not," replied the boy, with a look 
 that baffled description. Let us have character, 
 anyway, but let us also remember that when we do 
 possess it, it is the source of untold power to the 
 possessor. 
 
 It is a blessed fact that such high character has 
 also a self-propagating, self-augmenting power. It 
 105 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 produces more character of the same kind, just as 
 an oak produces acorns, and the acorns all produce 
 more oaks. Character runs its own factories, and 
 turns out its own goods. They put John Bunyan in 
 jail. He had not sat down in his cell before he 
 turned it into a character factory. Thenceforth not 
 one arrow was shot at him but he picked it up and 
 worked it into the bone and sinew of his transcend- 
 ent manhood. Not a hardship was endured, not a 
 kindness was shown him behind those bars but 
 went through the same mysterious machine, and 
 came out the same priceless product. Day and 
 night for twelve long years that workshop ran. It 
 has enriched the ages. So we, too, may turn each, 
 himself or herself, into a character factory, and we 
 will grow stronger and stronger ourselves, and our 
 influence will be a growing and widely pervading 
 one. 
 
 These suggestions all serve to emphasize our main 
 thought, that of the eternity of character. Char- 
 acter makes destiny. 
 
 " Virtue alone out-builds the pyramids, 
 Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall." 
 
 Character is an eternal thing, as eternal as the soul 
 itself. We are forming for ourselves to-day the 
 character we are to carry for all time to come. 
 Character is destiny. Well has George Dana 
 Boardman expressed it : " Sow an act and you reap 
 io6 
 
The Taking of Character 
 
 a habit, sow a habit and you reap a character, sow 
 a character and you reap a destiny." 
 
 The time for forming it is hmited. It is not meant 
 alone that life is short. That is only a part of this 
 transcendent truth. No ; character is a thing that 
 ''sets" quickly and easily, as plaster of Paris in a 
 mold. If this life lasted forever, still the time 
 would be limited in which this making of character 
 must be done. The time for controlling its shape 
 and form and quality is very limited. 
 
 The means are at hand. It implies, first of all, 
 the acceptance of God's proffered help. That help 
 is held out to us in a Pierced Hand. God only 
 can make us strong by his omnipotent grace. Only 
 in vital union with him through Christ can we love 
 deeply that which is holy, and hate that which is 
 evil. These natures of ours need God's smile as 
 truly as the plant must have the sunshine for flower- 
 ing. We need his strength into which to throw our 
 lives as much as an anchor, in order to aid the 
 ship, must be imbedded in something firm outside 
 the ship ; and there is no greater nonsense than to 
 talk of man's moral power without God as his ref- 
 uge and strength. "Trying to run without a 
 pilot," was the only comment of a captain as a 
 passenger pointed out a wreck lying upon the rocks. 
 Suitable inscription would the same words be over 
 innumerable character-wrecks we may see all about 
 us, and it would be a good prayer, in view of the 
 many dangerous rocks upon which character may 
 107 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 be wrecked, for us each to offer, and offer it over 
 and over again every day — 
 
 " Jesus, Saviour, pilot me 
 Over life's tempestuous sea ; 
 Unknown waves before me roll, 
 Hiding rock and treacherous shoal ; 
 Chart and compass come from thee : 
 Jesus, Saviour, pilot me." 
 
 io8 
 
XI 
 
 Chorusing Our Graces 
 
Chorusing our Graces 
 
 *' A SUM in gospel addition," ''The rainbow of 
 Christian character," and other such titles have 
 been applied to four precious and very meaningful 
 verses in the Second Epistle of Peter. The verses 
 are the fifth to the eighth, inclusive, of the first 
 chapter, beginning, ''Giving all diligence, add to 
 your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; " etc. 
 In this wonderful passage faith forms the beautiful 
 sky-blue background for the display of the seven- 
 colored rainbow of Christian graces. Every word 
 is a study and every one of the seven elements 
 mentioned is essential to the forming of the per- 
 fected Christian character. The word "add" is 
 significant. It is the Greek choragin — literally, to 
 lead a chorus. The suggestion is that of a well- 
 ordered chorus or orchestra, in which each voice or 
 instrument contributes to the harmony of the 
 whole. Thus, we see that character is symmetry. 
 One color does not make a rainbow ; one voice does 
 not make a chorus. Lack of one color would mar 
 a rainbow. Lack of one voice would mar a 
 chorus. One grace does not make a perfect char- 
 acter. Lack of one grace mars a character. God's 
 in 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 character is a perfect combination of noble attri- 
 butes. Most of the mistaken theology in the world 
 is due to people magnifying one attribute of God or 
 minimizing another. The only way to get a right 
 theology and a right conception of God is by rec- 
 ognizing all his attributes in their harmonious rela- 
 tion the one to the other. People can make the 
 Scriptures mean anything they wish by over-em- 
 phasizing some things and not recognizing others. 
 The only way is to compare Scripture with Scrip- 
 ture, to take the Bible altogether, accepting God's 
 truth in the exact proportion and emphasis in which 
 he has given it. Our character, too, is to be a 
 thing of harmony, of graces in right proportion. 
 
 There is stated first in those verses the law of 
 spiritual thrift — '^ diligence." Our growth toward 
 the perfect character is to be made through con- 
 scious effort. We make mental growth through 
 application — through downright intellectual dili- 
 gence. The law of moral growth is the same. 
 None of us need fear that we will waken up some 
 fine morning and hardly know ourselves because 
 we have suddenly become so good. Only through 
 moral diligence will we make moral attainments. 
 The same is true of us spiritually. We must ''give 
 all diligence " if we would add to our faith virtue 
 and to virtue knowledge, and so on, and bring 
 them all along together in the way of symmetrical 
 and harmonious spiritual growth; and this is the 
 way we are to bring them. When we are told to 
 
 112 
 
Chorusing Our Graces 
 
 • ' add ' ' one grace to another, it is not meant that 
 we are to cultivate them one at a time, working to 
 get one, and then by and by another, and so on. 
 No, they are to be all moving together, they are to 
 be like the singers in the chorus, all the voices en- 
 gaged and all moving on together to give the most 
 perfect rendering of the composition. True char- 
 acter is a chorus of graces. We must not forget 
 that, for we are liable to be satisfied with ourselves 
 if we find we possess some one or two of these 
 graces ; but the desirable character can only come 
 through the perfect harmony and united progress of 
 them all. We must chorus our graces. 
 
 As we have said, the foundation principle of 
 Christian character is faith. It is faith that unites 
 us to Christ and marks the beginning of the Chris- 
 tian life. Faith is the vital thing, the all-important 
 first principle, without which all else is vain or un- 
 attainable. 
 
 To faith add virtue. The word is used in the 
 sense of manliness or courage, which is developed 
 in the exercise of faith. It is a word peculiar to 
 Peter, having a wide significance. As muscle en- 
 larges and strengthens under the steady stroke of 
 the mechanic, so faith under the fiery assaults of 
 temptation develops a vigorous and courageous 
 Christian manhood. We all need courage to stand 
 true to our Christian faith. Christianity is an ap- 
 peal to the hero qualities in a man or woman. It 
 is a demand for the knightly grace of courage. 
 113 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 To courage add knowledge. The sense is of 
 prudence or practical knowledge, discretion. The 
 courageous man is not a dreamy, impractical the- 
 orist. His courage makes him alert and intel- 
 lectually awake, so that the wisest means are de- 
 vised by him for the accomplishment of his pur- 
 poses. Prudence, — tact, practical knowledge, dis- 
 cretion, — is an excellent grace for any Christian to 
 possess. It is a grace that can be cultivated. We 
 all ought to strive hard to add to our courage dis- 
 cretion. It will help us to the doing of much good 
 that cannot be accomplished without it. 
 
 To knowledge add temperance. The meaning 
 is self-control, the word being incorrectly rendered 
 temperance. But the man of practical knowledge, 
 of good common sense, the man who looks at 
 things from every standpoint, is never a rash, ex- 
 treme, uncontrolled man. He is temperate in all 
 things, in words and acts, in eating, in drinking. 
 The union of virtue and knowledge are sure to pro- 
 duce such temperance, such self-control, and to 
 cause a man to bring his appetites and passions into 
 subjection and under the rule of an educated con- 
 science. We believe the union of virtue and knowl- 
 edge will make a man a temperate man ; — yes, even 
 a *' temperance" man, in the good sense of that 
 word as used in these days ; but his self-control 
 will also manifest itself in every direction of his 
 feeling, thinking and acting. 
 
 Add to self-control patience. This is a grace 
 114 
 
Chorusing Our Graces 
 
 very naturally accompanying the former, self-con- 
 trol. The use of the word has special reference to 
 such sufferings as are to be endured in the service 
 of Christ. Patient endurance is a step beyond self- 
 denial. Though it sounds passive, it may be a 
 very active thing, the giving one's self to unselfish 
 service. The Christian must be patient with him- 
 self, for he will make mistakes. He must be pa- 
 tient with his brethren, for they will make mistakes. 
 He must be willing to wait patiently for results. A 
 friend said to a poet of national reputation : *' You 
 must be a happy man. The praises you are receiv- 
 ing must be very gratifying to you." "Yes," he 
 replied, '* but I wrote just as good poetry twenty 
 years ago, but received no praise." Twenty years 
 of lack of appreciation, twenty years of patient, yet 
 acting, endurance — such patience do we need as 
 Christians, if suffering, in waiting for deliverance ; 
 if serving, in continuing to serve and wait for re- 
 sults. 
 
 Add to patience godliness. Patience without 
 godliness is stoicism. But the godly man is the 
 man who, in his pains and sorrows, in the midst of 
 those things that call for patience, has hold of his 
 heavenly Father's hand, and is made not only pa- 
 tient, but strong and hopeful and more Godlike. 
 Godliness is God-likeness. It includes the idea of 
 a confession of belief in the one living and true 
 God and the living according to this confession. 
 The godly man studies God's book, loves God's 
 115 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 house, respects God's Sabbath, lets not his hfe be 
 inconsistent with his profession of rehgion, tries to 
 promote God's cause and uses every means to be- 
 come daily more like the Saviour whom he serves. 
 
 Add to godliness brotherly kindness. Literally, 
 love of the brethren. This is the complement of 
 godliness. If we should stop at godliness we should 
 have a one-sided and imperfect religion. The obli- 
 gations we owe to our fellow-disciples are just as 
 binding as those we owe to God, because the one 
 set of obligations embraces the other. << If a man 
 say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a 
 liar : for he that loveth not his brother whom he 
 hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not 
 seen ? And this commandment have we from him, 
 That he who loveth God love his brother also." 
 
 Add to brotherly kindness charity — love. Love 
 in the sense of philanthropy — love of everybody. 
 The word used is charitas, meaning love in its 
 broadest sweep. It embraces a man's legitimate 
 love of himself, the love of his fellow -men, and his 
 love toward God. *' The greatest of these is char- 
 ity." All the graces meet in this grace of love, 
 and it is the golden link which both binds them all 
 together and binds the loving soul to God. It 
 properly closes the symphony of graces. It is the 
 crowning virtue, the dome of the structure of Chris- 
 tian character. 
 
 We are told that the Statehouse at Des Moines, 
 Iowa, is a very beautiful building. For one thing, 
 ii6 
 
Chorusing Our Graces 
 
 it is founded upon a rock. That is satisfying. 
 There is solidity. But it is the dome which de- 
 mands and receives most attention. It rises to an 
 altitude of over two hundred feet. But with what 
 to crown that dome was the question long debated 
 by the people. Finally it was decided that nothing 
 but gold would do. Thousands of dollars were ex- 
 pended in covering it with fine gold. Now, when 
 the morning sun shoots its gleaming arrows that 
 golden dome takes them up and floods the city 
 with splendor. Faith is the rock foundation of 
 Christian character. Then rise in mighty columns, 
 courage, knowledge, self-control, patience, godli- 
 ness, brotherly kindness, to all of which is added 
 the gold-crowned dome of love, that sheds its pure 
 splendor over all. 
 
 The character thus rounded and completed and 
 love-crowned brings us into the fullness of Chris- 
 tian experience and usefulness. ''For if these 
 things be in you, and abound, they make you that 
 ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the 
 knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." In other 
 words, he who makes the acquaintance of Christ 
 by faith, and ''adds" to his faith the graces of 
 Christian character, will be neither barren nor un- 
 fruitful in his knowledge of Christ, but will, in fact, 
 make the very utmost of himself in the way of 
 growth in grace, usefulness to others, and toward 
 the glory of God. 
 
 117 
 
XII 
 
 Going the Second Mile 
 
Going the Second Mile 
 
 AiNiONG the many <*hard sayings" of Christ in 
 the sermon on the mount is the remarkable one 
 about the duty of going the second mile: ''And 
 whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with 
 him twain." It was not understood when he spoke 
 it and it has not yet come to be generally under- 
 stood in any such fullness of meaning as he in- 
 tended. The words no doubt referred to the then 
 common custom of forced labor which came in 
 connection with the transfer of soldiers, the carry- 
 ing of messages, and other services of the state. 
 If the Roman troops were marching through a 
 province they had the power to make a kind of levy 
 among the able-bodied men of each district to go 
 along and help convey their baggage. Post offices 
 were then unknown ; heralds bearing the royal 
 commands might compel any person or press into 
 service any horse, boat or vehicle in any part of the 
 empire. It was to such customs as these that our 
 Saviour referred. '* Rather," says he, ''than resist 
 a public authority requiring your aid and attendance 
 for a certain distance, go peaceably twice the dis- 
 tance. ' ' 
 
 121 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 The words have a far more meaningful applica- 
 tion than to the mere matter of submission to such 
 customs as these. They are the application of a 
 profound principle. Our Lord is teaching that the 
 righteousness of the Christian must far exceed the 
 mere letter-of-the-law righteousness of the scribes 
 and Pharisees. He is denouncing mere conven- 
 tional virtue, that punctilious morality which with- 
 out any love in it goes simply so far as it must 
 and no farther. He is asking a spirit and a service 
 which outruns the nicely calculated limit of the 
 first mile, but overflows into a willing, glad-hearted 
 spiritual largeness. He is preaching the gospel of 
 the second mile, and it is worth our while to un- 
 derstand how it applies to us in our everyday life. 
 
 For one thing this gospel of the second mile 
 teaches us the duty of cheerful submission to ill. 
 There are compulsions of ill that come to us all. 
 It may be the drudgery of hard labor, the service 
 of a hard master, the pressure of poverty ; any one 
 of all these may drive us along weary miles 
 against our will. This gospel of the second mile 
 indeed takes from none the privilege of bettering 
 his condition, if it can be rightly done ; but it does 
 say: *'If you must be oppressed, if you must 
 obey, if you must submit to ill, do it not in a sullen 
 or a surly temper ; but rather accept your compul- 
 sion as by your Father's permission and use it as 
 an opportunity to perform the force-imposed duty 
 so cheerfully that both you and your religion will 
 
 122 
 
Going the Second Mile 
 
 be commended. Do even more than is required of 
 you. Go the second mile." 
 
 The powers that be are ordained of God, and so 
 are the duties that bind us, the claims that press 
 upon us, the ills that befall us and the sorrows that 
 we must bear. If therefore the Lord in his provi- 
 dence compel thee to go one mile along any sorrow- 
 ful way, learn to say ** Thy will be done" and 
 joyfully go with him twain. 
 
 But it would be greatly narrowing these words 
 of Christ to construe them merely as a precept of 
 submission to ill, or a rule of nonresistance ; for 
 this second-mile gospel also makes very plain the 
 way to put highest qualities into the common acts 
 of our everyday living. There is no virtue in the 
 first mile. Whether we will or no we must go that. 
 Some people talk of ' ' making a virtue of neces- 
 sity " ; but it' can't be done. There is no virtue in 
 necessity. The virtue begins on the second mile, 
 where the matter of voluntary choice begins. 
 
 Maybe you are engaged to render service to an 
 employer. Your work scarcely has value until it 
 passes the end of the first measured mile ; then it 
 begins to have heart in it, to be in a degree volun- 
 tary and the expression of unselfish interest. The 
 reason why many men stay always in the lowest 
 ranks of the wage-earning class, or fall out entirely 
 into the still lower stratum of the unemployed, is 
 because they fail to make even a start on the 
 second mile. 
 
 123 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Courtesy is not a conforming to the code of 
 manners or the living up to the requirements of 
 some book of etiquette. Friendship is not doing 
 the formal duty toward some one you merely call a 
 friend. Real friendship is a thing which begins 
 on the second mile, where kindness and interest 
 and love and self-sacrifice begin. The fact is that 
 all the graces and virtues of life begin on the sec- 
 ond mile. On the first mile, Shylock has a right 
 to his pound of flesh; the blood-sucker money 
 lender has a right to all the interest he can get and 
 the household furnishings in the end ; the compet- 
 itor has a right to undersell his neighbor to the 
 wall ; the employer has a right to get his clerks at 
 two dollars a week if he can find any who will 
 work for that, and the holder of widows' mortgages 
 has a right to foreclose them on the day. That is 
 going the first mile. That is letter-of-the-law liv- 
 ing. That is the nicely calculated righteousness of 
 the scribes and Pharisees. But Christ said that 
 except our righteousness exceed the righteousness 
 of the scribes and Pharisees — unless it go the sec- 
 ond mile also — we shall in no case enter the king- 
 dom of heaven nor will our punctilious and conven- 
 tional virtues count for anything at all. 
 
 This gospel of the second mile reveals also a 
 knowledge of the best test and means of commend- 
 ing our religion. It gives us a chance to know 
 whether we have any religion or not, and if we 
 have, of what sort it is. To be truly religious, 
 124 
 
Going the Second Mile 
 
 Christ says, is not to keep hard and fast rules. It 
 is a spirit, not a formal obedience to a code. It is 
 not to abstain from murder, but to have a heart 
 sweetened from all scorn and revenge. It is not 
 merely to avoid immoral acts, but to allow no unclean 
 desires to build their nests in our souls. It is not 
 the minimum Christian trying to get to heaven just 
 as cheaply as possible, never asking. How much 
 can I do for Christ and his cause ? but. How little 
 can I do consistent with safety ? It is not the aver- 
 age Christian going to church once a day, giving 
 because others do to help the poor, or contributing 
 a little now and then to the church or the work of 
 missions because he knows he would be counted 
 stingy did he fail to give. It is the maximum 
 Christian out in the region of glad-hearted, volun- 
 tary, love-prompted service. 
 
 Love does tot think of counting miles. It never 
 says, <'Can I stop here?" ''Have I done my 
 share ? " It is a characteristic of love to be doing 
 always more than is expected or required. Love 
 goes the second mile and counts it not a weary 
 thing to go ten thousand more. This is what the 
 religion of the second mile does for men. It brings 
 heart enlistment. It causes us to serve, not because 
 we must but because we will, because we love and 
 therefore delight to do the will of the one we love. 
 The second-mile Christian realizes Christ's love for 
 souls and therefore tries to win men to him. The 
 second-mile Christian realizes Christ's longing for 
 125 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 the extension of his kingdom, and therefore gladly 
 gives according to his ability for the spread of the 
 gospel. Christ's interests become his interests, 
 Christ's glory his glory, Christ's cause his cause, 
 under the sweet compelling constraint of love. 
 
 The second-mile Christian is a very happy Chris- 
 tian, because he has got beyond the region of doubt- 
 ful debate of finely drawn questions between right 
 and wrong, out into the region of voluntary, glad- 
 hearted, love-prompted service. What Christ asks 
 of us, and puts before us as a privilege, in this 
 gospel of the second mile is not the hard-wrought 
 service of a nicely calculated less or more, but 
 that overflow of doing which counts duty a delight 
 because the heart is in it. << Go with him twain ! " 
 
 126 
 
XIII 
 
 The Seriousness of Working for God 
 
The Seriousness of Working for God 
 
 There is a familiar story of an old blacksmith 
 and his chain. The blacksmith lived in the heart 
 of a great city, and all day long people could hear 
 the clanging of his hammer upon the anvil, and 
 they knew that he was forging a chain. Now and 
 then idlers dropped in to watch his work, and as 
 they saw how faithful and patient he was, and how 
 he would never pass over a link until it was abso- 
 lutely perfect, they laughed at him and told him he 
 would get ever so much more accomplished if he 
 did not take pains. But the old smith only shook 
 his head and kept on doing his best. At last he 
 died, and was laid away in the churchyard, and 
 the great chain which lay in his shop was put on 
 board a ship. It was coiled up out of the way, and 
 for a long time no one noticed it. 
 
 But there came a fierce, wild night when the 
 wind blcAV a gale, the rain dashed down in tor- 
 rents, and vivid flashes of lightning darted through 
 the sky. The ship toiled through the waves, 
 and strained and groaned as she obeyed her 
 helm. It took three men at the wheel to guide her. 
 They let go her anchor, and the great chain went 
 129 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 rattling over the deck into the gloomy waves. At 
 last the anchor touched the bottom and the chain, 
 made by the old blacksmith, grew as taut and stiff 
 as a bar of iron. Would it hold ? That was the 
 question every one asked as the gale increased. If 
 one link, just one link, was imperfect and weak, 
 they were lost. But the faithful old smith had 
 done his best in each link. The chain held. 
 
 Could we but realize how much of our own fu- 
 ture destiny and of the welfare of others is bound 
 up in our present action, would we not as Chris- 
 tians try to do far better work than we do ? 
 
 To help this thought get still stronger hold upon 
 our minds let us drop this figure of a chain, and 
 change to the Bible illustration of building a house. 
 The Bible makes a plain distinction between mere 
 work and work that abides. Even on so good a 
 foundation as Jesus Christ himself one may build 
 well or ill, may build of either '^gold, silver and 
 precious stones," or of "wood, hay and stubble." 
 We are bidden to be careful how we build because 
 **the fire shall try every man's work of what sort 
 it is. If any man's work abide ... he shall 
 receive a reward. If any man's work shall be 
 burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall 
 be saved; yet so as by fire." The passage in 
 which these words are found clearly assumes that 
 the builder is already a Christian, one who is build- 
 ing upon Christ, and will, therefore, himself be 
 saved; but the warning is specifically directed 
 130 
 
The Seriousness of Working for God 
 
 against this same Christian's making poor work. 
 The words picture to us a man whose poorly con- 
 structed house burns over his head, though he him- 
 self escapes through the flames. The man has 
 been spending his time and strength to little pur- 
 pose. He has built, indeed, on the true founda- 
 tion, but he has reared upon it so much which was 
 unsound and erroneous, and even false, that he 
 himself must be saved with difficulty, and only 
 with the loss of much of that reward which he had 
 expected. 
 
 The Christian with his works will be saved as 
 the different parts of a building are saved, by 
 proving to be gold or silver under the test of fire. 
 How careful ought we to be lest our works prove 
 to be only wood, hay or stubble ! The simple fact 
 that we build upon Christ will not insure that our 
 building will be good. We must be careful how 
 and what we build, and with what materials we 
 make the superstructure. Men who are Christians 
 are too often found teaching false doctrines, or 
 dogmas that lack the substantial, vital power of 
 Christianity. How many vain substitutes and foolish 
 conceits, how much false theology, how many mis- 
 taken views of piety, how many foolish and hurt- 
 ful errors have been propagated by men who were 
 themselves Christians ! Every such work, how- 
 ever carefully reared, shall be tested by fire. If 
 it shall not be found to bear the test of the investi- 
 gation of the last great day, then just as a cottage 
 
 131 
 
upward Steps 
 
 of wood, hay and stubble would not bear the ap- 
 plication of fire, so that nian's work shall be found 
 to consume away. If a man's doctrines have not 
 been true, if he has had mistaken views of 
 piety, if he has wrongly nourished feelings which 
 he imagined were those of religion, if he has in- 
 culcated practices which, however well meant, 
 were not such as the gospel produces, if he has 
 fallen into error of opinion or feeling or practice, 
 however conscientious he may have been, yet he 
 shall suffer loss; his works shall be destroyed. 
 God sees and cares what kind of work we make. 
 Certainly, we should aim to do abiding work, work 
 that will stand strongest tests. We may be sure 
 that our building must pass the scrutiny of God's 
 all-seeing eye. "God shall bring every work into 
 judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be 
 good, or whether it be evil." 
 
 It is sad to think how unsubstantial and unendur- 
 ing much of our work is. A sight familiar to the 
 summer visitors at Asbury Park will illustrate and 
 enforce the thought. Night after night, under the 
 electric light, at a certain spot upon the beach, a 
 sand sculptor used to come and delight the prom- 
 enaders. Early in the twilight he would begin to 
 heap the sand into mounds, and as the crowds 
 gathered he would begin his task. His only tool 
 was a short, slim stick. He would kneel upon the 
 sand, and with skillful motions, pat and hollow and 
 mold it into marvelous shapes of beauty. An 
 132 
 
The Seriousness of Working for God 
 
 itinerant artist he was, going from place to place, 
 spending his time and pains upon the shifting sands. 
 Before every day dawned the tide had leveled the 
 mounds and obliterated every trace of his really 
 beautiful images. Invariably the thoughtful ad- 
 mirer would sigh because the man was not model- 
 ing in more lasting material. But conversation 
 with him revealed that he was satisfied. By pass- 
 ing his hat his daily wants were met. Some other 
 means of livelihood he takes for the winter, but each 
 summer he goes again to the beach, like the 
 wrecker, for what silver he can pick up along the 
 peopled shore. 
 
 But why be impatient with this man more than 
 with others ? All round us are men working in the 
 sand. With many it is not the story of a summer 
 only, but pf a whole Hfetime, written in nothing 
 more substantial than the shifting sand. So little 
 good remains, so unsubstantial were the materials 
 used, so unwisely chosen was the work done that 
 the testing tides obliterated every token of labor. 
 A solemn voice speaks to each one of us and says : 
 " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, 
 and ordained you, that ye should go and bring 
 forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." 
 
 It should be ours to do lasting work, real abid- 
 ing work, work that will stand the tests of time or 
 tide or fire ; work that shall remain. 
 
 133 
 
XIV 
 
 Daily Strength for Daily Duty 
 
Daily Strength for Daily Duty 
 
 " Why fret thee, Soul, 
 For things beyorid thy small control ? 
 Why fret thee, too, 
 
 For needed things that thou canst do ? 
 Whate'er thou canst help — help ! 
 Whate'er thou canst not, with no useless worry, bear. 
 Two things at least, then, Soul, need never cause 
 thee care." 
 
 Dr. Doddridge tells us an incident of his life 
 when he was very much discouraged and depressed 
 in mind. As he was traveling along the highway, 
 with spirit downcast and faith weak, he passed a 
 little cottage, the door of which was open, and he 
 happened at that moment to hear a little child read- 
 ing the words : "As thy days, so shall thy strength 
 be." He speaks of the effect it had upon his 
 mind as indescribable. " It was like life from the 
 dead." A wonderful change came over his feel- 
 ings as he realized the promise. He says, "The 
 words came like a voice from heaven reproving my 
 lack of faith and bidding me look up." 
 
 But glad we are to say that those very words are 
 
 from heaven. They are God's own words, and 
 
 possibly just as timely to many who may read these 
 
 pages. God is able to fulfill this promise to every 
 
 137 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 one of us. Read in the two verses following where 
 this promise is found in the book of Deuteronomy 
 how the promise is emphasized by having back of 
 it God's almighty power. The promise is: <'As 
 thy days, so shall thy strength be." The assurance 
 is : " There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, 
 who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his 
 excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy 
 refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." 
 Trusting this promise you rest your weary head 
 upon the bosom of Omnipotence, or, as you jour- 
 ney, it becomes a staff for the hand of faith to 
 grasp, able to bear the whole weight of your sorrow 
 and care and trouble. Certainly God has given no 
 more blessed promise to the Christian pilgrim, none 
 that can give more hope and courage and peace. 
 
 The Christian life is a life of trust. Bring to 
 mind the life of the children of Israel in the wil- 
 derness, how they lived upon the manna of God's 
 bounty. They received the food *' day by day," 
 just what they needed, all they could use, but no 
 more and no less. So the promise to us is not, "as 
 thy weeks," or "as thy months," but, "as thy 
 days, so shall thy strength be." Monday's grace 
 for Monday, Tuesday's grace for Tuesday, and so 
 on, — "as thy days, so shall thy strength be." 
 
 Why, then, should a Christian borrow trouble 
 from the future? We are especially commanded 
 by the Saviour not to take anxious thought for to- 
 morrow. The true rule of a life of trust is to live 
 138 
 
Daily Strength for Daily Duty 
 
 by the day. Not long ago an afflicted friend sent 
 the writer this beautiful verse, which she said had 
 been to her a great comfort. She wanted me to 
 share in the blessing. It contains this very idea of 
 living by the day : 
 
 " Make a little fence of trust 
 
 Around to-day; 
 Fill the space with loving works 
 
 And therein stay ; 
 Look not through the sheltering bars 
 
 Upon to-morrow ; 
 God will help thee bear what comes 
 
 If joy or sorrow." 
 
 How often, like the women coming toward the 
 grave of Christ, we ask, "Who shall roll us away 
 the stone?" but, like them, when we come to the 
 place we find the difficulty removed. 
 
 " Looking at some trouble lying 
 
 In the dark and dread unknown, 
 We, too, often ask with sighing, 
 * Who shall roll away the stone ? ' " 
 
 and we may be crushing our spirits with care and 
 anxiety, when, if we would but have faith in God 
 who all the while is caring for us, we might be fear- 
 less and joyous and hopeful : 
 
 " For before the way was ended, 
 Oft we've had with joy to own 
 Angels have from heaven descended, 
 And have rolled away the stone." 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 We all are prone to distrust God and see great 
 troubles rising up before us. Time after time we 
 have come to the place and either found the trouble 
 removed or that God had given us grace to over- 
 come it. One trouble seems scarcely passed before 
 we are looking into the future for new ones, forget- 
 ting that we have such a promise as this, and for 
 all time to come: ''As thy days, so shall thy 
 strength be." O, how many are the Will-o'-the- 
 wisps that rise up in the way to frighten the Chris- 
 tian from the path of duty ! Yet they are but 
 mists that vanish, or are seen only at a distance, 
 and to which we never catch up. We see before 
 us some great temptation, and looking through the 
 magnifying glass of our imagination we think that 
 we shall never be able to overcome it. We only 
 think of our own weak selves, forgetting to trust in 
 the strong arm of our Father in heaven, who will 
 not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able ; 
 but with the temptation will also make a way of 
 escape. 
 
 This promise, too, adapts itself to all the vary- 
 ing circumstances in Hfe. "As thy days, so shall 
 thy strength be." Some days do not seem to need 
 so very much strength ; everything seems to go 
 well; the sky is clear, the road is smooth. But 
 there are cloudy days and stormy days through 
 which every Christian must pass. But this prom- 
 ise is the same — " As thy days." What sorrow or 
 suffering God calls you to have he will give you 
 140 
 
Daily Strength for Daily Duty 
 
 strength to bear. What duties he calls you to do 
 he will give you strength to perform. 
 
 Let us bear in mind that suffering will come. 
 Just as night follows day so sure is suffering to 
 come to every one of us. 
 
 *• There is never a day so sunny 
 But a little cloud appears ; 
 There was never a life so happy 
 But has had its time of tears." 
 
 We may be surrounded with loving friends, but 
 just as sure as we live will we witness some of them 
 die. If we live we must part with our dearest 
 friends, if we do not, they must part with us. Suf- 
 fering and separation and sorrow are sure to come. 
 But the sweet words of this promise are a lamp to 
 light each place of darkness. 
 
 At midday, perhaps, you are riding along in a 
 railway train. Light is streaming in at every win- 
 dow. Presently an attendant goes through the 
 train and lights the lamps. It seems a strange and 
 foolish thing for him to do. But wait ; soon the 
 train rushes suddenly into a long, dark tunnel. 
 Then it is that you realize that the lighting of those 
 lamps was neither a strange nor a useless thing to 
 do. So, fellow-Christians, you may be in the sun- 
 shine now. Your path may lead amid the flowers 
 and through smiling valleys ; but you know not 
 how suddenly you may plunge into some tunnel of 
 deepest darkness. Then be wise enough to find 
 the lamps of comfort and light them now. God's 
 141 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 promises are all lamps to light up dark places ; and 
 I know of no brighter one than this : ' ' As thy 
 days, so shall thy strength be." 
 
 But possibly this promise may come nearer home 
 to some who read these lines. Maybe you are al- 
 ready in the long, dark passageway. Or possibly 
 the valley through which your steps are leading is 
 a very dark and shadowed one. Then gladly I 
 bid you look up and catch some of the light which 
 God sheds down from this blessed assurance. 
 
 " When the sun withdraws its light 
 Lo ! the stars of God are there ; 
 Present host, unseen till night — 
 Matchless, countless, silent, fair." 
 
 If we never had nights we could never see the 
 stars. And so if you and I never had any trouble 
 we could never enjoy such a promise as this of 
 which we have written. We do not love nights but 
 we do love the stars. We do not love sorrow and 
 trouble, but we do bless God for sustaining grace. 
 We do not love weakness, but we rejoice in such 
 promises of God as will uphold us when weakness 
 comes. 
 
 One further thought ; it may be that some who 
 read these words are only beginning the Christian 
 life. Then is not this a blessed assurance with 
 which to start on the journey ? What more could 
 you ask? You fear and tremble and are afraid of 
 falling, a thing so natural to us all, and yet all the 
 while you have this assurance, and from One who 
 142 
 
Daily Strength for Daily Duty 
 
 is "able to keep you from falling, and to present 
 you faultless before the presence of his glory." 
 When we look at the duties to be done, and then 
 at our poor, weak selves, it is no wonder that we 
 are ready to cry out, '' Who is sufficient for these 
 things? " But if only we listen, we will hear the 
 Saviour's reassuring answer, ''My grace is suf- 
 ficient for thee." Daily strength for daily duty, 
 daily help for daily need, is the promise. *'As 
 thy days, so shall thy strength be." 
 
 Mr. Moody tell us of a young man who went 
 into business out in one of our Western towns. The 
 people thought he was sure to fail ; but he did not. 
 After he had been getting along some years axid 
 showing no signs of failing, it was discovered that 
 he had a brother at the East who was very rich, and 
 who helped him along from time to time. Just so 
 it is with us in the Christian life ; we have an elder 
 Brother who is very rich, and, joined in partner- 
 ship with him, he will help us to hold out. Joined 
 to Christ we are in alliance with One who is not 
 only able but willing to give us all needed grace 
 and strength. ''They that trust in the Lord shall 
 not want any good thing." "God is our refuge 
 and our strength, a very present help in trouble." 
 Christian, young or old, or in whatever circum- 
 stances of need, take courage, take heart, look up ! 
 The promises of God can never fail. He is the 
 same, " yesterday, to-day, and forever." " As thy 
 days, so shall thy strength be." 
 
 143 
 
XV 
 
 Presenting Jesus to Others 
 
Presenting Jesus to Others 
 
 " Introductor to Christ" is the appropriate 
 title given by Bede to Andrew, who brought his 
 brother and the Greeks mentioned in John xii. 20 
 to Christ. As we read the first chapter of John's 
 Gospel we feel that the same title could with pro- 
 priety be applied to John the Baptist, and to Philip. 
 How much there is in that chapter of the present- 
 ing of individuals to Jesus and of Jesus to indi- 
 viduals, and how suggestive, too, as to the way 
 disciples for Christ are still to be won. 
 
 The several instances in the first chapter of John 
 of the presenting Jesus to others point out the 
 divine method for extending religion and multiply- 
 ing the number of disciples. Jesus gained one dis- 
 ciple at his baptism — his baptizer ; but this one was 
 soon multiplied. John had opportunity to make 
 known Christ to two of his disciples, and at once 
 they left the old master and followed the new. So 
 now Jesus had three disciples. One of them, 
 Andrew, was so glad that he had found the 
 Messiah, that he started off and found Peter, his 
 brother, and brought him to Jesus. So another 
 follower was secured, making four in all. The next 
 day Jesus called Philip, and he obeyed the call ; so 
 now there were five. Five are not very many ; but 
 147 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 still five are five times as many as one. Philip felt 
 just as Andrew had done before him, and sought 
 his friend Nathanael. Nathanael was rather hard 
 to convince; so Philip said, ''Come and see for 
 yourself; come and meet Christ." Nathanael 
 came and was convinced. So now there were six. 
 This was only a small beginning, it is true; but 
 most large things begin small. Besides it v/as large 
 enough and successful enough a beginning to prove 
 very suggestive to us as to how Christ's kingdom is 
 to be advanced. 
 
 The work of the individual is the true law of the 
 Church's growth, stamped upon it from the very 
 beginning. We do not discount public preaching, 
 but even the preaching may be dependent on the 
 individual effort ; for did not Andrew have a part 
 in helping to make the pentecostal preacher, 
 Peter? What the Church of Christ most needs 
 to-day is a revival of individual effort. There is a 
 rage nowadays for large congregations and for 
 prominent work ; but let us not forget individual 
 souls. I think it was Rowland Hill who used to 
 say that if he had a number of bottles before him, 
 and he were to dash water over them all, a drop 
 might go into this one and that, *'But," said he, 
 *< if I take one bottle and pour water in, I fill it to 
 the brim." And so it ever is with individual deal- 
 ing with souls. There is a personality in the appli- 
 cation which cannot be estimated when we speak 
 face to face with one we would influence. God 
 148 
 
Presenting Jesus to Others 
 
 fructifies the world by little rivulets ; he saves the 
 world by individual Christians. 
 
 Think, too, how soon this saving work might be 
 done if only the individual Christians would all 
 prove faithful. There is a familiar computation 
 which shows how quickly the world might be won. 
 If every disciple to-day were to win one other per- 
 son to Christ in each year, and that one were to 
 win one other, and so on, how swiftly the world 
 would be wholly converted ! There are to-day 
 millions of true believers in the world. But if there 
 were only loo, see how quickly the work would 
 grow. In less than twenty-five years the world 
 would be converted, for this would double the 
 number of disciples each year. First year, loo; 
 second year, 200; third year, 400; fourth year, 
 800; fifth year, 1,600; sixth year, 3,200; seventh 
 year, 6,400; eighth year, 12,800; ninth year, 
 25,600; tenth year, 51,200; eleventh year, 102,- 
 400; twelfth year, 204,800; thirteenth year, 409,- 
 600; fourteenth year, 817,200; fifteenth year, 
 1,634,400; sixteenth year, 3,268,800; seventeenth 
 year, 6,537,600; eighteenth year, 13,075,200; 
 nineteenth year, 26,150,400; twentieth year, 52,- 
 300,800; twenty-first year, 104,601,600; twenty- 
 second year, over 209,000,000 ; twenty-third year, 
 over 416,000,000; twenty-fourth year, over 836,- 
 000,000; twenty-fifth year, over 1,600,000,000; or 
 more than the population of the whole earth. This 
 simply shows the power of ''ones " multiplied. 
 149 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Think too, of the exalted privilege we each one 
 have of doing this work, — of introducing souls to 
 Christ. God has sent no angels to make known 
 and offer his gospel. As far as we can see it is his 
 purpose to save the world by man's effort for man. 
 It is our privilege to present Jesus to others. 
 
 Let us not forget that this kind of spiritual use- 
 fulness has its beginning in personal experience. 
 Andrew and Philip were first blessed themselves, 
 and from that experience they were equipped to say 
 to others, Come and see. Before we can introduce 
 any one to the Saviour we must have found him our- 
 selves. 
 
 This sort of spiritual usefulness usually comes 
 through personal testimony. The disciples Christ 
 won made it their business to testify of him. Both 
 by our lips and our lives this testimony should be 
 borne. Neither way alone is enough. Lip without 
 life is useless. Life without lip falls short of the 
 fullest results. 
 
 It is a happy fact also that this kind of spiritual 
 usefulness may begin along the line of friendship 
 and kinship. So it was with these disciples ; one 
 sought his brother, another his friend. Andrew 
 was before all else a good brother. He went after 
 Peter. Andrew did not make much stir in the 
 world, but Peter did, and Andrew was the means 
 of bringing him to Christ. In the great church at 
 Rome dedicated to St. Andrew, no other inscrip- 
 tion could be found suitable except "Andrew, the 
 150 
 
Presenting Jesus to Others 
 
 brother of Peter." Before casting his nets on Jew 
 or gentile he first bethought him of the one fellow- 
 creature who was near to him by the ties of home 
 and family. So should blood be thicker than water 
 ever in sacred as well as in social life. 
 
 It is one of the most common faults that Chris- 
 tians do not manifest the interest they should in 
 those near and dear to them. We sometimes give 
 our dearest friends reason to say, ''No man careth 
 for my soul." We know they would listen kindly 
 to any word we might say, and yet we are dumb. 
 Does it not seem strangely inconsistent in us ? It 
 would seem the most natural thing in the world to 
 urge one's own brother to share in one's faith, be- 
 fore looking elsewhere for a new believer. Yet, as 
 a matter of fact, one is more likely to shrink from 
 speaking on the subject of personal religion to a 
 brother who is out of Christ than to a comparative 
 stranger. A reason for this is that one's own short- 
 comings and failures are so well known to a brother, 
 that one often hesitates to urge the importance of a 
 truth he is supposed to illustrate, but which he feels 
 he represents unworthily. Andrew seems to have 
 avoided this difficulty by saying nothing about him- 
 self to Peter. If Jesus were more prominent in the 
 thoughts and words of believers there would be less 
 thought of self, and less embarrassment on that 
 score in pleading his cause with those who are yet 
 aloof from him. 
 
 Maybe you have been bearing witness conscien- 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 tiously, but without success. Well, it is possible to 
 overdo a good thing. Try silence; watch, pray, 
 put books in the way, try to throw right influence 
 about the one you long for. On the other hand 
 possibly you have been long silent, afraid of wound- 
 ing the susceptibilities of your friend, or of making 
 religion repellant. Have you been trying to reach 
 him in quiet ways without success ? Then break 
 silence, at least for once. Be frank and most affec- 
 tionately outspoken. 
 
 It may be well for us to be very wise and careful, 
 but let us not fail to be constantly enlisted in this 
 most important of all work, the presenting of Jesus 
 to others. 
 
 152 
 
XVI 
 
 The Faith Measure 
 
The Faith Measure 
 
 In any department of life we rarely get more 
 than we expect to get. *' According to your faith 
 be it unto you," involves a principle valid every- 
 where. Expectation is the first step in achievement. 
 Confidence is a great element of success even in a 
 game of ball. It is unlikely we will either hit or 
 catch a ball we are expecting to miss. Some one 
 has said that Columbus practically found America 
 before he left Spain, and so far from being surprised 
 when he saw the Western Continent he would have 
 been surprised if he had not seen it. The fact is 
 the expectancy of faith is a large element in all 
 success, and in the overcoming of all difficulties. 
 A man succeeds according as he expects to suc- 
 ceed ; and if he says he shall fail, he will fail. 
 Predicting ultimate failure he simply fulfills his own 
 prophecy. As with the Israelites before Canaan, 
 when any man begins to talk about giants and walled 
 cities and discouragements, you may as well give 
 up all hope of his succeeding. There is all the 
 difference in the world between the man who ex- 
 pects to succeed and the one who has his doubts 
 about it. 
 
 A few years ago a young man in a Western city 
 had kindled in his heart a longing desire for an 
 155 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 education. He had faith to beUeve he could obtain 
 it in spite of tremendous difficulties in the way. 
 With less than one hundred dollars in his pocket, 
 and no certainty as to where another dollar was to 
 come from, he started for Princeton College. Four 
 years from that time he was graduated with some of 
 the highest honors of his class. The reason was he 
 believed he could succeed ; and he did. How 
 much better than to "hang round town" forever 
 afraid to aspire ! Unbelief invites failure in any 
 department of life, while the opposite fact is that 
 expectant aim is largely the measure of attainment. 
 The Bible takes up this principle and applies it just 
 as truly to the Christian life and all spiritual ad- 
 vancement as ever we do to business and worldly 
 success. It holds equally true in both. 
 
 This is true of our individual attainment in 
 grace. We believe in the duty of growing in 
 grace. But growing in grace is a distinct thing 
 from believing in growing in grace. It would be 
 an interesting thing to know just how many Chris- 
 tians, in any given number, are actually expecting 
 to be better men and women next year than they 
 are this. We may not be as good as we expect to 
 be, but there is little chance of our being better 
 than we expect to be. We need not suppose we 
 are going to be taken pleasantly by surprise with 
 our attainments. As some one has said, "Our 
 Christian graces will arrive as we explicitly order 
 them from abroad, and expect the vessel." Per- 
 
 156 
 
The Faith Measure 
 
 sonally, the reader can make that thought very 
 practical if he wishes. It simply means you will 
 never get the best of that temper of yours until 
 you quit expecting it to get the best of you. It 
 means that you will never overcome any single one 
 of those besetting sins of yours, until you cease at 
 once the saying you cannot. We must aim and 
 purpose to make our advances. The lack of aim 
 will limit the attainment, and lack of faith will 
 limit the aim. 
 
 Again, it is in the same way that unbelief pre- 
 vents answers to prayer. ' ' He that cometh to God 
 must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder 
 of them that diligently seek him." We must ex- 
 pect answers. In a prayer meeting you have 
 noticed sometimes how reluctant all are to take 
 part. Do you know, much of that is because those 
 present do not believe that in their own petitions 
 there is any real practical obtaining power ! and so 
 long as they feel that there isn't, there isn't. 
 
 An old lady had been reading in the seventeenth 
 chapter of Matthew about faith, and its power to 
 remove mountains. '< Now," said she, " I am go- 
 ing to try that on that old hill out back. The hill 
 is in the way, ,and praying will be quicker and 
 cheaper than shoveling. I am going into my 
 closet and pray a good, long, agonizing prayer of 
 faith." After a lapse of considerable time she 
 came back, and looking out of the window, said : 
 **Well, I declare, there's the old hill yet; just as I 
 157 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 supposed. I did not really believe it would budge 
 an inch." 
 
 Now, our prayers are like that, a large proportion 
 of them. Is it any wonder they are not answered ? 
 If God were to say, "According to your faith, be 
 it unto you," how much would you get? How 
 much ? 
 
 Apply the same thought to your Christian work. 
 
 A minister once came to Mr. Spurgeon lament- 
 ing that he had been preaching for years and had 
 seen no results. Mr. Spurgeon replied, " Well, 
 you don't expect results from every sermon, do 
 you ? " ' ' O, no, " said the minister, ' ' of course not, 
 
 but " '' Well, then, that is just your trouble," 
 
 said Mr. Spurgeon, ''according to your faith it 
 shall be unto you." The fact is the man had ex- 
 pected nothing, and he got just what he expected. 
 It will be no better with you in your work, or me 
 in mine. 
 
 Once more, let us apply this principle to God's 
 people as members of his Church, that we may see 
 how unbelief prevents our church blessings. The 
 measure of our faith as churches will be the meas- 
 ure of our blessings as churches. Recall that inci- 
 dent of Christ's visit to Nazareth. It was his old 
 home, his own neighborhood where he was brought 
 up, and he came laden with blessings for his old 
 friends and associates if they would accept. But 
 it is recorded that "he could not do many mighty 
 works there, because of their unbelief. ' ' 
 
 158 
 
The Faith Measure 
 
 Have faith in God ! As Christ came to the 
 synagogue that day, ready to bless the people, so 
 it is when he visits his Church still; and as the 
 measure of the blessing was according to the meas- 
 ure of their faith, so it is still. Then, in order to 
 receive the fullness of blessing, how important it is 
 that we swing wide open the door of faith. "Ac- 
 cording to your faith be it unto you." "As ye 
 have spoken in mine ears so will I do. It shall be 
 as you say," 
 
 One reason then why we don't receive more is 
 because we don't expect more. We don't have 
 the faith. How often are we like those Christians 
 praying for Peter in prison. Bring to mind the 
 scene — the people praying ! While they were pray- 
 ing he knocked at the door. But they would not 
 believe it was Peter. He continued knocking. 
 When they opened the door and saw that it was 
 indeed he, they were "astonished"! Think of 
 it ! The Church praying ; God answering — and 
 the people astonished ! How often it is that Christ, 
 consistently with his own character, really cannot 
 do many mighty works, in our churches and com- 
 munities, because of our unbelief! O, let me 
 beseech every pastor, church officer or Christian 
 worker who may read these lines to open wide the 
 door of faith, and ask, and undertake, and expect 
 great things from the Lord. Lay your plans wide 
 and large. He says, "According to your faith be 
 it unto you." It is as if one very rich were to 
 159 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 hand you a blank check, with his name signed, 
 saying, ''Now fill it out yourself, write the amount 
 you would draw, and according to your faith in 
 me be it unto you." We might hesitate to make 
 too large a draft upon an earthly friend ; but there 
 is no need to draw lightly upon God, 
 
 *' For his grace and power are such 
 None can ever ask too much." 
 
 Instead he is honored and pleased when we 
 make large drafts. 
 
 Let an incident from the life of that grand old 
 Christian philanthropist George H. Stuart illustrate 
 the thought. Just after the battle of Gettysburg, 
 when medicines were very scarce, Mr. Stuart, then 
 at the head of the Christian Commission, tele- 
 graphed to the merchants of Boston; "May I 
 draw on you at sight for ten thousand dollars ? ' ' 
 The telegram was posted in the Exchange. Thirty 
 minutes later there flashed back along the wire : 
 *' Draw on us for sixty thousand ! " 
 
 "Lord, increase our faith." May it not be that 
 as pastors and people, as Christians and as work- 
 ers, we are ever far too timid in our asking ? May 
 it not be that we are asking and expecting only a 
 little quickening of the Spirit? Asking and ex- 
 pecting to see a few souls saved ? Asking and ex- 
 pecting God to honor a small draft only ; when the 
 reply comes flashing from his throne: "Not ten 
 thousand, but sixty thousand ! Prove me now. 
 1 60 
 
The Faith Measure 
 
 Honor with a large draft. Put me to the proof if 
 I will not open the windows of heaven and pour 
 you out a blessing that there shall not be room 
 enough to receive. According to your faith be it 
 unto you." 
 
 But let us not forget that in all this there is a very 
 practical side of cooperation on our part. Faith 
 is by no means simply an impracticable dream. 
 Faith would never have made halting Israel ask 
 God to take them up bodily and set them down 
 safely in Canaan. Faith would have resolutely 
 started down toward the fords of Jordan. '' Faith 
 without works is dead." Living faith is a practical 
 faith and goes to work. It believes there is a 
 human side as well as a divine side in God's plan 
 for accomplishing his will. Faith doesn't pray, 
 ''Lord, put grain into my barns." Faith plows 
 and sows and prays, "Lord, bless effort." So 
 when we have a part given us to do, that is useless 
 prayer which does not try to answer itself as far as 
 possible. True faith is practical, and practical 
 faith unites prayer and effort. But it remains true 
 because faith is the mainspring of all prayer, obedi- 
 ence, expectation and effort, that there is ever a 
 distinct proportion between the measure of our faith 
 and the measure of our blessings. It still remains 
 a law of God's kingdom: "According to your 
 faith be it unto you." "As ye have spoken in 
 mine ears, so will I do." 
 
 Have we not here, fellow-Christians, a very 
 i6i 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 timely thought in connection with all our efforts for 
 Christ and his Church ? We all agree in hoping to 
 see multitudes of souls won to Christ. If we are 
 disappointed let us know that the reason will be 
 found principally in the sin of unbelief. Nothing 
 can hinder the richest blessings we could wish — 
 nothing but unbelief. Unbelief stops prayer, stops 
 expectation, stops work, cuts the very nerve and 
 sinew of effort. But faith removes mountains, sur- 
 mounts difficulties, overcomes the world, brings 
 sure success. ''If thou canst believe, all things 
 are possible to him that believeth." Would you 
 see God's cause prosper in richer measure? Do 
 you really long to see dearest friends converted, 
 wanderers reclaimed. Christians grow in grace and 
 righteousness, truth and peace prevail as never be- 
 fore? Then pray. Pray, ''Lord, increase our 
 faith." Then believe God. Believe him when he 
 says, "Ask, and ye shall receive." God never 
 trifles. He never said, " Ask to see whether I will 
 give." He does say "Ask, and I will give." 
 And then, asking, expect. Never contradict your 
 faith by not expecting the blessing. Then too, be 
 practical. Start out in the path of honest attain- 
 ment; and sure as God is God and his word is 
 truth you shall never, never be disappointed. 
 
 162 
 
XVII 
 
 Following a Vision 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 In his celebrated defense before Agrippa Paul 
 recounts the circumstances of a vision he had on 
 the way to Damascus. He saw a person and he 
 heard a voice. Ever since, the memory of both had 
 been an abiding influence in his life. He makes it 
 especially plain that it was Christ he saw, and 
 Christ's voice that he heard. ''And I said, Who 
 art thou, Lord ? And he said, I am Jesus whom 
 thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy 
 feet : for I have appeared unto thee for this pur- 
 pose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of 
 these things, which thou hast seen, and of those 
 things in the which I will appear unto thee ; de- 
 livering thee from the people, and from the Gen- 
 tiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their 
 eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and 
 from the power of Satan unto God, that they may 
 receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among 
 them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 
 Whereupon," he adds, '' O king Agrippa, I was 
 not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." 
 
 From that day Saul became Paul, and his was a 
 
 changed and most successful life. Having met the 
 
 Saviour, having heard his message, having seen 
 
 the great possibilities of good open before him, his 
 
 165 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 soul was awakened to high things, and he began a 
 course of obedience to a heavenly vision which led 
 him on, ever on. That was the secret of his suc- 
 cess in the mightiest work for Christ and the world 
 that has probably ever been accomplished by man 
 — except that of the divine Man, our Saviour. 
 We might even say that it was this fact of following 
 a vision which inspired Christ himself; for we are 
 told that it was **for the joy set before him" he 
 "endured the cross, despising the shame." He 
 too was following a vision. It was of a redeemed 
 world. 
 
 Now, it is a fact that we all have visions. To 
 every human being there comes once and again the 
 outlines of an oft-recurring vision. Our attitude 
 toward that vision makes us or mars us. Both in 
 things temporal and in things spiritual our success 
 depends in no small degree upon our obedience to 
 the vision. The same secret rules our lives in two 
 realms, both on the side God-ward and the side 
 world-ward. 
 
 There never yet was a strong man, and there 
 never will be a strong one, who has not followed 
 after a vision. The boy on the seashore watches 
 the ships pass by, then paces the shore proudly, 
 seeing in a vision himself the master of a gallant 
 craft. By and by he goes to sea ; and the inspi- 
 ration of that vision enables him to bear the hard- 
 ships of his trade and rise through the various grades 
 till his vision is realized. 
 
 i66 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 A lady met a tiny urchin who boasted of being 
 in business. He was office boy to a lawyer and 
 made ;^i.5o a week. He thought that a great deal 
 of money. But when asked if he intended to 
 remain an office boy he scornfully replied in the 
 negative and announced that he would be a judge. 
 He had had his vision, and in it he saw a court- 
 room and on the bench a judge whose face was 
 his. 
 
 The difference between the boy who goes to sea 
 a cook and dies a captain and the one who dies a 
 sailor before the mast, between the boy who starts 
 an office boy and dies a judge and the one who dies 
 a janitor, is just the difference between the one who 
 follows a vision and the one who does not. History 
 is full of the successes of those men who have fol- 
 lowed visions^ 
 
 Balzac's father tried to discourage his son from 
 the pursuit of literature. "Do you know," said 
 he, " that in literature a man must be either a king 
 or a beggar? " But the boy had seen his vision, 
 and replied, "Very well, I will be a king." His 
 parents left him to his fate in a garret. For ten 
 years he fought terrible battles with hardship and 
 poverty, but won a great victory at last. 
 
 At fifty-five years of age Sir Walter Scott owed 
 more than six hundred thousand dollars. Then he 
 began to follow a vision. He determined that 
 every dollar should be paid. This definite resolu- 
 tion gave confidence and inspiration to every 
 
 107 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 faculty he possessed. Every nerve and fiber 
 seemed to say, "The debt must be paid." Every 
 drop of blood caught the inspiration, and rushed to 
 the brain to add its weight of force to the power 
 that wielded the pen. And the debt was paid. In 
 his diary he wrote : "I have suffered terribly and 
 often wished that I could lie down and sleep with- 
 out waking. But I will fight it out if I can." He 
 did fight it out, and in following that vision made 
 his name and fame immortal. 
 
 William Lloyd Garrison had a vision. It was 
 of liberty for the slaves. In the very first issue of 
 his paper, " The Liberator," he wrote these words : 
 << I am in earnest. I will not equivocate. I will 
 not excuse. I will not retreat a single inch ; and I 
 will be heard." 
 
 General Grant had a vision. It was of victory, 
 and that speedily. When he took command of the 
 Northern armies the Confederates seemed as by 
 intuition to know that their doom was sealed. 
 "On to Richmond!" was the watchword. Old 
 commanders shook their heads ; but the silent man 
 with the iron will, who never knew when he was 
 beaten, swerved not a hair's breadth from his pur- 
 pose until Lee surrendered his sword at Appo- 
 mattox. 
 
 Our visions are prophecies of our destinies. It 
 is the quality of the vision we follow that deter- 
 mines the true success or failure of any life. A 
 man can aspire to be the best jockey, the best ward 
 1 68 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 politician, the best gambler or the most cunning 
 cheat. And he may rise to be eminent in his call- 
 ing ! But as compared with other men, his greatest 
 height will be below the level of the failure of him 
 who chooses an honest profession. As is a man's 
 vision so shall his life be. The vision of an ava- 
 ricious youth is an old man with a bag of gold in his 
 arms. The vision of the ambitious youth is a seat 
 in Congress or on the bench, without regard to how 
 he gets there. The vision of the self-indulgent 
 youth is " a good time coming " when he will have 
 plenty of money and nothing to do. There are 
 people whose vision takes them no higher than a 
 desire to dress better than their neighbors and live 
 in better houses and drive finer teams. I am 
 tempted to believe that some could be found in 
 this country -as frivolous as was the Empress Anne 
 of Russia, who assembled the geniuses of her empire 
 to build a palace — of snow ! More than true is that 
 saying of Disraeli's : '* A person who does not look 
 up will look down, and the spirit that does not soar 
 is destined perhaps to grovel. ' ' Look upward. Look 
 upward and you will live upward. Live upward 
 and you will lift upward. 
 
 Some may wonder why it is that the following of 
 a vision has so much to do with success in life. 
 One reason is because it gives such definiteness of 
 aim. There is something to go for. The wind 
 never blows fair for that sailor who knows not for 
 what port he is bound. Many a life goes to waste 
 169 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 and ruin simply because like an abandoned and 
 drifting vessel no guiding purpose directs its course. 
 An aimless life is predoomed to failure ; but the 
 man who is not disobedient to his vision has a 
 definite and destined aim which will bring him to 
 some desired haven. 
 
 Another reason is that the inspiration of a vision 
 gives persistence, pluck and tenacity. He who 
 does not tire tires adversity, and perseverance in 
 the long run wins. "I go through," is the clan 
 motto on the coat of arms of a Scotch family I 
 know. Success in most things depends on '< going 
 through," — on knowing how long it takes to suc- 
 ceed and sticking to it. The man who follows a 
 vision knows not how to beat a retreat. He presses 
 toward the mark — and he arrives there by and by. 
 
 Still another fact is this, that the sight of his 
 vision creates in the man who follows it an almost 
 unquenchable enthusiasm. And what are hard- 
 ships, ridicule, persecution, toil, sickness, difficul- 
 ties, to a soul throbbing with an overmastering en- 
 thusiasm ? 
 
 Thus far we have noticed this law of the influ- 
 ence of visions mostly on the world-ward side ; 
 but even more noticeably does it apply to things 
 spiritual and eternal. 
 
 We know perfectly well what Paul's vision was. 
 
 It was a sight of Christ. It was a glimpse of his 
 
 glory. It was a conception of his character. It 
 
 was a call to his service. It was of a commission 
 
 170 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 to open blind eyes, to turn men from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that 
 they might receive forgiveness of sins and inherit- 
 ance among all them that are sanctified. *' Where- 
 upon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto 
 the heavenly vision." Paul began at once to fol- 
 low his vision ; and he continued to follow it to the 
 end of his days, and we know where it led him. 
 He is by common consent called the Great Apos- 
 tle; for ''he labored more abundantly than they 
 all," and his life was crowned with most abundant 
 success. 
 
 Now that is what following a vision will do for 
 every one of us; and we all have our visions. 
 This privilege is not one that came to Paul alone. 
 Our visions are given us also to draw us upward to 
 a higher life. ^The dreams of nobleness and beauty 
 that come to our souls are glimpses of the heavenly 
 life, granted to show us what we ought to be. 
 They are intimations, too, of the possibilities of at- 
 tainment that lie within us. 
 
 But let us not forget that our visions are not 
 given us merely to be gazed at in wonder or enjoyed 
 as a kind of rapture. They are to be wrought out 
 into life. That is what Paul did with his vision. 
 "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedi- 
 ent unto the heavenly vision." He immediately 
 began to try to copy the vision into life. So with 
 us ; we should strive to realize and make practical 
 every glimpse we get of spiritual loveliness. The 
 171 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 trouble with too many of us is that we allow the 
 heavenly visions to glow in our minds and thrill us 
 with their beauty for the moment and then fade 
 away, while we go on in the old paths, doing the 
 old things and making no effort toward working 
 into realities the glorious inspirations God sends. 
 When Raphael was once asked how he painted his 
 wonderful pictures, he answered, " I dream dreams, 
 and I see visions, and then I paint my dreams and 
 my visions. ' ' We all of us have our dreams and 
 our visions, but the trouble with us is that too often 
 we do not paint them anywhere. If we would only 
 seize them and put them into form that could be kept 
 and held, as Raphael did, then their beauty would 
 bless the world. This then should be our aim, like 
 Paul to follow our vision, — to work it out into life. 
 
 What are the outlines of some of these visions 
 that come to us ? Very well do you know what 
 they are like. One morning you opened your 
 Bible and began reverently to read its sacred words 
 and suddenly you came upon these : *' Blessed are 
 the pure in heart — " and you had a vision. It 
 was of a fair and lovely soul without the taint or 
 blemish of any evil lust ; and you said to yourself : 
 " I would like to be like that." Did you begin to 
 be obedient to your heavenly vision ? You were 
 like Paul if you did. 
 
 Another time in the quiet of an evening hour 
 you read such words as these : " Blessed are the 
 poor in spirit ; " " Blessed are the meek ; " " Thou 
 172 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart ; ' ' 
 "Be anxious for nothing;" " Seek first the king- 
 dom of God and his righteousness;" *'Be ye 
 tender-hearted, forgiving one another;" ''Love 
 your enemies." Again you had a vision. It was 
 of a soul in harmony with God ; with his purpose, 
 his character, his Spirit, and you said to yourself: 
 "I would like to live like that." Well, did you 
 begin to be obedient to the heavenly vision ? You 
 were like Paul if you did. 
 
 By and by you read the gospels through. In- 
 deed you read them over and over again ; and in 
 them you become acquainted with a Character — it 
 was of One who said, *' Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy laden," who said, ''Learn of 
 me; for I am meek and lowly in heart," of One who 
 was always kind and gentle and approachable, who 
 was loved of- children, who was listened to by the 
 common people gladly, who healed the sick and 
 comforted the sorrowing, who "went about doing 
 good." Still again you had a vision. You had a 
 glimpse of spiritual loveliness such as never before 
 greeted the eyes of your soul. Do you know it was 
 the very same vision Paul had out there on the way 
 to Damascus ? Has it affected you as it did him ? 
 "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedi- 
 ent unto the heavenly vision." All the usefulness 
 and beauty of character and growth in grace of 
 that mighty man of God came from following that 
 vision. Are you following it to-day ? 
 173 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Many times you have had that vision freshened 
 up in your mind. Maybe it was at some hour 
 upon your knees in prayer. Maybe it was as you 
 entered God's house and had your soul wafted to- 
 ward heaven on the wings of some sweet song or 
 anthem of praise. Maybe it was as the spoken 
 word came from the voice of God's servant and 
 you saw new spiritual possibilities opening before 
 you and felt the thrill of holy aspiration. Maybe 
 it was as you sat at the table of the Lord in sweet 
 fellowship with him. It may have been in the kind 
 act you did for some sinning or needy or troubled 
 one of earth. Each time you saw the vision anew. 
 Are you following it to-day ? It is a transforming 
 vision. It will gradually make you over into the 
 image of God. It will lift us each above the false 
 and the frail. It will help us live above the world 
 while in the world. It will polish and plume us for 
 glory, honor and immortality at God's right hand. 
 
 But perhaps some reader will say: *' Yes, very 
 well do I knoAv what that vision is. I once had it, 
 and it thrilled my very being for a time. But I 
 fear it has been lost to me now. Time has defaced 
 it and repeated sins have disfigured it and it is a 
 very dim shadow to me to-day; what I want to 
 know is if there is any way of restoring my lost 
 vision ? " In a parable we will answer. 
 
 In the gallery at Bergamo there is a fascinating 
 picture of the Virgin Mother and the Holy Child, 
 by Raphael. That picture has a history. When 
 174 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 Napoleon the Great was conquering Italy Milan fell 
 before him, and with it Bergamo. Napoleon was 
 taking all the rare and precious pictures and send- 
 ing them to adorn Paris. Lest this picture should 
 be seized and lost to Italy, some one painted on its 
 face a coarse and ugly picture, which, of course, 
 Napoleon, not knowing of the treasure underneath, 
 did not desire. When he was dethroned the rifled 
 pictures were sent back to Bergamo. Among them 
 hung this treasure of Raphael ; but, in the painter's 
 hurry, there had been no mark left upon it and so 
 it could not be identified, and where it hung among 
 the other great and beautiful pictures no one could 
 tell. At last, in the year 1868, the daub began to 
 scale away, and then reverent hands set about to 
 clean the picture, and at last the long-lost treasure 
 shone forth again. Yes, and glad and happy fact 
 is it that a Igst vision can be restored again. If 
 over your fair life ideal crude disfigurements have 
 come, then let me urge that you immediately set 
 about to restore the original. Carefully remove the 
 scales with which your worldliness has incrusted 
 it, freshen up the spots time has defaced, catch as 
 much as you can of the lost hidden beauty while 
 you work, and, by and by, thus honoring it, it will 
 come out clean and clear and shine forth upon your 
 soul anew. God will give you new grace as you 
 give him new consecration ; and as you aspire to 
 catch the vision again it will break upon you and 
 thrill you through and through. Oh that we might 
 175 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 all strive more and more to realize the best that is 
 possible for us — work out into Christlike living the 
 beautiful visions we have ! 
 
 What an inspiration it is to know that we may 
 keep steadily before us an ever-perfect Ideal, — 
 that of Christ himself. *'Let the same mind be 
 in you which was also in Christ Jesus." " He that 
 abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even 
 as he walked." As the younger artists in the great 
 galleries that are the glory of London, Paris and 
 Rome, may be seen toiling day after day patiently 
 producing copies of the masterpieces there, put- 
 ting forth their utmost skill to imitate them in every 
 line, every color, every gradation of light and 
 shade, not content that their picture shall be some- 
 what like the original, but with the ambition to 
 make their copy so exact that none but the experi- 
 enced eye shall be able to tell which is the original 
 and which is the copy, — thus should we place our- 
 selves before Christ, look at his character, so per- 
 fect, so majestic, so tender, and determine that 
 henceforth the great business of our life shall be to 
 become like him. Thank God for a perfect Pat- 
 tern. Thank God for one abiding Ideal. Thank 
 God for the strength and the cheer and the grace 
 he gives us as we press toward the mark, striving 
 to come unto the measure of the stature of perfect 
 men and women in Christ Jesus. Let us follow 
 our vision. Let us cherish our Ideal. Let us copy 
 our Pattern. So shall we all with upturned faces, 
 
 176 
 
Following a Vision 
 
 reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, be 
 transformed into the same image from glory to 
 glory, from one degree of character to a higher, 
 until we become indeed like him. That is our goal 
 — to become like him. God grant that this trans- 
 forming work may go steadily forward in every one 
 of us as we strive to be obedient to our heavenly 
 visions. 
 
 177 
 
XVIII 
 
 Influence 
 
Influence 
 
 One day as Peter was in the streets of Jerusalem 
 the sun shone on him, and, all unconsciously to 
 him, the shadow he cast fell first on this couch and 
 then on that, and at once mourning was turned to 
 rejoicing, groans ceased, and the bedridden were 
 again strong. Certainly Peter was not thinking of 
 his shadow : few of us ever are. Much less was 
 he aware how eagerly the sick sought it. Yet, by 
 a mysterious influence, involuntary and quite un- 
 conscious, wherever he went suffering souls were 
 helped. 
 
 The thing may seem to us strange, and yet not 
 so strange when we realize that in a true sense the 
 same thing is happening again every day. A real 
 might streams forth from every one of us. Steadily 
 we each one wield the scepter of an ever uncon- 
 scious energy which proves itself either a blessing 
 or a blight. We all are ''casting shadows." From 
 every good life there goes out an unconscious influ- 
 ence which is a savor of life unto life to dying men. 
 From every bad life it is a blight like the shadow 
 of death. 
 
 This word "shadow," in the Bible, is often used 
 in this metaphorical sense. Sometimes it symbol- 
 izes a blessing, as "the shadow of the Almighty." 
 i8i 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Sometimes it signifies a blight, as "the shadow of 
 death." 
 
 It is a fact that every one exerts an influence, 
 quiet but real ; unconscious but certain ; every one 
 " casts a shadow." The ghost of Banquo no more 
 persistently refused to ''down" at the bidding of 
 Macbeth when he exclaimed, 
 
 ** Hence, horrible shadow ! 
 Unreal mockery hence ! " 
 
 than the shadow of the person or thing on which 
 the sun is falling refuses to disappear. The poi- 
 soned garment of Hercules, in the legend, clung no 
 closer to him than the shadow of influence clings to 
 every one of us, whenever we may move, for good 
 or for ill. Why, a man may simply stand stock 
 still in the street, saying nothing and looking at 
 none : he will soon find all eyes upon him and all 
 excitement about him. Every act, every word, 
 every look, every attitude is a moral sway upon 
 those about us. They are forces with which we are 
 blighting or blessing. A man's principles, his dec- 
 larations, his example are speaking every day and 
 hour ; and unconsciousness of the thing is no argu- 
 ment against the fact. Unconscious of your ever 
 present shadow you walk in the sun : just as surely 
 does an ever present shadow of moral influence 
 follow wherever you go. 
 
 Some men are always, without seeming effort or 
 thought, making other people happy. Like the 
 182 
 
Influence 
 
 bride under the apple trees of the Canticles, we sit 
 under their shadow with great delight ; meet them 
 where you will and their smiling faces, their cheer- 
 ful voices, the springing foot, the silent pressure of 
 the hand, encourage and comfort. 
 
 But there are others whose very presence de- 
 presses and saddens us. Oliver Goldsmith's Mr. 
 Croaker, whom Lord Lytton reproduced in Mr. 
 Wormwood, is as truly a representative man as 
 Bunyan's Christian Pilgrim. We meet such people 
 every day, and they have always some new distress 
 for us. Their sweetest smile is suggestive of the 
 neuralgia, and their most cordial greeting depresses 
 like a Boston east wind. 
 
 Thus, even in our spheres of secular life, we affect 
 one another. Our simple presence diffuses either 
 gloom or gladness. Some are like bright palms 
 beside a fountain, and some like dark cypresses 
 over a grave, yet all alike are always "casting 
 shadows." Even this is a most important lesson 
 — our unconscious but constant influence on the 
 happiness of others. Would we all might learn it ! 
 then how much brighter and more beautiful this 
 world would become ! 
 
 But this fact of unconscious influence spreads 
 out into wider arenas and rises into higher spheres, 
 spheres of the moral and the spiritual and there- 
 fore of the eternal. Like the weird specter of the 
 Brocken, our shadows are projected, and become 
 gigantic upon the very clouds of heaven. That 
 
 183 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 which a man is, that sum-total made up of the 
 items of his beUefs, his purposes, his affections, his 
 tastes, his habits, manifest in all that he does and 
 does not, is contagious in its tendency, and is ever 
 reproducing itself, photographing itself on other 
 spirits. He himself may be as unconscious of this 
 emanation of good or evil from his character as he 
 is of the contagion of disease from his body ; or, 
 if that were equally possible, of the contagion of 
 good health. But the fact nevertheless is certain. 
 If the light is in him, it must shine. If darkness 
 reigns, it must shade. If he glows with love, it 
 will radiate its warmth. If he is frozen with self- 
 ishness, the cold will chill the atmosphere round 
 him; and if corrupt and vile, he will poison it. 
 Nor is it possible for any one to occupy a neutral 
 position. In some form or other, for good or for 
 ill, for blessing or for blight, we must affect others. 
 
 In a cemetery of which I know is a little white 
 stone marking the grave of a very dear little girl, and 
 on the stone are chiseled these words : ''A child 
 of whom her playmates said, ' It was easier to be 
 good when she was with us.' " Ah, think what a 
 shadow of blessing her ever present influence must 
 have been ! Yes, and let us know that, by the 
 silent savor of unpretending goodness, the same 
 may be true of us older children if we will. You 
 have known such people ; and glad am I to say, so 
 have I. 
 
 Did you ever open a drawer, and find it filled 
 184 
 
Influence 
 
 with rich fragrance ? every article in it just saturated 
 with the pleasing odor? What did it? Why just 
 a little bit of rare perfume, only a grain perhaps, 
 hidden in some corner. 
 
 Such is the effect of any pure and beautiful life. 
 Its sweetness strikes through, reaches, permeates, 
 blesses. Whole lives are sweetened, and homes 
 too, and entire circles and communities — all by 
 the delicate fragrance of one generously loving 
 life. 
 
 Now, not what we have, not what we profess to 
 be, but what we are gives this force to character. 
 What we are within will govern what we are with- 
 out. So it is with the rose. "Why are you 
 sweet?" was asked of the scented clay. *'0h, I 
 was so long in the sweet society of the rose that I 
 partook of the sweetness of the rose. ' ' Let the rose 
 once become what it is and it costs it nothing to 
 shed sweetness. Sweetness is in its very nature ; 
 and an established nature will reveal itself. 
 
 For example, you go into your garden, in the 
 summer season of the year, you collect a handful 
 of fragrant leaves and blossoms — this leaf of gera- 
 nium, that bit of sweet-scented verbena, this sprig 
 of mignonette, and that blossom from yonder bush, 
 and, carrying them in your hand, in a thoughtful 
 mood, at last, forgetful, put them heedlessly in your 
 pocket. There they are hid. By and by you go 
 into the house ; and instantly your little child comes 
 running about you and says, '* What have you 
 1 8s 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 got ? " "I have nothing, ' ' you say. Presently 
 your friends, coming round you, commence sniffing 
 and saying, " You have a perfume about you." 
 
 You cannot keep the secret. It will out. If you 
 do not tell, it will smell itself out. Those leaves 
 and blossoms that you carry concealed from view 
 send out fragrance, so that every one knows you 
 have some sweet-smelling substance about you. 
 
 Just so surely, fellow-disciple, will what you are, 
 the hidden essence of character you carry with 
 you, reveal itself, and others must know and feel 
 its influence. The atheist who spent a few days 
 with the saintly Fenelon said, '' If I stay here much 
 longer I shall become a Christian in spite of my- 
 self. ' ' Fenelon had used no word of controversy 
 or solicitation. It was but the quiet unconscious 
 influence of a holy life. A Christian fragrance 
 was there which must be diffused ; a healing 
 shadow was there whose blessing must be felt. 
 
 To me no subject in physics has been more in- 
 teresting than that mystery in electricity known 
 under the title of Induced Currents. Here are two 
 wires. They are parallel, but not touching. The first 
 receives a current. The passing of that current, by 
 some strange law of electric contagion, sets up in 
 the other wire a similar, though somewhat feebler 
 current. It is this law which accounts for the 
 varied voices we hear when listening at a tele- 
 phone, (the lines are not crossed, as some think) ; 
 or by taking advantage of which messages may be 
 i86 
 
Influence 
 
 sent from moving trains. It is known as the law of 
 
 Induced Currents. 
 
 Equally mysterious, but felt and experienced by 
 us all, there is another just such law in the sphere 
 of the moral and the spiritual. Good people make 
 us better, and bad people make us worse, — even to 
 be in their presence. This subtile radiation of 
 character we all have felt. We know it, but we 
 cannot understand it, any more than we can under- 
 stand the strange vibrations of a piano or a harp's 
 strings when a flute is played upon close beside it ; 
 we only know that one heart answers to another 
 heart, as the one sensitive instrument in the corner 
 repHes to the other in the room, by sympathetically 
 reproducing the same melody over its wires. You 
 know that it has been stated by all sensitive musi- 
 cians that bad players injure good instruments, 
 and, on the otlier hand, that apt performers im- 
 prove indifferent musical apparatus. This it is 
 said is the reason why fine musicians never allow 
 inferior performers to play on their favorite instru- 
 ments. 
 
 I often think, how much it might help us all in 
 life if the vibrations of character which play upon 
 us, and which we thus sympathetically reproduce, 
 were good and only good ! And I am sure that 
 none of us can covet a higher ideal than a char- 
 acter so Christlike and pure, that in our daily 
 walk among men the very shadows we cast will 
 render life more beautiful and souls more true. 
 
 187 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Our silent and unconscious influence is the most 
 important and mighty we exert. This is true, for 
 one reason, because this influence is constant. Our 
 voluntary efforts are only occasional and inter- 
 rupted ', but our unconscious energy is ever-acting 
 and constant. Just as we may speak but once in a 
 day ; but we live every moment. Just as a cloud 
 in the sky may thunder only for an hour, but casts 
 a shadow always. So the little things which we 
 are most constantly and ordinarily saying and do- 
 ing tell more widely and radically on the souls of 
 men than some of our more demonstrative actions. 
 Grand opportunities come only now and then. A 
 workman may ''show off" for an hour, but it is 
 not so easy to stick steadily at work all day long. 
 Besides, it is the constancy in trifles which in the 
 long run tells. Repeated blows of a little hammer 
 may be more effective than the single downfall of 
 the ponderous sledge. The clock strikes at inter- 
 vals ; the ticking is momentary. We hear the 
 one ; we do not notice the other. Yet the hour 
 stroke comes not if the ticking fails. Life is made 
 up of the constant quietly passing moments, not of 
 the sudden strikes. 
 
 Again, this is true because our constant and 
 silent energy is most expressive of our real char- 
 acter ; and therefore comes most within the sphere 
 of what we term moral influence, which is always 
 the most important and weighty. 
 
 Still again it is so, not only because constant and 
 i88 
 
Influence 
 
 real, but because, like all influence, it is absolutely 
 unending. It was a striking remark of a dying 
 man whose life had been most poorly spent, ''Oh 
 that my influence could be gathered up and buried 
 with me!" It could not be. That man's influ- 
 ence survives him ; it still lives, is still working on, 
 and will live and work for centuries to come. No 
 human being can come into this world without in- 
 creasing or diminishing the sum total of human 
 happiness, not only for the present, but for every 
 subsequent age of humanity. No one can detach 
 himself from this connection. There is no sequest- 
 ered spot in the universe, no dark niche along the 
 disc of nonexistence to which we can retreat from 
 our relation to others, where we can withdraw the 
 influence of our existence upon the moral destiny 
 of the world. Everywhere our presence or absence 
 will be felt ; everywhere we will have companions 
 who will be better or worse for our influence. 
 
 It is an old saying, and one of fearful and fath- 
 omless import, that we are forming characters for 
 eternity. Forming characters ! But whose ? Our 
 own or others ? Why, both ; and in that momen- 
 tous fact lies the peril and responsibility of our 
 existence. 
 
 It is as if each man had his foot upon the point 
 where ten thousand telegraphic wires met from 
 every part of the universe, and he were able with 
 each volition to send abroad an influence along the 
 wires so as to reach every created being, and every 
 189 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 pulsation of his heart or movement of his mind 
 modified the pulsations of every other heart and the 
 movements of every other mind. Indeed, I take 
 it that this is the moral and spiritual meaning of 
 the modern doctrine of the conservation of energy; 
 so that the poetic sentiment is actually true, that 
 
 " The smallest bark on life's tumultuous ocean 
 Will leave a track behind forevermore ; 
 The lightest wave of influence set in motion, 
 Extends and widens to the eternal shore." 
 
 It will add to our conception of the importance 
 of this truth if we will bear in mind still another 
 fact, that for our unconscious influence we are most 
 solemnly responsible. Many would most gladly 
 deny it; but, honestly, we cannot. Nothing is 
 more plain or certain than that we are, every one 
 of us, most solemnly responsible for every particle 
 of the measure of our influence upon others, be it 
 ever so unconscious. For one reason, because we 
 are responsible for what we are. If our character 
 and influence are bad they are bad by choice — a 
 choice of refusal instead of acceptance of God's 
 profl'ered help. This is what Christ meant when 
 he said to his rejecters: <'Ye will not come to 
 me, that ye might have life." Any "will not" 
 leaves us responsible for what after that we are. 
 
 We are responsible also because we cannot be 
 zeros and count for nothing. In a world like this 
 just to do nothing were to do terribly evil. Take 
 190 
 
Influence 
 
 for an example a case where a man exerts no posi- 
 tive influence at all. 
 
 See yon traveler. He has gone forth on a sum- 
 mer day. He climbs a lofty mountain. His path 
 winds along a sharp precipice. Weary with his 
 walk he casts himself for repose under a cool shade 
 by the wayside. Presently a blind man passes by, 
 feeling his way with his staff. The man looks on 
 him in silence sees him approach the dizzy brink, 
 knows that he is in mortal peril, but utters no 
 warning ; and now the blind man slides on the 
 yielding verge, and there is a wild cry and a plunge, 
 and he is dashed into a shapeless mass upon the 
 rocks a thousand feet below ! Now, what about 
 that man ? Will he say : ' ' I am sorry for all this. 
 I did not force him off. I was listening with joy 
 to the wild birds that sang in the woodland when 
 the accident happened " ? But you righteously ex- 
 claim, ''Accident!" ''Nay sir! nay sir! but 
 the man's blood is upon you ! you murdered 
 him! " 
 
 In a world like this just to do nothing were to 
 do evil terribly ; just to be nothing were to be ter- 
 ribly evil ; for at the least it deprives some one else 
 of our help. One can no sooner detach himself 
 from this solemn responsibility than he can detach 
 himself from his own shadow in the sunlight. 
 
 Furthermore, we are responsible for our uncon- 
 scious influence because even if we would we can- 
 not perish alone. If a man could perish alone in 
 191 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 his iniquity, then even self-destruction, this moral 
 suicide of ungodliness, were not so terrible. If the 
 men in every community whose daily lives are un- 
 godly — the dishonest, the untruthful, the profligate 
 and profane, the law breakers and truth breakers 
 and home breakers — if they were only shortening 
 their own lives, and imperiling their own immortal- 
 ity, the evil would not be so bad ; but the sad fact 
 is that all the while they are corrupting and en- 
 dangering the whole life and soul and destiny of all 
 those with whom they come in contact. Over 
 young hearts and young homes and older hearts 
 and older homes they are casting deadly shadows 
 of blight. The old mad man of Sicily flung himself 
 headlong into the crater of Etna, and men wor- 
 shiped him as a god ; but, think you, if he had 
 folded to his bosom some dear little child as he 
 took that awful plunge, would not the whole land 
 have execrated him as a devil ? This is what the 
 wicked are doing everywhere, — taking others with 
 them in their plunge ! If a man could perish alone 
 in his iniquity then his self-destruction were not so 
 awful. If his influence could only be gathered up 
 and buried with him, his wickedness would not 
 seem so bad. But, alas ! moral suicide is never 
 with an unshared poison cup, but with an infectious 
 pestilence so that every one who comes near the 
 man, every loving heart that sits in sympathy by 
 his sick bed, or weeps over his grave is exposed to 
 the contagion and may share the awful death. 
 192 
 
Influence 
 
 Above every other reason, then, we are responsi- 
 ble for our unconscious influence because even if 
 we would we could not perish alone. Close as our 
 own shadow in the sunlight this force of influence 
 clings, and no power on earth can shake it off. 
 " No man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth 
 unto himself." 
 
 But this thought has surely another and sweeter 
 application ; namely, that we all may cast healing 
 shadows of blessing if we will. As Peter walked 
 at eventide, his lengthened shadow as it fell on the 
 gathered sick in the streets of Jerusalem, healing as 
 it swept over them, even so may every Christian 
 still go through the earth like a spirit of health and 
 sin-sick souls, miserable and fallen, start up and 
 live as he passes. In this sense our subject has a 
 wealth of encouragement and consolation for every 
 true child of God. The silent savor of unpretend- 
 ing goodness, the fragrance of a really sincere and 
 useful life are within the reach of every one of us. 
 Let us know then that whenever and wherever is 
 found a loving heart, man or woman, young or old, 
 seeking with real earnest devotion the good of 
 others, his pathway will be sought, just as certainly 
 as on that day when they brought forth the sick into 
 the streets that at the least the shadow of Peter 
 passing by might overshadow some of them. Let 
 people about us once reach a confidence in our sin- 
 cerity of helpful devotion and they will show a faith 
 in us, and a love too, like that old Crimean soldier 
 193 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 showed toward Florence Nightingale, passing along 
 the hospital ward, when he lifted his wounded 
 aching body up just to kiss her shadow as it sud- 
 denly ran along the wall ! 
 
 Did anybody ever kiss your shadow? They 
 will, — they will whenever it bears the healing balm 
 of a real and unassuming goodness. Beautiful, 
 beautiful to live such a life ! is it not ? To be 
 sure we cannot all, like Peter, heal the sick in the 
 temple ; but we can all, like him, cast healing 
 shadows in the streets. 
 
 Do you ask me how ? Then I answer : By 
 standing full in the light. I mean the light from 
 the presence of Christ. The sun must shine out to 
 make shadows. The clearer the shining the 
 stronger the shadow. So that the shadow is the 
 result of the light. Then, stand in the Light. 
 Get under the clear shining of the '' Sun of right- 
 eousness." 
 
 I answer again : By surely letting that shadow 
 fall on others. Peter's shadow was eagerly sought 
 by the sick ones or their friends, not because it was 
 a shadow, but because it was to them the symbol 
 of healing and cheer. So, on whatever heart or 
 home the shadow of a Christian may fall, in what- 
 ever company he may move, his coming should 
 bring a smile of pleasure. A manifest blessing 
 should beam in his face. ** Winsome Christianity " 
 is the title I have seen of a book, — it is the kind of 
 life everywhere needed. Let us know that from 
 194 
 
Influence 
 
 every such life, God-guided, Christ-filled, there 
 goes out an ever unconscious influence for good 
 which is a savor of life unto life to dying souls; 
 and that standing in the true ** Light of the world " 
 we may heal men as Peter did when it was just be- 
 cause his shadow fell on them. 
 
 195 
 
XIX 
 
 The Chamber of Communion 
 
The Chamber of Communion 
 
 Life cannot be lived at its best in absolute soli- 
 tude. Neither can it be at its best if we are always 
 in the company of others. Continual solitude makes 
 us morose. Continual companionship makes us 
 shallow. We need both society and solitude if we 
 would be evenly developed. The requirements of 
 religion take into consideration all the needs of our 
 nature. In one command we are told to ''for- 
 sake not the assembling of ourselves together." In 
 another equally important command we are told to 
 ''enter into our closets and shut the door, and 
 pray to our Father which seeth in secret." 
 
 Private prayer, the secret communing of the soul 
 with God is a duty too much neglected, and, in 
 these hurrying times, a privilege much undervalued 
 by Christians. 
 
 We cannot but feel the importance of this duty 
 when we consider upon how many motives the call 
 to private, personal prayer is found to rest. 
 
 We have, for example, Christ's command, 
 "Enter into thy closet," etc. That is enough. If 
 we could see no other reason for the exercise it 
 ought to be enough that Christ told us to engage 
 in it. 
 
 We have, moreover, Christ's example. This 
 199 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 gives much added enforcement to the duty. Christ 
 not only told us to pray in secret, but he prayed in 
 this way himself. How often we read of his going 
 out into the mountain, or the garden, or somewhere 
 alone to pray. If Christ needed this intercourse 
 and communion with his Father to fit him for and 
 support him in his work, how much more do we ? 
 
 The duty grows also out of the personal relation 
 existing between ourselves and God. God thinks 
 of us not en masse. He does not think of us as 
 churches or congregations or communities ; but as 
 individuals. Our relation to him is an individual 
 relation. Each must believe for himself, repent for 
 himself, pray for himself. Our sins are personal 
 sins, and are to be confessed as such to God. 
 Our blessings are personal blessings, and call for 
 personal expressions of gratitude to God. All this 
 implies personal, private, secret prayer and com- 
 munings with God. 
 
 Moreover, secret prayer meets a deep necessity 
 of our nature. God knows what is best for us. 
 He who formed us knows our needs. You buy a 
 fountain pen, a typewriter or a bicycle. The first 
 thing you look for is a <' book of directions." You 
 believe that the man who made the machine under- 
 stands it best. Certainly, then, our Creator knows 
 our needs; and he it is who commands secret 
 prayer. There is no telling how vital is the rela- 
 tion secret prayer bears to our spiritual welfare. 
 
 Then, too, all past Christian experience shows 
 
The Chamber of Communion 
 
 how necessary and valuable it is. Men of prayer 
 have been men of character. Men of prayer have 
 been men who enjoyed high spiritual attainments. 
 We each one have had enough experience with 
 private prayer to be convinced of its great value, 
 and to know how sadly it would affect our life if 
 we were to go without it. 
 
 A few suggestions as to the manner in which we 
 should attend to this duty may be of value to some 
 of our readers, especially those who are young, or 
 young in the Christian life. 
 
 Have a place. ''Enter into thy closet." It is 
 a good thing to have a place where we can resort 
 for prayer. 
 
 Have a private place. '' Thy closet." It is im- 
 portant for you to have a place of your own where 
 you are secure and free from any possible intrusion. 
 This privacy of prayer is suggested by the words 
 ''shut thy door." This is to shut you in and to 
 shut God in, and to shut all others out. Let the 
 swing of your closet door shut out all hurry and 
 business cares and everything that can interfere 
 with your undisturbed fellowship with God. 
 
 Have a time. It is wise to have a set time. 
 Habit is a thing of great importance. It makes the 
 duty easier and pleasanter. Besides, it is the only 
 safe way ', because if we do not form such habits 
 we are almost sure to give up the practice of the 
 duty through neglect. 
 
 Have a posture. We think it wise, even in 
 20 1 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 secret, to kneel in prayer. Reverence of attitude 
 is conducive to reverence of thought. 
 
 Have words. We would advise the use of spoken 
 words, even in private prayer. It will arouse and 
 quicken thought. It will reveal to each soul him- 
 self. There is a great deal of private prayer which 
 is nothing more than reverie. Christians even sleep 
 and dream they pray. It is better to keep alert by 
 using spoken words. 
 
 Have wants. Bring real petitions. Ask for 
 things to meet your needs. Do not be hypocritical. 
 Do not tell God falsehoods. Do not say things 
 you do not feel. Ask no blessings or gifts you do 
 not want. Express gratitude for no blessings you 
 do not feel thankful for. In all your words of 
 adoration and confidence and love and petition be 
 absolutely sincere and true. Your converse with 
 God should be as free as friend with friend. Let 
 the duty never be hurried over ; or only done as a 
 task. On the other hand, it need not, of necessity, 
 be long. Claim the promises of God ; ask in the 
 name of Christ; be faithful, sincere, devout, and 
 God will make his favor manifest in an untold 
 number of ways. He will reward you openly. 
 Are you neglecting this duty ? Duty it is, yet it is 
 a great privilege. Resolve to value it more. Do 
 not forget that it brings blessings. *' Thy Father 
 which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." 
 ''More things are wrought by prayer than this 
 world dreams of." 
 
 202 
 
XX 
 
 The Prayer That Teaches to Pray 
 
The Prayer That Teaches to Pray 
 
 ''Our Father which art in heaven." It is a 
 prayerless prayer when these words are merely 
 repeated like the senseless creaking of a praying 
 machine. If this prayer is to mean anything in the 
 ear of God, it must be the heart-language of one of 
 his children. But this relation once truly con- 
 ceived, how sweet to our soul is the title '' Father." 
 If God be my Father, then he loves me ; and that 
 means everything — provision for needs, protection 
 in danger, comfort in afflictions, success in work, 
 triumph over sins, and heaven at last. But this is 
 not the prayer of isolated being — the petition of 
 exclusiveness or seclusiveness. "Our Father" — 
 that means human brotherhood ; and this prayer 
 can only rise from the brotherly spirit. Further- 
 more, the Father we address is "in heaven." 
 This, then, is the prayer of a child away from 
 home. The look of the soul is toward its heavenly 
 home. In the spirit of fraternal love, and in the 
 loneliness of a child away from home, let us say, 
 " Our Father which art in heaven." 
 
 ' ' Hallowed be thy name. ' ' In this petition the 
 child of God prays as a worshiper. We ask that 
 God would hallow his own name and cause it to be 
 205 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 hallowed. It is really the third commandment 
 turned into prayer — *' Thou shalt not take the name 
 of the Lord thy God in vain." This petition takes 
 precedence because it is so all inclusive, desiring 
 that all things may resolve themselves into a mani- 
 festation of the divine glory. In it we pray that 
 we and all men may have appropriate thoughts of 
 God, suitable emotions toward God, and make 
 reverential use of his names, titles, ordinances, 
 word, and works. We pray also for the promotion 
 of public and private worship of God, the diligent 
 use of his sacraments and institutions, and for such 
 a diffusion of his honor throughout the world as 
 will remove all cause which can prevent his name 
 being hallowed. In it we should resolve against 
 all irreverence, all insincerity in worship, all perjury 
 and profanity in conversation, and upon the con- 
 stant cultivation of a devout and reverential regard 
 for God's name and nature. 
 
 ' ' Thy kingdom come. ' ' When we offer this 
 prayer we pray for the regnancy of the principles 
 of God's nature in human affairs. We ask that his 
 authority may be universally recognized and his 
 control over all hearts absolute. This prayer 
 reminds us that there is another kingdom besides 
 God's striving for establishment in the world. It 
 suggests difficulties that stand in the way of the 
 complete establishment of his beneficent rule. It 
 expresses our acquiescence in and alliance with all 
 efforts by which the desired result may be secured. 
 206 
 
The Prayer that Teaches to Pray 
 
 It necessitates the cultivation of a missionary spirit. 
 It anticipates a certain and sure answer, enabling 
 us to look toward the future with hopefulness. 
 Well we know Christ would never have taught us 
 the prayer had he not intended to answer it. But 
 since it is not yet fully answered let us live for that 
 for which we pray. By our gifts, our thought, our 
 labor, our sympathy, we can aid in answering our 
 prayer. This we may do, cheered by many en- 
 couraging signs of final attainment, such as present 
 facilities for effort, past success of effort, and the 
 growing union in effort. 
 
 ''Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." 
 This is the prayer of a renovated will. The will of 
 God is to be made the guide and measure of ours. 
 '' Thy will " — not Satan's, not mine. Neither are 
 we to wait till we get to heaven to do God's will, 
 nor take any earthly standard as our aim. ''As it 
 is in heaven " — how is God's will done in heaven ? 
 We may be sure it is done intelligently, and 
 promptly, and cheerfully, and constantly, and uni- 
 versally — indeed perfectly. There all do God's 
 will, and do it always. This petition, too, is pro- 
 phetic, and points to a time when ours shall be a 
 redeemed race living upon a redeemed earth, when 
 God's will shall be done here below among men as 
 it is now done by the angels in heaven. We may 
 be sure that Christ would never have taught us this 
 prayer had he not intended to answer it. 
 
 " Give us this day our daily bread." This peti- 
 207 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 tion breathes the dependent spirit of a child of God 
 subsisting upon his Father's bounty and care. 
 ''Bread," by a common and natural figure, signi- 
 fies the necessaries of life. Praying for bread im- 
 plies honesty and industry. We do not ask for the 
 bread of others, or of deceit or idleness, but bread 
 honestly gotten. We virtually ask for ability and 
 opportunity to obtain our daily bread. Praying for 
 "daily bread," too, implies daily prayer, and with- 
 out anxiety for the future. We are thus taught to 
 live by the day, neither borrowing good nor evil 
 from to-morrow. We ask for bread, not luxuries, 
 not dainties ; moderation is thus taught us. " Us " 
 and " Our " exclude selfishness and incite to char- 
 ity. Here again is human brotherhood implied. 
 We all are bound together and to God by a chain 
 of daily benefits. 
 
 "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our 
 debtors." Sins are debts. They are entered in 
 God's books. They increase. They can never be 
 discharged. They cannot be transferred to any 
 fellow-creature. They cannot be escaped by lapse 
 of years or change of residence. Payment will be 
 claimed. How, then, can the debt be canceled? 
 Not by repentance. Not by good works. Not by 
 any amount of seeking and striving. But solely by 
 God's good grace forgiving the debt for the sake of 
 Jesus Christ. " In him we have remission through 
 his blood." This petition breathes a penitent and 
 forgiving spirit. By it we are reminded of our con- 
 208 
 
The Prayer that Teaches to Pray 
 
 stant liability to sin. We are led to separate be- 
 tween the fact and theory of forgiveness. We are 
 led to regard forgiveness as a favor and not as a 
 claim. We are reminded of the only condition 
 upon which forgiveness can be extended to us. 
 And we are taught to comply with that con- 
 dition. Only those who show mercy can expect 
 mercy. 
 
 "Lead us not into temptation." Character 
 would be valueless were it not for trial. The es- 
 sence of this petition is not so much that God 
 would prevent our having any testings as that he 
 would lead us safely through any such as would 
 make our perseverance not only difficult but doubt- 
 ful. A guide on the mountain leads the Alpine 
 climber where danger exists. The summit cannot 
 otherwise be reached. In avoiding or conquering 
 the danger tire traveler's skill, courage, and endur- 
 ance are both tested and improved. His health 
 and manhood, as well as his enjoyment, are secured 
 by being thus led where dangers abound. But the 
 leader knows what path is practicable, what perils 
 should be shunned, and is ever ready to lend a 
 helping hand. Thus we desire our heavenly Guide 
 to take us when we pray, " Lead us not into temp- 
 tation." Humility, charity, and caution are also 
 taught in the right use of this prayer. 
 
 *'But deliver us from evil." In this petition we 
 are taught to ask God to deliver us from the evil 
 that is in the world, the evil that is within our own 
 209 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 hearts, and above all from the "evil one," the 
 devil. We are conscious that so long as we are in 
 the body we are constantly seeing, hearing, and 
 feeling the presence of evil. It is about us, and 
 within us, and round us on every side. And we 
 entreat Him who alone can preserve us to be con- 
 tinually delivering us from its power. God answers 
 this prayer by restraints put upon Satan, and de- 
 mons, and evil men, by many ways of unseen and 
 unknown deliverance provided, and also by special 
 grace imparted to enable his children to deliver 
 themselves. 
 
 '< For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and 
 the glory forever. Amen." It is well known that 
 some of the oldest and best manuscripts do not 
 contain these closing words. Others, and some of 
 the very ancient ones, do. (See margin of r. v.) 
 We are content to follow the ages, analogy, and the 
 seeming necessity for some such conclusion to the 
 prayer. The doxology, this closing sentence is 
 called. It is an ascription of praise. All prayer 
 should gather itself up and crown itself with praise. 
 And that praise should not be so much for gifts and 
 graces as for what God himself is. '' Thine is the 
 kingdom." In this we adore God as King univer- 
 sal in his own right over men, and angels, and all 
 things. <' And the power." Titles without power 
 made authority ridiculous. But we ask God for 
 nothing but what he is abundantly able to give, 
 even far beyond our asking. " The glory." The 
 210 
 
The Prayer that Teaches to Pray 
 
 honor and the glory of all the giving will redound 
 to God who himself is glorious. " Forever." All 
 excellencies which are in God are in him eternally. 
 <* Amen." So be it. May it be so. 
 
 211 
 
XXI 
 
 A Closed Door and a Waiting Saviour 
 
A Closed Door and a Waiting Saviour 
 
 There is a wonderful picture by Holman Hunt, 
 called ''The Light of the World." It represents 
 the Saviour knocking at the door of the heart, in 
 illustration of the passage in Rev. iii. 20 : ''Behold, 
 I stand at the door, and knock," etc. He stands 
 with bowed head, listening. Across the door vines 
 have grown ; it has been long since it was unclosed. 
 He holds in his hand a lantern from which the rays 
 fall on some fruit that has dropped ungathered. 
 His back is toward the light of the rising moon. 
 The attitude is that of earnest, importunate waiting. 
 
 There is another picture, by the artist Bida, which 
 might well be made a companion piece to Hunt's. 
 It illustrates the passage in the twenty-fifth chapter 
 of St. Matthew regarding the five foolish virgins. 
 They, too, are waiting, having cast themselves 
 down in despair on the steps of a palace. One 
 represents Jesus standing at the door of men's 
 hearts knocking for admission there; the other 
 shows us those who have refused to hear his voice 
 pleading for admission into his heavenly kingdom. 
 One refers to time, the other to the morning of 
 eternity. One shows how easy it is to be saved 
 now ; the other shows how hopeless we will have 
 made our condition if we harden our hearts, neglect 
 215 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 our opportunities, continue to exclude Christ and 
 let our characters become fixed in the mold of 
 evil. 
 
 We have mentioned the first picture because we 
 believe it well represents the case of some who may 
 read this book. It presents to them a duty. It 
 may also open to them a hope. We refer to the 
 second one because it may present a warning to 
 any inclined foolishly to delay the matter of be- 
 coming Christians. How sadly many there are in 
 all our communities and congregations, in our Sun- 
 day schools. Christian Endeavor societies and other 
 organizations, who do not make the least profession 
 of being Christians ! Very many there are who, 
 if plainly asked, would probably say that not as 
 yet have they opened their hearts to admit the 
 Saviour, or accepted him to rule in them and over 
 them. We write for such, and ask that they will 
 let the thought of the waiting Christ standing be- 
 fore the fast-closed door of their hearts move them 
 to consider what a wonderful love Christ's love is 
 and how intense must be his desire to save them. 
 
 Infinite love is certainly manifested in the fact 
 that Christ, though King of earth and heaven, 
 comes to us, not waiting for us to go to him. More 
 than this, he "stands" in the position of a sup- 
 pliant. How strange that any one should hesitate 
 to hasten out and entreat him to come in as right- 
 ful Lord and most welcome guest ! 
 
 But his affectionate desire toward us is not satis- 
 216 
 
A Closed Door and a Waiting Saviour 
 
 fied without further demonstrations. ''Behold," 
 saith he, *'I stand at the door, and knock." He 
 will not force the door ; but he is there, standing, 
 knocking. He is not merely willing to save you, 
 but has an earnest, importunate desire to save you. 
 It is not the prodigal seeking the Father, but, 
 greater love than that, the Father seeks the prodi- 
 gal Instead of your seeking him, he has found 
 you. The question is not. Will the Saviour accept 
 you ? but, Will you reject the Saviour ? 
 
 But knocking does not exhaust his efforts, for he 
 calls, ''If any man hear my voice." He has a 
 voice, a kind and pleading voice. He has not 
 spoken a single harsh word to you as he has stood 
 at the door of your heart. The Voice is the same 
 that prayed for the disciples in trouble ; that spoke 
 healing to the, sick and pardon to the sinful ; that 
 said in Gethsemane's garden, " Thy will, not mine, 
 be done ; ' ' the Voice that confessed himself a King 
 and died to seal the testimony; that in dying 
 agony spoke from human love, saying to John, 
 "Behold thy mother; " that with expiring breath 
 spoke to the dying thief, saying, "To-day shalt 
 thou be with me in paradise. ' ' Oh, Voice of love, 
 how kind thou art ! It is this same Voice that 
 speaks to you, unyielding one, and says: "If any 
 man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come 
 in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. ' ' 
 
 Bear in mind that Christ will never force the 
 door of your heart. It was once exclaimed by one 
 217 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 of our most eloquent senators that an Englishman's 
 cottage is his castle. It is true. The winds may 
 whistle through every crevice and the rains pene- 
 trate through every cranny, but into that cottage 
 the monarch of England dare not enter against the 
 cotter's will. This is the state of the case between 
 Christ and the human soul. He has such a respect 
 for the will of that immortal tenant which he has 
 placed within us that he will never force an en- 
 trance. '' If any man hear my voice, and open the 
 door, I will come in," etc. Having heard him, 
 then it remains for you to unbar your heart and let 
 him in. 
 
 A young boy was very eagerly listening to his 
 father as he read the chapter in which these words 
 occur. But when he came to this realistic state- 
 ment of the twentieth verse, ''Behold, I stand at 
 the door, and knock," the boy could no longer con- 
 tain himself, but running up to his father, eagerly 
 asked, ''Father, did he get in?" We ask this 
 question now of you. " Has Christ got into your 
 heart ? " Oh, let him in ; let him in now ! 
 
 He stands and knocks and calls ; here is reason 
 enough why you should open. But his love goes 
 farther yet. He makes you a wonderful promise 
 as to what will happen when you do open the door. 
 " I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he 
 with me." There is for one thing, the promise of 
 his divine incoming, the unqualified assurance that 
 if we open the door, he will come in. There is no 
 218 
 
A Closed Door and a Waiting Saviour 
 
 perhaps or perad venture about it. If we want to 
 be saved he will save us. If we open our hearts he 
 will enter. There is also promise of his divine in- 
 dwelling. After he has entered, if we cherish his 
 loving presence, he will stay — dwelling with us, 
 giving us an earnest of the joys of life eternal. He 
 will live in our hearts, instruct us in the way of 
 duty, strengthen us for contest with evil and help 
 us in every time of need. This is the more plainly 
 seen by his promise of divine fellowship. He 
 comes in as a most precious friend. Not in wrath 
 to make us trouble, but to be our most intimate 
 companion. '' I will sup with him, and he with 
 me." He sits down with us as friend with friend, 
 as brother with brother, at a familiar table. He 
 talks with us, and invites us to talk with him. He 
 opens the way /or us to tell him of all our sorrows 
 and our joys, our perplexities and our hopes, our 
 difficulties and our desires ; and then he takes of 
 the things of the Father and shows them unto us, 
 and we are filled with light and peace and strength 
 and holy joy. But you may ask. What kind of a 
 feast can I give for such a Guest ? Fear not to in- 
 vite him in, for strange to say, the Master brings 
 his own provision. He spreads the table of divine 
 s'atisfaction and offers to you, his fortunate and 
 grateful host. ''Eat, O friend," he exclaims; 
 ''drink; yea, drink abundantly." Maybe you 
 wonder how you will ever be able to serve him as 
 you ought, if you do admit him as your Lord. Can 
 219 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 you hold out ? Yes, and just because the meat he 
 gives you increases strength, your fellowship with 
 him drives out evil, and he makes his grace suffi- 
 cient for you. 
 
 Oh, unsatisfied, Christless friend, this is the kind 
 of Saviour who is standing just outside the fast- 
 barred door of your heart. Let him in ! 
 
 " Oh, love that passeth knowledge, 
 So patiently to wait ! 
 Oh, sin that hath no equal, 
 So fast to bar the gate ! " 
 
 " Oh, lovely attitude ! he stands 
 With melting heart and bleeding hands ! " 
 
 Open the door and let him in. Swing it wide 
 open and invite him in. Receive him, welcome 
 him with humble gratitude. Glory in the fact that 
 he has come. If you do, that seeking One will 
 prove both your Redeemer and Friend, and for 
 time and for eternity. 
 
 220 
 
XXII 
 
 Heaven in the Heart 
 
Heaven in the Heart 
 
 A MEDITATION ON THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM 
 
 •• Why this oft-perplexed inquiry, 
 Why this fretfulness of soul 
 To know what may await thee 
 Gaining life's eternal goal ? 
 Heaven is a consummation, 
 A most happy culmination, 
 A well-brought destination 
 To each traveler who is guided by * Pilgrim's Parchment 
 
 Roll ' : 
 Yes; but heaven is also present; part of transient time's 
 
 duration, 
 A hither, inner kingdom, ' coming not with observation ; ' 
 Waiting not for' realization 
 Till the setting of life's sun ; 
 But all the way to heaven is that heaven here begun." 
 
 The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore I shall not 
 want. Being the Lord, he is rich and strong, and 
 able to give me the things I need; and being 
 shepherdly in his love, he is very tender and kind, 
 and soHcitous for my welfare. It is for this reason 
 that I am so sure all my necessities will be met. I 
 put myself gladly under his care, and dwell in as- 
 sured content under the sense of his over-shadow- 
 ing love and providence. 
 
 223 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 Trusting this Shepherd, I know I shall be well 
 sheltered and fed. He will make me to lie down 
 in the greenest, sweetest and most protected pas- 
 tures. Here will I find both food convenient for 
 me and the rest that refreshes. Well guarded and 
 led he will conduct me, not into the barren desert 
 or the wooded forest, but where are the most beau- 
 tiful and fertile fields, and beside still waters and 
 gentle-flowing streams that gladden the landscape 
 in view. Here, too, find I the purest of sparkling 
 water to quench my thirst, and to keep my life ever 
 at its best. Yes, and even though I should for any 
 reason become weak and sickly, then, under his 
 loving care, he restores my soul and makes me well 
 again. Though I wander into bypaths and for- 
 bidden thickets of sin, yet he brings me back into 
 the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. 
 He revives me when faint, recovers me when sick, 
 restores me when wandering. And, oh, how often 
 and how foolishly do I wander ! 
 
 " Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it ; 
 Prone to leave the God I love " : 
 
 yet this Shepherd and Bishop of my soul never 
 gives me up, but out on the cold mountains seeks 
 the wayward one, bringing me back again under his 
 protecting care. Belonging to him, his name is 
 upon me, and both out of love to me and a desire 
 to uphold the honor of his name, he leads me back 
 into the right way again and places me in his fold. 
 224 
 
Heaven in the Heart 
 
 He restoreth my soul ; he leadeth me in the paths 
 of righteousness for his name's sake. 
 
 But this Shepherd of mine, having been with me 
 in Ufe, will not forsake me in death. This I argue 
 because of the fact of my many past blessings. 
 Because he has been with me thus far I am confi- 
 dent that he will be with me even to the end. Yes, 
 and he will be with me at the end. Yea, though I 
 walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 
 will fear no evil. To have no fear in death is cer- 
 tainly a great boon, and yet this boon is mine. 
 
 This death journey is to be a valley journey, I 
 learn. Right glad am I too that this is so. Valleys 
 are sheltered places. The storms break on the 
 mountain tops. The way I am to go is not through 
 a wild woodland or over some bleak, storm-riven 
 mountain, but through the sheltered, fruitful, peace- 
 ful region of a valley. 
 
 But, glad and happy thought, it is not the valley 
 of death at all, as I supposed. It is the valley of 
 the shadow of death. Then it can be nothing more 
 than the shadow, or the appearance of death — not 
 really death. I do not fear a shadow. The shadow 
 of a sword never slew anybody. The shadow of 
 a serpent never stung any one. If I am only 
 to pass through a shadow, I have no reason to fear 
 at all. After all, then, death does not seem to be 
 death. It is only a seeming. It really must be 
 true, therefore, that there is no death ; that what 
 seems so is transition, and that this life of mortal 
 225 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 breath is but a suburb of the life Elysian, whose 
 portals we call death. We say that the sun sets, 
 but it never does really set. It only seems to set. 
 We speak of it as setting only because its evening 
 condition looks like a going down. In reality it 
 has only the seeming of setting, and meets us as 
 bright as ever next morning. Sleep looks like 
 death, but it is not death. Neither is death itself 
 really death ; it is only the shadow or the appearance 
 of death. Yea, though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. 
 
 But there is another precious reason why I have 
 no need for fear. This passing through the valley 
 is a ''walk" — not at all what I had imagined. I 
 had thought of it as some hurried, frightened enter- 
 ing upon an unwelcome flight, or some rude hus- 
 thng away upon a forced and fatiguing journey. 
 But if it is a walk, then it must be something quiet 
 and deliberate, something prepared for and peace- 
 ful, possibly even pleasant. I had not thought of 
 death so. I had been thinking of it as an awful 
 summons, a sudden flight, a something full of haste 
 and fright and terror. But no, it is a "walk," so 
 quiet and peaceful a thing as an evening walk amid 
 the pleasant shadows of sunset. I wonder that I 
 never noticed the words more carefully ; for I see 
 even further that it is not said to be a walk in the 
 valley. That might suggest something continuous, 
 like the weary wanderings of one lost in the dark, 
 or entangled among the uncut forests of the valley, 
 226 
 
Heaven in the Heart 
 
 or amid the confusing or intricate paths of the val- 
 ley. But no, the walk is not in the valley, but 
 through the valley. Ah, then, it must be a straight 
 and plain path, and one that leads somewhere. It 
 must be a direct journey to a distinct destination. 
 Yes, I am assured that it is, and that the destina- 
 tion is nothing less delightful than heaven itself. 
 How then can I fear when once by faith I have 
 connected the valley with the heaven to which it 
 leads? This must be like the flight of a bird 
 through some dark cloud, and then out into the full 
 light of the sun. It must be like some traveler 
 journeying through a deeply-shadowed canon be- 
 tween the mountains, and then coming out into the 
 broad and smiling country where the sun is shining 
 in his glory, and where every green herb and beau- 
 tiful flower is springing up to bless. Surely, if it 
 is only a quiet walk through the sheltered valley, 
 and the valley itself opens out full and broad in 
 the shining fields of heaven, why, indeed, should 
 I fear? 
 
 But better still ; I do not have to go through even 
 this peaceful valley alone. For thou art with me ! 
 My Shepherd is with me ! He who cared for me 
 all my life long is still with me, at my side, my 
 Companion, my Defender, my Guide. No, no, I 
 will fear no evil, for thou art with me. With thy 
 rod dost thou point out the way. With thy staff 
 dost thou give me support. How then can I be 
 lost or wander from the path of safety, or how 
 227 
 
Upward Steps 
 
 faint by the way? Companionship, the sweetest 
 and most cheering, I have ; for there walks by my 
 side every moment my dear Lord, who all my life 
 through has shepherded my soul, and now at last 
 brings me to the heavenly fold, where I shall be for- 
 ever both safe and satisfied. Long as my life have 
 been his favors, and so bountiful as to cause even 
 mine enemies to remark such goodness. Like some 
 honored guest at a feast has my head been anointed 
 with precious and fragrant oil ; indeed it has been 
 the oil of gladness and joy from the Holy Ghost. 
 Truly, so many and so rich and so full have been 
 his favors to me that my cup could not contain so 
 much. Not that anything has been lost, but I 
 know how it is with a cup ; the little drops that 
 trickle down the sides may not be much in them- 
 selves, but they tell that the vessel is full. They 
 can best express the greatness of the shower by 
 flowing from the cup's brim, and in happy token of 
 abundance running over. My cup runneth over. 
 
 Though more than I could contain has God 
 given, yet better still holds he in store for me. En- 
 larging my soul's capacity he takes me to his pres- 
 ence. Here at the journey's end, his twin angels. 
 Goodness and Mercy, having followed me all the 
 days of my life, now I am to dwell in the house of 
 the Lord forever — in my Father's house, in my 
 Father's home, in my Father's royal heart and 
 presence am I to dwell, and, thrice blessed fact, 
 forever ! It almost seems with me, all unworthy 
 228 
 
Heaven in the Heart 
 
 though I am, as when the son of some great king 
 comes back from foreign soil to his father's do- 
 minions, and is welcomed at every stage of the 
 journey to the capital with pomp of festival and 
 messengers from the throne, until at last he enters 
 his palace home, where the travel-stained robe is 
 laid aside, and he sits down with his father at his 
 table. The pilgrim arrives ! Surely goodness and 
 mercy having followed me all the days of my life, 
 now I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 
 Happy consummation of what was, after all, a 
 happy journey, for I have found that all the way to 
 heaven was heaven begun. 
 
 229 
 
/^ 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 
 
 
 Mr 
 
 
 
 
 It -. 
 
 
 
 
 ^y 3 1 ^ 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <i)