YOU MUST LABOR FOR SALVATION. 
 
 BY REV. DAVID SHAVER, RICHMOND, VA; 
 
 Human Ifcfe is a pilgrimage. We are all travellers to 
 eternity. Not one of us but must depart from this world, 
 and go out into a world to come. Every day and every 
 night bears us onward — still onward — hence — thither! 
 But all are not passing over the same road ; all are not 
 journeying to the same place. There is abroad thorough- 
 fare to hell, and the overwhelming majority of men throng 
 that. Only asmall minority — one here, and there another — ■ 
 toils along the narrow ascent to heaven. This is not the 
 teaching of ^Pesumptuous ignorance on the part of the 
 enthusiast, or of austere rigor on the part of the bigot. 
 Our Saviour himself declares it : "Wide is the gate and 
 broad is the way that leadeth to 'destruction, and many 
 there be which go in thereat : Because strait is the gate 
 and narrow is the way which leadeth unto . life, and few 
 there be which find it." (Matt. 7; 13, 14.) 
 
 The most important of all questions, therefore, for every 
 one of us, is, How may we join ourselves to " the little 
 flock " that finds and follows the way of life ? It is the 
 obvious dictate of reason, that we must form earnest pur- 
 
poses and make strenuous efforts to gain the path that 
 leads to the peace and the presence of Q-od ; that multi- 
 tudes fail in this endeavor because their purposes are in- 
 constant or theirefforts inefficient; that mere seeking will 
 not suffice here — there must be striving. But we have 
 not been left to gather this truth from uncertain reason- 
 ings of our own. It, also, has come to us from the lips of 
 our Saviour: "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for 
 many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able." (Luke 13; 24.) 
 
 In these passages of Scripture, then, we have the plain 
 but most momentous doctrine, that those who wish to secure 
 the salvation of the soul must he earnest, resolute, laborious. 
 Will you suffer your thoughts to dwell on it ? * 
 
 I. Those who wish to secure the salvation of the soul ! 
 And who are they ? Perhaps all who read- these lines who 
 are yet out of Christ, Few, indeed, are the persons who 
 grow so callous and reprobate, so insane in spiritual things, 
 as deliberately and utterly to renounce all desire of eternal 
 life. 
 
 A Christian minister, once, during the progress of a 
 revival, went to an unconverted man who sat indifferent 
 in the. congregation, and asked, " My friend — dw you not 
 wish to go to heaven when you die ? " That unconverted 
 man, who was not so much as lifting his little finger to 
 reach the kingdom of glory, who gave not the slightest 
 heed to the truth, who evinced not a shadow of feeling 
 under the out-pouring of the Spirit — that unconverted man 
 replied, " Sir, do you think I am a fool V and left the 
 house, indignant that he should be accounted so stupid 
 and so blind as not to wish for a home in heaven, when 
 earth could provide him a home no longer. 
 
 We do not think that our impenitent readers are fools, 
 in the sense of this question and reply. No : not one of 
 
them. With some vague and fluctuating, half-nursed, 
 half-smothered feeling, they wish to secure the salvation 
 of their souls — they know not how — they decide not when. 
 Now, be it borne in mind by them, that this wish will 
 serve no good purpose — will deceive, betray, destroy them, 
 if they are not earnest, resolute, laborious about the mat- 
 ter. All Scripture says so. " Ye shall seek me and find 
 me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." 
 (Jer. 29; 13.) " Blessed are they which do hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness : for they shall be filled." (Matt. 
 5; 6.) " Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, 
 lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." 
 (Heb. 4; 11.) " Worh old your bwn salvation with fear 
 and trembling ; for it is God that worketh in you to will 
 and to do of his good pleasure." (Phil. 2; 13.) These 
 passages, with a thousand others, utter in our ears the 
 warning— "all our heart, and all our soul, and all our 
 mind, and all our strength, *' must be concentrated on the 
 great work of salvation. 
 
 This doctrine, we know, is an unwelcome one. Man 
 loves to have salvation made easy. With as little trouble 
 and as little toil as possible would he obtain God's favor 
 and clothe himself with Christ's righteousness. His ear 
 is reluctant to hear, his heart fB heed, the voice which 
 cries, "Give diligence to make your calling and election 
 sure." The decision and energy, the bending of the inner 
 man with all its might; the waking and the working and 
 the warring, necessary to a genuine Christian experience, 
 are pared down, and frittered away, until men hope to be 
 " carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease." 
 
 Who can doubt this, when he hears a Roman Catholic 
 bishop say, that his "church would not desire more than 
 two hours to prepare any man for death ? " 
 
 Who can doubt it ? when he learns that a distinguished 
 
Protestant divine preachod a sermon, to prove that it re- 
 quires no more time to fit a man for heaven, than is ne» 
 cessary for these two propositions to pass through his 
 mind, — I have sinned, — Christ died for sinners ? 
 
 Oh, most fatal delusion, persuading our natural sloth- 
 fulness in spiritual matters,' that we can enter in at the 
 strait gate without striving, without ,even seeking, in any 
 reasonable sense of the terms ! And it is in this way that 
 man would fain enter. This is the rock on which thou- 
 sands, who hope to gain the eternal haven, split and go 
 down in the waters of an overwhelming wrath. Dear 
 reader take better counsel. Only the earnest, resolute, 
 laborious, have a guarantee of salvation; only those who 
 search for the Lord with all their heart — who hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness — who labor to enter into that 
 rest — who work out their own salvation with fear and 
 trembling. In all the word of God, from first to last, 
 there is not one syllable of promise to any other soul of 
 man. No ray of hope shines out from the inspired pages 
 but for the strioer alone. Even the seeker, inconstant, 
 inefficient, fails, and for him no place is prepared in the 
 bosom of divine love. 
 
 II. What we have said will suffice, with the thoughtful 
 reader, to show the importance of this doctrine. We 
 pass now to enquire, Why 4.B it necessary that we be 
 earnest, resolute, laborious, to secure the salvation of the 
 soul ? Why is it that we cannot enter the Strait Gate, 
 except we strive to effect an entrance ? 
 
 (1.) It is not because man is required to be his own 
 saviour, and, by a wisdom and a strength which are his, 
 to accomplish the work that makes him a child and an heir 
 of God. Far otherwise. " Hethatsitteth in the heavens" 
 instruots us to style Him " our Saviour." (Tit. 3 ; 4.) 
 "According to His merey, Be savas us." (Tit. Z; 6.) 
 
n His head alone must the crown of salvation be put. 
 He will suffer His oreatures to wear it, no, not for a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 But it is because man wishes to take this crown from 
 God's head, and place it upon his own. Because by nature 
 we are ambitious to save ourselves; to give the credit of 
 our salvation to our strength and our wisdom. Because 
 it requires a sore struggle to suddue this proud disposi- 
 tion, which has many lives, which comes forth often from 
 the grave we put it in as dead, and needs to be often slain. 
 Because none but an earnest spirit will hew down this tree 
 of carnal independence, and pluck it up, and cast it utterly 
 into the fire, sparing not one fibre of its roots — not even 
 one twig of its branches. Because it is a hard and difficult 
 thing for self-exalting man sincerely to say, " Not unto us, 
 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." (Psa. 
 115; 1.) < 
 
 (2.) It is not because God entertains a personal, acrimoni- 
 ous hostility towards sinners, and is inclined t© withhold 
 salvation from them, and stands aloof until something-be 
 done to inspire Him with a disposition to accept them. 
 Indeed it is not. " I have no pleasure in the death of 
 him that dieth, saith the Lord." (Ez. 18; 32.) "God 
 is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not im- 
 puting their trespasses unto them." (2 Cor. 5; 19.) 
 " The Lord is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any 
 should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 
 (2 Pet. 3 ; 9.) 
 
 But it is because unbelief, reigning in the heart, denies 
 or distrusts the readiness of God to accept us in the 
 Beloved. Because unbelief credks the father of lies, 
 when he slanderously represents the Most High as a cruel 
 tyrant, reluctant to pardon the rebellious. Because un- 
 belief persuades us that there is a sternness and enmity in 
 
6 
 
 tlio bo»om of fche Lord, which oallji for softening otffeax 
 behalf. Because unbelief fosters the impression that^ms, 
 distresses, agonies, are demanded in order to move our 
 Father in heaven to a pity -which He does not feel with- 
 out them. Because man clings to this unbelief; and will 
 not break through its barriers to a Saviour's open arms; 
 and puts his hand into its hand to be led away from the 
 cross ; and refuses to tear aside the veil it throws over his 
 eyes, and see how swift our offendod Judge is to run to 
 meet the returning prodigal while yet a great way off. 
 
 (3.) It is not because the salvation which is God's gift — 
 a gift bestowed with utmost willingness — nevertheless re- 
 quires some fitness on our part to go before it; some pre- 
 vious good works to make us worthy of it ; some excellencies 
 of character and life to purchase or at least procure it. By 
 no means. "Not by works of righteousness which we 
 have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
 (Tit. 3; 5.) "By deeds of the law there shall no flesh be 
 justified.in His sight. But to him who worketh not" — 
 that is, to merit justification by deeds of the law — to him 
 who in this sense worketh not, "butbelieveth on Him who 
 justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous- 
 ness." (Ro. 3; 20, 4; 5.) 
 
 But it is because God who saves us, does not save us 
 without ourselves. Because He does not make us His, as 
 He might raise up children to Abraham out of stones, 
 with no consent or co-operation of our own. Because, 
 when He works in us, He works, not to dispense with our 
 willing and our doing, but works that we ourselves may 
 will, that we ourselves may do. Because He lays hold of 
 all the powers of o£& nature which have been active to 
 perform evil in His sight, and demands that these very 
 powers, every one of them, should with equal activity 
 
employ themselves to seek Him and to serve Him, with- 
 out accounting it meritorious in them to do so; without 
 forgetting that enough of imperfection mars this labor, 
 enough of sin denies it, to show that even by it the law is 
 broken — that a washing in Christ's blood is indispensable 
 even for it. 
 
 Take now the truth, partly implied, partly expressed, 
 in these last remarks. In saving us, God brings into ex- 
 ercise our liberty of will and our capacity for action. He 
 finds us asleep, and does not lift us in His arms and carry 
 us, still sleeping, within the gate of life. But He arouses 
 us from our slumber, and calls us to arise, and moves us 
 to walk and to run along the right way until toe enter into 
 that gate. Now, in thus laboring for our salvation, what 
 are the hindrances which we must surmount ? Are these 
 hindrances so great that only an earnest, resolute, labori- 
 ous spirit will force a passage through ? Lelf us see. 
 
 (1.) There is an evil nature which must be changed. 
 Sin reigns not only over the life, but in the soul. The 
 heart, the very heart itself, is wrong; like the waters of 
 Marah, bitter and unwholesome — needing that the tree of 
 life should be cast into the waters to make them sweet. 
 Appetence, affection, passion, must be renewed; must have 
 the tendrils which creep along the earth, and fasten them- 
 selves to it, unloosed and raised aloft, and entwined around 
 the things of G-od, that they may grow upward. Grod's 
 power, indeed, effects this transformation of nature: but 
 we must be willing, anxious — freely choosing it, earnestly 
 desiring it, diligently seeking it. Can we, with facility, 
 bring ourselves to this frame of mind? Oh, hard, hard 
 task for the proud human heart! "It is easier to set a 
 man against all the world than against himself; and yet a 
 man must be set against himself, in order to his conversion. " 
 
 (2.) There are evil habits which must be broken off. 
 
Every wrong feeling of our nature inclines us to do evil in 
 the" sight of Gk>d; to repeat to-day the evil we did yester- 
 day — and to-morrow the evil we are doing to-day. Ahj 
 the waters are not only bitter; they are flowing-— flowing 
 downward — widening their channels — becoming more and 
 yet more xapid in their descent. Now, if we would save 
 our souls, against this deepening and accelerating current 
 must we swim : the curreht itself must be turned back; old 
 habits destroyed, — new and better habits formed. The 
 way of wickedness familiar to our feet must be forsaken ; 
 and over no part of that long-trodden path must they be 
 allowed to wander again. What we have beenaccustomed 
 to do, must be done no longer. What we have been ac- 
 customed to omit, must be omitted no longer. But, habit — 
 strong habit — mighty habit — we had almost said omni- 
 potent habit, — who does- not know that the utmost force of 
 character barely suffices to overcome it? Who does not 
 know that for its conquest, the mind's steadiest, staunchest, 
 stablest inflexibility must come into operation ? 
 
 (3.) There are evil maxims, or rules of conduct, which 
 must be renounced. If repentance and faith have their 
 codes, so also have unbelief and impenitence. These strive 
 to be a law unto themselves. How many are the false 
 principles which they set up here and there along our 
 course through life, as way-marks to guide the feet, but 
 wofully misguiding them ! At times, sinners think that 
 religion suits well the old, but that young persons should 
 see and enjoy much of the world before they renounce 
 worldly pleasure. At times they think that they must 
 lie supine in spiritual matters, like lifeless clods, until a 
 mighty down-coming of grace irresistibly sweeps them into 
 the kingdom of heaven. At times, they think that - a 
 more convenient season is prepared for them, somewhere 
 in the future, when no difficulties shall defeat or dispute 
 
9 
 
 their return to the Lore!. At times, they think that mere 
 moral reformation, and cold and formal devotions, will put 
 them into the Saviour's bosom, and fold His arms about 
 them lovingly and tenderly. But who can number all the 
 forms which sin's excuses for its sinfulness may wear? 
 "Who shall say into how many refuges of lies the heart of 
 unbelief runs, to hide itself from the searching light of 
 truth. " Their name is legion." They are plausible, 
 too — plausible in the eyes of the evil nature to which they 
 appeal — plausible through the power of the evil habits 
 with which they accord. A deceived heart loves them 
 well; and catches the hand that would pluck their mask 
 away; and will not let their hollowness stand exposed ; and, 
 if the mask be, now and then, disturbed, carefully adjusts 
 it again, that the deception may 'go bravely on.' How 
 hardly, then, shall the bosom be purged of their leaven ! 
 
 (4.) There are evil examples which must be resisted. 
 The allusion is not simply to habits of gross vice. All 
 examples are evil which involve delayed repentance and 
 faith postponed ; all are evil which encourage this post- 
 ponement of faith this delay of repentance. Evil, because 
 if the soul treads in their steps, they shall lead it down to 
 the pit; because they have led it almost thither at this 
 present. And such examples are around us everywhere. 
 They are in the community — in scenes of business — in 
 places of amusement — in the circle of friendship — in the 
 household. They are associated with the dignity of age 
 and the charm of youth ; with beauty's smile and talent's 
 spell ; with wealth, and influence, and official station ; with 
 education, morality, refinement, high regard, deep love. 
 They speak the same language, they impel to the same 
 course, with the evil nature we inherit — and the evil 
 habits we indulge — and the evil maxims we embrace. 
 Surely, then, if we bestir not ourselves, they will carry us 
 
10 
 
 away m with a flood—as the tempestuous gale .weena the 
 unresisting bird along its track- g P 6 
 
 th!sthC^' h V d ? n ? S ^ °PP° Se our e » tran <* «to 
 Evil p«™ • Evil nature! Evil habits! Evil maxims! 
 Eul examples! Four strong and massive chains riveted 
 
 S X u h :1lt°t, h t strenuous must *'• 2S; 
 
 ™J bl * e l k l0 ° Se! How ^olutely without 
 
 anv o Lr ^ SlnDer: Wh9 att6mptS the work of station in 
 itl ttV ? f ? est: reS0lute ^ iaborious spirit ! Ob, 
 it is for the want of this spirit that thousands who are 
 brought nigh to the kingdom of God. go away backward 
 and never set foot in it. Halyburton, in tj course "of 
 nhTsLT a8C , ei " tai ^ d that ° Ut 0f f0 - hundred persons 
 not co rfer^ r; thereWere onI y a b°»t forty who would 
 not confess, that, at some time or other, they had been 
 
 thre! I T 7*??* ^ the WOrd " And ^ did the" 
 5 ? hu ± ed and 91 f 7 P ersoQ s relapse into carnal slumber 
 Saved \ & W T ^? COnvictions clenched, their souls 
 S Tl, S kked . aD earnest - resolute ' Morions 
 Tl :,? - dld • no T t Stnye t0 enter in a * the Strait Gate. 
 X es . not strivmg is the icay to death and hell Turn from 
 
 tt- e ^r eat y° U; dear reader > 0Q the instant, 
 init'o + ° a f °5 refrain from affectionately urging you 
 J f i X I Stand ^ y° ur ? uard a £ ainst the great tempta- 
 tion which Satan will seek to draw from this doctrine. If 
 ne can he will incline you to say that as it is so difficult 
 to work out your own salvation now. you will put off the 
 bard and irksome task. Oh, hear him not. Delay can 
 on y aggravate the difficulties of the case. An evil nature 
 will .reign m your bosom with but a more tyrannous and 
 irresistible sway because that sway has been longer con- 
 firmed. Lodhalin will wax stronger and stronger throu-h 
 indulgence. It has been said that « habits are like croco- 
 diles ; as long as they live, they grow." You will find the ' 
 
li 
 
 •aying true. And you will find how true is that other 
 saying : "an eyil habit is a hook in the soul, and draws it 
 whithersoever the devil pleases." Evil maxims, too, will 
 more thoroughly imbue the mind ; and diffuse their leaven 
 through all processes of thought; and take, increasingly, 
 the color of undisputed truths ; and stand like unremov- 
 able guide-posts along the way of your life. Evil Ex- 
 amples, also, as friendship deepens in degree or widens in 
 its circle, as you have the oftener seen with the eyes, or 
 trodden in the steps, or yielded to the persuasion of 
 others, — evil examples will be mightier things with you. 
 All these elements of difficulty in the work of salvation, 
 then, gather power from delay. Of these chains around 
 the soul, the links grow more massive — the rivets are 
 fastened more securely. And then, the Spirit of grace 
 may abandon you! And then, again, life maybe sudden- 
 ly cut short 1 Oh, there is desert of damnation, there may 
 be damnation, in the purpose not to strive now to enter in 
 at the Strait Gate. If you form that purpose, remember 
 Christ's words : "Many shall seek to enter in, and shall 
 not be able,''' Beware lest you yourselves stand outcast 
 and condemned among that number. Beware : to-day is 
 given for striving; to-morrow, the punishment of not striv- 
 ing may fall as an avalanche of terror and wrath upon you. 
 Beware: " God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with 
 iron hands"— comes tardily and noiselessly — strikes terri- 
 bly and crushingly. Beware: "the mill of God grinds late, 
 but grinds to powder ! " Beware : the voice which speaks 
 from heaven says, "Their foot shall slide in due time ; for 
 the day of their calamity is at hand ; and the things 
 that shall come upon them make hasW (Deut. 32; 35.) 
 IV. And now, it remains to ask, When the sinner, 
 shrinking from such a doom , is aroused to an earnest, 
 resolute, laborious spirit in the matter of salvation, how 
 
12 
 
 will that spirit manifest itself? What will the striver do, 
 to effect an entrance into the Strait Gate ? 
 
 (1.) An earnest, resolute, laborious spirit in the matter 
 of salvation will lead to frequent and persevering private 
 devotion. He whose eyes are opened to spiritual things, 
 and whose feelings are rightly wrought upon by them, will 
 find out some place of retirement. He will get himself 
 apart from man, to commune in solitude with the God 
 whom he seeks. — Prayer will be his work there. He will 
 cry to the Strong for strength. He will pour his fears 
 and hopes, his perplexities and desires, his confessions of 
 sin and supplications for pardon, into the ears of the Lord, 
 struggling against unbelief, entreating the gift of faith. — 
 The Bible will be his companion there. He will consult 
 its pages for guidance in the way of life. He will hear 
 Christ speaking in it. He will search it for the answer to 
 the question, '•' What must I do to be saved ? " He will 
 lay up its teachings in his heart, that they may bring him 
 straight to the cross. 
 
 (2.) That spirit will lead to regular attendance on the 
 public means of grace. The Lord's day will not dawn un- 
 welcomely to the awakened and enquiring sinner. He 
 will be prompt and punctual in going up to the courts of 
 the Lord's house. And he will have for the exercises of 
 the Lord's worship a patient and respectful heed. As often 
 as opportunity allows, he will wait on the ministration of 
 the word, if peradventure there may be in it a special 
 message from the Lord to him. His will not be a vacant 
 seat at church, because to occupy it would subject him to 
 inconvenience. Unless necessity constrains him, he will 
 not be simply "a Sunday morning hearer," as too many 
 who call themselves Christians are. He will arrange his 
 business so as to find' time for appearing in the sanctuary, 
 or, if this cannot be done, he will neglect his business that 
 
13 
 
 hjs soul may be saved. He will do these things, because 
 the great majority of those now in glory have been met by 
 the Lord in the congregations of His people. Zion has 
 been their birth-place ; he will hasten thither if haply there 
 he too maybe born from, above, of the Spirit. He will 
 often come, lest when one spark of truth has been struck 
 into his bosom, it should be extinguished before another, 
 and another, and another have been added to it to kindle 
 a flame; lest when the means of grace have borne him one 
 step upward, worldly influences should beat him back again, 
 before these means have opportunity to bear him, step by 
 step, on, still on, toward heaven. 
 
 (3 .) That spirit will lead to religious conference with Chris- 
 tians. The striver after God's grace, conscious of his own 
 ignorance, will desire instruction from those who have been 
 made partakers of that grace." Once, shame sealed his 
 lips, and he was far from all willingness to unbosom him- 
 self to believers. But now, wishing for their sympathy, 
 he struggles against this snare of the devil, and asks those 
 who walk the path of life to reach forth a helping hand 
 and aid his approaches to Christ. He will permit warn- 
 ing and counsel from'men of God; he will seek it. Or, if 
 he shrinks from conversation, face to face, he will call his 
 pen into use, and put his case on paper, and submit his 
 doubtings, his enquirings, his yearnings, . to such as he 
 deems able to bring the truth out, in its application to 
 himself. He will not forget nor dishonor the will of God, 
 to teach those who would be His people by means of those 
 who are. 
 
 (4.) That spirit will lead to abstinence from worldly 
 scenes and pleasures. He in whom this spirit dwells will 
 shun the things that are calculated to impair and expel it. 
 He will turn away from the places where thoughtlessness, 
 mirth and vanity reign, and catch like running flame from 
 
14 
 
 heart to heart, and scorch and wither the tender germs of 
 penitence. Songs, dances and revellings are not in unison 
 with his frame of mind then ; they pall on his taste in 
 mere anticipation, and he stands aloof from them. Alas 
 for him, if by the persuasion of others, or his own Unstead- 
 fastness ; this reluctance is overcome. Alas, — it may cost 
 him his soul ! A sense of God's wrath had fallen on Luther 
 Rice — a sense, too, of his own sinfulness. A lady, who 
 knew not the way of life, advised him to avoid these gloomy 
 views of his character and condition, and for this purpose, 
 to mingle in gay society and share its gayeties. Did not 
 her counsel proceed on this principle — that worldly amuse- 
 ments are fitted to erase serious impressions from the mind ? 
 And are not amusements adapted to so fearful an office? 
 Have not thousands sought them with no other aim? and 
 succeeded to put out the kindlings of repentance within 
 them? and made the heart that was softening, hard again — 
 harder than ever before? and gone away from the Saviour 
 joyfully — to find him never after — never in time or in 
 eternity? Oh, it cannot be doubted: they are expedients 
 of Satan for quenching the Spirit inhuman bosoms — potent 
 expedients. And as such, the sinner, truly alive to his 
 guilt and his danger, will fly from them; must, if he be 
 not resolved to throw his soul away. 
 
 (5) That spirit will lead to an open espousal of Christ's 
 cause. Genuine and absorbing desire for eternal life will 
 make no secret of itself. The work of repentance and faith 
 will not be done in a corner. Confession of sin will be as 
 open as sin itself; standing on God's side, as public as 
 standing among aliens and enemies to Him. He is but 
 partially awakened who strives to put his light of truth, 
 as it were, into a dark lantern, that no eye but his own 
 may see it; that it may shine secretly for him, and no one 
 else discern it. In such a lantern that light will not ehine 
 
15 
 
 even for him; it will go out, soon or later, in utter mid- 
 night. 
 
 Are you willing, dear reader, to engage in this work — 
 the work for which man's life was given — the work which 
 draws after .-it eternal life? Are you resolved to begin 
 at oncerthe warfare against an evil nature, evil habits, evil 
 maxims, evil examples? Then, "be of good courage." 
 You have the word of God to teach you. You have the 
 blood of Christ to cleanse you. You have the Spirit of ho- 
 liness to guide and strengthen you. Strive hopefully, 
 therefore, relying on these, for the grace of striving. Strive 
 to get to the cross, as a penitent for sin and a believer in 
 free justification from sin. Strive to ascend from the cross 
 along the pathway of childlike obedienee, to the kingdom 
 and crown of righteousness. And may the Saviour of the 
 striver grant you that "salvation which is in Him, with 
 eternal glory !" 
 
 S. M, 
 
 *Tis God the Spirit leads 
 
 In paths before unknown : 
 The work to be performed is ours, 
 
 The strength is all His own. 
 
 Supported by His grace, 
 
 We still pursue our way, - 
 And hope at last to reach the prize, 
 
 Secure in endless day. 
 
 'Tis He that works to will, 
 
 'Tis He that works to do ; 
 The power by whioh we act is Hie, 
 
 And His the glory too> 
 
16 
 
 L. M. 
 
 My gracious Lord,, I own thy right 
 
 To every service I can pay, 
 And call it my supreme delight 
 
 To hear thy dictates and obey. 
 
 What is my being but for thee — 
 Its sure support, its noblest end ? 
 
 'Tis my delight thy face to see, 
 And serve the cause of such a Friend. 
 
 I would not sigh for worldly joy, 
 Or to increase my worldly good : 
 
 Nor future days nor powers employ 
 To spread a sounding name abroad. 
 
 'Tis to my Saviour I would live — 
 To Him who for my ransom died; 
 
 Nor could all worldly honor give 
 Such bliss as crowns me at His side. 
 
 His work my hoary age shall bless, 
 When youthful vigor is no more, 
 
 And my last hour of life confess 
 His saving love, His glorious power.