HOW ARE WE GOING?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12278, 23 May 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

HOW ARE WE GOING?

There can be no suet thing as a Christian being stationary. We are moving. Either there will bo a forward movement in Divine things or there must be declension from God. We do well to study so gravely important a question as our motion, seeing how, on the one hand, so serious a loss is incurred by the backslider; and, on the other hand, such great gain accrues to the progressive child of God. The annual or bi-annual stock-taking is of vital importance to the tradesman, when an investigation is carefully made of how he stands financially; and, should times be hard, stock-taking day passes, anxiously. None save fools, or mad-

men euunmg oariKruptey, would „i£ " carrying on business without ,LS» putting up shutters and calling St* 1 * how it fares with them. Can L „ ™, M « of less importance that we should *?*"'* i% again come to a standstill, facW tL ;„" ? nd '•How am I getting on?" 41* in( W>7, nothing more necessary for the truVkS? •* than to shut his door and inS ; business of his soul with God fe C , 16 the mariner know that his vessel adverse winds and currents, i, now fi * to of her course unless he takes his \J~ii T m consults his chart? It is of „£?™ ,ad ! that he speedily solve El °, r , ent "Where am IT for a fine ship and P J3 b \ n >. freight has been entrusted to his "L v* lect is criminal. That precious lit cg ' trusted to us of Cod, may CSV"" seme submerged rock or shoal, bee,,,!; ° a did not trouble to learn cur ,& * e "To the law and to the testimony'^° UU ' the shibboleth (test word) of the LtK^"? 8 Israel in the days when the ~»& » pens.ty was " backward and not forward* Their example of repeatedly referring* .■' old is recorded for an Incentive to 1 us on in a like holy practice; for the P " shall keei. the course, and then shVlt ** make fair headway. SillU »« At this point we think someone ma« M claim, -What you tell us i 8 all verj ■ Ji? and we. cannot deny that our conscience™'' derans our condition; but vou know an 2" vancing Christian life is very hard h! • ' tain, and few there be 'succeed "w* know it. From the records of the ~ ? right back to the patriarchal days, we «4i* there were comparatively few who fort'd ahead. Still every dispensation had it, EX of heroic men bent on accomplishing a" will of God 111 the face of opposing f%1,? and who can read the records of theirTv" without being inspired to nobler .;«!? They were a, credit to their day and c-eCJ turn: their end was peats;; their works M low them; their reward is sure. To bo en tinually "facing fearful odds" has fallen to the lot of some men, ffi grace of Cod these obstacles only becam! incentives to renewed exertion, and sUntiimr stones to blessing. Continuous resistaZ strengthens bone and muscle (as in nj-nni law, so in spiritual), the fibre of our spirit?, frame is invigorated by withstanding the world, flesh ana devil. 8 " Ik-member, nothing that is worth bavin* can be achieved without determination The formation of godly habits in life, and the« persisted in from day to dav, is the sole secret of growth or progression. There » no "royal road" to anything. No; it i s . patient continuance in the will 0 f God that crowns life with success.—F.F.