Day 46

Consider those two young men in the Parable. One of them is ashamed to disobey his Father openly by saying i I will not ’ ; yet after having said c I go, sir,’ he followed his own inclination c and he went not.’ The other said openly c I will not*; but afterwards, ‘being moved with repentance, he went.’ One had the presumption to wish to appear virtuous, but was so in words only : hence he fell. The other became horrified at his own boldness, and repented.

We should, therefore, neither pay too much attention to the presumptuous assertions of those who promise everything, nor despair of those who seem to give up everything. Great offences more often lead to repentance than do faults that are hidden under a sham piety, which consists in nothing but words ; and whose professors think they have done all when they have praised the Law and the practice of virtue, like the Jews.

Bestir yourself, O Christian Soul ! Have [ hi ] you promised anything ? No matter how great a thing it may be, do more than you promised. Have you refused to do something ? Be ashamed of your refusal, and do whatever you said you could not or would not undertake.

He who both listens and performs — in whom virtue becomes a habit by force of practice — is c the wise man who built his house upon a rock.* Temptations may come — disease may enfeeble — every sort of trial may afflict that soul ; but it will not succumb. Those, on the contrary, who only listen — who take delight in the beauty or truth of the Sacred Word, without putting it into practice, or doing so but imperfectly — i have built their house upon the sand,’ and it will fall upon the first occasion, < and great ’ will be c the fall thereof .’ 1 1 Matt. vii. 24-27.

fort^aevcntb 2>ai?

The wonderful effects and invincible strength of Jesus Christ's doctrine . — Matt. vii. 28, 29.

HINK over this teaching of Our Lord’s. It is so beautiful and so solid that it calls forth admiration from the whole world. For who could help admiring its purity, grandeur and practicalness? It has convertedthe world; it has peopled deserts 5 it has caused thousands of martyrs — of every condition, age and sex — to shed their life-blood. It has made riches and pleasures contemptible, and caused the honours of this world to lose their glory. Men, by its means, have become angels, and have gone so far as to put God Himself before them as their model. Who, then, can fail to admire this lovely and ravishing doctrine ?

But admiring is not enough. ‘ Jesus teaches as having power ’ : everything must give way [ H3 ] before His teaching ; all human pride must bow the head.

May God preserve you from a timid teacher, who dares not tell you plain truths, or who flatters your defects like the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought only of pleasing the people and not of correcting them ! Beg of God to give you a teacher who will speak powerfully and with effect, and not spare your vices : — for on this your conversion depends.

Amen y Amen .

Colston &* Coy. Limited , Printers , Edinburgh.