【英文读物】How to Live a Holy Life.docx

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1、【英文读物】How to Live a Holy LifeDEVOTIONAL READING.A person may almost be known by the books he reads. If he habitually reads bad books, we can pretty safely conclude that he is a bad man; on the other hand, if he habitually reads religious books, we can reasonably presume that he is a religious man. W

2、hy is this? It is because the nature of a persons books is usually the nature of his thoughts; and as a man thinks, so he is.Consequently, our reading devotional literature is a great aid to our being devotional. Too few, I fear, realize how important to our spiritual advancement is the cultivation

3、of a taste for devotional reading. As a rule, those who have a taste for spiritual books and gratify that taste prosper in the Lord, while those who have no relish for such books labor at a great disadvantage. Some one has said that he who begins a devout life without a taste for spiritual reading m

4、ay consider the ordinary difficulties multiplied in his case by ten. The most spiritual men of all ages have had a strong love for reading spiritual books. If, however, my reader happens not to have such a taste or such a love, he should not be discouraged, for it can be created and increased throug

5、h perseverance in reading devotional literature. Just as a person who does not relish a certain food may learn to like it if he will persist in eating it, so a person who does not have a taste for devotional books may come to enjoy them if he will diligently and prayerfully peruse them.Spiritual rea

6、ding invigorates the intellect, warms the affections, and begets in us a desire for more of Gods fulness and for a more heavenly life. It is especially helpful to prayer. When the mind is dull and the spirits low and we have no inspiration for prayer, the reading of a spiritual poem will often so st

7、imulate the mind, raise the spirits, and animate the soul, as to make it easy for us to pray.As to what books to read, the Bible, of course, is the best of all. But we need others. Although no other book can take the place of the Bible and none of us should neglect reading it, there are many books t

8、hat can profitably be read in connection with it.But whatever devotional book you are reading, do not read too fast. Think and digest as you go. Let there be a frequent lifting of the heart to God in prayer. It is not the bee that flies so swiftly from flower to flower that gathers the honey, but th

9、e bee that goes down into the flower. A few sentences taken into the mind and heart, and dwelt upon until they have become a part of us, are better than many pages read superficially.PREFACE.If the reading of this little book encourages any on their pilgrim way; if it arouses them to greater diligen

10、ce; if it creates in them a stronger desire to live more like Christ; if it gives them a better understanding of how to live,this poor servant of the Lord will be fully rewarded for all his labor.Even among the children of God in this beautiful gospel light of the evening there is an inclination, on

11、 the part of a few at least, and maybe more than a few, to slow down and not be their very best and most active for God. We hope that this little book will arouse such ones to greater zeal and earnestness. Diligence, yea, constant application, is the secret of success in all manner of life and espec

12、ially in the Christian life.This volume is written for all those who desire to please God with a well -spent life. It is sent forth in Jesus name, with a prayerthat God bless and help both the reader and the writer to live life at its very best and fulfil the purpose of God concerning them.Your humb

13、le servant in Christian love,The Author.INTRODUCTION.We have only one life to live, only one. Think of this for a moment. Here we are in this world of time making the journey of life. Each day we are farther from the cradle and nearer the grave. Solemn thought. See the mighty concourse of human live

14、s; hear their heavy tread in their onward march. Some are just beginning lifes journey; some are midway up the hill, some have reached the top, and some are midway down the western slope. But where are we all going? Listen, and you will hear but one answerEternity. Beyond the fading, dying gleams of

15、 the sunset of life lies a boundless, endless ocean called Eternity. Thitherward you and I are daily traveling.Time is like a great wheel going its round. On and on it goes. Some are stepping on and some are stepping off. But where are these latter stepping? Into eternity. See that old man with bent

16、 form, snow-white locks, and tottering steps. His has been a long round, but he has made it at last. See the middle-aged. His round has not been so long, but he must step off. See the youth. He has been on only a little while, but he is brought to the stepping-off place. He thought his round would b

17、e much longer. He supposed he was fairly getting started when that icy hand was laid upon him and the usher said, Come, you have made your round, and you must go. The infant that gave its first faint cry this morning may utter its last feeble wail tonight. And thus they go. But where? Eternity.If yo

18、u were to start today and ask each person you met the question,Where are you going? and, if possible, you were to travel the world overand ask each one of earths inhabitants, there could be but one answerEternity. Oh, eternity, Long eternity! Hear the solemn footsteps Of eternity.Only one life to li

19、ve! Only one life, and then we must face vast, endless eternity. We shall pass along the pathway of life but once. Every step we take is a step that can never be taken again. With this fact in mind, who does not feel like calling upon the All-wise to direct his every step. If when we make a misstep

20、we could go back and step it over, then there would not be such great necessity to step carefully. But we can never go back. We are leaving footprints. Just as our steps are, so will the footprints be which will tell the story of our life. If we had a score of lives to live, how to live this one wou

21、ld not be of such great moment. We should then have nineteen lives in which to correct the errors and sins of this one; but alas! we have but one. What, then, should we seek more earnestly than to know how to live?We doubt not but there is in the heart of the reader a strong desire to live life as i

22、t should be lived. Thank God, you can. You desire your life to be like the fertile oasis, where the weary traveler refreshes himself. You have seen the rays of light lingering upon the hillside and treetop and gilding the fleecy cloud after the sun had gone down. You desire the beautiful rays of lig

23、ht from your life to linger long after your sun has gone down. You can have it that way. The deeds you do will live after you are gone. They are the footprints. Some one has said that we each day are here building the house we are going to occupy in eternity. If this be true, nothing should concern

24、us so much as how to live. Some men are devoting their time and the power of their intellects to invention; some are studying statesmanship; some are studying the arts, others the sciences; but we have come to learn a little more about how to live. Many are thinking much about how they wish to die,

25、but let us learn how to live. If we live well, we shall die well.Since we have but one life to live and with it we must face eternity, I am sure there are many who want to make the most of life. There are many who want to be their best in life. This is not a play-ground, or a place to trifle with ti

26、me. It is a place of work and effort, a place of purpose and earnestness, a place to do something. Life is not given us to squander nor fritter away, but was given us to accomplish a purpose in the mind of the Creator. If we will set ourselves to live as we should, God will help us and no man can hi

27、nder us. We are purchasing treasures for eternity by making a proper use of time. To trifle away time is indeed to be the greatest of spendthrifts. If you squander a dollar, you may regain it; but a moment wasted can never be regained.There is great responsibility in life. It means much to live. The

28、 time was when you and I were not, now we are. We are, and there can never come a time when we shall not be. You and I shall always exist somehow, somewhere. One sweet thought to me is that I have time enough to do all that God intends for me to do, and do it well. Then comes another thoughta though

29、t that awes: the good that I do, the sum of my usefulness, will be less than it should be if I spend a moment of time uselessly. God will give us all the time we need to accomplish all he purposes us to accomplish, but he does not give us one moment to trifle away.The mission of this little volume i

30、s to strengthen and energize and help you to spend life as you should. May it please the Great Teacher, who has promised to show us the path of life, to bless this little work and by it help some one to a pure and noble life and to the accomplishment of all Gods design in giving them life.The Author

31、.THE WAY THE SAIL IS SET. I stood beside the open sea; The ships went sailing by; The wind blew softly oer the lea; The sun had cloudless sky. Some ships sailed eastward, some sailed west, Some north, some southward trend. How can ships sail this way and that? But one way blows the wind. An old sea-

32、captain made reply (His locks with salt-spray wet): Tis not the wind decides the course; Tis way the sails are set.* * * * * I stand beside the sea of life; The ships go sailing by; The winds blow fair from heavens land; No clouds bedim the sky. But one sails eastward, one sails west, One north, one

33、 southward goes: How can ships sail this way and that With selfsame wind that blows? A voice made answer to my soul: Tis not how blows the gale; Each voyager decides the goal By way he sets the sail.Selected.How to Live a Holy LifeTHE MODEL LIFE.In doing anything, it is always well to have a model b

34、y which to fashion our work. In fact, nothing is done without a pattern, either real or imaginary. The little boy making a toy has in in his mind a model by which he is framing his work. Likewise, the sculptor has in his mind a model, and as the marble wastes, the image grows into the likeness of th

35、e vision in his soul.To live this one life of ours as it should be lived, we must have a perfect model after which to pattern. Thank God, this perfect model of life can be found. Of all the vast number of lives that have been lived since Adam down to this present day, there has been only one that we

36、 can take as a model. This one is the life of Jesus. He says, I am the life. To live this life of ours well, to live it to the highest degree of perfection, we must fashion it according to the glorious life of Christ. The life of Jesus is the model life for every other human life. He invites us, yea

37、, commands us, to follow him, to step in his steps, to walk as he walked.There have been many good men in the world, but none of them afford us a true pattern of life. There was a man who said, Be ye followers of me, but he immediately added, even as I also am of Christ. Man may so live as to reveal

38、 to us the life of Christ. We can then follow, not them, but the Christ-life they manifested through them.Let me here say a word on a subject on which we may have more to say hereafter. The grandest, noblest work man has ever done is by his life to reveal the life of Christ to another, thereby helpi

39、ng that person to be fashioned more after the image of Jesus. A little flower grew in a place so shaded that no ray from the sun could fall directly upon it. A window was so situated that at a certain time in the afternoon it refracted the suns rays and threw them upon the flower, thus giving it col

40、or and beauty, and aiding it to bloom. Some people are living in the dense shade. No light from Christ has ever shined upon them. If you so live as to refract the life of Christ and turn it upon them and thus stamp upon them a holier life, you have not lived in vain. To set the life of Christ in its

41、 purity and beauty before some one and influence him, though only a little, to live better and love Jesus more, is a work the worth of which can never be computed. He who helps another to a better way of living does more than he who gains great worldly honor and riches. Blessed indeed is that life w

42、hich causes some other life to be more like Christ. Oh, may this thought seize upon our hearts and fill us with a greater passion to live the life of God.We are told by the voice of Scripture to be followers of God as dear children. When children are dear to the heart of the parent, he loves to have

43、 them obey him. Gods children are dear to him, and he would have them follow him. To follow God is to imitate him, or be like him. This is the true way of life.A text of Scripture as rendered by the Revised Version is very appropriate here: Like as he which has called you is holy, be ye yourselves a

44、lso holy in all manner of living. 1 Pet. 1:15. Only those who live godly in their entire manner of life are spending the days of their pilgrimage as they should. Jesus has walked the true way of life; we are told to walk in his steps. If we will step each day just where Jesus stepped, then on lookin

45、g back, we can not see a footprint of our own; but if we take a single misstep, our footprint will show our departure from the true way of life. How deep and awful are the words of Scripture wherein we are commanded to walk even as Jesus walked! Jesus says, I am the way. There is no other right and

46、perfect way. If we will walk as Jesus walked, then we shall walk in the true path of life. This only is the pathway that leads up to the golden gates of glory and the sweet fields of heaven. That bright world of bliss encourages us on. If we will follow Jesus and live as he lived, Gods approval will

47、 be upon us, and his outstretched hand will help us along lifes way and finally over the turbulent river of death to the sunlit shore of eternal rest.Many times we may become wearied and think the toils of the way almost too heavy; but when we remember that it is the way that Jesus trod, then the he

48、avens open to our view, we look forward to the mansion prepared for us, and the toils of the way grow lighter.See that aged pilgrim journeying down the western slope of life. The sun is nearing the setting. Long and toilsome has been his pilgrimage, but he has walked in the path his Savior trod. For many years his life has been hid with Christ in God. In Him he has lived and moved and had his being. Now he is making his last step on the shore of time; he passes out of our sight through the gates into that land where toils are ended and the sun never sets. But his life was the life of Jesus