| J.R. Miller D.D. | Page 11 |
Some one may be discouraged by this setting forth of so high an ideal. “I can never reach it. I can never train my life into such beauty. I can never be such a woman. I can never do the duties of a Christian in such a perfect way.” No, never in your own strength. If no help came from God, if there were set for us all the lofty ideals of the Scriptures, and we were then left alone to work them out as best we could, unhelped, we might well despair. But, for every duty and requirement there is a promise of divine grace.
Ruskin says: “He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what he wants us to do. If we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault.” This puts tersely, and in strong, homely phrase, the essence of such promises of the Scriptures as “My grace is sufficient for thee;” “As thy days so shall thy strength be,” and many others, “Strength enough and sense enough.” The latter is a fresh reading of the old assurance. We often say we shall get strength enough, but we do not always remember that we shall get sense enough for every duty, every perplexity, every place where great delicacy of wisdom is required. Yet there is a promise to any one who knows that he lacks wisdom and will ask for it.
So the young girl need not be afraid to step out into life, if she have Christ with her. He will show her the way. He will make her strong for duty. He will be in her, and will help her to grow into radiant beauty of life. He will give her wisdom for every place where wisdom is required. As you bow at his feet, Christ looks into your face with love and yearning, eager to grant you a new blessing. Ask him for what you want most, and will it not be for the blessing of simple goodness, the love of Christ to fill your heart and pour out through all your life? No other gift can be such a benediction to you; no other can make you such a benediction to others.
I cannot tell you how my heart yearns for the young people to whom these words are addressed; how I long and pray that they may be cleansed of all hidden faults and made all glorious within, and that their garments may shine as if woven of threads of gold. With all sincerity I can make for each one who may read these pages this earnest, loving prayer:– Father, our children keep!
We know not what is coming on the earth;
Beneath the shadow of thy heavenly wing,
Oh keep them, keep them, then who gav’st them birth.
Them in thy chambers hide!
Oh hide them and preserve them calm and safe,
Where sin abounds and error flows abroad,
And Satan tempts, and human passions chafe!
Oh keep them undefiled!
Unspotted from a tempting world of sin;
That, clothed in white, through the bright city gates
They may with us in triumph enter in.”
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