There are many ways in which people balk. There are the ones who are always giving up their profession at every little thing; they are chronic balkers. God can never depend on them. Just when he wants something done that they might do if they were in condition for work, they have a balky spell and are of no use. Then there are the ones who can not go to meeting because the sun is too hot or because it looks a little like rain. Others balk if the wind blows a little or if they do not feel just as good as they have felt at other times. Some go along with a profession till new light comes to them, but are unwilling to walk in it. They stop attending meeting or quit professing or try to go on with a profession and not measure up. In any of these cases they are balkers. Do not be a balker. If there is work to be done, do it. If there are sacrifices to be made, make them. If there is persecution to bear, bear it. If there are difficulties to be overcome, overcome them. If there are hard places to pull through, pull through them. If you can fill only a minor place, fill it well. If you have trials and difficulties and discouragements, pull through anyway. Do not be a balker. If you have acquired the habit already, quit it. Get down to business and pull your share. And do not try to pull independently; pull with the rest of God’s people. All pull together. “If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” TALK FIFTY-EIGHT. SPONGES AND WATERING-CANS It was Jesus’ custom to draw spiritual lessons from the things surrounding him and by some similitude impress upon his hearers a profitable truth; so we may get many valuable thoughts from the simple things of every-day life. The articles mentioned in the heading bring to my mind pictures of two classes of people.