Plain Words for Christ, Being a Series of Readings for Working MenDutton, Reginald G.
Religion
Plain Words for Christ, Being a Series of Readings for Working Men
Dutton, Reginald G.
Christian life; Religion
Reader, God has given you a command, the command to follow Him, and work
for Him, and love Him; and He has given you a promise, that if you serve
Him faithfully here you shall reign with Him eternally hereafter in
Heaven. And, oh! think of the kindness of our Heavenly Father! Just
compare the two--a few years of sickness, sorrow, and labour here, and
then an eternity of rest and perfect happiness there.
Secondly, look at Heaven as our rest. And perhaps there is no way of
looking at it which gives us more thankfulness than this. Sorrow and
labour we must have here, but there we shall have rest, and our "rest
shall be glorious." "Everything round us here has a capacity for rest
as well as action. The stormy winds and restless waters can at times be
calm and still. The city, with its ceaseless hum and stir of voices and
footsteps, lies hushed and quiet in its nightly rest. The railway, with
its snorting engines, its crowded stations, and lightning speed, seems
as if it knew no rest; yet a moment after the flying train has gone
there is no sign of life or motion along its iron rails." And so, too,
is it with life. The most active Christian will one day be at rest.
Like the stormy waves, or the whistling train, he cannot work for ever,
and after his work is over then will come rest.
Oh! reader, Heaven is indeed a home worth working for. Where is the
home on earth, in which we never hear an angry word, or never see a cold
or passionate look? But it won’t be so in Heaven! In our Father’s
kingdom we shall hear no angry words, and we shall have nothing but the
kindest looks. God is there, and Jesus is there; and there too we shall
meet our friends who are now "absent from the body," but "present with
the Lord." The mother who first taught you to speak the name of your
Heavenly Father will be there. The father, whose bright Christian
example you remember as a child, will be there. Your brothers and
sisters will be there. All, in short, will be there, who by their bright
Christian examples have helped you on the road to Heaven; for all God’s
saints will be there, enjoying their reward and resting from their
labours.
Young man, the same Heaven is open to you as to them. The same
battle-field lies before you; the same cross and the same crown. The
same heavenly watchers as welcomed them are waiting to receive you into
your heavenly home. It is for you to say whether you will accept their
invitation to come. It is for you to show by your daily life and
conversation whose side you have chosen in the battle of life, whose
home you will live in hereafter.
*SUNDAY.*
"Oh! pass not hence so swiftly,
Bright Sabbath hours, we pray;
None other tell so sweetly
Of regions far away.
No breath of flowers at eventide,
When the rain-cloud’s store is spent;
No cooling airs so softly glide
From the sultry firmament;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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