Have you ever noticed what happens when from one cause or another the water-mains in any street have become choked or polluted by the intrusion of some foreign body? You will see some one come along with an iron instrument and turn on the stop-cock at some point in the roadway. Immediately there comes an up-rush, a mighty volume of water—swirling, heaving, rolling, hurtling out of the pipes beneath. And you will observe, too, that for a time it seems to be charged with filth; whatever it is that has been blocking the flow of the life-giving element is being stirred up and flung out with immense force. But after a time the jet clears, the evil is gone, the water becomes sweet and pure, and the flow full and steady. Then the covering is replaced; the cleansing process is at an end. And so it is with you and me. God has to get rid of our selfishness somehow that the life eternal may possess us through and through. The cleansing may seem to be a stern matter, but it is best to let Him have his way to the uttermost. We must be crucified with Christ in order to live with Him, but no man would ever repine at what it costs if he could foresee what is to be gained.—R. J. Campbell, The Christian Commonwealth.
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ETERNAL, THE, AT HAND
A lady recently related in one of the
journals how she went through a veritable
blizzard to view a flower-show. With one
step she passed out of the wild night, the
deep snow, the bitter wind, into a brilliant
hall filled with hyacinths, tulips, jonquils,
cyclamens, azaleas, roses and orchids.
It is the privilege of godly men, at
any time, to pass at a step from the
savage conflicts of life right into the
sweet fellowship of God, finding grace
to help in the time of need.—W. L. Watkinson, "The Transfigured Sackcloth."
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ETERNITY
Walter Samuel Swisher is the author of these lines:
Unquiet sea, that endlessly doth stretch
Beyond the straining, finite sight of man:
Why dost thou toss in infinite unrest,
Oh, why no far, faint shore-line can we scan?
Full many a bark thy serried billows crossed,
Full many a sail hath spread before the wind,
But none hath e'er returned; the tempest-*tost
And anxious mariner doth haven find
In fairer clime, in sunny land afar,
Where no storms rudely break or winds contend.
There nothing enters in their joy to mar,
Who have the peace of God, which knows no end.
Oh, may we, too, that stand with straining eye—
Looking far out, where wind and wave contend—
Set sail with hope to those fair lands that lie
Beneath the peace of God, that knows no end.
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ETERNITY AS A SPUR
Once, when tempted to linger in a lovely
landscape, Wesley cried, "I believe there is
an eternity; I must arise and go hence"; and
those words express the temper of his life.
He lived in the spirit of Andrew Marvel's
strong lines:
Ever at my back I hear
Time's winged chariots hurrying near.
"And this," Johnson complained, "is very disagreeable to a man who loves to fold his legs and have his talk out as I do."—W. H. Fitchett, "Wesley and His Century."
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Ether, Doctrine of—See Mystery in Religion.
Ethical Judgments—See Judging from Facts.
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE
Horace Bushnell, the great preacher, when
he was a young man, was troubled with religious
doubts. He was an instructor in
Yale College when a gracious revival prevailed
in that institution. Fearing lest he
should stand in the way of younger men
who might follow his example, he became
troubled in mind exceedingly. He walked
the floor of his room in deep study. At last
he reached this conclusion: "There is one
thing of which I have no doubt: there is a
difference between right and wrong. Am I
willing to throw myself on the side of right
as far as I can see the right?" That ethical
principle dissolved his doubts. (Text.)
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