--does not reason tell you that? The Bible tells you loyally to
obey, to love, to worship our blessed King and Saviour in heaven. Does
not common sense tell you that? Surely if there be such a person as
Jesus Christ--if He is sitting now in heaven as Saviour of all, and one
day to be Judge of all--by all means _He_ is to be obeyed, He is to be
pleased, whoever else we may displease. Reason, one would think, would
tell us that--and it is just want of reason which makes us forget it.

What have you to say against the pattern of a true and holy man as laid
down in the Bible? The Bible would have you pure--can you deny that you
ought to be that? It would have you peaceable--can you deny that you
ought to be that? The Bible would have you forgiving, honest,
honourable, active, industrious. The Bible would have you generous,
loving, charitable. Can you deny that that is right, however some of you
may dislike it? The Bible would have you ask all you want from God, and
ask forgiveness of God for every offence, great and small, against Him.
Can you deny that that is right and reasonable? The Bible would have you
live in continual remembrance that the great eye of God is on you--in
continual thankfulness to the blessed Saviour who died for you and has
redeemed you by His own blood--with daily and hourly prayer for God's
Spirit to set your heart and your understanding right on every point. Can
you deny that that is all right and good and proper--that unless the
Bible be all a dream, and there be no Holy and Almighty God, no merciful
Christ in heaven, this is THE way and the only way to live? Ay, if there
were no God, no Christ, no hereafter, it would be better for man to live
as the Bible tells him, than to live as too many do. There would be
infinitely less misery, less heart-burnings, less suffering of body and
soul, if men followed Christ's example as told us in the Bible. Even if
this life were all, and there were neither punishment nor reward for us
after death--does not our reason tell us that if all men and women were
like Christ in gentleness, wisdom, and purity, the world as long as it
lasted would be a heaven?

And do not your own hearts echo these thoughts at moments when they are
quietest and purest and most happy too? Have you not said to
yourselves--"Those Bible words are good words. After all, if I were like
that, I should be happier than I am now." Ah! my friends, listen to
those thoughts when the