st, people would not laugh. Tell them of Demosthenes living in a
cellar, with head half shaved to prevent his appearing in public, and
there will be admiration; was it any wonder that he became an orator?
But let a man be as bent on becoming a saint; let him give up one
hour's frivolous talk in order to commune with his Father in secret;
then we suspect that such an one is becoming righteous overmuch. Mind,
no one complains of a man being anxious to be wise overmuch, or rich
overmuch, healthy overmuch; he may burn the midnight oil and study,
watch the markets and scheme, frequent the gymnasium and develop his
muscle, and no one will find fault; but to spend time on what is at
least as important as wisdom, wealth, and health, and in a sense
involves them all,--this is fanatical, and not to be encouraged or
approved. We miss much through our want of separation from the world,
and through our deficiency in insulation, or, which is the same word,
in isolation. If we go into a science laboratory and examine the great
brass machines for holding electrical charges, we find that they are
all mounted on glass feet. These are the insulators, and if it were
not for them, no electricity would remain on the surface; as it is,
electricity is hard enough to keep in charge, even with the best
insulators. And we know sometimes what it is to have life and power
pass into us from above, but we don't know how to retain it, because we
have never learnt true retirement of heart and insulation of life.
There is good teaching in the following passage from one of Madame
Guyon's letters: "It is very desirable, and in the earlier part of your
ministry especially, that you should spend a portion of your time--and
that perhaps not a small portion--with God in retirement. Let your own
soul be first filled with God's spirit, and then and not otherwise will
you be in a situation to communicate the Divine fulness to others. No
man can give what he has not; or if a man has grace, but has it in a
small degree, he may in dispensing to others impart to them what is
necessary for himself."

Now if any one were to ask what is the especial strength of England as
regards other empires and commonwealths, the answer would be that it
lies in her insular position,--in the "silver streak" that parts her
from France; and the true Christian is girt round with separating grace.

We might draw two pictures to remind us how we may become strong for
God: one of