e may lead you by a way you know not in the matter; very likely He will
show you that you must be willing to be a fool for His sake first, before
He will condescend to use you much for His glory. Will you look up into
His face and say, '_Not_ willing'?

He who made every power can use every power--memory, judgment,
imagination, quickness of apprehension or insight; specialties of
musical, poetical, oratorical, or artistic faculty; special tastes for
reasoning, philosophy, history, natural science, or natural history,--all
these may be dedicated to Him, sanctified by Him, and used by Him.
Whatever He has given, He will use, if we will let Him. Often, in the
most unexpected ways, and at the most unexpected turns, something read or
acquired long ago suddenly comes into use. We cannot foresee what will
thus 'come in useful'; but He knew, when He guided us to learn it, what
it would be wanted for in His service. So may we not ask Him to bring His
perfect foreknowledge to bear on all our mental training and storing? to
guide us to read or study exactly what He knows there will be use for in
the work to which He has called or will call us?

Nothing is more practically perplexing to a young Christian, whose
preparation time is not quite over, or perhaps painfully limited, than to
know what is most worth studying, what is really the best investment of
the golden hours, while yet the time is not come for the field of active
work to be fully entered, and the 'thoroughly furnishing' of the mind is
the evident path of present duty. Is not His name called 'Counsellor'?
and will He not be faithful to the promise of His name in this, as well
as in all else?

The same applies to every subsequent stage. Only let us be perfectly
clear about the principle that our intellect is not our own, either to
cultivate, or to use, or to enjoy, and that Jesus Christ is our real and
ever-present Counsellor, and then there will be no more worry about what
to read and how much to read, and whether to keep up one's
accomplishments, or one's languages, or one's '_ologies'!_ If the Master
has need of them, He will show us; and if He has not, what need have we
of them? If we go forward without His leading, we may throw away some
talent, or let it get too rusty for use, which would have been most
valuable when other circumstances arose or different work was given. We
must not think that 'keeping' means not using at all! What we want is to
have all our po