ness, that
charity or brotherly love, that heavenly mindedness, which shine forth
in clear light there. But all the good there is in that sermon
consists in the doing of it. I may think of loving my enemy, and of
praying for him, and of forgiving him, but will the thought avail
anything, unless I carry my thought out in the acts of my life? Our
Lord prayed for his enemies even on the cross. They had nailed him
there, so unjustly too; but in the anguish of his distress he said:
"Father, forgive them; they know not what they do."

One thought more, and I will close. We must not forget that the Lord,
by his Holy Spirit, is the life of the way. Of ourselves, and left to
ourselves, we could never enter the way. Without the Lord's power in
us through his Holy Spirit we can do nothing. This great truth in its
fullness, accepted and believed in the heart, is the highest
attainment in faith that man is capable of. The deeper and warmer our
love for the Lord is, the clearer and stronger our faith grows; and
the clearer and stronger our faith is in him, the firmer are our
assurances that he is our life. We feel so free, so at liberty to do
just what we will, either good or bad, that the truth of our absolute
dependence upon God for every good affection and thought, for every
good motive and its attainment, is a lesson we are slow to learn.
Peter had not learned this lesson when, confident in his own strength,
he declared that he would not forsake the Lord. It is this sense of
our own weakness that leads us to pray. Prayer must proceed from the
heart. Otherwise it is not prayer, but a mere form of words. The Lord
will never help any one spiritually who does not feel the need of
divine help. Saul was struck down when the divine light flashed upon
him with a radiance above the brightness of the sun; but that light
only blinded him. The Lord then sent Ananias to inquire in the house
of Judas in Damascus for one called Saul of Tarsus: "For," said he,
"behold he prayeth." Without this prayer Saul would nevermore have
seen anything. This prayer was the opening of his heart to do the will
of the Lord, for in it he said: "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to
do?" I need only add here that the very first thing he was commanded
to do was: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on
the name of the Lord."

SUNDAY, November 5. The two brethren had meeting at Isaac Shobe's and
stayed all night at Jacob Bargdoll's. On

MONDAY,