procession of suggestions and pictures of
things righteous and God-like, and when Satan approaches to insinuate
into the heart his temptations, he will find it so full that there will
be no room in it for him or his works.

This must be done in an organized and methodical way. Let us not trust
to chance opportunity. At every moment the will is, consciously or
subconsciously, making a choice either for good or evil. Our part is
to seize upon these moments and force that inevitable choosing to be
not only righteous, but definitely and explicitly a choice of
righteousness.

Practise over and over again the work of {106} choosing God. Arraign
before the mind things good and evil, the higher and the lower, that
the will may be drilled in the repeated preference of what belongs to
Him.

This will be a much simpler method than may seem at first. How many
moments are there in each day when we are, of necessity, unoccupied.
We have to wait five minutes for an appointment; we spend a quarter of
an hour on a crowded car; we have a little distance to walk to reach
some destination; or occasionally there is a wakeful hour at night.
What are we doing all this time? We can be sure the will is operating.
It stands sentinel to admit or repulse every thought that comes; and
what is the nature of the thoughts admitted? Idle thoughts, critical
thoughts of those about us, silly vain thoughts of self,--how covered
with confusion and shame we should be if some by-stander were able to
look within and see the busy, thronging procession that streams through
our mind unchallenged, nay more, welcomed and indulged. Yet this is
the very opportunity God gives us to busy ourselves for Him: and
instead of using it, we let it run to sinful waste, marring our whole
character, for as a man thinks, so he is.

How much better would it have been had we said, when we realized the
unoccupied minute: {107} "I will use this little time to make an act of
love, of hope, of faith. I will speak to Him familiarly in some
ejaculation of prayer. I will, for His praise, repeat some psalm I may
know by heart. I will pray for some of these people, strangers though
they be to me."[14] Then immediately perform this resolution in a most
definite way, framing with care even the very words with the lips, that
the body as well as the mind may have its part in the work.

Try this for a month, earnestly and persistently, and at the end of
that time see if the wh