nd sustained as His efforts after spiritual health;
the man, in short, who seeks first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and lets other things be added or not to this prime
requisite, cleaves to Christ because there is that in Christ which
satisfies his tastes and gives him the life he chiefly desires. There is
in Christ a suitableness to the wants of men who live in view of God and
eternity, and who seek to adjust themselves, not only to the world
around them so as to be comfortable and successful in it, but also to
the things unseen, to the permanent laws which are to govern human
beings and human affairs throughout eternity. Such men find in Christ
that which enables them to adjust themselves to things eternal. They
find in Christ just that revelation of God, and that reconcilement to
Him, and that help to abiding in Him, which they need. They cannot
imagine a time, they cannot picture to themselves a state of society, in
which the words and teaching of Jesus would not be the safest guide and
the highest law. Life eternal, life for men as men, is taught by Him;
not professional life, not the life of a religious rule that must pass
away, not life for this world only, but life eternal, life such as men
everywhere and always ought to live--this is apprehended by Him and
explained by Him; and power and desire to live it is quickened within
men by His words. Coming into His presence we recognise the assuredness
of perfect knowledge, the simplicity of perfect truth. That which
outrides all such critical times as the disciples were now passing
through is true spirituality of mind. The man who is bent on nourishing
his spirit to life everlasting simply cannot dispense with what he finds
in Christ.

We need not then greatly fear for our own faith if we are sure that we
covet the words of eternal life more than the path to worldly advantage.
Still less need we tremble for the faith of others if we know that their
tastes are spiritual, their leanings Godward. Parents are naturally
anxious about their children's faith, and fear it may be endangered by
the advances of science or by the old props of faith being shaken. Such
anxiety is in great measure misdirected. Let parents see to it that
their children grow up with a preference for purity, unselfishness,
truth, unworldliness; let parents set before their children an example
of real preference for things spiritual, and let them with God's aid
cultivate in their children