SOCIAL conduct. We ought not to be always paying social functions,
3. Thirdly, it demands a jealous watchfulness over our own SOCIAL conduct. We ought not to be always paying social functions, and dining out, as others do. It will not do to say, that our Lord went to a marriage feast, and sat at supper in the Pharisee's house, and therefore we may do the same. I only reply—Let us go in His spirit, with His faithfulness and boldness, to say a word in season, and to give the conversation a profitable turn—and then we may go with safety! Unless we do this, we should be careful where we go, with whom we sit down, and where we spend our evenings.
There was a quaint saying of John Wesley to his ministers, which contains the germ of much truth. "Don't aim at being thought gentlemen; you have no more to do with being gentlemen, than with being masters at dancing." Our aim should be not to be regarded as agreeable persons at the dinner table—but to be known everywhere as faithful, consistent ministers of Jesus Christ!
4. Fourthly, it demands a diligent redemption of TIME. We should give attention to reading, every day that we live. We should strive to bring all our reading to bear on our work. We ought to keep our eyes open continually, and be ever picking up ideas for our sermons—as we travel by the way, as we sit by the fireside, as we are standing on the platform at the railway station. We should be keeping in our mind's eye our Master's business—observing, noting, looking out, gathering up something that will throw fresh light on our work, and enable us to put the truth in a more striking way. He who looks out for something to learn will always be able to learn something.
Having suggested these things, I will next proceed to ask, What will be the CONSEQUENCE of our giving ourselves wholly to these things? Remember, we shall not receive the praise of men. We shall be thought extreme, and ascetic, and over-righteous. Those who want to serve God and serve money at the same time, will think our standard too high, our practice too stringent. They will say, that we are going too far and too fast for a world such as that in which we live. May we never care what men say of us, so long as we walk in the light of God's Word! May we strive and pray to be wholly independent of, and indifferent to man's opinion, so long as we please God! May we remember the woe