OUR DUTY—AN APPEAL TO THE COLLEGE STUDENTS.
By Chas. Lewis
Great responsibilities rest upon us as students. We have just returned from the camp-meeting, where many of us have for the first time given our hearts to the Lord, and have been buried with him in baptism. We have experienced the convicting influences of the Holy Spirit; our hearts have been melted into tenderness by the love of Christ; we have felt a godly sorrow for our sins; and, we trust, have truly repented and been pardoned. These are steps necessary to be taken, and so far we have done well. But the work should not stop here, in fact must not stop if we would make a success of it. We perhaps expected to be so completely transformed that no longer would temptation and sin molest us, or our evil habits trouble us. But we may rest assured that Satan will not give us up without a struggle. If we had been fitted for Heaven at conversion, perhaps the Lord would at once have taken us to himself. He designs that our faith shall be tried; that we shall have an opportunity to show by our actions that we are sorry for the past; and that we shall commence to build characters for eternity; in short, we have only commenced the work of overcoming, which must be continued as fast as our faults are revealed to us. Let us consider a few points that may help us in this work. 1. We should make it a rule to discharge every duty, to take part in every social meeting we attend, if it be possible. It is a mistake to suppose that a person should take part in meeting only when he feels like it. We should consider it a duty to speak for Christ, until our love for him grows so strong that we esteem it a privilege. 2. We should “be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true.” We should be cheerful but not gay; active, but not too forward: in deep earnest for our own salvation and that of others. Our piety should be of that deep, quiet kind that overcomes all obstacles, and does twice the good with half the fuss that a certain other kind, very prevalent now-a-days does. 3. We should often be engaged in secret prayer. One cause of dull meetings is found in the neglect of this source of strength. Some people go all through the week without secret prayer, and it takes them half or three quarters of an hour to get right with God and into working order. Perhaps they do not bring themselves into this position at all, and leave the meeting without lifting a finger to help the work along. Let us not neglect secret prayer. Lastly, let us talk religion more. This is more particularly to those of us who have been longer trying to serve God. I sometimes wonder why we talk about the weather, the crops, and almost everything else, before religion. When we do mention the subject, we are often surprised to find that our friend has been thinking about the same thing, and wishing some one would talk with him about it. We have a duty to perform in this respect. Let us “speak often to each other,” and do all we can to encourage and cheer those about us who have not had the experience that we have had. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Prov. 25:11. May we get so near the Master that the light of his countenance may shine upon us and be reflected to others, and we thereby carry joy and sunshine wherever we go.