"Do you ask, 'what will educate your daughter?' 

Your example will educate her; your conversations with your friends, the business she sees you transact, the likings and disliking's you express; these will educate her; -- the society you live in will educate her; above all, your rank and situation in life, your house, your table, your pleasure-grounds, your hounds and your stables will educate her." 

 

  

 "It cannot surprise us that the impression of Christ's life and teachings culminated in the faith that "God is Love"; for this is already implied in the essence of a nature spiritual and holy. Of the Divine Spirit holiness is the rule, and of all spirit, love is the power, without which there can be no movement forth upon objects and beings around, nothing to stir the self-centered repose, or in any way to turn pure being into the definite and successive action of a true life. 

Love is the universal and ever-varying impulse, carrying each mind towards the ends assigned it as possible; while the law of holiness restrains from their indiscriminate pursuit, and selects and proportions their legitimate claims. As it is the characteristic of the spiritual nature to appreciate all things according to their worth, it will escape from the lower loves for objects that minister to self, and, as we see in Christ, be drawn at once, spirit to spirit, towards answering, yearning and suffering souls. 

From the moment of his self-dedication, when he threw his cares away and went forth not having where to lay his head, the whole energy which others spend on interests of their own was poured into his humane and divine affections, and filled his life with an enthusiasm resistless and unique."

 

 

Ellen White began the Seventh Day Adventist church and she had a lot of wisdom, some even believed she was inspired; but be that as it may, this advice from 130 years ago was good then and even more so now.

 

"When I saw this photo it really struck me; our past can haunt us, it can torment and depress us, and sometimes, we can see it on the outside. Most often we cannot; we see people who appear happy and carefree, or outgoing and energized. And there are those who change and adorn themselves in the most disturbing ways, and withdraw and seclude themselves. Regardless how we see people, we must always remember there are deep and tumultuous currents within us all, so tread carefully, lovingly. When I posted this on Facebook they immediately pulled it.

 "When  I represent to myself true virtue, goodness; not that which is made up of outward proprieties and prudent calculations, but that which chooses duty for its own sake, and as the first concern, which respects impartially the rights of every human being, which labors and suffers with patient resolution for truth, and other's welfare, which blends energy and sweetness, deep humility and self-reverence, which places joyful faith in the perfection of God, communes with Him intimately, and strives to subject to His pure will all thought, imagination, and desire; which lays hold on the promise of everlasting life, and in the strength of this hope endures calmly and firmly the sorest evils of the present state; when I set before me this virtue, all the distinctions on which men value themselves fade away. Even I, with vision so dim, with heart so cold, can see and feel the divinity, the grandeur of true goodness. How then, must God regard it? To His pure eye, how lovely must it be!

 Think no man the better, no man the worse, for the church he belongs to. Try him by his fruits. Expel from your breasts the demon of sectarianism, narrowness, bigotry, intolerance. 

My friends, I know that I am addressing those who hold various opinions as to the controverted points of theology. We have grown up under different influences. We bear different names. But if we purpose solemnly to do God's will, and are following the precepts and example of Christ, we are one church, and let nothing divide us. 

 We may all unite hearts and hands in doing good, in fulfilling God's purposes of love towards our race, in toiling and suffering for the cause of humanity, in spreading intelligence, freedom, and virtue, in making God known for the reverence, love, and imitation of His creatures, in resisting the abuses and corruptions of past ages, in exploring and drying up the sources of poverty, in rescuing the fallen from intemperance, in succoring the orphan and widow, in enlightening and elevating the depressed portions of the community, in breaking the yoke of the oppressed and enslaved, in exposing and withstanding the spirit and horrors of war, in sending God's Word to the ends of the earth, in redeeming the world from sin and woe." 

William Ellery Channing.

 

I read these statistics, and frankly, as disheartening as they are, I believe they are accurate. How does the church that embodies the religion of Jesus Christ, "a religion whose soul, essence, and breath of life is love; miss the mark so far? Has not Paul taught us that there is but one bond, Love? Has not Christ taught us that the seal set on his disciples, by which all men are to know them, is Love? Is not this the badge of the true church, the life of the true body of Christ?" No doubt we are in a cultural revolution, times are rapidly changing, but can it be the "salt has lost its savor"? What ever the answers are, I for one, will examine myself more deeply to see if I am truly walking in Christ's spirit.

Church Division

   "I have expressed my abhorrence of the sectarian spirit of the Roman Catholics; but in that, as in all other churches, individuals are better than their creed; and amidst gross error and the inculcation of a narrow spirit, noble virtues spring up, and eminent Christians are formed. It is one sign of the tendency of human nature to goodness, that it grows good under a thousand bad influences.

The Romish Church is illustrated by great names. Her gloomy convents have often been brightened by fervent love to God and man. For example, St. Louis, and Fenelon, and Massillon, and Cheverus; and her missionaries, who have carried Christianity to the ends of the earth; her sisters of charity, who have carried relief and solace to the most hopeless want and pain.; do not these teach us that in the Romish Church the Spirit of God has found a home? 

How much, too, have other churches to boast! In the English Church we meet the names of Latimer, Hooker, Barrow, Leighton, Berkeley, and Heber. 

In the Dissenting Calvinistic church, we have Baxter, Howe, Watts, Doddridge, and Robert Hall; and among the Quakers, George Fox, William Penn, Robert Barclay and our own Anthony Benezet, and John Woolman; and in the Anti trinitarian church, there is John Milton, John Locke, Samuel Clarke, Price and Priestley. 

To repeat these names does the heart good. They breathe a fragrance through the common air. They lift up the whole race to which they belonged."    William Ellery Channing. 

 A friend of mind shared this with me today. 
 

"I shared this story last year. Suicide is taking many. Why aren't we loving others before they reach this point? You can make a difference in someone's life.

"A man wanting to jump off a bridge in London was talked down by absolute strangers who proceeded to hold him for an hour until help arrived to get him down safely. Look at that grip. Look at the care, compassion, selflessness, and determination shown by complete strangers to a hurting human being.

This is what we.......the church should look like. Start seeing those who are hurting today. Be the light on the hill that God called the body of Christ to be! Matthew 5:14-16"