Week-Day Living, a Book for Young Men and Women

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1882 Excerpt: ... LIVING TO GOD. CHAPTER XXXI. LIVING TO GOD. In the previous chapters I have spoken very little directly about religion. There are many books which treat of this all-important subject in a way that certainly cannot be surpassed. I have therefore felt it my duty to dwell on subjects which were less often treated in books written for young men and women. But I have a profound conviction that personal religion is at the root of all real prosperity and happiness. It is only as we obey God and keep His commandments that we can expect to pass our years here with any satisfaction. The secular side of life can only be made beautiful by due attention to sacred claims. Our great and supreme duty is to live to God. To a casual eye one man's life looks very much like another. They are like two pictures hanging side by side in a gallery: both are seen to have colour and lines, and to represent a landscape. But on closer inspection one is a mere daub, and the other is a work of genius. So two men may be working side by side, doing apparently the same things; but on close inspection one is seen to be a mere machine, and the other. is inspired by a Divine purpose. All workers at first seem like drudges. There is nothing noble in mere labour. A machine turns out so much finished material, but the sight of it does not move our moral natures or waken our consciences to admiration. There must be purpose behind the work to make it admirable. There must be atmosphere,-tone, colouring, and elevation about the life to make us regard it as anything better than a mere piece of mechanism. It is the principle which guides practice that enables us to put a high value on what men do and say. The work is secondary to the spirit. It is not what a man does, but why he does it, that makes ...