Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. LUKE 12:48
GOD is ever seeking an entrance, and the avenue to the heart is closed against Him; He enters in, and is rudely thronged, or jostled, or civilly put off, or promised an audience at a more convenient season, if He is not, by deadly sin, cast out. How many calls by God's providence, by the tender austerity of His afflictions, by His compassion, His bounties, by the deaths of others, or our own prolonged lives when we seemed nigh unto death, by the beauty of truth, by the unsatisfactoriness of things present, by some sight, even if afar off, of things eternal, by the sense of His presence by the ocean of whose love we are encompassed, by some sensible sweetness over-streaming us,--any one of these might have been a lasting conversion to God, and where have they left us? Above the common gifts to all, our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; besides that universal gift of "the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ," we thank Him for that which is varied to each, "the means of grace." What we have had might have made glorious saints of those who have had less. E. B. PUSEY
This is a public domain version of Joy and Strength.