And
what can come out of all these selfish passions, when they are let loose,
but that in which selfishness must always end, but that same mistrust and
anarchy, ending in that same poverty and wretchedness, under which so
many countries of the world now lie, as it were, weltering in the mire.
Alas! say rather weltering in their own life-blood--and all because they
have forgotten the living God?
Oh, my dear friends, take these words solemnly to heart--for yourselves,
and for your children after you. If you wish to prosper on the earth,
let God be in all your thoughts. Remember that the Lord is on your right
hand; and then, and then alone, will you not be moved, either to terror
or to sin, by any of the chances and changes of this mortal life. "Fret
not thyself," says the Psalmist, "else shalt thou be moved to do evil."
And the only way not to fret yourselves is to remember that God is your
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. "He that
believeth," saith the Prophet, "shall not make haste"--not hurry himself
into folly and disappointment and shame.
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