XLVII MAKING A CORNER Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.—Eph. 5: 15, 16. A S Arthur S. Way in his most interesting and helpful Letters of St. Paul freely -renders it: "Grasp at each opportunity (like merchants who eagerly buy up a scarce commodity): for the evil days' are on us." The far-seeing merchant promptly buys up a scarce commodity so that by and by he may bargain with it to great advantage; so must we snatch every opportunity of getting good and doing good, laying up in store for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come; and with all the greater earnestness because the market is soon over, and opportunity at an end. It is exactly the modern notion of "making a corner," with this important distinction-that whereas the modern "trust" or "combine" is purely selfish in its calculations, the intensity and astuteness recommended by the apostle aim chiefly at the salvation and spiritual enrichment of others. Be alert, politic, ready to make sacri fices, so that you improve every opening to possess yourself of the best things and make your neighbors sharers of the riches of Christ. Intensity of life is a mark of the greatest men. Of Darwin we read: "One characteristic was his respect for time; he never forgot how precious it was. He never wasted a few spare minutes from thinking that it was not worth while to set to work." His golden rule was "taking care of the minutes." In one of his letters occurs this passage: "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life." The same conscientiousness in the economy of opportunity distinguishes the best men. The apostle teaches that in regard to our highest life and its interests there must be an equally strenuous faithfulness with that exhibited by the intellectually or commercially famous. So far as our own character is concerned, much depends upon wise husbandry. To make the best of the fugitive moment, as the bee sips the ephemeral flower, is to convert life into a real success; whilst dullness and negligence in regard to small opportunities may well leave us conscious failures. Bring your soul in all its faculties and forces to bear on the duty and experience of the day. Utilize life's discipline in small things; treasure its golden grains of happy circumstance; spell out its great lessons, line upon line and precept upon precept; sanctify its glid ing, unrecorded incidents and sensations to the enrichment of the soul in knowledge and righteousness. Not only does our personal growth depend upon our concentration, but also the degree in which we prove a blessing to our neighbors. The lethargic let chance after chance to do good slip away unseized, unimproved; the wise and watchful, however, charm by a smile, warn by a word, persuade by an action, prevail by a prayer every hour: they are like the quicksilver that does not permit a particle of gold to escape. Nothing can be sadder than to fritter away the precious opportunities which heaven vouchsafes. Said a chemist the other day, "You can utilize any kind of waste, except waste of time." Yes; nothing can be got out of that except shame, reproach, and remorse. T. E. Brown writes to a young correspondent: "Mind you never give up as I did quite twenty years of my life to trifling." Afflictive retrospect, indeed! Many with sincere sorrow and humiliation remember wasted school-days which have crippled them all through their career. Are we in a future world to look back thus sorrowfully on the present life? If we would enter heartily into the manifold opportunities now available, we must cherish a serious view of life and of its high and eternal relations. The biography has just appeared of a brilliant man who proved a signal failure, and the reviewer remarked: "His life failed to get in the right direction, and the promise of earlier years remained unfulfilled. The truth is that Mr. Wallace lost the motive power of the highest and noblest ambition, Faith, and, harassed by the gales and storms of doubt and uncertainty, he drifted aimlessly nowhere." Take care of "the motive power." If the great thoughts, convictions, and hopes of religion die out of the soul, enthusiasm dies also. What is the good? why should we trouble? is there anything better than doing nothing?-these questions are always springing to the lips of men without faith, and they take out of their life all purpose and zest. Only in the thought of immortality determined by the faithfulness of the present time is the inertia of the soul overcome and our days filled with purpose and passion. Remember life's brevity and immense significance. As J. F. Millet's peasant mother warned her brilliant son: "If a man would live well, let him fetch his last day to him and make it always his companykeeper." XLVIII THE DISCIPLINE OF LIFE Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? etc.-Heb. 12: 9, 10. HE tenth verse is explanatory of the "much rather" of the ninth. As chil dren according to the flesh we rendered obedience to our parents; and we have far stronger reasons for submission to the discipline of God. I. Consider the design of the divine discipline. There is a design, the suffering of life is not purposeless; and that design is high and large. Domestic discipline proposes a worldly and temporal end; God designs to educate His children into spiritual and immortal perfection. Spiritual perfection. He is "the Father of spirits," and the end of His chastening is "that we may be partakers of His holiness." In the school of affliction He perfects our highest nature. What a marvellous thing that the sorrow which comes out of sin should be overruled to its destruction! In medical science the poison of the rattlesnake has been used for purposes of |