on the
road. And it is the duty of all Christians to see to it that they
discipline themselves so as, in their own feelings, to put high above
all the approbation or censure of their fellows the approbation or
censure of Jesus Christ. That will take some cultivation. It is a
great deal easier to shape our courses so as to get one another's
praise. I remember a quaint saying in a German book. 'An old
schoolmaster tried to please this one and that one, and it failed.
"Well, then," said he, "I will try to please Christ." And that
succeeded.'

And let me remind you that a second part of the concentration of
effort which this aim requires is to strive with the utmost energy in
the accomplishment of it. Paul did not believe that anybody could
please Jesus Christ without a fight for it. His notion of acceptable
service was service which a man suppressed much to render, and
overcame much to bring. And I urge upon you this, dear brethren, that
with all the mob of faces round about us which shut out Christ's
face, and with all the temptations to follow other aims, and with the
weaknesses of our own characters, it never was, is not, nor ever will
be, an easy thing, or a thing to be done without a struggle and a
dead lift, to live so as to be well-pleasing to Him.

Look at Paul's metaphors with which he sets forth the Christian
life--a warfare, a race, a struggle, a building up of some great
temple structure, and the like--all suggesting at the least the idea
of patient, persistent, continuous toil, and most of them suggesting
also the idea of struggle with antagonistic forces and difficulties,
either within or without. So we must set our shoulders to the wheel,
put our backs into our work. Do not think that you are going to be
carried into the condition of conformity with Jesus Christ in a
dream, or that the road to heaven is a primrose path, to be trodden
in silver slippers. 'I will not offer unto the Lord that which doth
cost me nothing,' and if you do, it will be worth exactly what it
costs. There must be concentration of effort if we are to be
well-pleasing to Him.

But then do not forget, on the other hand, that deeper than all
effort, and the very spring and life of it, there must be the opening
of our hearts for the entrance of His life and spirit, by the
presence of which only are we well-pleasing to Christ. That which
pleases Him in you and me is our likeness to Him. According to the
old Puritan illustration, the ref