same truth that lies in this declaration of our
Apostle, that the body, the instrument of our activities, should be a
living sacrifice to God. Link all its actions with Him; let there be
conscious reference to Him in all that I do. Let foot and hand and eye
and brain work for Him, and by Him, and in constant consciousness of His
presence; suppress where necessary, direct always, appetites and
passions, and make the body the instrument of the surrendered spirit.
And then, in the measure in which we can do so, the greatest cleft and
discord in human life will be filled, and body, soul, and spirit will
harmonise and make one music of praise to God.

Ah! brethren, these bad principles have teeth to bite very close into
our daily lives. How many of us, young and old, have 'fleshly lusts
which war against the soul'? How many of you young men have no heart for
higher, purer, nobler things, because the animal in you is strong! How
many of you find that the day's activities blunt you to God! How many of
us are weakened still under that great antagonism of the flesh lusting
against the spirit, so that we cannot do the things that we would!
Sensuality, indulgence in animal propensities, yielding to the clamant
voices of the beast that is within us--these things wreck many a soul;
and some of those that are listening to me now. Let the man govern and
coerce the animal, and let God govern the man. 'I beseech you that you
yield your bodies a living sacrifice.'

II. There is the sacrifice of praise.

Of course, logically and properly, this, and all the others that I am
going to speak about, are included within that to which I have already
directed attention. But still they are dealt with separately in
Scripture, and I follow the guidance. We read in the Epistle to the
Hebrews: 'By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise unto God
continually--that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His
name.' There, then, is another of the regions into which the notion of
sacrifice as the very essence of Christian life is to be carried.

There is nothing more remarkable in Scripture than the solemn importance
that it attaches to what so many people think so little about, and that
is _words_. It even sometimes seems to take them as being more truly the
outcome and revelation of a man's character than his deeds are. And that
is true, in some respects. But at all events there is set forth, ever
running all through the Scripture, th