the tree, its
stem and its blossoms, are all means to the end--fruit. What is the use
of the clearest conceptions, and of the most tender, delicate, holy
emotions, if they do not drive the wheels of action? God does not give
us the Gospel to make us wise, nor even to make us blessed, but He gives
it to us to make us good men and women, working His work in our daily
tasks. All true religion has its sphere in conduct.

But then there is another side to that. All true conduct must have its
root in religion, and I, for my part--though of course it is extremely
'narrow' and 'antiquated' to profess it--I, for my part, do not believe
that in the long-run, and in general, you will get noble living apart
from the emotions and sentiments which the truths of Christianity,
accepted and fed upon, are sure to produce. And so this day, with its
very general depreciation of the importance of accurate conceptions of
revealed truth, and its exaltation of conduct, is on the verge of a very
serious error. Godliness, well-directed reverence, is the parent of all
noble living, and the one infallible way to produce a noble life is
faith in Christ, and love which flows from the faith.

If all that is so, if godliness is, not singing psalms, not praying, not
saying 'How sweet it is to feel the love of God,' still less saying 'I
accept the principles of Christianity as they are laid down in the
Bible'; but carrying out beliefs and emotions in deeds, then the true
aim which we should have continually before us as Christians is plain
enough. We may not reach it completely, but we can approximate
indefinitely towards it. Aim is more important than achievement.
Direction is more vital in determining the character of a life than
progress actually made. Note the form of the exhortation, 'exercise
thyself _towards_ godliness,' which involves the same thought as is
expressed in Paul's other utterance of irrepressible aspiration and
effort, 'Not as if I had already attained, either were already perfect,
but I follow after,' or as he had just said, 'press towards the mark,'
in continual approximation to the ideal. A complete penetration of all
our actions by the principles and emotions of the Gospel is what is set
before us here.

And that is the only aim that corresponds to what and where I am and to
what I need. I fall back upon the grandly simple old words, very dear to
some of us, perhaps, by boyish associations, 'Man's chief end is to
glorify God,