avant and the
savage. And here is the difference between men. Some think; others do
not. And what fields for thought are spread out before the human mind!
For instance, nations and cities once great and influential are now
blotted out. Babylon, Rome, Palmyra, Jerusalem. What destroyed them?
They refused to acknowledge God, and he left them to perish. Ah! They
forsook God and he left them.

"Again. Notice the nations that have come up out of barbaric obscurity to
become the world power today--England, Germany, the United States. What
has thus lifted them to their peerless position? They acknowledge God to
be their God and King of all kings and all nations. Surely, then, this is
a nation's palladium, just as it is the individual standard of character.
Emmanuel--God with us.

"And to think of ourselves is truly ennobling. I do not mean as the
egotist thinks. But to think of our individual capacity and obligations.
The Greeks had a motto over their temple at Delphi, it was 'Know
Thyself.' To know ourselves is the beginning of wisdom. Young men, learn
to know yourselves and your responsibility; but none of these is the
subject of David's thought.

"'_I thought on my ways_.' Our ways toward God. We have not treated
anyone as we have treated God. We have shut him out of our homes, lives,
hearts, while he stood at the door knocking; while he cried, 'Behold I
stand at the door and knock.' Men live through years without thinking of
God, until illness or affliction comes, then they call upon him for help.
Ah! It is indeed humiliating to think of our ways toward our dearest
Friend, who loves us and gave himself for us. It is wise and should,
also, be profitable to think of our ways toward our fellow-men. We have
not always treated them as directed by God's Word. How selfishness has
inspired our conduct toward them in many instances! Who of us today can
look back and see ourselves ever doing to others as we would have them do
unto us? Who of us can say, 'I have always loved my neighbor as myself'?

"Well might this be the cry of David's repentant heart. He thought of a
brave and honest soldier, whose wife he coveted, and in order to possess
her he ordered the soldier to be placed in the most dangerous place in
the battle, where he was slain. First, murder; next, adultery. Well might
David's soul cry out, 'I thought on my ways.' It is not likely that I am
at this time speaking to anyone who would be guilty of such gross sins as
h