them; he
hated their sins. When we reach a place where we do not hate sin, where we
can see it and hear and know of it and find no vexation in our souls, it
causes us no uneasiness, we have no particular repugnance for it, it is
time that we were becoming awakened. We are commanded to abhor that which
is evil, and it is only by so doing and by keeping ourselves clean from it
that we can be safe in Christ Jesus and dwell in this wicked world.

There was a bit of heaven in every Christian heart in Ephesus. That bit of
heaven was just as pure as the celestial realms above. We too have that
heavenly element in our hearts; and in that transplanted bit of God's
holiness will flourish all the plants of righteousness that bloom in the
courts eternal. But we must guard these plants by keeping the gates of our
hearts closed night and day against evil. Only thus can we keep pure and
acceptable to God. This we can do and be holy and faithful in the worst
"Ephesus" that exists today, if it be our lot to abide there.

TALK THIRTY-FIVE. THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF RELIGION

The sun was slowly sinking toward the western horizon while I wended my
way up the rugged hillside. As I ascended the winding path ever higher and
higher, my horizon broadened. When at length I reached the summit and
turned to gaze back over the valley, the city lay spread out like a great
picture at my feet. The winding river, with a steamer slowly moving along
on its bosom, shimmered in the evening sunlight. The sounds from the city
were softened and blended until they rose to me like the musical strain of
far-away melodies. The low-hanging sun glorified the drifting clouds with
the hues of the autumn mountain-side. Crimson and orange and gold, they
burned in that western expanse. I gazed upon the scene, and its influence
seemed to exalt and enrapture my spirit. There stole into my being a sense
of rest and peace and joy that lifted me out of the monotony of ordinary
things. I sat there and drank in the beauties of the scene until the sun
sank out of sight behind the hills and the stars began to twinkle
overhead. The lights flashed out in the city beneath. The quiet hush of
the evening seemed to settle down over me, and it seemed good to be alive
and to be there.

The mountain-top is a delightful plate. There the soul reaches heights and
depths such as it reaches at no other time. Preachers love to preach and
poets love to sing of the mountain-tops of life.