is way had been rugged and thorny? What mattered the
thousand perils that had threatened him on every side? What mattered the
shipwrecks, the scourgings, the stoning, the opposition of false brethren
and of the heathen, the dungeons, the cold, the weariness, the sorrows? He
looked back over them all; and his soul, glowing with joy, burst out in
language of supreme satisfaction: "I have fought a good fight."

Not once had he laid down his weapons. Not once had he faltered. Not for a
day had he ceased to be true to his Lord. Therefore he could say, "I have
kept the faith." Though many times he might have avoided trouble had he
kept back the message of truth, yet how glad he was that in every instance
he had been true!

Sometimes you will not find it easy to do right, sometimes you will have
to sacrifice and endure, sometimes you will be reproached and mocked; but
when you take that last retrospective view, the fact that you have been
true will cause you to be glad, as was Paul of old. Then, be true today.
Fill today with a full measure of faithful service. Think not of tomorrow,
but do the right, in each today, and thus you may exclaim with Paul,
"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day" (2 Tim. 4: 8).

FOOTNOTES

1 Arms should be covered with long sleeves.

2 Elijah was in hiding because God instructed him to do so. Read 1
Kings 17: 3.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEART TALKS***

CREDITS

May 9, 2008

Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1
Produced by Charlene Taylor, Joel Erickson, David King, and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
<http://www.pgdp.net/>.

A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG

This file should be named 28736.txt or 28736.zip.

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/7/3/28736/

Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be
renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one
owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and
you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission
and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the
General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and
distributing Project Gutenberg{~