maturer life. It is not an infantile but a masculine trait.

{220}

What then is simplicity? The Latin word means singleness, unmixedness,
straightforwardness. It is sometimes used of wood which is
straight-grained. What simplifies life is to have a single, specific
direction in which to grow, a straight-grained, definite intention, the
possibility of a straightforward life. The scattered, divergent,
wavering life,--what is this but what we call the dissipating career?
It abandons self-concentration and steadiness; it dissipates its
energy. It does not mean to begin wrong, but because it has no fixity
of direction it becomes, as we say, dissipated. And what is it, once
more, which gives direction, unity, simplicity, to life? That is made
plain in this same passage. It is the simplicity, says the New
Version, which is toward Christ. What gives straightforwardness is not
the condition in which we are, but the ideal toward which we are
heading. What simplifies life is to say something like this: "I do not
pretend to know all about religion, or duty, or Christ, but I do
propose to live along the line of life which I will call toward Christ.
I propose to think less of what I may live by, and more of what I may
live toward." When a man makes this decision he has not indeed {221}
solved all the problems of life, but he has amazingly simplified them.
Many things which had been perplexing, disturbing, confusing, now fall
into line behind that one comprehensive loyalty. He has, as it were,
come out of the woods, and found a high road. It is not all level, or
easy; there is many a sharp ascent in it, and many a shadowy valley.
But at least the way is clear, and he knows whither it leads, and he
has found his bearings, and he trudges along with a quiet mind, even
though with a weary step, for he has emerged from the bewildering
underbrush of life into the simplicity which is toward Christ.

{222}

XC

OPEN OUR EYES

2 _Kings_ vi. 17.

(END OF COLLEGE TERM)

This young man did not see things as they really were, because, as we
say in smaller matters, he did not have his eyes open. He saw the
horses and chariots of Syria round about him, and the enemy seemed too
strong for him, and then Elisha prayed: "Lord, open his eyes," and the
young man saw that over against his enemies there was a host of
spiritual allies, so that "They that be with us are more than they that
be with them."

As we look back ove