hall be
written, for Jesus' sake.

While many a sorrowfully varied answer to these questions may, and
probably will, arise from touched and sensitive consciences, each being
shown by God's faithful Spirit the special sin, the special yielding to
temptation which has hindered and spoiled the blessed life which they
sought to enter and enjoy, it seems to me that one or other of two things
has lain at the outset of the failure and disappointment.

First, it may have arisen from want of the simplest belief in the
simplest fact, as well as want of trust in one of the simplest and
plainest words our gracious Master ever uttered! The unbelieved fact
being simply that He hears us; the untrusted word being one of those
plain, broad foundation-stones on which we rested our whole weight, it
may be many years ago, and which we had no idea we ever doubted, or were
in any danger of doubting now,--'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
cast out.'

'Take my life!' We have said it or sung it before the Lord, it may be
many times; but if it were only once whispered in His ear with full
purpose of heart, should we not believe that He heard it? And if we know
that He heard it, should we not believe that He has answered it, and
fulfilled this, our heart's desire? For with Him hearing means heeding.
Then why should we doubt that He did verily take our lives when we
offered them--our bodies when we presented them? Have we not been
wronging His faithfulness all this time by practically, even if
unconsciously, doubting whether the prayer ever really reached Him? And
if so, is it any wonder that we have not realized all the power and joy
of full consecration? By some means or other He has to teach us to trust
implicitly at every step of the way. And so, if we did not really trust
in this matter, He has had to let us find out our want of trust by
withholding the sensible part of the blessing, and thus stirring us up to
find out why it is withheld.

An offered gift must be either accepted or refused. Can He have refused
it when He has said, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out'?
If not, then it must have been accepted. It is just the same process as
when we came to Him first of all, with the intolerable burden of our
sins. There was no help for it but to come with them to Him, and take His
word for it that He would not and did not cast us out. And so coming, so
believing, we found rest to our souls; we found that His word was