“I was thinking of the opening verses of the forty-third chapter of Isaiah,” she answered. “In the first and second verses he says, ‘O Israel, fear not; for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.’
“And again in the fifth, ‘Fear not, for I am with thee.’ Could we miss being happy if we fully obeyed so much as this one command, ‘Fear not,’ and fully believed and trusted in these precious promises?”
“I think not,” said Mr. Dinsmore, “and what right have we to disobey in being afraid of anything—loss, accident, sickness, death, the enmity and malice of temporal or spiritual foes?—when he bids us fear not! And again he says, ‘Be careful for nothing.’ ‘Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.’”
He paused, and Mrs. Travilla added another quotation.
“‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’”
“And,” said Rose, “Paul tells us, ‘Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.’”
“Papa,” said Elsie, “mayn’t we see how many of these little commandments we can remember?”
“Shall we?” he asked, glancing around the little circle.
All agreed that it would be a pleasant and profitable exercise, and Mrs. Travilla, as the oldest person present, began, the others following as a text occurred to them.
“‘My son, give me thy heart.’”