Reader, that was good advice. It is as suitable to you as to Franklin. Will you not take it? Never be ashamed of doing anything that humility calls upon you to do, and "you will avoid many hard knocks." Try and look upon all work, however distasteful and unpleasant, as work for God. If Jesus Christ had been proud, do you think He would have borne all the taunts of those thirty bitter years? If S. Paul had been a proud man, do you think he could ever have written down that glorious list of troubles and hardships, suffered by land and by water, in the eleventh chapter of 2nd Corinthians? How often we hear it said of a man, "He's a nice man, he's got no pride about him." And if pride in others doesn't please you, do you think if you shew pride it will be likely to please God? It was He who gave you that hatred of pride in others; but He gave it that you might correct it in yourself.
And the day will come when pride will be destroyed. It is one of the greatest sins. Other great sins are covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, sloth. And the virtues which are contrary to these are humility, liberality, chastity, gentleness, temperance, patience, diligence. Ask yourself to-night before you lie down to rest this question, "How many of these last virtues can I say I am practising? Am I humble? Do I give, as I am able, of my time, or my money, or my sympathy to help any of my neighbours? Am I thoroughly pure in thought, word, and deed? Am I gentle and kind to all around me? Am I moderate in eating and drinking, and temperate in my habits of life? Am I patient under suffering, sorrow, or misfortune? Do I do my best to serve God and man, working hard in that position of life to which Almighty God has called me?"
Reader, if you can say yes! to all those questions when your conscience asks them, you need not have much fear of God's reckoning day. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Trusting in Jesus for complete salvation, living in love and charity with your neighbours, you will pass the waves of this troublesome world, and land upon the everlasting shore, out of reach of the ocean waves. And down from the gates of the heavenly city will come to meet you, Jesus Christ our Lord, with the words which He has graciously promised to speak to all that humbly follow after Him here, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord[#]."
[#] S. Matt. xxv. 21.
MARTYRDOM.
"Not by the martyr's death alone
The saint his crown in heaven has won;
There is a triumph robe on high
For bloodless fields of victory.
What though he was not called to feel
The cross of flame, or torturing wheel:
Yet daily to the world he died,
His flesh, through grace, he crucified."
John Keble.
What is martyrdom? We sing every Sunday morning in Church the words, "the noble army of martyrs praise Thee;" we bless God every Christmastide for his martyr S. Stephen, and yet I suppose there are many people who regularly attend Church who have no idea of what a martyr is. Now I will tell you. A martyr is a witness! Any man, woman, or child, (for there have been children martyrs,) who bears witness to the truth, and suffers for it, is a martyr. If you or I, reader, bear ridicule; if our friends laugh at us for going to Church, or for staying for Holy Communion, then we are martyrs. The man who lives in an ungodly society, and by his life and example bears witness to the truth of Jesus, and suffers for so doing, he is a martyr. As I write these words I can recall a vast number of martyrs' names; for the martyrs, like the saints, are of every age and of every Church. Just as every cornfield has its poppies; just as every poor man's garden has its little plot set apart for flowers, so every Church has its martyrs. I can recall the name of Xavier, the great Indian missionary, dying alone upon the seashore, with the cruel blasts of a Chinese winter freezing his very bones. Or I think of Bishop Patteson, already mentioned in these pages, dying by the clubs of the natives, far off amid the Southern seas. I could tell you the now well-known story of David Livingstone, of his wonderful power over the African mind, of his noble conflict with slavery, and his patient death in his lonely hut at Ulala. But I will tell you one story of martyrdom which happened quite lately, nearer home than any of these, a story of how a boy, scarcely ten years old, gained the martyr's crown. About a year ago, a boat with seven young boys went out on the coast of Scotland. The boys rowed out from the shore some little way, until suddenly seeing something in the sea, they all rushed together to the side of the boat to look over into the water. The boat was upset, and they all went over into the sea. One boy alone could swim, and, one after another, that boy saved five of his companions; in trying to save the sixth, he himself became exhausted, and sank to rise no more. That night there was joy, the joy of recovery, in five happy homes; and I dare say the parents, in their joy at getting their boys safe back, hardly gave a thought to the brave little swimmer who had given his life for theirs. But I can imagine that his Saviour gave him a warm welcome in Paradise that night, and in return for his bravery, gave him the martyr's crown. For that child was a martyr! God had given him a brave spirit, and on a sudden He called upon him to shew it, and he bore witness for Christ.
Reader, your witness and mine may be very different to that. But it may nevertheless be as truly called martyrdom. If we are ready to confess Christ before men, He will not forget our names before His Father's throne. But if we are cowardly here below, and deny Him now, He will certainly not recognise us in His Father's kingdom.
Even little children can be martyrs. As the hymn says:--
"When deep within our swelling hearts
The thoughts of pride and anger rise,
When bitter words are on our tongues,
And tears of passion in our eyes;
Then we may stay the angry blow,
Then we may check the hasty word,
Give gentle answers back again
And fight a battle for our Lord."