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Within the wicket gate: or, Beginning to live for Christ
Within the wicket gate or Beginning to live for Christ Author:Robert Tuck Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. mis " True religion never finds itself out of the infinite sphere of the Divinity; and wherever it finds beauty, harmony, goodness, love, ingen... more »uity, wisdom, holiness, and jhe like, it is ready to say, here and there is God; wheresoever any Such perfections shine out, a holy mind climbs np by these sunbeams, and raises itself up to God."—John Smith (17th century). Our Saviour several times compared His new kingdom with the seed which we sow in the spring. We know in what a comprehensive way He used that term " kingdom." As the seed is planted in the ground so is the living and life-giving truth of God planted in the soul. As the seed springs up and grows, " first blade, then ear, after that full corn in the ear," and by its growth declares its life, so the good seed of the kingdom will convince us of its vitality by its constant and varying growth. The law of growth is one of the necessary laws of life. All life must be able to grow, and must be actually growing. The living and the lifeless are sufficiently distinguished by this—the living can grow, the lifeless cannot. How true this is of vegetation ! We may have a little flowering plant, which we are accustomed to watch and tend with the utmost care, but presently we say, " It does not grow ! " We say it very sadly, because we know that really means, it is beginning to die. It is equally true of our bodies; we do not observe it, but every part of ourbody is growing; it ia casting off the material it has nsed up, and ever making fresh material to supply the place, and enlarging, improving, perfecting itself in the process. If any part of the body ceases to grow, there we trace beginnings of disease and death. Look at the helpless infant. Lift np the little hand, and gently open the tiny dimpled fingers. "Wh...« less