A little casket of precious jewels; a daily companion which when rightly used will bring the Christian into a life of abiding fellowship with God

Front matter

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Introduction

My good friend Dr. Lewis, who deserves as well as any man living the title of everybody's friend, brings forth fruit in old age. And ripe and luscious fruit it is. He has collected the best thoughts of many mature Christians, with whom the Christian life has become the most consummate of all arts, fashioned and perfected by the Holy Ghost, the supreme Source and Artificer of character and conduct. His own rich experience has guided him to the selection with unfailing sagacity of those passages from the writings of many authors which most certainly convey direction to the perplexed and comfort to the despairing or sorrowful. He has known, too, how to cull the satisfying portions of Holy Writ, and to lead every reader of his little book into pastures green and by the still waters of spiritual repose. Like Mr. Wesley, in many of his treatises, Dr. Lewis has sacrificed the conceit of originality that he might serve his kind by giving wider currency to pure and lofty sentiments contained, oftentimes, in books to which only the few have access. I am glad to have the privilege of writing this introductory word, of placing a little inscription on the outside of this casket of precious jewels to assure him who holds it in his hand of the value of the contents. The author has not claimed too much in intimating on his title-page that he who attentively conxiv Introduction.

siders what is here brought to his notice will be brought into a life of abiding fellowship with God. May the prayers with which I am sure the venerable author accompanies this treatise be abundantly answered in the salvation and nourishment of souls; and, when Dr. Lewis shall have passed to his eternal reward, by these pages may he still speak the word of exhortation and comfort. Jxo. J. Tigert.

Nashville, 14 May, 1903.

I.

SAYINGS OF THE WISE AND GOOD.

SAYINGS OF THE WISE AND GOOD.

No truth that is self-evident, and no truth whose demonstration lies in personal experience, and therefore above reason, can ever be submitted to argument without danger. Reason dethroned truth in France, but truth resumed its seat, in spite of reason, by simple self-assertion.

To live in the power of this divine life is the true secret of all success. It is not so much by earnest struggling that we glorify God as by a continual yielding up of ourselves to him who in every sense is our life.

You have been scarcely conscious of the fact that none other than He with whom all things are possible has been in you, to put forth not your power in him, but his power in you. " Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power."

After all, it is life itself, sanctified life, that is God's holiest and most effective ministry in this world, as what we are, that tells in impressions and spiritual results — pure, sweet, patient, earnest, unselfish, loving life. It is not so much what we do in this world as what we are. A good life is like a flower which, though it neither toils nor spins, yet ever pours out a rich perfume, and thus performs a glorious ministry.

Every child of God owes it to the privilege and honor of his faith to show that in all the perils and trials of life he can be fearless and firm, in all the sorrows and afflictions of life he can rejoice and be glad. Christian faith never teaches a more important lesson than it does by manifesting firmness and serenity of mind amid all the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

In the right use of his endowments man must be always lifting himself up to a better and a higher life. He must make all his studies, pleasures, and toils steps on which to climb the ascending way to glory and to God. The things of this world are too mean, the range of earthly interests is too low, too limited, for the aspirations which God created in us when he breathed into our souls the breath of life.

Remember, as in God so in man, will is character. What a man wills tells what he is. He may look this way or that at times, but the way he goes determines what he is.

Let a man break forth from the contracted circle of a worldly life, let him cultivate hopes and aspirations worthy of his immortal destiny, let him learn to look to God as his Father and himself as the heir of the whole boundless universe, and he shall grow in greatness and in joy beyond the reach of his loftiest thought. He shall be made a king unto God, and shall reign forever.

The law of life and progress consists in ' ' forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." In this growth there is to be perpetual flourishing: evergreen leaves, unfading blossoms, fullness of sap, fruit in old age. There is to be the child's heart in the old man's bosom, and the beauty of the Lord their God upon all his faithful people.

If self-denial be the great part of godliness, the great letter in the alphabet of religion, self-love is the great letter in practical atheism. Self is the great anti-Christ and anti-God in the world that sets up itself above all that is called God, sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as God.

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness. Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous, graceful from very gladness — a spirit all sunshine, beautiful because bright.

'Tis He appoints our daily lot, and He does all things well.

We reproach our past experience if we distrust God for the future. He hath delivered, he doth deliver, and he will deliver.

Live every day as though you expected to die at night, and do all you do as though you expected to live forever.

Entire Sanctification.

1. The knowledge of Christ as a present Saviour from the pollution and power of sin.

2. A present freedom in worship and Christian work which is truly delightful.

3. Fullness of the love of God, and of peace and joy in his service.

4. Permanence in these things through an abiding union with Christ by faith.

5. Continuous progression in grace by a life of consecration to the service of God.

6. Increasing in fruitfulness.

7. Greater pleasure in prayer and reading the Scriptures.

8. The power of watchfulness more active.

9. A freedom from anxiety, care, and fear. The God who rules the universe says he will preserve us from all evil. Why should we fear?

Watch your infirmities. Keep a strict guard at that door, else all sorts and sizes of sins will come in to annoy you.

Love thyself last; praise thyself least; fret thyself never; try more to interest thyself in others than others in thee.

The chamber where the good man meets his fate is privileged beyond the common walks of virtuous life; quite in the verge of heaven.

Anxiety is the bane of human happiness. Discouragement is not a fruit of humility, but of pride.

Somebody must prove victorious in the strife and stand unscathed amid temptation. Somebody must live a heavenly life on earth and show a superiority over worldly care and selfish tendencies. Somebody must rise above the offers of this world's honors and riches, and prefer the crown of life, so that self-seeking men may see the folly of their time-serving policy. Somebody must rise to the sublime faith and courage, when human arithmetic shall be laid aside, and human probabilities not be considered, and God's promise shall be more certain than all human calculations.

The thread of life is woven on the loom of divine providence.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be under divine control, absolutely possessed of God, the whole manhood governed by the presence of the Triune God — all organized in the love of Christ and energized by the Holy Spirit.

The important point is inner purity — purity of thought, of imagination, of motive, of affection. When this is a fact, the growth will be natural, easy, and beautiful, and the soul will be victorious in every conflict.

Gird thyself up like a man to resist the wicked temptations of the devil.

Under the providence of grace, ruins become restorations, the fallen are lifted up, the wounded are healed, and the graves of virtue and hope become the gardens where they freshly grow.

It is not enough to have a general cheerfulness. There must be superiority to particular disquietudes, and a keeping of the heart in the stillness of grace, in the great and deep peace of God, in the very presence of any immediate agitation.

The good man is the great man. Goodness is greatness. He is the happy man who sees the face of God. He is the wise man who satisfies himself with the divine likeness.

8 A Little Casket of Precious Jeivels.

For all times, for all troubles, for all needs, there is a present, merciful God, with all his grace also present to heal, to help, and to love to the end.

If we desire to be cheerful, we must cultivate it. If we desire to be useful, we must be cheerful and hopeful and resolute. We must see no defeat, entertain no fears, meet trials with a smile, and be determined that our flag shall wave over the citadel of joy; then we shall move like conquerors.

The way to have strong faith is to think nothing of ourselves.

True humility consists in not thinking of ourselves at all.

Trust and be strong; trust and be cheerful; trust and be in earnest; trust and wait.

The greatest, wisest, purest, happiest man is he who walks most closely with God in the daily paths of life.

To achieve the greatest results, the man must die to himself, and cease to exist in his own thoughts.

He who looks upon Christ through frames and feelings is like one who sees the sun on water, which quivers and moves as the water moves; but he who looks upon Christ in the glass of his word sees him ever the same.

Faith is the grave of care.

Just in proportion to our prayers is our holiness and usefulness: "Strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might."

The true happiness of every Christian consists in his spiritual communion with God. u He is about my path and about my bed."

Bear up and bear on; the end shall tell that the Lord doeth all things well.

It is the very nature of prayer in faith to cast all manner of care and every burden on the Lord. It charges Christ with all, and leaves everything with him.

Life should be a continual vision of God's presence.

Heaven must be in us before we can be in heaven.

The disposition we cultivate is the true philosophy of life.

We view death as coming to destroy; let us rather view Christ as coming to save. We think of death as ending; let us rather think of life as beginning. We think of losing; let us rather think of gaining. We think of parting; let us rather think of meeting.

The true greatness of living must come from living with the great destiny of an immortal life ever in view.

What little difference it makes to any man where he is or what he is in his worldly relations, if only his heart is filled with all the fullness of God !

The higher the flight of our faith the more serene and joyous will be our journey to the heavenly Canaan.

If we want to be happy, we must be occupied with God and his surroundings; if we want to be miserable, we have only to be occupied with self and its surroundings.

Thou wilt make great progress in righteousness if thou wilt keep thyself free from every temporal anxiety.

God only, the eternal and infinite who filleth all things, is the solace of the soul and the true joy of the heart.

I know of nothing that cripples a man more in his usefulness than anxious care.

Trusting more and more and moment by moment in the merits of Christ's death, and in God's keeping power, and in the Holy Ghost as the vitalizing force of the Christian's life and growth, will give him success and victory all the time.

With a forgiven past, a contented and happy present, and a hopeful future, the Christian can and ought to be happy.

There is a magnetic, quickening, inspiring, and comforting power in that soul who is living in constant communion with God.

With a man who lives right nothing goes wrong.

The rest of faith is the mind at leisure with itself ; it is the perfect poise of the soul, the absolute adjustment of the soul to the stress of outward things, the stability of assured convictions, the eternal calm of all- victorious faith, the repose of a heart set deep in God.

There is no fellowship with the Father but through the Son, and no fellowship with the Son but through the Holy Spirit in us. Thus the three divine Persons in the Trinity are united as one in the great work of man's salvation.

A person who thoroughly respects himself, and acts accordingly, will be respected by others.

A simple, earnest, loving speech from an overflowing heart is the most powerful instrumentality that man ever uses upon his fellow-men.

Honor all men, and look for the good that is in men, and be blind to the bad.

Let off of your heart the dreadful sense of responsibility; for the battle is the Lord's, and not yours.

Your worry is measured by your unbelief. God gives strength for all burdens, the heavier as well as the lighter ones.

To read, to pray, to think, to love, to hope — these are the things that make us happy.

The essence of God is one, but threefold is the manifestation of that essence, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Whatsoever our circumstances may be, to place ourselves on every occasion before the Lord with our open heart, without reserve or guile, is the grand secret of happiness and peace.

Infidelity condemns nothing that is bad. It ridicules and denounces all that is good; it tears down, but never builds up. It tries to destroy religion, but offers no adequate substitute.

We should keep the heart pure by keeping it in fellowship with Christ; keep the tongue pure by using it for Christ; keep the life pure by living in all things for Christ. In thought, in feeling, in word and action be pure like Christ.

So live, so act, that every hour may die as dies the natural flower, that every word, every deed may bear within itself the seed of future good in future need.

He is the best Christian who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of mistakes.

To every man his own mind is a kingdom, and he should suffer no rival on its throne. If he masters his own spirit, if he rules well in the living and immortal realm of his own soul, he is a prince in his own God-given right.

If we would only let God have his way with us in all things, what beautiful lives ours would be! how bright for ourselves, how healthful and life-giving to others! How full of this world's pleasant things! how free from this world's hurtful things! how full of joy and peace and health! how free from torturing anxiety, disease, and sin!

If God cares for us, why do we need to care too? Can we trust him for our soul and not our body? He has never refused to bear our burdens. Why then should we carry them? "Cast all thy care on the Lord, for he careth for us."

To return evil for evil is beastlike; to return evil for good is fiendlike; to return good for good is manlike; but to return good for evil is Godlike.

The secret of rest is the habit of taking everything to God.

If wisdom's ways you wisely seek, Five things observe with care —

Of whom you speak, to whom you speak, And how and when and where.

2. If your ears you'd keep from jeers

Three things keep meekly hid — Myself and I, and mine and my,

And what I do and did.

Self -distrust is the cause of most of our failures. In the assurance of strength there is strength, and they are the weakest, however strong, who have no faith in themselves.

As we come near in God's time to the end of life, his providences, and our lives also, will blossom out in fragant flowers of peace and righteousness and faith.

O God, renew my will from day to day; blend it with thine, and take away all that makes it hard to say, "Thy will be done."

A suspicious temper is thoroughly Satanic in character. No wise man will tolerate its presence in his heart, for it is death to every noble and generous impulse.

Conscience must find an atonement for sin. Man must be able to look upon his past with a sense of peace. Memory must be soothecl. The past must have its frowns converted into smiles. God's forgiveness must cast its sunlight on the dark shadow. God is the key to all mystery. He is the absolute philosophy, and where faith centers in him, all questions are answered, all mystery is solved, and all uncertainty. Faith has no ifs, and no occasion to ask why.

There are habits of righteousness which maintain solid peace and pure states of the soul that are instinct with joy. The tendency to fly off, to depart, to wander, is gone. With ease and naturalness the sou], as if drawn by an irresistible attraction, obeys God's commands and joys in his purpose.

Don't worry about anything. Strong faith never lost a battle.

You may have as much of God as you want, and as little as you will. The measure of your faith will determine at once the measure of your religion.

Christ is God. Even as God works in all nature from within and is secret, so the soul trusts Christ as the everywhere present indwelling one, doing his saving work in the hidden depth of its being. In Christ the soul comes in living contact with the person and life of God.

Man has received from God a life? a nature, a spirit capable of partaking of his own life and nature and spirit, his will and his holiness; capable of likeness to and fellowship with God, even to the sitting on the throne and sharing with him the dominion of all creation.

God created man to find his blessedness in him. This is the nobility and greatness of man, that he has a heart capable of fellowship with God, a heart so great that nothing less than God can satisfy him. This is held out to him as his highest blessedness throughout all eternity.

Jesus triumphed over suffering and death by the faith that lives in the future and unseen world. It was in that faith he lived and endured and conquered, and in that faith we must follow his example.

God's words are deeds. It is in what Christ is and does that God speaks to us.

Man's words appeal to the mind, the will, the feelings, and the passions. God speaks to that which is deeper than all — to the heart, that central depth within us, whence are the issues of life.

The words of the Bible are to prepare us for and point us to that inner speaking in the heart by the Holy Spirit which alone is life and power. This is God's true speaking in his Son.

Life is not done, and our Christian character is not won, so long as God has anything left for us to do or to suffer.

The Son of God, in his glory, counts his priesthood his highest glory as the power of making us partake as brethren with him in the life and love of the Father.

In the deep joy of a life of daily obedience and childlike simplicity thou shalt know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let us believe in the mighty, quickening power of God's word.

Faith in exercise is the breaking out of the divine life within, the very substance of things hoped for, the proof of the presence of things notrgeen. There is no power on earth that can stand before the power of faith, because the power of faith is the omnipotent power of God.

A soul cannot be regarded as truly subdued and consecrated in its will, and as having passed into union with the divine Will, until it has a disposition to do promptly all that God requires, as well as to endure patiently all that he imposes.

He who fears to suffer suffers from fear.

Heaven and its blessing in our heart can fill us with a joy that counts every sacrifice a privilege, that makes every loss a gain, and turns all suffering into an everlasting weight of glory.

Let our faith so live in the future and unseen world that all our life may be in the power of eternity and of Him in whom eternity has its glory.

Spiritual and eternal realities were by faith so dear and near that they reckoned not the suffering of this present time worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in them.

We need each day to learn more of Christ, to make new advances in obedience, to gain larger experience of the power of the heavenly life. There can be no healthy life without growth and progress.

The Lord wants to teach us what in all Scripture is the chief thing: the assurance that prayer will be heard and answered.

Let all suffering believers learn to know the Christ in whom they are holy — that he sanctified himself and sanctifies us through suffering.

Answers to prayers are received by faith.

A life in the will of God is rest and strength and blessing.

Consecration Hymn. 1.

Thou sweet, beloved will of God,

My anchor ground, my fortress hill, My spirit's silent, fair abode, In thee I hide me and am still.

2.

O will, that wiliest good alone,

Lead thou the way; thou guidest best; A little child, I follow on,

And, trusting, lean upon thy breast.

Thy beautiful sweet will, my God, Holds fast in its sublime embrace

My captive will, a gladsome bird, Prisoned in such a realm of grace.

Upon God's will I lay me down,

As child upon its mother's breast, No silken couch nor softest bed

Could ever give me such sweet rest.