July 19

Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.—Romans 12:2.

DO I endeavor, as commanded, to come out from the world and be separate from its evil, that God may receive me as one of his sons or daughters? Do I watch against its wrong principles, its false maxims, its foolish fashions, its sinful pleasures and allurements? Do I so enthrone God in my heart, that I have no desire for the portion which the world offers? Do I watch against the first beginnings of evil, going at once to God for help, lest the thought of sin may lead to its commission? Is God in all my thoughts?

If thou art eager for the world, thy hope is either false, or at best very feeble.—BISHOP JEWELL.

The world has its pleasures, and they are many, and for the time seem to satisfy, but they are unsubstantial and transitory, and they leave a sting behind. We are hungry, and it offers us bread; but it is poisoned bread. We are thirsty, and it offers us drink; but it is from deadly fountains. It may satisfy for the moment; but there is death in it at the end. Only the Bread of life, and the water of salvation, can satisfy and for ever fill the soul.

Unclasp, O man, the siren hand of pleasure, Shun the world's sins; let her gay follies go; A few swift years will bring the unwelcome ending; Then leaving earth, ah! whither dost thou go? Is it to endless joy, or endless woe?