SPEND TIME

in cultivating the fellowship and companionship of Christ. And there
is nothing so much worth taking into our lives as a profounder sense
of what is to be had by living in communion with Christ, and by
getting nearer to Him. It will matter much if we take away with us
some of the thoughts about theology, and some of the new light that
has been shed upon the text of Scripture; it will matter infinitely
more if our fellowship with the Lord Jesus become a little closer, and
our theory of holy living a little more rational. And then as we go
forth, men will take knowledge of us, that we have been with Jesus,
and as we reflect Him upon them, they will begin to be changed into
the same image.

It seems to me the preaching is of infinitely smaller account than the
life which mirrors Christ. That is bound to tell; without speech or
language--like the voices of the stars. It throws out its impressions
on every side. The one simple thing we have to do is to be there--in
the right relation; to go through life hand in hand with Him; to have
Him in the room with us, and keeping us company wherever we go; to
depend upon Him and lean upon Him, and so have His life reflected in
the fullness of its beauty and perfection into ours.


III. THE FIRST EXPERIMENT.

Then you reduce religion to a common Friendship? A common
Friendship--who talks of a _common_ Friendship? There is no such thing
in the world.