 Chapter 51 of The Fruits of the Spirit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson. The Fruits of the Spirit by Hamilton Wright, maybe. The Peace of Christ. The Peace of God is not only a familiar but a comprehensible phrase, for God is not only all wise, but all powerful, and therefore above all the momentary storms, the passing struggles which sweep the world with a brief fury, are trouble the souls of men as they pass from one stage of growth to another. From the top of a hill on a summer day, one may often watch the clouds gather and sweep across the landscape, black and ominous, dropping bolts of fire as they pass, while far behind the brief rage of the tempest, and far ahead of it, like smiling fields and men at work in them, and overhead the heavens abide in undimmed splendor of light. So God abides above the changes of tides and times, the forces of air and earth striving for harmony through continual readjustment of conditions. But the Peace of Christ is more difficult to understand. He was in the very center of the storms. Again and again they broke on his path. Again and again they found him solitary and without visible shelter. He dwelt first, foremost and always, with the tempest that ravaged the world. With the awful blackness of sin. The tragic source of half the devastating storms that rage on the earth. With those temptations which bring mighty tossings of the soul with them. With the miseries, sorrows and appalling pains of humanity which often overshadowed the sensitive and sympathetic spirit with darkness like a cloud. The shadow of a cross always traveled before him, and yet in the center of the storm of life, in the very path of oncoming tempest, the Peace of Christ remained unbroken. More than this his peace was not only sufficient for himself, it was so deep and wide that he was eager to share it with all men. In the heart of the storm he could say, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. If there is one scene in his life which more dramatically than any other interprets his attitude towards men, it is his quiet sleep in the storm, his calm hushing of its fury. And he told the secret of his peace when he promised to leave it behind him in the world. But not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I go to the Father. These words were spoken to men who were only beginning to understand the Master, whose mighty works and mightier words and still mightier spirit they had been learning for almost three years. He had told them that he was in the Father, and the Father was in him, and they could get but a faint glimmering of his meaning. If he had said that he had never left the Father, they would have not understood, though it would have been simple truth. In all the vicissitudes of his earthly life, alike when he was in the fellowship of Martha and Mary, and when he stood beside the woman taken in the very act of sin, Jesus was with his Father. The vileness of the world did not for a moment separate the Son from the Father. It brought them together. For where the need was greatest, there the Christ was most divine. Where the blackness of the tempest was most appalling, there the light of the world shone most gloriously. In all the storms through which he passed, there was no evidence that the heart of Christ was ever troubled. But there is evidence that it was sore and sorrowful. In the presence of death he was not dismayed, not even perplexed, but he wept. The peace he left to those who believe in him is not respite from the pains of loss and sorrow. It is not freedom from uncertainty and the trial of waiting for light in dark places, and for leading in the confusion of the world. When peace comes between warring nations or between groups of men whose interests seem to be antagonistic, a deep sense of rest and security follows. Where the pains and burdens and perplexities of life are not at an end. Peace does not mean a solution of all problems, it means the absence of conflict and the quietude in which those problems can be faced and solved. The peace of Christ was not escaped from anxieties and pain, it was a companionship with the Father which set at rest all fear, all doubt, all conflict of wills. The Father who was above the storms and the Son who was in the heart of them were one in spirit, purpose, nature. The clouds and darkness did not hide either from the other. The peace which Christ left for us is not freedom from sorrow, from pain from uncertainty. It is the ending of conflict between God's will and our will, deliverance from fear rest in the love and power of God. End of chapter 51. Chapter 52 of Fruits of the Spirit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Chad Horner from Ballet Claire, Northern Ireland. Fruits of the Spirit by Hamilton Wright, maybe. Chapter 52. Safety first is a signed maxim if the meaning of safety is clearly understood. For the care of human life is the highest duty, the supreme responsibility, it must be taken at its face value. On railways, trolley cars, in the construction of buildings, whether permanent or temporary, in steam navigation, in the protection of water supplies, in the regulation of traffic on the public highways, the guarding of life is paramount to all other duties. And the words safety first, posted in places where life is in peril from many kinds of danger, form a sign that this happy-go-lucky country is beginning to waken from its indolence and carelessness. But in guarding the higher interests of life, safety has a larger meaning than the protection of the body. It may, and often does, involve the utmost peril to the body. It has become, to many people, a maxim of spiritual degeneration. Taken in an absolute sense, it becomes a shield for meanness of spirit and the cowardice which eats the heart out of character. Too many Americans have changed the maxim to read comfort first. They demand that the world shall let them alone in the endeavour to make life easy and pleasant. They resent any interruption of what has become as the result of a great prosperity and irresponsible joyride. So long as their business is not endangered, their homes threatened, their pleasures menaced, the rest of the world may starve and suffer the tortures of fire and the sword. Other peoples may pour out their blood like water and take up enormous burdens in defence of the principles which have made America prosperous. But these things do not concern the safety first Americans. Nothing touches them until it disturbs their comfort. Let us eat and drink and be merry, they seem to say, for tomorrow we die. It is certain that we must all die, but shall death be the triumph of the spirit or the running of the body? The comfort first Americans need not fear death, because they are already dead. They have sold themselves for the mess of potage. The history of the human race in this world has been one sweeping condemnation of the safety first conception of life. In the sight of God it is evident the first principle of safety is contempt for comfort and readiness to lay down life for a hundred things that are a thousand times more important. As it is revealed in the structure of life, the will of God is expressed in the maxim, character first. There is no limit to the demands of the Christ when character is at stake. Everything else is mere dross. Life itself does not count in the balance when character is in this other scale. There are great joys, by the way, in this life, but society will become safe only as it becomes just and merciful and self-sacrificing. This is not a comfortable world in the sense that men may take their ease in it and there is no prospect that it ever will be. Until all men understand that character is the end and the justification of the tremendous education which we call life ease of comfort will be interrupted and destroyed by danger, by trouble, by peril of many kinds. Today half the peoples of Europe are fighting for liberty and the privileges of spiritual manhood. They are dying by the hundreds of thousands and they are suffering calamities which leave the imagination aghast and helpless. It is a fearful price to pay for the things at stake, but it is not too great a price. Those who see in the struggle only blind faith and needless slaughter utterly fail to see the moral grandeur of it, the divine contempt which it pours on the safety first rule of living, the overwhelming authority with which it asserts the character first rule of living. Until men are ready to forget ease, to hold comfort subordinate, to write, to be unselfish as well as just, the deeps of divine judgement will be broken up from time to time and great waves of disaster will roll over the fairer landscape of material prosperity. Safety will come when character is attained but not before. End of chapter 52 recording by Chad Horner from Ballet Claire, Northern Ireland. Chapter 53 of Fruits of the Spirit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Chad Horner from Ballet Claire in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Chapter 53 Meeting Life Squarely. It was recently said of a prominent public man that if he could evade a problem he thought he had solved. This is the philosophy of many people whose endeavour seems to be not to meet life squarely but to evade it, not to see difficult situations clearly or to deal with them strongly but to shut the eyes to the most ominous and perplexing aspects and to find the easiest way out. This means of course that the real end of living, the education which experiences bring with them is entirely missed and the main purpose of life is to feed it. The student who becomes expert in the various devices by which the judge rate of learning is evaded imagines that he is outwitting his instructors but discovers in their life that he has cheated himself. The discipline of education is not the attempt of the school or the college to benefit itself, it has been devised and is imposed for the sole purpose of helping the student. The cares and burdens and perplexities of life were not devised to amuse and they were responsible power. They were wrought into the very structure of life and are involved in its most vital experiences in order that men and women may be taught the great truths which are behind all living and in learning which the discipline of living finds its splendid justification. A proclamation of emancipation may set slaves and serfs free from legal bondage but this is only the beginning of freedom. It is only an opportunity to become free for freedom is not a gift and can never be a gift it must always be an achievement a man buys his freedom by restraint self-denial and work. To the criticism of an artist that he ought to have done his work in another way Lafarge promptly said that would have been impossible an artist above all other men must work out his genius under laws neither in the substance of his work nor in its technique is he free he must express his own temperament and he must by rigorous discipline and tireless patience master the method by which at last he can freely express himself grace said George MacDonald is the result of forgotten toil the discipline of life which many people resent as an interference with their right to the pursuit of happiness is really if one bears it patiently and meets it frankly the only way to happiness this is especially true of such a tragic period as though through which the world is passing the shadow of the struggle and Flanders and the Balkans covers the landscape of the whole world and even those who are willing to buy peace at any price cannot purchase it try as they may to evade the great and terrible experience by shutting their eyes to it it faces them at every turn and the only escape from it is to meet it bravely and to learn what it has to teach people are trying to get away from the tragedy by taking refuge in amusements of many kinds miss Reblere has pithily said that the gospel of amusement is preached by people who lack experience to people who lack validity and she adds that there is an impression that the world would be happy if it were amused and that it would be amused if plenty of artificial recreation were provided for it play of all kinds is as necessary and legitimate as work helpful amusements and recreations are essential to physical and spiritual well-being but they must be taken as tonics not as anodines this country is not escaping the war by standing apart and shutting its eyes to the tragedy on the contrary the war over shadows every home and lays attacks on every income large or small whether we will or not we are our brother's keepers and the shadow of his calamity rests and ought to rest on our homes we cannot stand apart and rejoice in our prosperity in the long run his calamity must be our calamity and in some form we are sharing and must share it with him end of chapter 53 recording by Chad Horner from Balli Clare in County Antrim Northern Ireland chapter 54 of fruits of the spirit this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jay Reader fruits of the spirit by Hamilton Wright maybe chapter 54 what can I do a distinguished surgeon said not long ago if there is an accident in the street when I am passing I go at once and offer assistance if I can do anything I stay if I cannot I leave if I can do anything no amount of blood or mutilation has any effect on me I seem not to see it if I am at work but if I can do nothing I cannot bear the sight of blood it makes me ill this is probably a not uncommon experience with sensitive people it is certainly a significant experience in great peril nothing gives such poise and steadiness as having something to do which must be done on the instant very few men go into action for the first time without nervous trepidation but when the order comes that sends them into the thick of the fight danger is forgotten to be halted or to stand at rest under a heavy fire test the nerves of veterans but the signal to move forward even when it involves every chance of death releases an immense and joyful energy a man whose courage is known the world over said that he never had any sense of danger if he could do something if living were a purely intellectual process the position of the onlooker who had nothing to do would be ideal detached from the turmoil and disturbance about him he could study his age and his country with clear eyes and at leisure this would be true if the eye were an organ complete in itself if to see or simply to look but nobody sees with his eyes alone we see with our whole body so to speak every use of the eye involves a mental process into which memory judgment experience enter the whole mind sees with the eyes life is not an intellectual process it is a vital process no one can understand it who does not take part in it henry ward beecher once said that truth is not revealed to us to satisfy the intellect it is given to us only so far as it is necessary to develop character we know very little about the methods and ultimate designs of god in dealing with us but we know enough to enable us to live upright useful and intelligent lives the vital truths come to us as the result not of thinking but of living deeper truth is taught us by sorrow than by the reason what we call the heart opens life to us far more deeply than does the mind words which assume the division of our natures into separate organs are necessary and convenient but they are misleading if they give the impress that our natures are divisible and act through organs that are independent of one another we are indivisible and whatever we do involves mind and body will intellect and heart to understand life we must live and we live not in thought emotion and will only but in action it is a deep instinct which makes every normal man and woman ask what can I do and that question is not left unanswered there is always something to do if we are willing to do it and do not insist on doing something else many think there is nothing for them to do because they are more eager to choose their work than to do it as if the main thing where the kind of work a man does rather than the spirit in which he does it and the character he gets out of doing it there is a share in life for everyone there is work for every hand if you think there is nothing worthwhile for you to do read these words of dean stanley do something worth living for worth dying for is there no want no suffering no sorrows that you can relieve is there no act of tardy justice no deed of cheerful kindness no long forgotten duty that you can perform is there no reconciliation of some ancient quarrel no payment of some long outstanding debt no courtesy or love or honor to be rendered to those to whom it has long been due no charitable humble kind useful deed by which you can promote the glory of god or goodwill among men or peace upon earth if there be any such deed in god's name in christ's name go and do it end of chapter 54 chapter 55 of fruits of the spirit this is a libervox recording all libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libervox.org recording by charred horner from balaclare northern ardent fruits of the spirit by hamilton rite maybe chapter 55 in all great crises phrases are born real phrases are not manufactured they sum up and express great experiences such a phrase is that which was used by general galliani quoted in the outlook of june 14th jukubu when a year ago he was attacked by a grave illness which a slight operation and a short but immediate rest would have cured he declined to drop his work saying a chief must set an example in wartime and go jukubu that is to the very end unconsciously or instinctively as brave men do the saviour of paris not only struck a great note but announced a great principle of life in those words it is the men who go to the very end who are in every generation the saviours of society they preserve it from stagnation they redeem it from corruption it is undeniable that there is a downward stack in society that is impossible to build society on so strong a basis that it will automatically remain pure and vigorous society must be saved in every generation it is impossible to capitalise it so strongly that it can rest safely on its accumulated moral strength it has been shown many times in the commercial world that a business house cannot be built so strongly that it will go on by its own momentum after the men who have created it have passed away it will go on for a time but with subsiding energy and ultimately unless its strength is renewed in the near generation it will end in bankruptcy the attempt to establish society so that it can rest on its oars so to speak is doomed to failure because the power not of ourselves which makes for righteousness seems to take very little interest in ease and prosperity and an enormous interest in the establishment of righteousness morality lord moorley once said is not in the nature of things it is the nature of things and morality is a daily and arty reassertion and definition and conduct of righteousness the testing of courage is not the moment when the charge is made with ringing bulges and the impetus and the inspiration of a great strain onward it is when the inspiration of action has been lost when all the conditions are full of delusion and few see clearly on account of the depression and monotony and only they are heroically strengthened who are steadfast in the faith in which they began the fight loyal to the very end no one who reads the reports that come from the battlefields of europe can have the slightest idea of the stolen and almost despairing loyalty with which millions of men are now living in the mud standing fast with grim determination though with hardly a glimpse of victory these are the real heroes of the war and these are its blackest stars in every great struggle national or individual the crisis comes not when the danger seems most imminent but when the inspiration has ebbed and men stand fast not because they see that they are gaining ground but because they have privileged themselves to stand fast to the very end and no careers are more inspiring than those of the men who like cavore have stood year after year through long continued and paralyzing discouragements and defeats resolutely to the very end victory waits for such men and rewards them end of chapter 55 recording by chad horner from bali clare northern arland end of fritz of the spirit by hamilton right maybe