mm Organ of ihe Norlh Carolina Conference. SIXTY-THIRD YEAR. mmrrmrwmmmmemcBn LL.. RALEIGH, N. C, JUNE 7, 1917. NUMBER 19. 1CZZ1( D Keeping Life Spiritual. "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love." Who is there but has sung the lines of this' well known hymn, deeply conscious of the tragic truth it presents? A "proneness to wander" is sadly evident in human life. The spiritual con tent is too often lost out and material interests encompass the thought, the will and the affection of the soul. Men do lose their vision of God and their grip upon the higher realities of life. They lose it not because they must, for many have lived for years in the sweetest communion and fellowship with their Lord. But they have permitted the cares and the temptations of life to obscure their vision of God and draw their thoughts away from the higher realities. They have allowed their efforts to be too much or altogether centered upon the pleasures and treasures of the material world, only to find that their souls have not found the satisfaction they craved. How true are the words of Charles M. Schwab, recently spoken: "Oh, the weariness of wealth I One soon tires of private cars and private yachts, and of having everything that heart might wish !" But he whose chief pursuit is the serving of God, the cultiva tion of His fellowship, the striving after the highest ideals of life, never utters such a sentiment as to his possessions. He finds life growing sweeter and hope shines with brighter glow. "The path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Our lives should be kept spiritual at all hazards and at any cost. No compensation is great enough to repay one who fails so to do. We say that not merely with reference to the future life, but as well to this. Oh, the joy and happiness and glad ness and sweet satisfaction that comes to the persons who abide in the secret of His presence and under the shelter of His wing! Does it cost ? Indeed it does. All good things do. But they are worth it. And of nothing is it more true than this. It will require a sharp and complete break with all sin and the diligent employment of every means of grace. But out of it come soul rest and unbroken peace. The Evangelical Messenger. 0 1 D III 0 V I wv