_NAMES AND NATURES_
ROMANS viii. 1-10.
Men will recognize my Christianity by the sign of the Spirit of Christ.
And they will accept no other witness. I saw a plant-pot the other day,
full of soil, bearing no flower, but flaunting a stick on which was
printed the word "Mignonette." "Thou hast a name to live and art dead."
The world will take no notice of our labels and our badges: it is only
arrested by the flower and the perfume. "If any man hath not the Spirit of
Christ he is none of His."
And in the Spirit of Christ I shall best deal with "_the things of the
flesh_." There are some things which are best overcome by neglecting them.
To give them attention is to give them nourishment. Withdraw the
attention, and they sicken and die. And so I must seek the fellowship of
the Spirit. That friendship will destroy the other. "Ye cannot serve God
and Mammon." If I am in communion with the Holy One the other will pine
away, and cease to trouble me.
Lord, make my spirit a kinsman of Thine! Let the intimacy be ever deeper
and dearer. "Draw me nearer, blessed Lord," until in nearness to Thee I
find my peace, my joy, and my crown.