WITHIN AND WITHOUT

^[p. 101] WITHIN AND WITHOUT

Deep and true work must always begin within; though it is not half as showy as when it begins without. When it begins without, the manner and tone are all regulated by a certain approved form; and the pupil appears as he progresses, nice, orderly, and devout. The Friends, as a sect, afford the best specimen of this order - they speak advisedly and act cautiously; but they are really like consumptive people, all their colour is in their cheeks, and life within is failing. No doubt the one cast in a mould, as clay is, to make a brick, is, as a rule, the acceptable one, and the one who steers easily and with commendation through the rivers of ordinary life. They are successful in smooth waters, but if they drift into the sea, and the waves arise, all their acquired dignity vanishes, like stiffening from muslin in the rain. Their order and self-government are all outside, there is no sovereign power within, whose sway has been extending to the extreme confines, and which when any incursion or trial befalls any part, even the most uncultivated and most unsubdued, sends forthwith a direct force to its support, repels the enemy, and fortifies it against future attack. I do not approve of the unprotected state of the outlying provinces, or the way they expose themselves to attack; but I say that in the end they will be better governed under a strong central power, than when they were left to militiamen making a great appearance by their exercises and accoutrements. Many of your provinces and mine have been exposed to attack, and we have had to learn to fortify them by the grace given us. Christ, the wisdom of God, and the power of God, is by His Spirit the Sovereign; but we must yield ourselves to His rule so that it may extend to the utmost confines of our whole being; and thank God it is more effectual and for His glory, than if we had been cast in some mould which every one would commend. We are not moulded, we ^[p. 102] are hammered; and every one knows that the latter even on iron is the most enduring. I am afraid of the educated mould, but this makes me the more careful that we should be truly and fully hammered into the will and manner of our Sovereign. Do not excuse the wildness, insubjection, or carelessness of any of the provinces - any of your acts or utterances, but let the controlling and modulating of them proceed from Him who rules on the throne of your heart; and do not make little of the exposures which take place in the most distant parts of your kingdom: any defects in the extreme provinces, like want of animation in the extremities of the body, always indicate feebleness of life in the heart, and medical men thus form an opinion of the state of health. The way that we do the least things really indicates to us the extent and scope of Christ’s rule in our hearts. If the extreme provinces be well governed all must be in vigour. Christ must govern, and He imparts the beauty and strength of His own grace to every act; whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God. If I am occupied with the mere act, I am affected; affectation is occupation with one’s own acts, and therefore with the effort to obtain approval; but if I am occupied with the Object and Lord of my heart, I do the thing to please Him, and the one most grateful to my heart because it pleases Him. May you so yield yourself in heart and purpose to Him (for it is with the humble and contrite heart He dwells), that in every little thing there may be the evidence and colour of the great central power, and therefore far superior to the artificial flower which never has any perfume.