How to Live a Holy Life | Page 2

the
evening there is an inclination, on the part of a few at least, and maybe
more than a few, to slow down and not be their very best and most
active for God. We hope that this little book will arouse such ones to
greater zeal and earnestness. Diligence, yea, constant application, is the
secret of success in all manner of life and especially in the Christian
life.
This volume is written for all those who desire to please God with a
well -spent life. It is sent forth in Jesus' name, with a prayer--that God
bless and help both the reader and the writer to live life at its very best
and fulfil the purpose of God concerning them.
Your humble servant in Christian love,
The Author.

INTRODUCTION.
We have only one life to live, only one. Think of this for a moment.
Here we are in this world of time making the journey of life. Each day
we are farther from the cradle and nearer the grave. Solemn thought.
See the mighty concourse of human lives; hear their heavy tread in
their onward march. Some are just beginning life's journey; some are
midway up the hill, some have reached the top, and some are midway
down the western slope. But where are we all going? Listen, and you
will hear but one answer--"Eternity." Beyond the fading, dying gleams
of the sunset of life lies a boundless, endless ocean called Eternity.
Thitherward you and I are daily traveling.
Time is like a great wheel going its round. On and on it goes. Some are
stepping on and some are stepping off. But where are these latter
stepping? Into eternity. See that old man with bent form, snow-white
locks, and tottering steps. His has been a long round, but he has made it
at last. See the middle-aged. His round has not been so long, but he

must step off. See the youth. He has been on only a little while, but he
is brought to the stepping-off place. He thought his round would be
much longer. He supposed he was fairly getting started when that icy
hand was laid upon him and the usher said, "Come, you have made
your round, and you must go." The infant that gave its first faint cry
this morning may utter its last feeble wail tonight. And thus they go.
But where? Eternity.
If you were to start today and ask each person you met the question,
"Where are you going?" and, if possible, you were to travel the world
over and ask each one of earth's inhabitants, there could be but one
answer-- "Eternity."
"Oh, eternity, Long eternity! Hear the solemn footsteps Of eternity."
Only one life to live! Only one life, and then we must face vast, endless
eternity. We shall pass along the pathway of life but once. Every step
we take is a step that can never be taken again. With this fact in mind,
who does not feel like calling upon the All-wise to direct his every step.
If when we make a misstep we could go back and step it over, then
there would not be such great necessity to step carefully. But we can
never go back. We are leaving footprints. Just as our steps are, so will
the footprints be which will tell the story of our life. If we had a score
of lives to live, how to live this one would not be of such great moment.
We should then have nineteen lives in which to correct the errors and
sins of this one; but alas! we have but one. What, then, should we seek
more earnestly than to know how to live?
We doubt not but there is in the heart of the reader a strong desire to
live life as it should be lived. Thank God, you can. You desire your life
to be like the fertile oasis, where the weary traveler refreshes himself.
You have seen the rays of light lingering upon the hillside and treetop
and gilding the fleecy cloud after the sun had gone down. You desire
the beautiful rays of light from your life to linger long after your sun
has gone down. You can have it that way. The deeds you do will live
after you are gone. They are the footprints. Some one has said that we
each day are here building the house we are going to occupy in eternity.
If this be true, nothing should concern us so much as how to live. Some

men are devoting their time and the power of their intellects to
invention; some are studying statesmanship; some are studying the arts,
others the sciences; but we have come to learn a little more about how
to live. Many