Chapter 40—Exercise of the Will
Pure religion has to do with the will. The will is the governing
power in the nature of man, bringing all the other faculties under its
sway. The will is not the taste or the inclination, but it is the deciding
power, which works in the children of men unto obedience to God, or
unto disobedience.
Instability and Doubt
You are a young man of intelligence; you desire to make your
life such as will fit you for heaven at last. You are often discouraged
at finding yourself weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and
controlled by the habits and customs of your old life in sin. You find
your emotional nature untrue to yourself, to your best resolutions, and
to your most solemn pledges. Nothing seems real. Your own instability
leads you to doubt the sincerity of those who would do you good. The
more you struggle in doubt, the more unreal everything looks to you,
until it seems that there is no solid ground for you anywhere. Your
promises are like ropes of sand, and you regard in the same unreal
light the words and works of those in whom you should trust.
Strength Through Yielding the Will
You will be in constant peril until you understand the true force of
the will. You may believe and promise all things, but your promises or
your faith are of no value until you put your will on the side of faith
[152]
and action. If you fight the fight of faith with all your will-power, you
will conquer. Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions, are not
to be trusted, for they are not reliable, especially with your perverted
ideas; and the knowledge of your broken promises and your forfeited
pledges weakens your confidence in yourself, and the faith of others
in you.
But you need not despair. You must be determined to believe,
although nothing seems true and real to you. I need not tell you it is
133