Page:A Cloud of Independent Witnesses.djvu/79

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TESTIMONY OF REV. H. B. BROWNING. 73

this only so far as man in freedom resists them in himself, and abstains from evil actions as sins against the Lord. In proportion, then, as a man from this motive mortifies his selfish and worldly loves, ever looking to the Lord for help, the love of God and the neighbor will be shed abroad in his heart and be manifested in his words and deeds." (p. 237.)

HUMAN HAPPINESS— HO W A TTAINED.

"Love is richest in joy when we seek to manifest it in deeds of love. Happiness, whether here or in heaven, is found in the effort to make others happy. The law of delight is the law of use — of doing good to others. By bringing us into the good and orderly state of tenderness, mercy, charity, the Lord brings us into blessedness. Hence the doing of good works is immediately as well as prospectively profitable unto men.

" It is true, however, that in the beginning of the regenerate life, obedience springs from a sense of duty rather than from inclination. We have to restrain ourselves from doing wrong, and to compel ourselves to do right. The reason of this is — the obedience of faith precedes the obedience of love. But doing good from a sense of duty is the first step toward doing good from the love of goodness. The habit of obeying the

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