DECISION
Many men turn aside from religion, where their interest would be compromised. If I
see two men walking together, I cannot tell who is the master of the dog that is
behind, but I shall discover directly; one of them will turn to the right and the other
to the left; now I shall know who is the master of the dog, for when it comes to the
turning point the dog will go with its master and leave the stranger. You cannot
always tell whether it is God or Mammon that a man is serving when virtue is
profitable; but when it comes to the turning point, and the man has to be a loser for
Christ, in what he gives up for Christ’s sake, then sincerity is tried. Turning points
are places where we may judge ourselves, for they are the only true criterions of our
real character. 685.210
But if it be your duty, my dear brother and sister, thus to do the right, do it if the
skies fall. 796.101
A balloon cannot go up into the sky until the last rope is cut. Oh, for that sharp,
decisive step, by which, like Abraham, you come out from your father’s house that
you may be a sojourner with God in the land which his grace will show you. 2086.285