How to Live a Holy Life

How to Live a Holy Life, by C. E.
Orr

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How to Live a Holy Life
C. E. Orr

DEVOTIONAL READING.
A person may almost be known by the books he reads. If he habitually
reads bad books, we can pretty safely conclude that he is a bad man; on
the other hand, if he habitually reads religious books, we can
reasonably presume that he is a religious man. Why is this? It is
because the nature of a person's books is usually the nature of his
thoughts; and as a man thinks, so he is.
Consequently, our reading devotional literature is a great aid to our
being devotional. Too few, I fear, realize how important to our spiritual
advancement is the cultivation of a taste for devotional reading. As a
rule, those who have a taste for spiritual books and gratify that taste
prosper in the Lord, while those who have no relish for such books
labor at a great disadvantage. Some one has said that "he who begins a

devout life without a taste for spiritual reading may consider the
ordinary difficulties multiplied in his case by ten." The most spiritual
men of all ages have had a strong love for reading spiritual books. If,
however, my reader happens not to have such a taste or such a love, he
should not be discouraged, for it can be created and increased through
perseverance in reading devotional literature. Just as a person who does
not relish a certain food may learn to like it if he will persist in eating it,
so a person who does not have a taste for devotional books may come
to enjoy them if he will diligently and prayerfully peruse them.
Spiritual reading invigorates the intellect, warms the affections, and
begets in us a desire for more of God's fulness and for a more heavenly
life. It is especially helpful to prayer. When the mind is dull and the
spirits low and we have no inspiration for prayer, the reading of a
spiritual poem will often so stimulate the mind, raise the spirits, and
animate the soul, as to make it easy for us to pray.
As to what books to read, the Bible, of course, is the best of all. But we
need others. Although no other book can take the place of the Bible and
none of us should neglect reading it, there are many books that can
profitably be read in connection with it.
But whatever devotional book you are reading, do not read too fast.
Think and digest as you go. Let there be a frequent lifting of the heart
to God in prayer. It is not the bee that flies so swiftly from flower to
flower that gathers the honey, but the bee that goes down into the
flower. A few sentences taken into the mind and heart, and dwelt upon
until they have become a part of us, are better than many pages read
superficially.

PREFACE.
If the reading of this little book encourages any on their pilgrim way; if
it arouses them to greater diligence; if it creates in them a stronger
desire to live more like Christ; if it gives them a better understanding of
how to live,--this poor servant of the Lord will be fully rewarded for all

his labor.
Even among the children of God in this beautiful gospel light of