If the girl herself is reading these words let her be assured that more than any array of facts that she can gather, more than any proofs man can summon, she needs the Person.  The handicapped girl finds in Him strength to triumph in spite of it, the privileged girl finds in Him the inspiration for her work of extending her privileges, the girl who is easily led to find in Him one who never leads astray, the girl who is misunderstood can find in Him one who understands perfectly, the indifferent girl who “means to” will find in Him a friend to encourage, steady and compel, the girl who worships the twin idols can find in Him a rescuer who shall set her free, the girl of high ideals will see in Him the highest Ideal, the source of all the others, and the average girl of the every day with her good points and bad, her successes and failures, will find in Him a Friend who will make life seem wonderfully worth while.

Don’t let the multitude of things in which you are interested, the maze of contradiction, the abstract facts, the trials and hardships of life, the pleasures you love, or any other thing make you pass Him by.  If you gain everything else in life and miss Him you will fail to know what life means.  If you find Him you will find Love and that is the best thing life can give.

XVIII

THE GLORY OF THE CLIMAX

So many miss it.  It is more than duty but the path that leads to the glory of it often begins with the plain, insistent, ought of duty.  It is more than obedience, though without obedience none ever find it.  How many girls there are who are disappointed, dissatisfied, suffering perhaps in body and soul because they never learned to obey!  It is a great thing to be able to hear “you ought” and then at whatever cost to obey it.  But the climax is not found in these things great as they are.

Faithful servants of a religion whose law is duty one finds among girls and honors them.  Good and faithful servants of a religion whose law is obedience there are among girls.  But neither of these have found the glory of the climax.  The climax is Love.  The supreme command of the Founder of true religion is—­Thou shalt Love.

The religion of love is a girl’s religion and she can never be satisfied with any other.  If those who have tried to teach her religion have failed to show her this, then they have succeeded in giving her only a set of laws to be obeyed or a list of things she should not do.  Love gives to Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt Not power without which they can accomplish little.

Love transforms hard, disagreeable, empty service and makes it glorious.  No one knows this better than a girl.  She has done things when necessity compelled her to do them, and she has done them when love compelled her to do them.  She knows the difference.  Jesus founded His Kingdom on the knowledge He had of Love.  He knew the kingdom would stand.  On his lonely island of banishment dreaming in the twilight, with all the struggle and attainment behind him Napoleon realized it as he said, “Caesar, Charlemagne, I, have founded empires.  They were founded on force and have perished.  Jesus Christ has founded a kingdom on Love, and to this day there are millions who would die for Him.”