How was it in the same place only a few nights previously?  You went there alone, and happened to be late.  The house was well filled in the upper portion, but thinly occupied below the centre.  Now you are bound to have the best place, under all circumstances, if it can be obtained.  But all the best seats were well filled; and to crowd more into them, would be to diminish the comfort of all.  No matter.  You saw a little space in one of the desirable seats, and into it you passed, against the remonstrance of looks, and even half uttered objections.  A lady by your side, not in good health, was so crowded in consequence, and made so uncomfortable, that she could not listen with any satisfaction to the eloquent lecture she had come to hear.

We need say no more about your gentlemanly conduct in public places.  Enough has been suggested to give you our full meaning.

Shall we go on?  Do you call for other incidents in proof of our assumption?  Shall we follow you into other walks of life?

“No.”

Very well.  And, now, to press the matter home:  Do you, in the sight of that precept we have quoted, justify such conduct in a man who takes the name of Christian?  It was not gentlemanly, in any right sense of the word; and not being so, can it be Christian?

“Perhaps not.”

Assuredly not.  And you may depend upon it, sir, that your profession, and faith, and church-going, and ordinance-observing, will not stand you in that day when the book of your life is opened in the presence of God.  If there has been no genuine love of the neighbor—­no self-abnegation—­no self-denial for the good of others, all the rest will go for nothing, and you will pass over to abide forever with spirits of a like quality with your own.

Who made us your judge?  We judge no man!  But only point to the law of Christian life as given by God himself.  If you wish to dwell with him, you must obey his laws; and obedience to these will make you nothing less than a Christian gentleman—­that is, a gentleman in heart as well as in appearance.  The Project Gutenberg Etext of All’s For the Best by T. S. Arthur ******This file should be named allsb10.txt or allsb10.zip******

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