The great and universal crime of our race, Octavius Winslow, the weaned child, that I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me." Psalm 131, 2.

The first object from which our Heavenly Father weans His child is the idol self. Of all idols, this He finds the hardest to abandon. When man in paradise aspired to be as God, God was dethroned from his soul and the creature became as a deity to itself. From that moment, the idolatry of self has been the great and universal crime of our race.

In the soul of the regenerate, divine grace has done much to dethrone this idol and to reinstate God. The work, however, is but partially accomplished. The dishonored and rejected rival is reluctant to relinquish his throne and yield to the supreme control and sway of another. Thus, much still lingers in the heart which the spirit has renewed and inhabits, of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-seeking, and self-love.

From all this our father seeks to wean us. from our own wisdom, which is but folly, from our own strength, which is but weakness, from our own wills, which are often as an uncurbed steed, from our own ways, which are crooked, from our own hearts, which are deceitful, from our own judgments, which are dark. From our own ends, which are narrow and selfish, He would wean and detach us, that our souls may get more and more back to their original centre of repose, God Himself.

From self, God would gently and tenderly, but effectually, wean us, that we may learn to rely upon His wisdom, to repose in His strength, to consult His honour, and to seek His glory and smile supremely and alone.