,making the ,most of ,life ,,by ,j4 ,r4 ,,miller1 ,d4,d4 ,,author ,,of ,,silent ,,times1 ,,things ,,to ,,live ,,for1 ,,building ,,of ,,character1 ,,the ,,golden ,,gate ,,of ,,prayer1 ,,etc4 ,i am the ,lord thy ,god ,which teacheth to profit4 ,,isaiah4 ,new ,york ,,thomas ,y4 ,,crowell ,,co4 ,,publishers ,copyright1 #ahia1 by ,t4 ,y4 ,,crowell ,co4 ,a ,,word ,,of ,,introduction4 ,alexander was accustomed to say2 ,philip of ,macedon gave me life1 but it was ,aristotle who taught me how to make the most of life4 ,to have the gift of life is a solemn thing4 ,life is ,god's most sacred trust4 ,it is not ours to do with as we please2 it must be accounted for1 every particle1 every power1 every possibility of it4 ,these chapters are written with the purpose and hope of stimulating those who may read them to earnest and worthy living4 ,if they seem urgent1 if they present continually motives of thoughtfulness1 if they dwell almost exclusively on the side of obligation and responsibility1 if they make duty ever prominent and call to self-renunciation and self-sacrifice1 leaving small space for play1 it is because life itself is really most serious1 and because we must meet it seriously1 recognizing its sacred meaning and girding ourselves for it with all earnestness and energy4 ,if this book shall teach any how to make the most of the life ,god has entrusted to them1 that will be reward enough for the work of its preparation4 ,to this service it is affectionately dedicated1 in the name of ,him who made the most of his blessed life by losing it in love's sacrifice1 and who calls us also to die to self that we may live unto ,god4 ,j4 ,r4 ,m4 ,,philadelphia4 ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,making ,,the ,,most ,,of ,,life ,,ii4 ,,laid ,,on ,,god',s ,,altar ,,iii4 ,,christ',s ,,interest ,,in ,,our ,,common ,,life ,,iv4 ,,the ,,possibilities ,,of ,,prayer ,v4 ,,getting ,,christ',s ,,touch ,,vi4 ,,the ,,blessing ,,of ,a ,,burden ,,vii4 ,,heart-,,peace ,,before ,,ministry ,,viii4 ,,moral ,,curvatures ,,ix4 ,,transfigured ,,lives ,x4 ,,the ,,interpretation ,,of ,,sorrow ,,xi4 ,,other ,,people ,,xii4 ,,the ,,blessing ,,of ,,faithfulness ,,xiii4 ,,without ,,axe ,,or ,,hammer ,,xiv4 ,,doing ,,things ,,for ,,christ ,,xv4 ,,helping ,,and ,,over-,,helping ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,only ,,one ,,xvii4 ,,swiftness ,,in ,,duty ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,shadows ,,we ,,cast ,,xix4 ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,opportunities ,,xx4 ,,the ,,sin ,,of ,,ingratitude ,,xxi4 ,,some ,,secrets ,,of ,,happy ,,home ,,life ,,xxii4 ,,god',s ,,winter ,,plants ,,xxiii4 ,,unfinished ,,life-,,building ,,xxiv4 ,,iron ,,shoes ,,for ,,rough ,,roads ,,xxv4 ,,the ,,shutting ,,of ,,docks ,,making ,,the ,,most ,,of ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,making ,,the ,,most ,,of ,,life4 ,measure thy life by loss instead of gain2 ,not by the wine drunk1 but the wine poured forth2 ,for love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice1 ,and whoso suffers most hath most to give4 --,the ,disciples4 ,according to our ,lord's teaching1 we can make the most of our life by losing it4 ,he says that losing the life for his sake is saving it4 ,there is a lower self that must be trampled down and trampled to death by the higher self4 ,the alabaster vase must be broken1 that the ointment may flow out to fill the house4 ,the grapes must be crushed1 that there may be wine to drink4 ,the wheat must be bruised1 before it can become bread to feed hunger4 ,it is so in life4 ,whole1 unbruised1 unbroken men are of but little use4 ,true living is really a succession of battles1 in which the better triumphs over the worse1 the spirit over the flesh4 ,until we cease to live for self1 we have not begun to live at all4 ,we can never become truly useful and helpful to others until we have learned this lesson4 ,one may live for self and yet do many pleasant things for others2 but one's life can never become the great blessing to the world it was meant to be until the law of self-sacrifice has become its heart principle4 ,a great oak stands in the forest4 ,it is beautiful in its majesty2 it is ornamental2 it casts a pleasant shade4 ,under its branches the children play2 among its boughs the birds sing4 ,one day the woodman comes with his axe1 and the tree quivers in all its branches1 under his sturdy blows4 ,i am being destroyed1 it cries4 ,so it seems1 as the great tree crashes down to the ground4 ,and the children are sad because they can play no more beneath the broad branches2 the birds grieve because they can no more nest and sing amid the summer foliage4 ,but let us follow the tree's history4 ,it is cut into boards1 and built into a beautiful cottage1 where human hearts find their happy nest4 ,or it is used in making a great organ which leads the worship of a congregation4 ,the losing of its life was the saving of it4 ,it died that it might become deeply1 truly useful4 ,the plates1 cups1 dishes1 and vases which we use in our homes and on our tables1 once lay as common clay in the earth1 quiet and restful1 but in no way doing good1 serving man4 ,then came men with picks1 and the clay was rudely torn out and plunged into a mortar and beaten and ground in a mill1 then pressed1 and then put into a furnace1 and burned and burned1 at last coming forth in beauty1 and beginning its history of usefulness4 ,it was apparently destroyed that it might begin to be of service4 ,a great church-building is going up1 and the stones that are being laid on the walls are brought out of the dark quarry for this purpose4 ,we can imagine them complaining1 groaning1 and repining1 as the quarry men's drills and hammers struck them4 ,they supposed they were being destroyed as they were torn out from the bed of rock where they had lain undisturbed for ages1 and were cut into blocks1 and lifted out1 and then as they were chiselled and dressed into form4 ,but they were being destroyed only that they might become useful4 ,they become part of a new sanctuary1 in which ,god is to be worshipped1 where the ,gospel will be preached1 where penitent sinners will find the ,christ-,saviour1 where sorrowing ones will be comforted4 ,surely it was better that these stones should be torn out1 even amid agony1 and built into the wall of the church1 than that they should have lain ages more1 undisturbed in the dark quarry4 ,they were saved from uselessness by being destroyed4 ,these are simple illustrations of the law which applies also in human life4 ,we must die to be useful--to be truly a blessing4 ,our ,lord put this truth in a little parable1 when he said that the seed must fall into the earth and die that it may bear fruit4 ,christ's own cross is the highest illustration of this4 ,his friends said he wasted his precious life2 but was that life wasted when ,jesus was crucified8 ,george ,mac,donald in one of his little poems1 with deep spiritual insight1 presents this truth of the blessed gain of ,christ's life through his sacrifice and death3-- ,for three and thirty years1 a living seed1 ,a lonely germ1 dropt on our waste world's side1 ,thy death and rising1 thou didst calmly bide2 ,sore compassed by many a clinging weed ,sprung from the fallow soil of evil and need2 ,hither and thither tossed1 by friends denied2 ,pitied of goodness dull1 and scorned of pride2 ,until at length was done the awful deed1 ,and thou didst lie outworn in stony bower-- ,three days asleep--oh1 slumber godlike1 brief1 ,for ,man of sorrows and acquaint with grief1 ,heaven's seed1 ,thou diedst1 that out of thee might tower ,aloft1 with rooted stem and shadowy leaf ,of all ,humanity the crimson flower4 ,people said that ,harriet ,newell's beautiful life was wasted when she gave it to missions1 and then died and was buried far from home--bride1 missionary1 mother1 saint1 all in one short year1--without even telling to one heathen woman or child the story of the ,saviour4 ,but was that lovely young life indeed wasted8 ,no2 all this century her name has been one of the strongest inspirations to missionary work1 and her influence has brooded everywhere1 touching thousands of hearts of gentle women and strong men1 as the story of her consecration has been told4 ,had ,harriet ,newell lived a thousand years of quiet1 sweet life at home1 she could not have done the work that she did in one short year by giving her life1 as it seemed1 an unavailing sacrifice4 ,she lost her life that she might save it4 ,she died that she might live4 ,she offered herself a living sacrifice that she might become useful4 ,in heart and spirit we must all do the same if we would ever be a real blessing in the world4 ,we must be willing to lose our life--to sacrifice ourself1 to give up our own way1 our own ease1 our own comfort1 possibly even our own life2 for there come times when one's life must literally be lost in order to be saved4 ,it was in a mine in ,england4 ,there had been a fearful explosion1 and the men came rushing up from the lower level1 right into the danger of the deathly afterblast2 when the only chance of safety was in another shaft4 ,and one man knew this and stood there in the dangerous passage1 warning the men4 ,when urged to go himself the safe way1 he said1 ,no2 some one must stay here to guide the others4 ,is there any heroism of this world's life finer than that8 ,it was at ,fredericksburg1 after a bloody battle4 ,hundreds of ,union soldiers lay wounded on the field4 ,all night and all next day the space was swept by artillery from both armies2 and no one could venture to the sufferers' relief4 ,all that time1 too1 there went up from the field agonizing cries for water1 but there was no response save the roar of the guns4 ,at length1 however1 one brave fellow behind the ramparts1 a ,southern soldier1 felt that he could endure these piteous cries no longer4 ,his compassion rose superior to his love of life4 ,general1 said ,richard ,kirkland to his commander1 ,i can't stand this4 ,those poor souls out there have been praying for water all night and all day1 and it is more than ,i can bear4 ,i ask permission to carry them water4 ,the general assured him that it would be instant death for him to appear upon the field1 but he begged so earnestly that the officer1 admiring his noble devotion to humanity1 could not refuse his request4 ,provided with a supply of water1 the brave soldier stepped over the wall and went on his ,christ-like errand4 ,from both sides wondering eyes looked on as he knelt by the nearest sufferer1 and gently raising his head1 held the cooling cup to his parched lips4 ,at once the ,union soldiers understood what the soldier in gray was doing for their own wounded comrades1 and not a shot was fired4 ,for an hour and a half he continued his work1 giving drink to the thirsty1 straightening cramped and mangled limbs1 pillowing men's heads on their knapsacks1 and spreading blankets and army coats over them1 tenderly as a mother would cover her child2 and all the while1 until this angel-ministry was finished1 the fusillade of death was hushed4 ,again we must admire the heroism that led this brave soldier in gray so utterly to forget himself for the sake of doing a deed of mercy to his enemies4 ,there is more grandeur in five minutes of such self-renunciation than in a whole lifetime of self-interest and self-seeking4 ,there is something ,christly in it4 ,how poor1 paltry1 and mean1 alongside the records of such deeds1 appear men's selfish strivings1 self-interests' boldest venturing6 ,we must get the same spirit in us if we would become in any large and true sense a blessing to the world4 ,we must die to live4 ,we must lose our life to save it4 ,we must lay self on the altar to be consumed in the fire of love1 in order to glorify ,god and do good to men4 ,our work may be fair1 even though mingled with self2 but it is only when self is sacrificed1 burned on the altar of consecration1 consumed in the hot flames of love1 that our work becomes really our best1 a fit offering to be made to our ,king4 ,we must not fear that in such sacrifice1 such renunciation and annihilation of self1 we shall lose ourselves4 ,god will remember every deed of love1 every forgetting of self1 every emptying out of life4 ,though we work in obscurest places1 where no human tongue shall ever voice our praise1 still there is a record kept1 and some day rich and glorious reward will be given4 ,is not ,god's praise better than man's8 ,ungathered beauties of a bounteous earth1 ,wild flowers which grow on mountain-paths untrod4 ,white water-lilies looking up to ,god ,from solitary tarns--and human worth ,doing meek duty that no glory gains1 ,heroic souls in secret places sown1 ,to live1 to suffer1 and to die unknown-- ,are not that loveliness and all these pains ,wasted8 ,alas1 then does it not suffice ,that ,god is on the mountain1 by the lake1 ,and in each simple duty1 for whose sake ,his children give their very blood as price8 ,the ,father sees4 ,if this does not repay1 ,what else8 ,for plucked flowers fade and praises slay4 ,mary's ointment was wasted when she broke the vase and poured it upon her ,lord4 ,yes2 but suppose she had left the ointment in the unbroken vase8 ,what remembrance would it then have had8 ,would there have been any mention of it on the ,gospel pages8 ,would her deed of careful keeping have been told over all the world8 ,she broke the vase and poured it out1 lost it1 sacrificed it1 and now the perfume fills all the earth4 ,we may keep our life if we will1 carefully preserving it from waste2 but we shall have no reward1 no honor from it1 at the last4 ,but if we empty it out in loving service1 we shall make it a lasting blessing to the world1 and we shall be remembered forever4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,laid ,,on ,,god',s ,,altar4 ,my life is not my own1 but ,christ's1 who gave it1 ,and he bestows it upon all the race2 ,i lose it for his sake1 and thus ,i save it2 ,i hold it close1 but only to expend it2 ,accept it1 ,lord1 for others1 through thy grace4 ,we have to die to live4 ,that is the central law of life4 ,we must burn to give light to the world1 or to give forth odor of incense to ,god's praise4 ,we cannot save ourselves and at the same time make anything worthy of our life1 or be in any deep and true sense an honor to ,god and a blessing to the world4 ,the altar stands in the foreground of every life1 and can be passed by only at the cost of all that is noblest and best4 ,all the practical side of religion is summed up in the exhortation of ,st4 ,paul1 that we present our bodies a living sacrifice to ,god4 ,anciently1 a man brought a lamb and presented it to ,god1 laid it on the altar1 to be consumed by ,god's fire4 ,in like manner1 we are to present our bodies4 ,the first thing is not to be a worker1 a preacher1 a saver of souls2 the very first thing in a ,christian life is to present one's self to ,god1 to lay one's self on the altar4 ,we need to understand this4 ,it is easier to talk and work for ,christ than to give ourselves to him4 ,it is easier to offer ,god a few activities than to give him a heart4 ,but the heart must be first1 else even the largest gifts and services are not acceptable4 ',tis not thy work the ,master needs1 but thee1-- ,the obedient spirit1 the believing heart4 ,a living sacrifice4 ,a sacrifice is something really given to ,god1 to be his altogether and forever4 ,we cannot take it back any more4 ,one could not lay a lamb on ,god's altar and then a minute or two afterward run up and take it off4 ,we cannot be ,god's to-day and our own to-morrow4 ,if we become his at all1 in a sacrifice which he accepts1 we are his always4 ,how can we present ourselves as a sacrifice to ,god8 ,by the complete surrender of our heart and will and all our powers to him4 ,absolute obedience is consecration4 ,the soldier learns it4 ,he is not his own4 ,he does not think for himself1 to1 make his own plans2 he has but one duty--to obey4 ,payson used to talk of his lost will--lost in ,god's will1 he meant4 ,that is what presenting one's self a sacrifice means4 ,it is a living sacrifice4 ,anciently1 the sacrifices were killed2 they were laid dead on the altar4 ,we are to present ourselves living4 ,the fire consumed the ancient offering2 the fire of ,god's love and of his ,spirit consumes our lives by purifying them and filling them with divine life4 ,those on whom the fire fell on the day of ,pentecost became new men4 ,there was a new life in their souls1 a new ardor1 a new enthusiasm4 ,they were on fire with love for ,christ4 ,they entered upon a service in which all their energies flamed4 ,the living sacrifice includes all the life1--not what it is now only1 but all that it may become4 ,life is not a diamond1 but a seed1 with possibilities of endless growth4 ,dr4 ,lyman ,abbott has used this illustration3 ,i pluck an acorn from the greensward1 and hold it to my ear2 and this is what it says to me3 ',by and by the birds will come and nest in me4 ,by and by ,i will furnish shade for the cattle4 ,by and by ,i will provide warmth for the home in the pleasant fire4 ,by and by ,i will be shelter from the storm to those who have gone under the roof4 ,by and by ,i will be the strong ribs of the great vessel1 and the tempest will beat against me in vain1 while ,i carry men across the ,atlantic4' ',o foolish little acorn1 wilt thou be all this8' ,i ask4 ,and the acorn answers1 ',yes2 ,god and ,i4' ,i look into the faces of a company of children1 and ,i hear a whisper1 saying3 ,by and by ,i will be a great blessing to many4 ,by and by other lives will come and find nest and home in me4 ,by and by the weary will sit in the shadow of my strength4 ,by and by ,i will sit as comforter in a home of sorrow4 ,by and by ,i will speak the words of ,christ's salvation in ears of lost ones4 ,by and by ,i will shine in the full radiancy of the beauty of ,christ1 and be among the glorified with my ,redeemer4 ,you1 frail1 powerless1 little one8 ,i ask2 and the answer is1 ,yes2 ,christ and ,i4 ,and all these blessed possibilities that are in the life of the young person must go upon the altar in the living sacrifice4 ,take another view of it4 ,some people seem to suppose that only spiritual exercises are included in this living sacrifice2 that it does not cover their business1 their social life1 their amusements4 ,but it really embraces the whole of life4 ,we belong to ,god as truly on ,monday as on the ,lord's ,day4 ,we must keep ourselves laid on ,god's altar as really while we are at our week-day work as when we are in a prayer-meeting4 ,we are always on duty as ,christians1 whether we are engaged in our secular pursuits or in exercises of devotion4 ,all our work should therefore be done reverently1 as unto the ,lord4 ,we should do everything also for ,god's eye and according to the principled of righteousness4 ,the consecrated mechanic must put absolute truth into every piece of work he does4 ,the consecrated business man must conduct his business on the principles of divine righteousness4 ,the consecrated millionaire must get his money on ,god's altar1 so that every dollar of it shall do business for ,god1 blessing the world4 ,the consecrated housekeeper must keep her home so sweet and so tidy and beautiful all the days1 that she would never be ashamed for her ,master to come in without warning to be her guest4 ,that is1 when we present ourselves to ,god as a living sacrifice1 we are to be ,god's in every part and in every phase of our life1 wherever we go1 whatever we do4 ,i cannot be of any use1 says one4 ,i cannot talk in meetings4 ,i cannot pray in public4 ,i have no gift for visiting the sick4 ,there is nothing ,i can do for ,christ4 ,well1 if ,christian service were all talking and praying in meetings1 and visiting the sick1 it would be discouraging to such talentless people4 ,but are our tongues the only faculties we can use for ,christ8 ,there are ways in which even silent people can belong to ,god and be a blessing in the world4 ,a star does not talk1 but its calm1 steady beam shines down continually out of the sky1 and is a benediction to many4 ,a flower cannot sing bird-songs1 but its sweet beauty and gentle fragrance make it a blessing wherever it is seen4 ,be like a star in your peaceful shining1 and many will thank ,god for your life4 ,be like the flower in your pure beauty and in the influence of your unselfish spirit1 and you may do more to bless the world than many who talk incessantly4 ,the living sacrifice does not always mean active work4 ,it may mean the patient endurance of a wrong1 the quiet bearing of a pain1 cheerful acquiescence in a disappointment4 ,noble deeds are held in honor2 ,but the wide world sadly needs ,hearts of patience to unravel ,the worth of common deeds4 ,there are some people who think it impossible in their narrow sphere and in their uncongenial circumstances to live so as to win ,god's favor or be blessings in the world4 ,but there is no doubt that many of the most beautiful lives of earth1 in ,heaven's sight1 are those that are lived in what seem the most unfavorable conditions4 ,a visitor to ,amsterdam wished to hear the wonderful music of the chimes of ,st4 ,nicholas1 and went up into the tower of the church to hear it4 ,there he found a man with wooden gloves on his hands1 pounding on a keyboard4 ,all he could hear was the clanging of the keys when struck by the wooden gloves1 and the harsh1 deafening noise of the bells close over his head4 ,he wondered why people talked of the marvellous chimes of ,st4 ,nicholas4 ,to his ear there was no music in them1 nothing but terrible clatter and clanging4 ,yet1 all the while1 there floated out over and beyond the city the most entrancing music4 ,men in the fields paused in their work to listen and were made glad4 ,people in their homes and travellers on the highways were thrilled by the marvellous bell-notes that fell from the chimes4 ,there are many lives which to those who dwell close beside them seem to make no music4 ,they pour out their strength in hard toil4 ,they are shut up in narrow spheres4 ,they dwell amid the noise and clatter of common task-work4 ,they appear to be only striking wooden hammers on rattling1 noisy keys4 ,there can be nothing pleasing to ,god in their life1 men would say4 ,they think themselves that they are not of any use1 that no blessing goes out from their life4 ,they never dream that sweet music is made anywhere in the world by their noisy hammering4 ,as the bell-chimer in his little tower hears no music from his own ringing of the bells1 so they think of their hard toil as producing nothing but clatter and clangor2 but out over the world where the influence goes from their work and character1 human lives are blessed1 and weary ones hear with gladness sweet1 comforting music4 ,then away off in heaven1 where angels listen for earth's melody1 most entrancing strains are heard4 ,no doubt it will be seen at the last that many of earth's most acceptable living sacrifices have been laid on the altar in the narrowest spheres and in the midst of the hardest conditions4 ,what to the ears of close listeners is only the noise of painful toil is heard in heaven as music sweet as angels' song4 ,the living sacrifice is acceptable unto ,god4 ,it ought to be a wondrous inspiration to know this2 that even the lowliest things we do for ,christ are pleasing to him4 ,we ought to be able to do better1 truer work1 when we think of his gracious acceptance of it4 ,it is told of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 that while still a pupil1 before his genius burst into brilliancy1 he received a special inspiration in this way3 ,his old and famous master1 because of his growing infirmities of age1 felt obliged to give up his own work1 and one day bade ,da ,vinci finish for him a picture which he had begun4 ,the young man had such a reverence for his master's skill that he shrank from the task4 ,the old artist1 however1 would not accept any excuse1 but persisted in his command1 saying simply1 ,do your best4 ,da ,vinci at last tremblingly seized the brush and kneeling before the easel prayed3 ,it is for the sake of my beloved master that ,i implore skill and power for this undertaking4 ,as he proceeded1 his hand grew steady1 his eye awoke with slumbering genius4 ,he forgot himself and was filled with enthusiasm for his work4 ,when the painting was finished1 the old master was carried into the studio to pass judgment on the result4 ,his eye rested on a triumph of art4 ,throwing his arms about the young artist1 he exclaimed1 ,my son1 ,i paint no more4 ,there are some who shrink from undertaking the work which the ,master gives them to do4 ,they are not worthy2 they have no skill or power for the delicate duty4 ,but to all their timid shrinking and withdrawing1 the ,master's gentle yet urgent word is1 ,do your best4 ,they have only to kneel in lowly reverence and pray1 for the beloved ,master's sake1 for skill and strength for the task assigned1 and they will be inspired and helped to do it well4 ,the power of ,christ will rest upon them and the love of ,christ will be in their heart4 ,and all work done under this blessed inspiration will be acceptable unto ,god4 ,we have but truly to lay the living sacrifice on the altar2 then ,god will send the fire4 ,we need to get this matter of consecration down out of cloud-land into the region of actual1 common daily living4 ,we sing about it and pray for it and talk of it in our religious meetings1 ofttimes in glowing mood1 as if it were some exalted state with which earth's life of toil1 struggle1 and care had nothing whatever to do4 ,but the consecration suggested by the living sacrifice is one that walks on the earth1 that meets life's actual duties1 struggles1 temptations1 and sorrows1 and that falters not in obedience1 fidelity1 or submission1 but follows ,christ with love and joy wherever he leads4 ,no other consecration pleases ,god4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,christ',s ,,interest ,,in ,,our ,,common ,,life4 ,so still1 dear ,lord1 in every place ,thou standest by the toiling folk ,with love and pity in thy face1 ,and givest of thy help and grace ,to those who meekly bear the yoke4 ,one of our ,lord's after-resurrection appearances vividly pictures his loving interest in our common toil4 ,while waiting for him to come to ,galilee1 the disciples had gone back for a time to their old work of fishing4 ,they were poor men1 and this was probably necessary in order to provide for their own subsistence4 ,thus fishing was the duty that lay nearest4 ,yet it must have been dreary work for them after the exalted privileges they had enjoyed so long4 ,think what the last three years had been to these men4 ,jesus had taken them into the most intimate fellowship with himself--into closest confidential friendship4 ,they had listened to his wonderful words1 seen his gracious acts1 and witnessed his sweet life4 ,think what a privilege it was to live thus with ,jesus those beautiful years2 what glimpses of heaven they had2 what visions of radiant life shone before them4 ,but now this precious experience was ended4 ,the lovely dream had vanished4 ,they were back again at their old work4 ,how dreary it must have been--this tiresome handling of oars and boats and fishing-nets1 after their years of exalted life with their ,master6 ,but it is a precious thought to us that just at this time1 when they were in the midst of the dull and wearisome work1 and when they were sadly discouraged1 ,christ appeared to them4 ,it showed his interest in their work1 his sympathy with them in their discouragement1 and his readiness to help them4 ,then the revealings of his appearance that morning are for all his friends and for all time4 ,we know now that our risen ,saviour is interested in whatever we have to do1 and is ready to help us in all our dull1 common life4 ,he will come to his people1 not in the church service1 the prayer-meeting1 the ,holy ,supper only1 but is quite as apt to reveal himself to them in the task-work of the plainest1 dullest day4 ,susan ,coolidge writes3-- ,that thy full glory may abound1 increase1 ,and so thy likeness shall be formed in me1 ,i pray2 the answer is not rest or peace1 ,but changes1 duties1 wants1 anxieties1 ,till there seems room for everything but thee1 ,and never time for anything but these4 ,and ,i should fear1 but lo6 amid the press1 ,the whirl and hum and pressure of my day1 ,i hear thy garments sweep1 thy seamless dress1 ,and close beside my work and weariness ,discern thy gracious form1 not far away1 ,but very near1 ,o ,lord1 to help and bless4 ,the busy fingers fly2 the eyes may see ,only the glancing needle which they hold2 ,but all my life is blossoming inwardly1 ,and every breath is like a litany2 ,while through each labor1 like a thread of gold1 ,is woven the sweet consciousness of thee4 ,there are duties in every life that are irksome4 ,young people sometimes find school work dull4 ,there are faithful mothers who many a day grow weary of the endless duties of the household4 ,there are good men who tire ofttimes of the routine of office1 or store1 or mill1 or farm4 ,there comes to most of us1 at times1 the feeling that what we have to do day after day is not worthy of us4 ,we have had glimpses1 or brief experiences1 of life in its higher revealings4 ,it may have been a companionship for a season with one above us in experience or attainment1 that has lifted us up for a little time into exalted thoughts and feelings1 after which it is hard to come back again to the old plodding round1 and to the old1 uninteresting companionships4 ,it may have been a visit to some place or to some home1 with opportunities1 refinements1 inspirations1 privileges1 above those which we can have in our own narrower surroundings and plainer home and less congenial intimacies4 ,or our circumstances may have been rudely changed by some providence that has broken in upon our happy life4 ,it may have been a death that cut off the income1 or a reverse in business that swept away a fortune1 and luxury and ease and the material refinements and elegances of wealth have to be exchanged for toil and plain circumstances and a humbler home4 ,there are few sorer tests of character than such changes as these bring with them4 ,the first thought always is3 ,how can ,i go to this dreary life1 these hard tasks1 this painful drudgery1 this weary plodding1 after having enjoyed so long the comforts and refinements of my old happy state8 ,in such cases immeasurable comfort may be found in this appearance of the risen ,christ that morning on the shore4 ,the disciples took up their dull old work because it was necessary1 and was their plain duty for the time2 and there was ,jesus waiting to greet them and bless them4 ,accept your hard tasks1 and do them cheerfully1 no matter how irksome they appear1 and ,christ will reveal himself to you in them4 ,be sure that he will never come to you when you are avoiding any tasks1 when you are withholding your hand from any duty1 or when you are fretting and discontented over any circumstances or conditions of your lot4 ,there are no visions of the ,christ for idle dreamers or for unhappy shirkers4 ,suppose you have come back1 like the disciples1 from times of privilege and exaltation1 and find yourself face to face once more with an old life which seems now unworthy of you2 yet for the time your duty is clear1 and if you would have a vision of ,christ1 you must take up the duty with gladness4 ,suppose that your home-life is narrow1 humdrum1 unpoetic1 uncongenial1 even cold and unkindly2 yet there for the time is your place1 and there are your duties4 ,and right in this sphere1 narrow though it seem1 there is room for holiest visions of ,christ and for the richest revealings of his grace and blessing4 ,it will be remembered that ,jesus himself1 after his glimpse of higher things in the temple1 went back to the lowly peasant home at ,nazareth1 and there for eighteen years more found scope enough for the development of the richest nature this world ever saw1 and for the fullest and completest doing of duty ever wrought beneath the skies4 ,whatever1 then1 may be our shrinking from dull tasks1 our distaste for dreary duty1 our discontent with a narrow place and with limiting circumstances1 we should go promptly to the work that ,god assigns1 and accept the conditions that lie in the lot which he appoints4 ,and in our hardest toil1 our most irksome tasks1 our lowliest duties1 our dreariest and most uncongenial surroundings1 we shall have but to lift up our eyes to see the blessed form of ,christ standing before us1 with cheer1 sympathy1 and encouragement for us4 ,there is more of the lesson4 ,not only did ,christ reveal himself to these disciples while at their lowly work1 but he helped them in it4 ,he told them where to cast their net1 and turned their failure to success4 ,we think of ,christ as helping us to endure temptation1 to bear trial1 to overcome sin1 to do spiritual duties1 but we sometimes forget that he is just as ready to help us in our common work4 ,that morning he helped the disciples in their fishing4 ,he will help us in our trade or business1 or in whatever work we have to do4 ,we all have our discouraged days1 when things do not go well4 ,the young people fail in their lessons at school1 although they have studied hard1 and really have done their best4 ,or the mothers fail in their household work4 ,the children are hard to control4 ,it has been impossible to keep good temper1 to maintain that sweetness and lovingness that are so essential to a happy day4 ,they try to be gentle1 kindly1 and patient1 but1 try as they will1 their minds become ruffled and fretted with cares4 ,they come to the close of the long1 unhappy hours disturbed1 defeated1 discouraged4 ,they have done their best1 but they feel that they have only failed4 ,they fall upon their knees1 but they have only tears for a prayer4 ,yet if they will lift up their eyes1 they will see on the shore of the troubled sea of their little day's life the form of ,one whose presence will give them strength and confidence1 and who will help them to victoriousness4 ,before his sweet smile the shadows flee away4 ,at his word new strength is given1 and1 after that1 work is easy1 and all goes well again4 ,men1 too1 in their busy life1 are continually called to struggle1 ofttimes to suffer4 ,life is not easy for any who would live truly4 ,work is hard2 burdens are heavy2 responsibility is great2 trials are sore2 duty is large4 ,life's competitions are fierce2 its rivalries are keen2 its frictions sometimes grind men's very souls well nigh to death4 ,it is hard to live sweetly amid the irritations that touch continually at most tender points4 ,it is hard to live lovingly and charitably when they see so much inequity and wrong1 and sometimes must themselves endure men's uncharity and injustice4 ,it is hard to toil and never rest1 earning even then scarce enough to feed and clothe those who are dependent on them for care4 ,it is hard to meet temptation's fierce assaults1 and keep themselves pure1 unspotted from the world1 ready for heaven any hour the ,lord may come4 ,it is no wonder that men are sometimes discouraged and lose heart4 ,they are like those weary disciples that spring morning on the ,sea of ,galilee1 after they had toiled all night and had taken nothing4 ,but let us not forget the vision that awaited these disciples with the coming of the dawn--the risen ,jesus standing on the shore with his salutation of love and his strong help that instantly turned failure into blessing4 ,so over against every tempted1 struggling1 toiling life of ,christian disciple1 ,christ is ever standing1 ready to give victory and to guide to highest good4 ,life would be easier for us all if we could realize the presence and actual help of ,christ in all our experiences4 ,we need to care for only one thing--that we may be faithful always to duty1 and loyal to our ,master4 ,then1 the duller the round and the sorer the struggle1 the surer we shall ever be of ,christ's smile and help4 ,we may glory in infirmities1 because then the power of ,god rests upon us4 ,it is not ordinarily in the easy ways1 in the luxurious surroundings1 in the paths of worldly honor1 in the congenial lot1 that the brightest heavenly visions are seen4 ,there have been more blessed revealings of ,christ in prisons than in palaces1 in homes of poverty than in homes of abundance1 in ways of hardship than in ways of ease4 ,we need only to accept our task-work1 our drudgery1 our toil1 in ,christ's name1 and the glory of ,christ will transfigure it and shine upon our faces4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,possibilities ,,of ,,prayer4 ,ask and receive--'tis sweetly said2 ,yet what to plead for know ,i not1 ,for wish is worsted1 hope o'ersped1 ,and aye to thanks returns my thought4 ,if ,i would pray ,i've naught to say1 ,but this1 that ,god may be ,god still3 ,for time to live ,so still to give1 ,and sweeter than my wish his will4 --,,david ,a4 ,,wasson4 ,we do not begin to realize the possibilities of prayer4 ,there is no limit1 for example1 to the scope of prayer4 ,we may embrace in it all things that belong to our life1 not merely those which affect our spiritual interests1 but those as well which seem to be only worldly matters4 ,nothing that concerns us in any way is matter of indifference to ,god4 ,one writes3 ,learn to entwine with your prayers the small cares1 the trifling sorrows1 the little wants of daily life4 ,whatever affects you1--be it a changed look1 an altered tone1 an unkind word1 a wrong1 a wound1 a demand you cannot meet1 a sorrow you cannot disclose1--turn it into prayer and send it up to ,god4 ,disclosures you may not make to man1 you can make to the ,lord4 ,men may be too little for your great matters2 ,god is not too great for your small ones4 ,only give yourself to prayer1 whatever be the occasion that calls for it4 ,we soon find1 however1 if we are really earnest1 that our desires are too great for words4 ,we have in our hearts feelings1 hungerings1 affections1 longings1 which we want to breathe out to ,god2 but when we begin to speak to him1 we find no language adequate for their expression4 ,we try to tell ,god of our sorrow for sin1 of our weakness and sinfulness1 then of our desire to be better1 to love ,christ more1 to follow him more closely1 and of our hunger after righteousness1 after holiness2 but it is very little of these deep cravings that we can get into speech4 ,language is a wonderful gift4 ,the power of putting into words the thoughts and emotions of our souls1 that others may understand them1 is one of the most marvellous powers the ,creator has bestowed upon us4 ,thus we communicate our feelings and desires the one to the other4 ,it is a sore deprivation when the gates of speech are shut and locked1 and when the soul cannot tell its thoughts4 ,yet we all know1 unless our thoughts and feelings are very shallow and trivial1 that even the wonderful faculty of language is inadequate to express all that the soul can experience4 ,no true orator ever finds sentences majestic enough to interpret the sentiments that burn in his soul4 ,deep1 pure love is never able to put into words its most sacred feelings and emotions4 ,it is only the commonplace of the inner life that can be uttered in even the finest language4 ,there is always more that lies back1 unexpressed1 than is spoken in any words4 ,it is specially true of prayer that we cannot utter its deepest feelings and holiest desires4 ,we have comfort1 however1 in the assurance that ,god can hear thoughts4 ,he knows what we want to say and cannot express4 ,your dearest friend may stand close to you when your mind is full of thoughts1 but unless you speak or give some sign1 he cannot know one of your thoughts4 ,he may lay his ear close to your heart1 and he will hear its throbbings2 but he cannot hear your feelings1 your desires4 ,yet ,god knows all that goes on in your soul4 ,every thought that flies through your brain is heard in heaven4 ,o ,lord1 thou hast searched me1 and known me4 ,thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising1 ,thou understandest my thought afar off4 ,thou searchest out my path and my lying down1 ,and art acquainted with all my ways4 ,for there is not a word in my tongue1 ,but1 lo1 ,o ,lord1 thou knowest it altogether4 ,we need not trouble ourselves1 therefore1 if we cannot get our wishes into words when we pray1 for ,god hears wishes1 heart-longings1 soul hungerings and thirstings4 ,the things we cannot say in speech of the lips1 we may ask ,god to take from our heart's speech4 ,there is not the feeblest1 faintest glimmer of a desire rising on the far-away horizon of our being1 but ,god sees it4 ,there is not a heart-hunger1 not a wish to be holier and better1 not an aspiration to be more ,christ-like1 not a craving to live for ,god and be a blessing to others1 not the faintest desire to be rid of sin's power1 but ,god knows of it4 ,st4 ,paul has a wonderful word on this subject3 ,god1 he says1 is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think4 ,when our heart is stirred to its depths1 what large1 great things can we ask in words8 ,then1 how much can we put into thoughts of prayer1 into longings1 desires1 aspirations1 beyond the possibilities of speech8 ,god can do more than we can pray either in words or thoughts4 ,our truest praying is that which we cannot express in any words1 our heart's unutterable longings1 when we sit at ,god's feet and look up into his face and do not speak at all1 but let our hearts talk4 ,rather as friends sit sometimes hand in hand1 ,nor mar with words the sweet speech of their eyes2 ,so in soft silence let us oftener bow1 ,nor try with words to make ,god understand4 ,longing is prayer2 upon its wings we rise ,to where the breath of heaven beats upon our brow4 ,our best1 truest prayers are not for earthly things1 but for spiritual blessings4 ,when the objects are temporal1 we do not know what we should pray for--what would be really a blessing to us4 ,you are a loving parent1 and your child is very ill4 ,it seems that it must die4 ,you fall upon your knees before ,god to pray1 but you do not know what to ask4 ,your breaking heart would quickly plead1 ,lord1 spare my precious child2 but you do not know that that is best4 ,perhaps to live would not be ,god's sweetest gift to your child1 or to you4 ,so1 not daring to choose1 you can only say1 ,lord ,god1 ,i cannot speak more2 but thou knowest thy child2 thou understandest what is best4 ,or1 some plan of yours1 which you have long cherished1 seems about to be thwarted4 ,you go to ,god1 and begin to pray2 but you do not know what to ask4 ,you can only say1 ,lord1 ,i cannot tell what is best2 but thou knowest4 ,what a comfort it is that ,god does indeed know1 and that we may safely leave our heart's burden in his hand1 without any request whatever6 ,lord1 ,i had chosen another lot1 ,but then ,i had not chosen well2 ,thy choice1 and truly thine1 was good2 ,no different lot1 search heaven or hell1 ,had blessed me1 fully understood1 ,none other which thou orderest not4 ,we can do little more than this in any request for temporal things4 ,says ,archdeacon ,farrar3 ,there are two things to remember about prayers for earthly things3 ,one1 that to ask mainly for earthly blessings is a dreadful dwarfing and vulgarization of the grandeur of prayer1 as though you asked for a handful of grass1 when you might ask for a handful of emeralds2 the other that you must always ask for earthly desires with absolute submission of your own will to ,god's4 ,so silence is oft-times the best and truest praying--bowing before ,god in life's great crises2 but saying nothing1 leaving the burden in ,god's hand without any choosing4 ,we are always safe when we let ,god guide us in all our ways4 ,ill that he blesses is our good1 ,and unblest good is ill2 ,and all is right that seems most wrong1 ,if it be his sweet will4 ,many of the richest possibilities of prayer lie beyond valleys of pain and sorrow4 ,the best things of life cannot be gotten save at sore cost4 ,when we pray for more holiness1 we do not know what we are asking for2 at least we do not know the price we must pay to get that which we ask4 ,our ,nearer1 my ,god1 to thee1 must be conditioned by1 and often can come only through1 ,e'en though it be a cross1 ,that raiseth me4 ,not only are the spiritual things the best things1 but many times the spiritual things can be grasped only by letting go and losing out of our hands the earthly things we would love to keep4 ,god loves us too much to grant our prayers for comfort and relief1 even when we make them1 if he can do it only at spiritual loss to us4 ,he would rather let it be hard for us to live if there is blessing in the hardness1 than make it easy for us at the cost of the blessing4 ,there are certain singing-birds that never learn to sing until their cages are darkened4 ,would it be true kindness to keep these birds always in the sunshine8 ,there are human hearts that never learn to sing the song of faith and peace and love1 until they enter the darkness of trial4 ,would it be true love for these if ,god would hear their prayers for the removal of their pain8 ,we dare not plead1 therefore1 save with utmost diffidence and submission1 that ,god would remove the cross of suffering4 ,thou canst not tell ,how rich a dowry sorrow gives the soul1 ,how firm a faith and eagle-sight of ,god4 ,does ,god answer prayers8 ,i have been praying for one thing for years1 says one1 and it has not come yet4 ,god has many ways of answering4 ,sometimes he delays that he may give a better1 fuller answer4 ,a poor woman stood at a vineyard gate1 and looked over into the vineyard4 ,would you like some grapes8 asked the proprietor1 who was within4 ,i should be very thankful1 replied the woman4 ,then bring your basket4 ,quickly the basket was brought to the gate and passed in4 ,the owner took it and was gone a long time among the vines1 till the woman became discouraged1 thinking he was not coming again4 ,at last he returned with the basket heaped full4 ,i have made you wait a good while1 he said1 but you know the longer you have to wait1 the better grapes and the more4 ,so it sometimes is in prayer4 ,we bring our empty vessel to ,god and pass it over the gate of prayer to him4 ,he seems to be delaying a long time1 and sometimes faith faints with waiting4 ,but at last he comes1 and our basket is heaped full with luscious blessings4 ,he waited long that he might bring us a better and a fuller answer4 ,at least we are sure that no true prayer ever really goes unanswered4 ,we have to wait for the fruits to ripen1 and that takes time4 ,then sometimes ,god delays until some work in us is finished1 some preparation which is needed before the best answer can be received4 ,the following words are suggestive3 ,unanswered yet1 the prayer your lips have pleaded ,in agony of heart these many years8 ,does faith begin to fail8 ,is hope departing1 ,and think you all in vain those falling tears8 ,say not the ,father hath not heard your prayer2 ,you shall have your desire sometime1 somewhere4 ,unanswered yet1 though when you first presented ,this one petition at the ,father's throne1 ,it seemed you could not wait the time of asking1 ,so urgent was your heart to have it known8 ,though years have passed since then1 do not despair2 ,the ,lord will answer you sometime1 somewhere4 ,unanswered yet8 ,nay1 do not say ungranted2 ,perhaps your part is not yet wholly done2 ,the work began when first your prayer was uttered4 ,and ,god will finish what he has begun4 ,if you will keep the incense burning there1 ,his glory you will see sometime1 somewhere4 ,unanswered yet8 ,faith cannot be unanswered4 ,her feet are firmly planted on the rock2 ,amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted1 ,nor quails before the loudest thunder shock4 ,she knows ,omnipotence has heard her prayer1 ,and cries1 ,it shall be done--sometime1 somewhere4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,getting ,,christ',s ,,touch4 ,this is life--to pour out love unstinted2 ,good and evil1 sunlike1 blesseth he2 ,through your finite is his infinite hinted-- ,children of your ,father must ye be4 --,,lucy ,,larcom4 ,there was wonderful power in the touch of ,christ when he was on the earth4 ,wherever he laid his hand1 he left a blessing1 and sick1 sad1 and weary ones received health1 comfort1 and peace4 ,that hand1 glorified1 now holds in its clasp the seven stars4 ,yet there are senses in which the blessed touch of ,christ is felt yet on men's lives4 ,he is as really in this world to-day as he was when he walked in human form through ,judea and ,galilee4 ,his hand is yet laid on the weary1 the suffering1 the sorrowing1 and1 though its pressure is unfelt1 its power to bless is the same as in the ancient days4 ,it is laid on the sick1 when precious heavenly words of cheer and encouragement from the ,scriptures are read at their bedside1 giving them the blessing of sweet patience1 and quieting their fears4 ,it is laid on the sorrowing1 when the consolations of divine love come to their hearts with tender comfort1 giving them strength to submit to ,god's will and rejoice in the midst of trial4 ,it is laid on the faint and weary1 when the grace of ,christ comes to them with its holy peace1 hushing the wild tumult1 and giving true rest of soul4 ,but there is another way in which the hand of ,christ is laid on human lives4 ,he sends his disciples into the world to represent him4 ,as the ,father hath sent me1 even so send ,i you1 is his own word4 ,of course the best and holiest ,christian life can be only the dimmest1 faintest reproduction of the rich1 full1 blessed life of ,christ4 ,yet it is in this way1 through these earthen vessels1 that he has ordained to save the world1 and to heal1 help1 comfort1 lift up1 and build up men4 ,in these earthen vessels heavenly treasure ,for the enrichment of thy poor may shine2 ,thou canst fill us in our human measure ,with thy being's overflow divine4 ,perhaps in thinking of what ,god does for the world1 we are too apt to overlook the human agents and instruments1 and to think of him touching lives directly and immediately4 ,a friend of ours is in sorrow1 and1 going to our knees1 we pray ,god to give him comfort4 ,but may it not be that he would send the comfort through our own heart and lips8 ,one we love is not doing well1 is drifting away from a true life1 is in danger of being lost4 ,in anguish of heart we cry to ,god1 beseeching him to lay his hand on the imperilled life1 and rescue it4 ,but may it not be that ours is the hand that must be stretched out in love1 and laid1 in ,christ's name1 on the life that is in danger8 ,certain it is1 at least1 that each one of us who knows the love of ,christ is ordained to be as ,christ to others2 that is1 to be the messenger to carry to them the gift of ,christ's grace and help1 and to show to them the spirit of ,christ1 the patience1 gentleness1 thoughtfulness1 love1 and yearning of ,christ4 ,we are taught to say1 ,christ liveth in me4 ,if this be true1 ,christ would love others through us1 and our touch must be to others as the very touch of ,christ himself4 ,every ,christian ought to be1 in his human measure1 a new incarnation of the ,christ1 so that people shall say3 ,he interprets ,christ to me4 ,he comforts me in my sorrow as ,christ himself would do if he were to come and sit down beside me4 ,he is hopeful and patient as ,christ would be if he were to return and take me as his disciple4 ,but before we can be in the place of ,christ to sorrowing1 suffering1 and struggling ones1 we must have the mind in us that was in him4 ,when ,st4 ,paul said1 ,the love of ,christ constraineth me1 he meant that he had the very love of ,christ in him--the love that loved even the most unlovely1 that helped even the most unworthy1 that was gentle and affectionate even to the most loathsome4 ,we are never ready to do good in the world1 in the truest sense or in any large measure1 until we have become thus filled with the very spirit of ,christ4 ,we may help people in a certain way without loving them4 ,we may render them services of a certain kind1 benefiting them externally or temporally4 ,we may put material gifts into their hands1 build them houses1 purchase clothing for them1 carry them bread1 or improve their circumstances and condition4 ,we may thus do many things for them without having in our heart any love for them1 anything better than common philanthropy4 ,but the highest and most real help we can give them only through loving them4 ,when ,i have attempted1 says ,emerson1 to give myself to others by services1 it proved an intellectual trick--no more4 ,they eat your services like apples1 and leave you out4 ,but love them1 and they feel you and delight in you all the time4 ,when we love others we can help them in all deep and true ways4 ,we can put blessings into their hearts instead of merely into their hands4 ,we can enter into their very being1 becoming new breath of life to them1--quickening1 inspiration1 impulse4 ,what is the best a friend can be ,to any soul1 to you or me8 ,not only shelter1 comfort1 rest-- ,inmost refreshment unexpressed2 ,not only a beloved guide ,to thread life's labyrinth at our side1 ,or with love's torch lead on before2 ,though these be much1 there yet is more4 ,the best friend is an atmosphere ,warm with all inspirations dear1 ,wherein we breathe the large1 free breath ,of life that hath no taint of death4 ,our friend is an unconscious part ,of every true beat of our heart2 ,a strength1 a growth1 whence we derive ,god's health1 that keeps the world alive4 ,there is a touching and very suggestive story of a good woman in ,sweden1 who opened a home for crippled and diseased children--children for whom no one else was ready to care4 ,in due time she received into her home about twenty of these unfortunate little ones4 ,among them was a boy of three years1 who was a most frightful and disagreeable object4 ,he resembled a skeleton4 ,his skin was covered with hideous blotches and sores4 ,he was always whining and crying4 ,this poor little fellow gave the good lady more care and trouble than all the others together4 ,she did her best for him1 and was as kind as possible--washed him1 fed him1 nursed him4 ,but the child was so repulsive in his looks and ways1 that1 try as she would1 she could not bring herself to like him1 and often her disgust would show itself in her face in spite of her effort to hide it4 ,she could not really love the child4 ,one day she was sitting on the veranda steps with this child in her arms4 ,the sun was shining brightly1 and the perfume of the autumn honeysuckles1 the chirping of the birds1 and the buzzing of the insects1 lulled her into a sort of sleep4 ,then in a half-waking1 half-dreaming state1 she thought of herself as having changed places with the child1 and as lying there1 only more foul1 more repulsive in her sinfulness than he was4 ,over her she saw the ,lord ,jesus bending1 looking lovingly into her face1 yet with an expression of gentle rebuke in his eye1 as if he meant to say1 ,if ,i can bear with you who are so full of sin1 surely you ought1 for my sake1 to love that innocent child who suffers for the sin of his parents4 ,she woke up with a sudden start1 and looked into the boy's face4 ,he had waked1 too1 and was looking very earnestly into her face4 ,sorry for her past disgust1 and feeling in her heart a new compassion for him1 she bent her face to his1 and kissed him as tenderly as ever she had kissed babe of her own4 ,with a startled look in his eyes1 and a flush on his cheek1 the boy gave her back a smile so sweet that she had never seen one like it before4 ,from that moment a wonderful change came over the child4 ,he understood the new affection that had come instead of dislike and loathing in the woman's heart4 ,that touch of human love transformed his peevish1 fretful nature into gentle quiet and beauty4 ,the woman had seen a vision of herself in that blotched1 repulsive child1 and of ,christ's wonderful love for her in spite of her sinfulness4 ,under the inspiration of this vision she had become indeed as ,christ to the child4 ,the love of ,christ had come into her heart1 and was pouring through her upon that poor1 wretched1 wronged life4 ,christ loves the unlovely1 the deformed1 the loathsome1 the leprous4 ,we have only to think of ourselves as we are in his sight1 and then remember that1 in spite of all the moral and spiritual loathsomeness in us1 he yet loves us1 does not shrink from us1 lays his hand upon us to heal us1 takes us into most intimate companionship with himself4 ,this ,christian woman had seen a vision of herself1 and of ,christ loving her still and condescending to bless and save her2 and now she was ready to be as ,christ1 to show the spirit of ,christ1 to be the pity and the love of ,christ to this poor1 loathsome child lying on her knee4 ,she had gotten the touch of ,christ by getting the love of ,christ in her heart4 ,and we can get it in no other way4 ,we must see ourselves as ,christ's servants1 sent by him to be to others what he is to us4 ,then shall we be fitted to be a blessing to every life which our life touches4 ,our words then shall throb with love1 and find their way to the hearts of the weary and sorrowing4 ,then there will be a sympathetic quality in our life which shall give a strange power of helpfulness to whatever we do4 ,says a thoughtful writer1 speaking of influence3 ,let a man press nearer to ,christ1 and open his nature more widely to admit the energy of ,christ1 and1 whether he knows it or not1--it is better1 perhaps1 if he does not know it1--he will certainly be growing in power for ,god with men1 and for men with ,god4 ,we get power for ,christ only as we become filled with the very life of ,christ4 ,everywhere about us there are lives1 cold1 and cheerless1 and dull1 which by the touch of our hand1 in loving warmth1 in ,christ's name1 would be wondrously blessed and transformed4 ,some one tells of going into a jeweller's store to look at certain gems4 ,among other stones he was shown an opal4 ,as it lay there1 however1 it appeared dull and altogether lustreless4 ,then the jeweller took it in his hand and held it for some moments1 and again showed it to his customer4 ,now it gleamed and flashed with all the glories of the rainbow4 ,it needed the touch and warmth of a human hand to bring out its iridescence4 ,there are human lives everywhere about us that are rich in their possibilities of beauty and glory4 ,no gems or jewels are so precious2 but as we see them in their earthly condition they are dull and lustreless1 without brightness or loveliness4 ,perhaps they are even covered with stain and denied by sin4 ,yet they need only the touch of the hand of ,christ to bring out the radiance1 the loveliness1 the beauty of the divine image in them4 ,and you and ,i must be the hand of ,christ to these lustreless or stained lives4 ,touching them with our warm love1 the sleeping splendor that is in them1 hidden mayhap under sin's marring and ruin1 will yet shine out1 the beginning of glory for them4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,blessing ,,of ,a ,,burden4 ,then welcome each rebuff1 ,that turns earth's smoothness rough1 ,each sting that bids nor sit nor stand nor go4 ,be our joys three parts pain6 ,strive1 and hold cheap the strain2 ,learn1 nor account the pang2 dare1 never grudge the throe6 --,,robert ,,browning4 ,it is not always the easiest things that are the best things4 ,usually we have to pay for any good thing about its full value4 ,in all markets commodities that cost little may be set down as worth but little4 ,all our blessings may be rated in the same way4 ,if they come easily1 without great cost of effort or sacrifice1 their value to us is not great4 ,but if we can get them only through self-denial1 tears1 anguish1 and pain1 we may be sure that they hide in them the very gold of ,god4 ,so it is that many of our best and richest blessings come to us in some form of rugged hardness4 ,take what we call drudgery4 ,life is full of it4 ,it begins in childhood4 ,there is school1 with its set hours1 its lessons1 rules1 tables1 tasks1 recitations4 ,then1 when we grow up1 instead of getting away from this bondage of routine1 this interminable drudgery1 it goes on just as in childhood4 ,it is rising at the same hour every morning1 and hurrying away to the day's tasks1 and doing the same things over and over1 six days in the week1 fifty-two weeks in the year1 and on and on unto life's end4 ,for the great majority of us1 there is almost no break in the monotonous rounds of our days through the long years4 ,many of us sigh and wish we might in some way free ourselves from this endless routine4 ,we think of it as a sore bondage and by no means the ideal of a noble and beautiful life4 ,but really1 much that is best in life comes out of this very bondage4 ,a recent writer suggests a new beatitude3 ,blessed be drudgery4 ,he reminds us that no ,bible beatitude comes easily1 but that every one of them is the fruit of some experience of hardness or pain4 ,he shows us that life's drudgery1 wearisome and disagreeable as it is1 yields rich treasures of good and blessing4 ,drudgery1 he tells us1 is the secret of all culture4 ,he names as fundamentals in a strong1 fine character1 power of attention2 power of industry2 promptitude in beginning work2 method1 accuracy1 and despatch in doing work2 perseverance2 courage before difficulties2 cheer under straining burdens2 self-control2 self-denial2 temperance2 and claims that nowhere else can these qualities be gotten save in the unending grind and pressure of those routine duties which we call drudgery4 ,it is because we have to go1 morning after morning1 through rain1 through shine1 through headache1 heartache1 to the appointed spot and do the appointed work2 because1 and only because1 we have to stick to that work through the eight or ten hours1 long after rest would be so sweet2 because the school-boy's lessons must be learned at nine o'clock1 and learned without a slip2 because the accounts on the ledger must square to a cent2 because the goods must tally exactly with the invoice2 because good temper must be kept with children1 customers1 neighbors1 not seven times1 but seventy times seven2 because the besetting sin must be watched to-day1 to-morrow1 next day2 in short1 4 4 4 it is because1 and only because1 of the rut1 plod1 grind1 hum-drum in the work1 that we get at last those self-foundations laid1 which are essential to all noble character4 ,so there is a blessing for us in the commonest1 wearisomest task-work of our lives4 ,blessed be drudgery is truly a beatitude4 ,we all need the discipline of this tireless plodding to build us up into beautiful character4 ,even the loveliest flowers must have their roots in common earth2 so1 many of the sweetest things in human lives grow out of the soil of drudgery4 ,be thou1 ,o man1 like unto the rose4 ,its root is indeed in dirt and mud1 but its flowers still send forth grace and perfume4 ,take again life's struggles and conflicts4 ,there are1 in the experience of each one1 obstacles1 hindrances1 and difficulties1 which make it hard to live successfully4 ,every one has to move onward and upward through ranks of resistances4 ,this is true of physical life4 ,every baby that is born begins at once a struggle for existence4 ,to be victorious and live1 or to succumb and die8 is the question of every cradle1 and only half the babies born reach their teens4 ,after that1 until its close1 life is a continuous struggle with the manifold forms of physical infirmity4 ,if we live to be old it must be through our victoriousness over the unceasing antagonism of accident and disease4 ,the same is true in mental progress4 ,it must be made against resistance4 ,it is never easy to become a scholar or to attain intellectual culture4 ,it takes years and years of study and discipline to draw out and train the faculties of the mind4 ,an indolent1 self-indulgent student may have an easy time2 he never troubles himself with difficult problems2 he lets the hard things pass1 not vexing his brain with them4 ,but in evading the burden he misses the blessing that was in it for him4 ,the only path to the joys and rewards of scholarship is that of patient1 persistent toil4 ,it is true also in spiritual life4 ,we enter a world of antagonism and opposition the moment we resolve at ,christ's feet to be ,christians1 to be true men or women1 to forsake sin1 to obey ,god1 to do our duty4 ,there never comes a day when we can live nobly and worthily without effort1 without resistance to wrong influences1 without struggle against the power of temptation4 ,it never gets easy to be good4 ,evermore the cross lies at our feet1 and daily it must be taken up and carried1 if we would follow ,christ4 ,we are apt to grow weary of this unending struggle1 and to become discouraged1 because there is neither rest nor abatement in it4 ,but here again we learn that it is out of just such struggles that we must get the nobleness and beauty of character after which we are striving4 ,one of the old ,scotch martyrs had on his crest the motto1 ,sub pondere cresco 7,i grow under a weight74 ,on the crest was a palm-tree1 with weights depending from its fronds4 ,in spite of the weights the tree was straight as an arrow1 lifting its crown of graceful foliage high up in the serene air4 ,it is well known that the palm grows best loaded down with weights4 ,thus this martyr testified that he1 like the beautiful tree of the ,orient1 grew best in his spiritual life under weights4 ,this is the universal law of spiritual growth4 ,there must be resistance1 struggle1 conflict1 or there can be no development of strength4 ,we are inclined to pity those whose lives are scenes of toil and hardship1 but ,god's angels do not pity them1 if only they are victorious2 for in their overcoming they are climbing daily upward toward the holy heights of sainthood4 ,the beatitudes in the ,apocalypse are all for over-comers4 ,heaven's rewards and crowns lie beyond battle-plains4 ,spiritual life always needs opposition4 ,it flourishes most luxuriantly in adverse circumstances4 ,we grow best under weights4 ,we find our richest blessings in the burdens we dread to take up4 ,the word character in its origin is suggestive4 ,it is from a root which signifies to scratch1 to engrave1 to cut into furrows4 ,then it comes to mean that which is engraved or cut on anything4 ,in life1 therefore1 it is that which experiences cut or furrow in the soul4 ,a baby has no character4 ,its life is like a piece of white paper1 with nothing yet written upon it2 or it is like a smooth marble tablet1 on which1 as yet1 the sculptor has cut nothing2 or the canvas1 waiting for the painter's colors4 ,character is formed as the years go on4 ,it is the writing1--the song1 the story1 put upon the paper4 ,it is the engraving1 the sculpturing1 which the marble receives under the chisel4 ,it is the picture which the artist paints on the canvas4 ,final character is what a man is when he has lived through all his earthly years4 ,in the ,christian it is the lines of the likeness of ,christ limned1 sometimes furrowed and scarred1 upon his soul by the divine ,spirit through the means of grace and the experiences of his own life4 ,i saw a beautiful vase1 and asked its story4 ,once it was a lump of common clay lying in the darkness4 ,then it was rudely dug out and crushed and ground in the mill1 and then put upon the wheel and shaped1 then polished and tinted and put into the furnace and burned4 ,at last1 after many processes1 it stood upon the table1 a gem of graceful beauty4 ,in some way analogous to this every noble character is formed4 ,common clay at first1 it passes through a thousand processes and experiences1 many of them hard and painful1 until at length it is presented before ,god1 faultless in its beauty1 bearing the features of ,christ himself4 ,spiritual beauty never can be reached without cost4 ,the blessing is always hidden away in the burden1 and can be gotten only by lifting the burden4 ,self must die if the good in us is to live and shine out in radiance4 ,michael ,angelo used to say1 as the chippings flew thick from the marble on the floor of his studio1 ,while the marble wastes1 the image grows4 ,there must be a wasting of self1 a chipping away continually of things that are dear to nature1 if the things that are true1 and just1 and honorable1 and pure1 and lovely1 are to come out in the life4 ,the marble must waste while the image grows4 ,then take suffering4 ,here1 too1 the same law prevails4 ,every one suffers4 ,said ,augustine1 ,god had one ,son without sin2 he has none without sorrow4 ,from infancy's first cry until the old man's life goes out in a gasp of pain1 suffering is a condition of existence4 ,it comes in manifold forms4 ,now it is in sickness2 the body is racked with pain or burns in fever4 ,ofttimes sickness is a heavy burden4 ,yet even this burden has a blessing in it for the ,christian4 ,sickness rightly borne makes us better4 ,it unbinds the world's fetters4 ,it purifies the heart4 ,it sobers the spirit4 ,it turns the eyes heavenward4 ,it strips off much of the illusion of life and uncovers its better realities4 ,sickness in a home of faith1 prayer1 and love1 softens all the household hearts1 makes sympathy deeper1 draws all the family closer together4 ,trouble comes in many other forms4 ,it may be a bitter disappointment which falls upon a young life when love has not been true1 or when character has proved unworthy1 turning the fair blossoms of hope to dead leaves under the feet4 ,there are lives that bear the pain and carry the hidden memorials of such a grief through long years1 making them sad at heart even when walking in sweetest sunshine4 ,or it may be the failure of some other hope1 as when one has followed a bright dream of ambition for days and years1 finding it only a dream4 ,or it may be the keener1 more bitter grief which comes to one when a friend--a child1 a brother or sister1 a husband or wife--does badly4 ,in such a case even the divine comfort cannot heal the heart's hurt2 love cannot but suffer1 and there is no hand that can lessen the pang4 ,the anguish which love endures for others' sins is among the saddest of earth's sorrows4 ,there are griefs that hang no crape on the door-bell1 that wear no black garments1 that close no shutters1 that drop no tears which men can see1 that can get no sympathy save that of the blessed ,christ and perhaps of a closest human brother1 and must wear smiles before men and go on with life's work as if all were gladness within the heart4 ,if we knew the inner life of many of the people we meet1 we would be very gentle with them and would excuse the things in them that seem strange or eccentric to us4 ,they are carrying burdens of secret grief4 ,we do not begin to know the sorrows of our brothers4 ,there is no need to try to solve that old1 yet always new1 question of human hearts1 ,why does ,god permit so much suffering in his children8 ,it is idle to ask this question1 and all efforts at answering it are not only vain1 but they are even irreverent4 ,we may be sure1 however1 of one thing1 that in every pain and trial there is a blessing folded4 ,we may miss it1 but it is there1 and the loss is ours if we do not get it4 ,every night of sorrow carries in its dark bosom its own lamps of comfort4 ,the darkness of grief and trial is full of benedictions4 ,the dark hath many dear avails2 ,the dark distils divinest dews2 ,the dark is rich with nightingales1 ,with dreams1 and with the heavenly muse4 ,of fret1 of dark1 of thorn1 of chill1 ,complain thou not1 my heart1 for these ,bank in the current of the will4 ,the most blessed lives in the world are those that have borne the burden of suffering4 ,where1 think you1 asks ,james ,martineau1 does the ,heavenly ,father hear the tones of deepest love1 and see on the uplifted face the light of most heartfelt gratitude8 ,not where his gifts are most profuse1 but where they are most meagre2 not within the halls of successful ambition1 or even in the dwellings of unbroken domestic peace2 but where the outcast1 flying from persecution1 kneels in the evening on the rocks whereon he sleeps2 at the fresh grave1 where1 as the earth is opened1 heaven in answer opens too2 by the pillow of the wasted sufferer1 where the sunken eye1 denied sleep1 converses with the silent stars1 and the hollow voice enumerates in low prayer the scanty list of comforts1 the easily remembered blessings1 and the shortened tale of hopes4 ,genial1 almost to a miracle1 is the soil of sorrow1 wherein the smallest seed of love1 timely falling1 becometh a tree1 in whose foliage the birds of blessed song lodge and sing unceasingly4 ,the truly happiest1 sweetest1 tenderest homes are not those where there has been no sorrow1 but those which have been overshadowed with grief1 and where ,christ's comfort was accepted4 ,the very memory of the sorrow is a gentle benediction that broods ever over the household1 like the afterglow of sunset1 like the silence that comes after prayer4 ,in every burden of sorrow there is a blessing sent from ,god1 which we ought not to thrust away4 ,in one of the battles of the ,crimea1 a cannon-ball struck inside a fort1 gashing the earth and sadly marring the garden beauty of the place4 ,but from the ugly chasm there burst forth a spring of water1 which flowed on thereafter1 a living fountain4 ,so the strokes of sorrow gash our hearts1 leaving ofttimes wounds and scars1 but they open for us fountains of rich blessing and of new life4 ,then ,sorrow whispered gently3 ',take ,this burden up4 ,be not afraid4 ,an hour is short4 ,thou scarce wilt wake ,to consciousness that ,i have laid ,my hand upon thee1 when the hour ,shall all have passed2 and gladder then ,for the brief pain's uplifting power1 ,thou shall but pity griefless men4' ,these are hints of the blessings of burdens4 ,our dull task-work1 accepted1 will train us into strong and noble character4 ,our temptations and hardships1 met victoriously1 knit thews and sinews of strength in our souls4 ,our pain and sorrow1 endured with sweet trust and submission1 leave us with life purified and enriched1 with more of ,christ in us4 ,in every burden that ,god lays upon us1 there is a blessing for us1 if only we will take it4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,heart-,,peace ,,before ,,ministry4 ,like the star ,that shines afar1 ,without haste ,and without rest1 ,let each man wheel1 with steady sway1 ,round the task that rules the day1 ,and do his best4 --,,goethe4 ,peace in the heart is one of the conditions of good work4 ,we cannot do our best in anything if we are fretted and anxious4 ,a feverish heart makes an inflamed brain1 a clouded eye1 and an unsteady hand4 ,the people who really accomplish the most1 and achieve the best results1 are those of calm1 self-controlled spirit4 ,those who are nervous and excited may be always busy1 and always under pressure of haste2 but in the end they do far less work than if they wrought calmly and steadily1 and were never in a hurry4 ,nervous haste is always hindering haste4 ,it does faulty work1 and does but little of it in the end4 ,really rapid workers are always deliberate in their movements1 never appearing to be in any hurry whatever2 and yet they pass swiftly from task to task1 doing each duty well because they are calm and unflustered1 and1 with their wits about them1 work with clear eye1 steady nerve1 and skilful hand4 ,an eminent ,french surgeon used to say to his students1 when they were engaged in difficult and delicate operations1 in which coolness and firmness were needed1 ,gentlemen1 don't be in a hurry2 for there's no time to lose4 ,the people in all lines of duty who do the most work are the calmest1 most unhurried people in the community4 ,duties never wildly chase each other in their lives4 ,one task never crowds another out1 nor ever compels hurried1 and therefore imperfect1 doing4 ,the calm spirit works methodically1 doing one thing at a time1 and doing it well2 and it therefore works swiftly1 though never appearing to be in haste4 ,we need the peace of ,god in our heart just as really for the doing well of the little things of our secular life as for the doing of the greatest duties of ,christ's kingdom4 ,our face ought to shine1 and our spirit ought to be tranquil1 and our eye ought to be clear1 and our nerves ought to be steady1 as we press through the tasks of our commonest day4 ,then we shall do them all well1 slurring nothing1 marring nothing4 ,we want heart-peace before we begin any day's duties1 and we should wait at ,christ's feet till we get his quieting touch upon our heart ere we go forth4 ,it is especially true in spiritual work that we must know the secret of peace before we can minister either swiftly or effectively to others in our ,master's name4 ,feverishness of spirit makes the hand unskilful in delicate duty4 ,a troubled heart cannot give comfort to other troubled hearts2 it must first become calm and quiet4 ,it is often said that one who has suffered is prepared to help others in suffering2 but this is true only when one has suffered victoriously1 and has passed up out of the deep1 dark valley of pain and tears to the radiant mountain-tops of peace4 ,an uncomforted mourner cannot be a messenger of consolation to another in grief4 ,one whose heart is still vexed and uncalmed cannot be a physician to hearts with bleeding wounds4 ,we must first have been comforted of ,god ourselves1 before we can comfort others in their tribulations4 ,the same is true of all spiritual ministry4 ,we need a steady hand to touch the work of ,christ's kingdom4 ,one of our ,lord's earlier miracles furnishes an illustration of this truth4 ,jesus was called to heal a woman who lay sick of a great fever4 ,one of the ,gospels describes the cure in these striking words3 ,he touched her hand1 and the fever left her2 and she arose and ministered unto them4 ,we readily understand this record in its primary reference to the physical cure that was wrought by our ,lord4 ,we know1 of course1 that the woman could not minister to others while the fever was on her4 ,when sore sickness comes1 the busiest1 fullest hands must drop their tasks4 ,no matter how important the work is1 how essential it may appear1 it must be laid down when painful illness seizes us4 ,we must be healed of our fever before we can minister4 ,but there are other fevers besides those which burn in men's bodies4 ,there are heart-fevers which may rage within us1 even when our bodies are in perfect health4 ,we find people with feverish spirits--unhappy1 discontented1 fretted1 worried1 perhaps insubmissive and rebellious4 ,or they may be in a fever of fear or dread4 ,these inward fevers are worse evils than mere bodily illness4 ,it is better in sickness to have our heart's fever depart1 even though we must longer keep our pain1 than to recover our physical health1 meanwhile keeping our fretfulness and impatience uncured4 ,we cannot minister while heart-fever of any kind is on us4 ,we may go on with our work1 but we cannot do it well1 and there will be little blessing in it4 ,discontent hinders any life's usefulness4 ,jesus loved ,martha1 and accepted her service because he knew she loved him2 but he plainly told her that her feverishness was not beautiful1 and that it detracted from the worth and the full acceptableness of the good work she did2 and he pointed her to ,mary's quiet peace as a better way of living and serving4 ,anxiety of any kind unfits us in some degree for work4 ,it is only when ,christ comes and lays his hand upon our heart1 and cures its fever1 that we are ready for ministering in his name in the most efficient way4 ,there is a little story of a busy woman's life which illustrates this lesson4 ,she was the mother of a large family1 and1 being in plain circumstances1 was required to do her own work4 ,sometimes1 in the multiplicity of her tasks and cares1 she lost the sweetness of her peace1 and1 like ,martha1 became troubled and worried with her much serving4 ,one morning she had been unusually hurried1 and things had not gone smoothly4 ,she had breakfast to get for her family1 her husband to care for as he hasted away early to his work1 and her children to make ready for school4 ,there were other household duties which filled the poor1 weak woman's hands1 until her strength was well-nigh utterly exhausted4 ,and she had not gone through it all that morning in a sweet1 peaceful way4 ,she had allowed herself to lose her patience1 and to grow fretful1 vexed1 and unhappy4 ,she had spoken quick1 hasty1 petulant words to her husband and her children4 ,her heart had been in a fever of irritation and disquiet all the morning4 ,when the children were gone1 and the pressing tasks were finished1 and the house was all quiet1 the tired woman crept upstairs to her own room4 ,she was greatly discouraged4 ,she felt that her morning had been a most unsatisfactory one2 that she had sadly failed in her duty2 that she had grieved her ,master by her want of patience and gentleness1 and had hurt her children's lives by her fretfulness and her ill-tempered words4 ,shutting her door1 she took up her ,bible and read the story of the healing of the sick woman3 ,he touched her hand1 and the fever left her2 and she arose and ministered unto them4 ,ah6 said she1 if ,i could have had that touch before ,i began my morning's work1 the fever would have left me1 and ,i should have been prepared to minister sweetly and peacefully to my family4 ,she had learned that she needed the touch of ,christ to make her ready for beautiful and gentle service4 ,in contrast with this story1 and showing the blessed sweetness and holy influence of a life that gets ,christ's touch in the morning1 there is this account by ,archdeacon ,farrar of his mother3 ,my mother's habit was1 every day1 immediately after breakfast1 to withdraw for an hour to her own room1 and to spend that hour in reading the ,bible1 in meditation1 and in prayer4 ,from that hour1 as from a pure fountain1 she drew the strength and the sweetness which enabled her to fulfil all her duties1 and to remain unruffled by all the worries and pettinesses which are so often the intolerable trial of narrow neighborhoods4 ,as ,i think of her life1 and of all it had to bear1 ,i see the absolute triumph of ,christian grace in the lovely ideal of a ,christian lady4 ,i never saw her temper disturbed2 ,i never heard her speak one word of anger1 or of calumny1 or of idle gossip4 ,i never observed in her any sign of a single sentiment unbecoming to a soul which had drunk of the river of the water of life1 and which had fed upon manna in the barren wilderness4 ,the world is the better for the passage of such souls across its surface4 ,they may seem to be as much forgotten as the drops of rain which fall into the barren sea1 but each rain-drop adds to the volume of refreshful and purifying waters4 ',the healing of the world is in its nameless saints4 ,a single star seems nothing1 but a thousand scattered stars break up the night and make it beautiful4' ,there are many busy mothers to whom this lesson may come almost as a revelation4 ,no hands are fuller of tasks1 no heart is fuller of cares1 than the hands and the heart of a mother of a large family of young children4 ,it is little wonder if sometimes she loses her sweetness of spirit in the pressure of care that is upon her4 ,but this lesson is worth learning4 ,let the mothers wait on their knees each morning1 before they begin their work1 for the touch of ,christ's hand upon their heart4 ,then the fever will leave them1 and they can enter with calm peace on the work of the long1 hard day4 ,the lesson1 however1 is for us all4 ,we are in no condition for good work of any kind when we are fretted and anxious in mind4 ,it is only when the peace of ,god is in our heart that we are ready for true and really helpful ministry4 ,a feverish heart makes a worried face1 and a worried face casts a shadow4 ,a troubled spirit mars the temper and disposition4 ,it unfits one for being a comforter of others1 for giving cheer and inspiration1 for touching other lives with good and helpful impulses4 ,peace must come before ministry4 ,we need to have our fever cured before we go out to our work4 ,hence1 we should begin each new day at the ,master's feet1 and get his cooling1 quieting touch upon our hot hand4 ,then1 and not till then1 shall we be ready for good service in his name4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,moral ,,curvatures4 ,i think we are too ready with complaint ,in this fair world of ,god's4 ,had we no hope ,indeed beyond the zenith and the slope ,of yon gray blank sky1 we might grow faint ,to muse upon eternity's constraint ,round our aspirant souls2 but since the scope ,must widen early1 is it well to droop1 ,for a few days consumed in loss and taint8 --,,mrs4 ,,browning4 ,our ,lord's miracles are parables in act4 ,a woman came to him bent almost double1 and went away straight4 ,the human form is made for erectness4 ,this is one of the marks of nobility in man1 in contrast with the downward bending and looking of other animals4 ,man is the only creature that bears this erect form4 ,it is a part of the image of ,god upon him4 ,it indicates heavenly aspiration1 hunger for ,god1 desire for pure and lofty things1 capacity for immortal blessedness4 ,it tells of man's hope and home above the earth1 beyond the stars4 ,says an old writer1 ,god gave to man a face directed upwards1 and bade him look at the heavens1 and raise his uplifted countenance toward the stars4 ,the ,greek word for man meant the upward looking4 ,the bending of the form and face downward1 toward the earth1 has always been the symbol of a soul turned unworthily toward lower things1 forgetful of its true home4 ,milton has this thought in describing ,mammon3-- ,mammon1 the least erected spirit that fell ,from heaven2 for even in heaven his looks and thoughts ,were always downward bent4 ,the look of a man's eyes tells where his heart is1 whither his desires are reaching and tending1 how his life is growing4 ,there are a great many bent people in the world4 ,physical bending may be caused by accident or disease1 and is no mark of spiritual curvature4 ,many a deformed body is the home of a noble and holy soul1 with eyes and aspirations turned upward toward ,god4 ,i remember a woman in my first parish who then for fourteen years had sat in her chair1 unable to lift hand or foot1 every joint drawn1 her wasted body frightfully bent4 ,yet she had a transfigured face1 telling of a beautiful soul within4 ,joy and peace shone out through that poor tortured body4 ,disease may drag down the erect form1 until all its beauty is gone1 and the inner life meanwhile may be erect as an angel1 with its eyes and aspirations turned upward toward ,god4 ,but there are crooked souls--souls that are bent down4 ,this may be the case even while the body is straight as an arrow4 ,there are men and women whose forms are admired for their erectness1 their graceful proportions1 their lithe movements1 their lovely features1 yet whose souls are debased1 whose desires are grovelling1 whose characters are sadly misshapen and deformed4 ,sin always bends the soul4 ,many a young man comes out from a holy home in the beauty and strength of youth1 wearing the unsullied robes of innocence1 with eye clear and uplifted1 with aspirations for noble things1 with hopes that are exalted2 but a few years later he appears a debased and ruined man1 with soul bent sadly downward4 ,the bending begins in slight yieldings to sin1 but the tendency unchecked grows and fixes itself in the life in permanent moral disfigurement4 ,a stage-driver had held the lines for many years1 and when he grew old1 his hands were crooked into hooks1 and his fingers were so stiffened that they could not be straightened out4 ,there is a similar process that goes on in men's souls when they continue to do the same things over and over4 ,one who is trained from childhood to be gentle1 kindly1 patient1 to control the temper1 to speak softly1 to be loving and charitable1 will grow into the radiant beauty of love4 ,one who accustoms himself to think habitually and only of noble and worthy things1 who sets his affections on things above1 and strives to reach whatsoever things are true1 whatsoever things are honest1 whatsoever things are pure1 whatsoever things are lovely1 will grow continually upward1 toward spiritual beauty4 ,but on the other hand1 if one gives way from childhood to all ugly tempers1 all resentful feelings1 all bitterness and anger1 his life will shape itself into the unbeauty of these dispositions4 ,one whose mind turns to debasing things1 things unholy1 unclean1 will find his whole soul bending and growing toward the earth in permanent moral curvature4 ,there is also a bending of the life by sorrow4 ,the experience of sorrow is scarcely less perilous than that of temptation4 ,the common belief is that grief always makes people better4 ,but this is not true4 ,if the sufferer submits to ,god with loving confidence1 and is victorious through faith1 sorrow's outcome is blessing and good4 ,but many are crushed by their sorrow4 ,they yield to it1 and it bears them down beneath its weight4 ,they turn their faces away from heaven's blue and the light of ,god1 toward the grave's darkness1 and their souls grow toward the gloom4 ,here is a mother who several years since lost by death a beautiful daughter4 ,the mother was a ,christian woman1 and her child was also a ,christian1 dying in sweet hope4 ,yet never since that coffin was closed has the mother lifted up her eyes toward ,god in submission and hope4 ,she visits the cemetery on ,sundays1 but never the church4 ,she goes with downcast look about her home1 weeping whenever her daughter's name is mentioned1 and complains of ,god's hardness and unkindness in taking away her child4 ,she is bent down with her eyes to the earth1 and sees only the clods and the dust and the grave's gloom1 and sees not the blue sky1 the bright stars1 and the sweet face of the ,father4 ,so long has she now been thus bowed down in the habit of sadness and grieving1 that she can in no wise lift herself up4 ,since ,i began to write this chapter ,i have had a long talk with one whose life is sorely bent4 ,ten years since ,i first knew her as a bright and happy young girl1 her face sunny in the light of ,god's love4 ,trouble came into her life in many forms4 ,her own father proved unworthy1 failing in all the sacred duties of affection toward his child4 ,events in her own life were disappointing and discouraging4 ,friends in whom she had trusted failed in that faithfulness and helpfulness which one has a right to expect from one's friends4 ,there was a succession of unhappy experiences1 through several years1 all tending to hurt her heart-life4 ,as the result of all this1 she has become embittered and hardened1 not only against those who have wronged her and treated her unjustly1 but even against ,god4 ,so long has she yielded to these feelings that her whole life has been bent down from its upward1 ,godward look into settled despondency4 ,god has altogether faded out of her soul's vision1 and she thinks of him only as unkind and unjust4 ,to restore her life to its former brightness and beauty will require a moral miracle as great as that by which the body of the crooked woman was made straight4 ,then there are lives also that are bowed down by toil and care4 ,for many people1 life's burdens are very heavy4 ,there are fathers of large families who sometimes find their load almost more than they can bear1 in their efforts to provide for those who are dear to them4 ,there are mothers who1 under their burdens of household care1 at times feel themselves bowed down1 and scarcely able longer to go on4 ,in all places of responsibility1 where men are called to stand1 the load many times grows very heavy1 and stalwart forms bend under it4 ,this world's work is hard for most of us4 ,life is not play to any who take it earnestly4 ,and many persons yield to the weight of a duty1 and let themselves be bent down under it4 ,we see men bowing under their load1 until their very body grows crooked1 and they can look only downward4 ,we see them become prematurely old4 ,the light goes out of their eyes2 the freshness fades out of their cheeks2 the sweetness leaves their spirit4 ,few things in life are sadder than the way some people let themselves be bent down by their load of duty or care4 ,there really is no reason why this should be so4 ,god never puts any greater burden upon us than we are able to bear1 with the help he is ready to give4 ,christ stands ever close beside us1 willing to carry the heaviest end of every load that is laid upon us4 ,men never break down so long as they keep a happy1 joyous heart4 ,it is the sad heart that tires4 ,whatever our load1 we should always keep a songful spirit in our breast4 ,there are two ways of meeting hard experiences4 ,one way is to struggle and resist1 refusing to yield4 ,the result is1 the wounding of the soul and the intensifying of the hardness4 ,the other way is sweetly to accept the circumstances or the restraints1 to make the best of them1 and to endure them songfully and cheerfully4 ,those who live in the first of these ways grow old at mid-life4 ,those who take the other way of life keep a young1 happy heart even to old age4 ,the true way to live is to yield to no burden2 to carry the heaviest load with courage and gladness2 never to let one's eyes be turned downward toward the earth1 but to keep them ever lifted up to the hills4 ,men whose work requires them to stoop all the time--to work in a bent posture--every now and then may be seen straightening themselves up1 taking a long1 deep breath of air1 and looking up toward the skies4 ,thus their bodies are preserved in health and erectness in spite of their work4 ,whatever our toil or burden1 we should train ourselves to look often upward1 to stand erect1 and get a frequent glimpse of the sky of ,god's love1 and a frequent breath of heaven's pure1 sweet air4 ,thus we shall keep our souls erect under the heaviest load of work or care4 ,the miracle of the straightening of the woman who was bent double1 has its gospel of precious hope for any who have failed to learn earlier the lesson of keeping straight4 ,the bowed down may yet be lifted up4 ,the curvature of eighteen years' growth and stiffening was cured in a moment4 ,the woman who for so long had not been able to look up1 went away with her eyes upturned to ,god in praise4 ,the same miracle ,christ is able to work now upon souls that are bent1 whether by sin1 by sorrow1 or by life's load of toil4 ,he can undo sin's terrible work1 and restore the divine image to the soul4 ,he can give such comfort to the sad heart that eyes long downcast shall be lifted up to look upon ,god's face in loving submission and joy4 ,he can put such songs into the hearts of the weary and overwrought that the crooked form shall grow straight1 and brightness shall come again into the tired face4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,transfigured ,,lives4 ,the lives which seem so poor1 so low1 ,the hearts which are so cramped and dull1 ,the baffled hopes1 the impulse slow1 ,thou takest1 touchest all1 and lo6 ,they blossom to the beautiful4 --,,susan ,,coolidge4 ,every ,christian's life should be transfigured4 ,there is a sense in which even a true believer's body becomes transfigured4 ,we have all seen faces that appeared to shine as if there were some hidden light behind them4 ,there are some old people who have learned well life's lessons of patience1 peace1 contentment1 love1 trust1 and hope1 and whose faces really glow as they near the sunset gates4 ,sometimes it is a saintly sufferer1 who1 in long endurance of pain1 learns to lie on ,christ's bosom in sweet unmurmuring quiet1 and whose features take upon themselves increasingly the brightness of holy peace4 ,but whatever grace may do for the body1 it always transfigures the character4 ,the love of ,god finds us ruined sinners1 and leaves us glorified saints4 ,we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his ,son4 ,nor are we to wait for death to transform us2 the work should begin at once4 ,we have a responsibility1 too1 in this work4 ,the sculptor takes the blackened marble block and hews it into a form of beauty4 ,the marble is passive in his hands1 and does nothing but submit to be cut and hewn and polished as he will4 ,but we are not insensate marble2 we have a part in the fashioning of our lives into spiritual holiness4 ,we will never become like ,christ without our own desire and effort4 ,we ought to know well what our part is1 what we have to do with our own sanctification4 ,how1 then1 may we become transfigured ,christians8 ,there is a transfiguring power in prayer4 ,it was as our ,lord was praying that the fashion of his countenance was altered4 ,what is prayer8 ,it is far more than the tame saying over of certain forms of devotion4 ,it is the pouring out of the heart's deepest cravings4 ,it is the highest act of which the soul is capable4 ,when you pray truly1 all that is best1 noblest1 most exalted1 purest1 heavenliest in you1 presses up toward ,god4 ,hence earnest prayer always lights up the very face1 and lifts up the life into higher1 holier mood4 ,we grow toward that which we much desire4 ,hence prayers for ,christ-likeness have a transfiguring effect4 ,holy thoughts in the heart have also a transfiguring influence on the life4 ,as he thinketh in his heart1 so is he4 ,if we allow jealousies1 envies1 ugly tempers1 pride1 and other evil things to stay in our heart1 our life will grow into the likeness of these unlovely things4 ,but if we cherish pure1 gentle1 unselfish1 holy thoughts and feelings1 our life will become beautiful4 ,professor ,drummond tells of a young girl whose character ripened into rare loveliness4 ,her friends watched her growing gentleness and heavenliness with wonder4 ,they could not understand the secret of it4 ,she wore about her neck a little locket within which no one was allowed to look4 ,once1 however1 she was very ill1 and one of her companions was permitted then to open this sacred ornament1 and she saw there the words1 ,whom having not seen ,i love4 ,this was the secret4 ,it was love for the unseen ,christ that transfigured her life4 ,if we think continually of the ,christ1 meditating upon him1 thinking over sweet thoughts of him1 and letting his love dwell within us1 we shall grow like him4 ,communion with ,christ transfigures a life4 ,every one we meet leaves a touch upon us which becomes part of our character4 ,our lives are like sheets of paper1 and every one who comes writes a word1 or a line1 or leaves a little picture painted there4 ,our intimate companions and friends1 who draw very close to us1 and are much with us1 entering into our inner heart-life1 make very deep impressions upon us4 ,if1 therefore1 we live with ,christ1 abide in him1 the close1 continued companionship with him will change us into his likeness4 ,personal friendship with ,christ in this world is as possible as any merely human friendship4 ,the companionship is spiritual1 but it is real4 ,the devout ,christian has no other friend who enters so fully into his life as does the ,lord ,christ ,jesus4 ,the effect of this companionship is the transfiguring of the character4 ,it is not without reason that the artists paint the beloved disciple as likest his ,lord in features4 ,he knew ,jesus more intimately than any of the other disciples1 and1 in his deeper1 closer companionship1 was more affected and impressed by the ,lord's beauty of holiness4 ,again1 keeping the eye upon the likeness of ,christ transfigures the life4 ,the old monks intently gazed upon the crucifix1 and they said that the prints of the nails would come in their hands and feet1 and the thorn-scars in their brow as they beheld4 ,it was but a gross fancy2 yet in the fancy there is a spiritual truth4 ,gazing by faith upon ,christ1 the lines of his beauty indeed print themselves on our hearts4 ,this is the meaning of ,st4 ,paul's word3 ,we all1 with unveiled face1 beholding as in a mirror the glory of the ,lord1 are transformed into the same image4 ,the ,gospel is the mirror4 ,there we see the image of ,christ4 ,if we earnestly1 continually1 and lovingly behold it1 the effect will be the changing of our own lives into the same likeness4 ,the transformation is wrought by the divine ,spirit1 and our part is only to behold1 to continue beholding1 the blessed beauty4 ,we sit before the camera1 and our own picture is printed on the prepared glass4 ,we sit before ,christ1 and we become the camera1 and his image is printed on our soul4 ,there is a pathetic story of a ,french sculptor1 which illustrates the sacredness with which life's ideal should be cherished and guarded4 ,he was a genius1 and was at work on his masterpiece4 ,but he was a poor man1 and lived in a small garret1 which was studio1 workshop1 and bedroom to him4 ,he had his statue almost finished1 in clay1 when one night there came suddenly a great frost over the city4 ,the sculptor lay on his bed1 with his statue before him in the centre of the fireless room4 ,as the chill air came down upon him1 he knew that in the intense cold there was danger that the water in the interstices of the clay would freeze and destroy his precious work4 ,so the old man arose from his bed1 and took the clothes that had covered him in his sleep1 and reverently wrapped them about his statue to save it1 then lay down himself in the cold1 uncovered4 ,in the morning1 when his friends came in1 they found the old sculptor dead2 but the image was preserved unharmed4 ,we each have in our soul1 if we are true believers in ,christ1 a vision of spiritual loveliness into which we are striving to fashion our lives4 ,this vision is our conception of the character of ,christ4 ,that is what ,i am going to be some day1 we say4 ,far away beyond our present attainment as this vision may shine1 yet we are ever striving to reach it4 ,this is the ideal which we carry in our heart amid all our toiling and struggling4 ,this ideal we must keep free from all marring or stain4 ,we must save it though1 like the old sculptor1 we lose our very life in guarding it4 ,we should be willing to die rather than give it up to be destroyed4 ,we should preserve the image of ,christ1 bright1 radiant1 unsoiled1 in our soul1 until it transforms our dull1 sinful1 earthly life into its own transfigured beauty4 ,no other aim in life is worthy of an immortal being4 ,we may become like the angels2 what debasement1 then1 to let our lives1 with all their glorious possibilities1 be dragged down into the dust of shame and dishonor6 ,rather let us seek continually the glory for which we were made and redeemed4 ,beloved1 now are we children of ,god1 and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be4 ,we know that1 if he shall be manifested1 we shall be like him2 for we shall see him even as he is4 ,and every one that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself1 even as he is pure4 ,wonderful the whiteness of thy glory2 ,can we truly that perfection share8 ,yes2 our lives are pages of thy story1 ,we thy shape and superscription bear2 ,tarnished forms--torn leaves--but thou canst mend them1 ,thou thine own completeness canst unfold ,from our imperfections1 and wilt end them-- ,dross consuming1 turning dust to gold4 ,a drop of water lay one day in a gutter1 soiled1 stained1 polluted4 ,looking up into the blue of the sky1 it began to wish for purity1 to long to be cleansed and made crystalline4 ,its sigh was heard1 and it was quickly lifted up by the sun's gentle fingers--up1 out of the foul gutter1 into the sweet air1 then higher and higher2 at length the gentle winds caught it and bore it away1 away1 and by and by it rested on a distant mountain-top1 a flake of pure1 white1 beautiful snow4 ,this is a little parable of what the grace of ,god does for every sinful life that longs and cries for purity and holiness4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,interpretation ,,of ,,sorrow4 ,so much we miss ,if love is weak2 so much we gain ,if love is strong2 ,god thinks no pain ,too sharp or lasting to ordain ,to teach us this4 --,,helen ,,hunt ,,jackson4 ,there will always be mysteries in sorrow4 ,men will always wonder what it means4 ,it is impossible for us1 with our earthly limitations1 to understand it4 ,even the strongest ,christian faith will have its questions1 and many of its questions will have to remain unanswered until the horizon of life is widened1 and its dim light becomes full and clear in heaven4 ,meanwhile1 however1 some of these questions may be at least partially answered1 and grief's poignancy in some slight measure alleviated4 ,and surely no smallest gleam of comfort should be withheld from the world that needs comfort so sorely1 and cries out so hungrily for it4 ,human hearts are the same everywhere4 ,sorrow's experiences1 while strangely diverse1 are yet alike in their general features4 ,wherever we listen to the suppressed voices of grief1 we hear the same questions4 ,what has been answer to one1 will therefore be answer to thousands more4 ,recently1 in one day1 two letters came to me from sorrowing ones1 with questions4 ,whether any comfort was given in the private answers or not1 it may be that the mere stating of the questions1 with a few sentences concerning each1 may be helpful to others who are carrying like burdens4 ,one of these letters is from a ,christian man whose only son has been led into sinful courses1 swiftly descending to the saddest depths4 ,the story is too painful to be repeated in these pages4 ,in his sore distress1 the father1 a godly man1 a man of strong faith and noble wisdom1 cries out3 ,what is the comfort even of ,christ and the ,bible for me8 ,how can ,i roll this burden of mine upon ,god8 ,in answer to these questions it must be remembered that there are some things which even the richest1 divinest comfort cannot do4 ,for one thing1 it cannot take away the pain of grief or sorrow4 ,our first thought of comfort usually is that it shall lift off our burden4 ,we soon learn1 however1 that it is not in this way that comfort ordinarily comes4 ,it does not make the grief any less4 ,it does not make our hearts any less sensitive to anguish4 ,consolation implies rather an augmentation of the power of bearing than a diminution of the burden4 ,in this case1 it cannot lift off the loving father's heart the burden of disappointment and anguish which he experiences in seeing his son swept away in the currents of temptation4 ,no possible comfort can do this4 ,the perfect peace in which ,god promises to keep those whose minds are stayed on him1 is not a painless peace in any case of suffering4 ,the crushed father cannot expect a comfort which will make him forget his wandering1 sinning child1 or which will cause him to feel no longer the poignant anguish which the boy's course causes in his heart4 ,father-love must be destroyed to make such comforting possible1 and that would be a sorer calamity than any sorrow4 ,the comfort in such a grief1 is that which comes through faith in ,god even in the sore pain4 ,the child was given to ,god in his infancy1 and was brought up as ,god's child along his early years4 ,who will say that he may not yet1 in some way1 at some time1 be brought back to ,god8 ,the daily burden may then daily be laid in the divine hands4 ,the heart's anguish may express itself not in despairing cries1 but in believing prayers1 inspired by the promises1 and kindled into fervency by blessed hope4 ,then peace will come1 not painless peace1 but peace which lies on ,christ's bosom in the darkness1 and loves and trusts and asks no questions1 but waits with all of hope's expectancy4 ,at the same time we are never to forget1 while we trust ,god for the outcome of our disappointments1 that every sorrow has its mission to our life4 ,there is something he desires it to work in us4 ,what it may be in any particular instance we cannot tell2 nor is it wise for us to ask4 ,the wisest1 truest thing we can do is reverently to open our hearts to the ministry of the sorrow1 asking ,god to do his will in us1 not allowing us to hinder the beautiful work he would do1 and helping us to rejoice even in the grief4 ,the tears may continue to flow1 but then with ,mrs4 ,browning we can sing3-- ,i praise thee while my days go on2 ,i love thee while my days go on2 ,through dark and death1 through fire and frost1 ,with emptied arms and treasure lost1 ,i thank thee while my days go on4 ,the other letter referred to is from another father1 over whom wave after wave of sorrow had passed4 ,within a brief space of time two children were taken away4 ,the one was a son who had entered his professional career1 and had large hope and promise for the future--a young man of rare abilities and many noble qualities4 ,the other was a daughter1 who had reached womanhood1 and was a happy and beloved wife1 surrounded by friends and the refinements of a beautiful home1 and all that makes life sweet and desirable4 ,both of these children ,god took1 one soon after the other4 ,the father1 a man of most tender affections1 and yet of implicit faith in ,god1 uttered no murmur when called to stand at the graves of his beloved ones2 and yet his heart cries out for interpretation4 ,he writes3 ,in one of your books#a ,i find these words3 ',sometimes our best beloved are taken away from us1 and our hearts are left bleeding1 as a vine bleeds when a green branch is cut from it4 4 4 4 ,here it is that ,christian faith comes in1 putting such interpretation and explanation upon the painful things1 that we may be ready to accept them with confidence1 even with rejoicing4 4 4 4 ,a strong1 abiding confidence that all the trials1 sorrows1 and losses of our lives are parts of our ,father's husbandry1 ought to silence every question1 quiet every fear1 and give peace and restful assurance to our hearts in all their pain4 ,we cannot know the reason for the painful strokes1 but we know that he who holds the pruning-knife is our ,father4 ,that ought always to be enough for us to know4' ,having quoted these words1 he continues3 ,now ,i do not question the ,father's husbandry4 ,i would also 'silence every question' concerning his wisdom and his love4 ,i would not doubt them for a moment4 ,when ,i found that my only son1 my pride and my staff1 must die1 ,i prayed with such strong crying and tears as only they can know who are in like circumstances1 yet feeling that ,i could give back to ,god what he had lent me without a murmur4 ,by his help1 ,i believe even the slightest murmur has been repressed concerning the painful things1 and that in some measure ,i have been ready to accept them with confidence1 even with rejoicing4 ,but my faith has not come in1 as you suggest1 to put 'such interpretation and explanation' upon them1 as perhaps ,i ought to do4 ,why has ,god thus dealt with me8 ,why was a double stroke necessary8 ,is his dealing with me purely disciplinary8 ,what are the lessons he would teach me8 ,how am ,i to test myself as to whether his purpose in afflicting me has been accomplished8 ,or am ,i not anxiously to inquire concerning the specific lessons1 but rather to let him show in due time what he designed8 ,such questions multiply without answer4 ,has not this writer in his own last suggestion stated what should be done by those who are perplexed with questions as to the interpretation of sorrow8 ,they should not anxiously inquire concerning the specific lessons1 but rather let ,god show in due time what he designed4 ,no doubt every sorrow has a mission4 ,it comes to us1 as ,god's messenger1 with a message4 ,if we will welcome it reverently1 and be still while it gives its message1 no doubt we shall receive some benediction4 ,yet we must look at this whole matter carefully and wisely4 ,we are in danger of thinking only of ourselves1 and of the effect upon us and our life of the griefs that smite us4 ,we think too often of our bereavements1 for example1 as if ,god took away the friend1 ending his life1 just to chasten or punish us4 ,but we have no right to take so narrow a view of ,god's design in the removal of loved ones from our side4 ,his purpose concerns them as well as us4 ,they are called away because their work on earth is done1 and higher service in other spheres awaits them4 ,to them death is gain1 promotion1 translation4 ,the event itself1 in its primary significance1 is a joyous and blessed one4 ,the sorrow which we experience in their removal is but an incident4 ,god cannot take them home to glory from our side1 without giving us pain4 ,but we must not reverse this order and think that the primary end of the calling away of our beloved ones is to chasten us1 or to cause us to suffer4 ,no doubt there is blessing for us as well as for them in their leaving us1 since all things work together for good to them that love ,god2 but we unduly exaggerate our own importance when we think of ,god as laying a beautiful life low in death merely to teach us some lesson or give to us some blessing4 ,when we look at our bereavements in this light1 and think of what death means to our beloved ones who have been taken from us1 we find new comfort in the thought of their immortality1 their release from suffering and temptation1 and their full blessedness with ,christ4 ,it is selfish for us to forget this in the absorption of our own grief4 ,should we not be willing to endure loss and pain that those dear to us may receive gain and blessing8 ,even in life's relationships on the earth we are continually taught the same lesson4 ,parents must give up their children1 losing them out of the home nest1 that they may go forth into the world to take up life's duties for themselves4 ,then also the separation is painful1 but it is borne in the sweet silence of self-denying love4 ,we give up our friends when they are called from our side to accept other and higher places4 ,life is full of such separations1 and we are taught that it is our duty to think of others1 bearing our own loss in patience for their sake4 ,does not the same law of love that seeketh not its own apply when our beloved ones are called up higher8 ,of lessons to be learned in sorrow the first always is submission4 ,we are told even of our ,lord that he learned obedience by the things which he suffered4 ,this is life's great1 all-inclusive lesson4 ,when we have learned this fully1 perfectly1 the work of sanctification in us is complete4 ,then another lesson in all sorrow comes in the softening and enriching of the life in order to greater personal helpfulness4 ,it is sad for us if for any cause we miss this blessed outcome of grief and pain4 ,christ suffered in all points that he might be fitted for his work of helping and saving men4 ,god teaches us in our sorrow what he would have us tell others in their time of trial4 ,those who suffer patiently and sweetly go forth with new messages for others1 and with new power to comfort4 ,beyond these two wide1 general lessons of all sorrow1 it usually is not wise to press our question1 ,why is it8 ,it is better for us so to relate ourselves to ,god in every time of trial1 that we may not hinder the coming to us of any blessing he may send1 but on the other hand1 may receive with quiet1 sweet welcome whatever teaching1 correction1 revealing1 purifying1 or quickening he would give us4 ,surely this is better far than that we should anxiously inquire why ,god afflicts us1 why he sent the sorrow to us1 just what he wants it to do for us4 ,we must trust ,god to work out in us what he wants the grief to do for us4 ,we need not trouble ourselves to know what he is doing4 ,mercifully our old duties come again after sorrow just as before1 and we must take these all up1 only putting into them more heart1 more reverence toward ,god1 more gentleness and love toward man4 ,as we go on we shall know what ,god meant the grief to do for us2 or if not in this world1 we shall in that home of ,light1 where all mystery shall be explained1 and where we shall see love's lesson plain and clear in all life's strange writing4 ,there is no doubt that sorrow always brings us an opportunity for blessing4 ,then we must remember that in this world alone can we get the good that can come to us only through pain1 for in the life beyond death there is to be no sorrow1 no tears4 ,an old ,eastern proverb says1 ,spread wide thy skirts when heaven is raining gold4 ,heaven is always raining gold when we are sitting under the shadow of the cross4 ,we should diligently improve the opportunity1 and learn the lessons he would teach and get the blessings he would give1 for the time is short4 ,but if1 impatient1 thou let slip thy cross1 ,thou wilt not find it in this world again1 ,nor in another2 here1 and here alone1 ,is given thee to suffer for ,god's sake4 ,in other worlds we shall more perfectly ,serve him and love him1 praise him1 work for him1 ,grow near and nearer him with all delight2 ,but there we shall not any more be called ,to suffer1 which is our appointment here4 #a ,practical ,religion1 page #ajg ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,other ,,people4 ,we need--each and all--to be needed1 ,to feel we have something to give ,towards soothing the moan of earth's hunger2 ,and we know that then only we live ,when we feed one another1 as we have been fed ,from the hand that gives body and spirit their bread4 --,,lucy ,,larcom4 ,there are other people4 ,we are not the only ones4 ,some of the others live close to us1 and some farther away4 ,we stand in certain relations to these other people4 ,they have claims upon us4 ,we owe them duties1 services1 love4 ,we cannot cut ourselves off from them1 from any of them1 saying that they are nothing to us4 ,we cannot rid ourselves of obligations to them and say we owe them nothing4 ,so inexorable is this relation to others that in all the broad earth there is not an individual who has no right to come to us with his needs1 claiming at our hand the ministry of love4 ,the other people are our brothers1 and there is not one of them that we have a right to despise1 or neglect1 or hurt1 or thrust away from our door4 ,we ought to train ourselves to think of the other people4 ,we may not leave them out of any of the plans that we make4 ,we must think of their interests and good when we are thinking of our own4 ,they have rights as well as ourselves1 and we must think of these when asserting our own4 ,no man may set his fence a hair's breadth over the line on his neighbor's ground4 ,no man may gather even a head of his neighbor's wheat1 or a cluster of grapes from his neighbor's vine4 ,no man may enter his neighbor's door unbidden4 ,no man may do anything that will harm his neighbor4 ,other people have inalienable rights which we may not invade4 ,we owe other people more than their rights2 we owe them love4 ,to some of them it is not hard to pay this debt4 ,they are lovable and winsome4 ,they are thoroughly respectable4 ,they are congenial spirits1 giving us in return quite as much as we can give them4 ,it is natural to love these and be very kindly and gentle to them4 ,but we have no liberty of selection in this broad duty of loving other people4 ,we may not choose whom we shall love if we claim to be ,christians4 ,the ,master's teaching is inexorable3 ,if ye love them that love you1 what thank have ye8 for even sinners love those that love them4 ,and if ye do good to them that do good to you1 what thank have ye8 for even sinners do the same4 ,and if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive1 what thank have ye8 even sinners lend to sinners1 to receive again as much4 ,but love your enemies1 and do them good1 and lend1 never despairing2 and your reward shall be great1 and ye shall be sons of the ,most ,high2 for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil4 ,the good ,samaritan is our ,lord's answer to the question1 ,who is my neighbor8 and the good ,samaritan's neighbor was a bitter enemy1 who1 in other circumstances1 would have spurned him from his presence4 ,other people may not be beautiful in their character1 nor congenial in their habits1 manners1 modes of life1 or disposition2 they may even be unkind to us1 unjust1 unreasonable1 in strict justice altogether undeserving of our favor2 yet if we persist in being called ,christians ourselves we owe them the love that thinketh no evil1 that seeketh not its own1 that beareth all things1 endureth all things1 and never faileth4 ,no doubt it is hard to love the other people who hate us4 ,it is not so hard just to let them alone1 to pass them by without harming them1 or even to pray for them in a way2 but to love them--that is a sore test4 ,we are apt to ask3-- ,dear ,lord1 will it not do1 ,if we return not wrong for wrong1 ,and neither love nor hate8 ,but love--,o ,lord1 our souls are far from strong1 ,and love is such a tender1 home-nursed dove-- ,how can we1 ,lord1 our enemies bless and love8 ,fasting--,oh1 one could fast-- ,and praying--one could most pathetic pray2 ,but love our enemies6 ,dear ,lord1 ,is there not unto thee some easier way-- ,some way through churchly service1 song1 or psalm1 ,or ritual grand1 to reach thy heaven's calm8 ,but there comes no answer of ,christly indulgence to such questions4 ,other people1 though they be our enemies1 are not thus taken out of the circle of those to whom we owe love4 ,our part is always pictured for us in the example of the good ,samaritan4 ,that is1 we owe other people service4 ,service goes with loving4 ,we cannot love truly and not serve4 ,love without serving is but an empty sentiment1 a poor mockery4 ,god so loved the world that he gave4 ,love always gives4 ,if it will not give it is not love4 ,it is measured always by what it will give4 ,the needs of other people are therefore divine commands to us1 which we dare not disregard or disobey4 ,to refuse to bless a brother who stands before us in any kind of want is as great a sin as to break one of the positive commandments of the ,decalogue4 ,indeed1 in a sense1 it is the breaking of the whole second table of the commandments--the sense of which is1 ,thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself4 ,we like to think there is no sin in mere not doing4 ,but ,jesus1 in his wonderful picture of the ,last ,judgment1 makes men's condemnation turn on not doing the things they ought to have done4 ,they have simply not fed the hungry1 not clothed the naked1 not visited the sick1 not blessed the prisoner4 ,to make these sins of neglect appear still more grievous1 our ,lord makes a personal matter of each case1 puts himself in the place of the sufferer who needs it and is not cared for1 and tells us that all neglects to give needed kindness to any are shown to him4 ,this divine word gives a tremendous interest to other people1 who are brought providentially into the sphere of our life1 so that their wants of whatever kind may make appeal to our sympathy and kindness4 ,to neglect them is to neglect ,christ4 ,he sends them to us4 ,they represent him4 ,to turn them away is to turn him away4 ,this matter of serving has multitudinous forms4 ,sometimes it is poverty that stands at our gate1 and money help is wanted4 ,a thousand times more frequently1 however1 it is not money1 but something else more precious1 that we must give4 ,it may be loving sympathy4 ,sorrow is before us4 ,another's heart is breaking4 ,money would be of no use2 it would be only bitter mockery to offer it4 ,but we can hold to the neighbor's lips a cup of the wine of love1 filled out of our own heart1 which will give new strength to the sufferer4 ,or it is the anguish of a life struggle1 a human ,gethsemane1 beside which we are called to watch4 ,we can give no actual aid--the soul must fight its battles alone2 but we can be as the angel that ministered in our ,lord's ,gethsemane1 imparting strength1 and helping the weary struggler to win the victory4 ,the world is very full of sorrow and trial1 and we cannot live among our fellow-men and be true without sharing their loads4 ,if we are happy we must hold the lamp of our happiness so that its beams will fall upon the shadowed heart4 ,if we have no burden it is our duty to put our shoulders under the load of others4 ,selfishness must die or else our own heart's life must be frozen within us4 ,we soon learn that we cannot live for ourselves and be ,christians2 that the blessings that are given to us are really for other people1 and that we are only ,god's ministers1 to carry them in ,christ's name to those for whom they are intended4 ,we begin to felicitate ourselves upon some special prosperity1 and the next moment some human need knocks at our door1 and we must share our good things with a suffering brother4 ,we may build up our fine theories of taking care of ourselves1 of living for the future1 of laying up in the summer of prosperity for the winter of adversity1 of providing for old age or for our children2 but ofttimes all these frugal and economic plans have to yield to the exigencies of human need4 ,the love that seeketh not its own plays havoc with life's hard logic1 and with the plans of mere self-interest4 ,we cannot say that anything is our own when our brother is suffering for what we can give4 ,herein is love3 to strip the shoulders bare4 ,if need be1 that a frailer one may wear ,a mantle to protect it from the storm2 ,to bear the frost-king's breath so one be warm2 ,to crush the tears it would be sweet to shed1 ,and smile so others may have joy instead4 ,herein is love3 to daily sacrifice ,the hope that to the bosom closest lies2 ,to mutely bear reproach and suffer wrong1 ,nor lift the voice to show where both belong2 ,nay1 now1 nor tell it e'en to ,god above-- ,herein is love indeed1 herein is love4 ,not a day passes in the commonest experiences of life1 in which other people do not stand before us with their needs1 appealing to us for some service which we may render to them4 ,it may be only ordinary courtesy1 the gentle kindness of the home circle1 the patient treatment of neighbors or customers in business relations1 the thoughtful showing of interest in old people or in children4 ,on all sides the lives of others touch ours1 and we cannot do just as we please1 thinking only of ourselves1 and our own comfort and good1 unless we choose to be false to all the instincts of humanity1 and all the requirements of the law of ,christian love4 ,we must think continually of other people4 ,we may not seek our own pleasure in any way without asking whether it will harm or mar the comfort of some other one4 ,for example1 we must think of other people's convenience in the exercise of our own liberty and in the indulgence of our own tastes and desires4 ,it may be pleasant for us to lie late in bed in the morning1 and we may be inclined to regard the habit as only a little amiable self-indulgence4 ,but there is a more serious side to the practice4 ,it breaks the harmonious flow of the household life4 ,it causes confusion in the family plans for the day4 ,it makes extra work for faithful housekeepers or servants4 ,it sorely tries the patience of love4 ,the other day an important committee of fifteen was kept waiting for ten minutes for one tardy member1 whose presence was necessary before anything could be done4 ,at last he came sauntering in without even an apology for having caused fourteen busy men a loss of time that to them was very valuable1 besides having put a sore strain on their patience and good nature4 ,we have no right to forget or disregard the convenience of others4 ,a conscientious application of the ,golden ,rule would cure us of all such carelessness4 ,these are but illustrations of the way other people impinge upon our life4 ,they are so close to us that we cannot move without touching them4 ,we cannot speak but that our words affect others4 ,we cannot act in the simplest things without first thinking whether what we are about to do will help or hurt others4 ,we are but one of a great family1 and we dare not live for ourselves4 ,we must never forget that there are other people4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,blessing ,,of ,,faithfulness4 ,it must be done by both2 ,god never without me1 ,i never without ,god4 --,,johannes ,,scheffler4 ,faithful servant will be the commendation on the judgment-day of those who have lived well on the earth4 ,not great deeds will be commended1 but faithfulness4 ,the smallest ministries will rank with the most conspicuous1 if they are all that the weak hands could do4 ,indeed1 the widow's two mites were more in value than the rich men's large coins4 ,two mites1 two drops1 but all her house and land ,fell from an earnest heart but trembling hand2 ,the others' wanton wealth foamed high and brave2 ,the others cast away1 she only gave4 ,yet faithfulness as a measure of requirement is not something that can be reached without effort4 ,it does not furnish a pillow for indolence4 ,it is not a letting down of obligation to a low standard1 to make life easy4 ,it is indeed a lofty measurement4 ,thou hast been faithful is the highest possible commendation4 ,it may not be amiss to look a little at the meaning of the word as a standard of moral requirement4 ,in general1 it implies the doing of all our work as well as we can4 ,all our work includes1 of course1 our business1 our trade1 our household duties1 all our daily task-work1 as well as our praying1 our ,bible-reading1 and our obeying of the moral law4 ,we must not make the mistake of thinking that there is no religion in the way we do the common work of our trade or of our household1 or our work on the farm1 or in the mill or store4 ,the faithfulness ,christ requires and commends takes in all these things4 ,ofttimes1 too1 it would be easier to be faithful in some great trial1 requiring sublimity of courage1 than in the little unpicturesque duties of an ordinary day4 ,says ,phillips ,brooks3 ,you picture to yourself the beauty of bravery and steadfastness4 ,you let your imagination wander in delight over the memory of martyrs who have died for truth4 ,and then some little1 wretched1 disagreeable duty comes1 which is your martyrdom1 the lamp of your oil2 and if you will not do it1 how your oil is spilt6 ,how flat and thin and unilluminated your sentiment about the martyrs runs out over your self-indulgent life6 ,lovers of the violin are familiar with the name of ,stradivarius1 the old violin-maker of ,cremona4 ,he has been dead nearly two hundred years1 and his violins now bring fabulous prices4 ,george ,eliot1 in one of her poems1 puts some noble words into the mouth of the old man4 ,speaking of the masters who will play on his violins1 he says3-- ,while ,god gives them skill1 ,i give them instruments to play upon1 ,god choosing me to help him4 ,referring to another violin-maker1 his rival1 he says3-- ,but were his the best1 ,he could not work for two4 ,my work is mine1 ,and1 heresy or not1 if my hand slacked1 ,i should rob ,god--since he is fullest good-- ,leaving a blank instead of violins4 ,i say1 not ,god himself can make man's best ,without best men to help him4 99 99 99 99 99 99 ',tis ,god gives skill1 ,but not without men's hands4 ,he could not make ,antonio ,stradivari's violins ,without ,antonio4 ,at first reading these words may indeed seem heretical and irreverent1 but they are not4 ,it is true1 indeed1 that even ,god cannot do our work without us1 without our skill1 our faithfulness4 ,if we fail or do our little duty negligently1 there will be a blank or a blur where there ought to have been something beautiful4 ,as another says1 ,the universe is not quite perfect without my work well done4 ,one man is a carpenter4 ,god has called him to that work4 ,it is his duty to build houses1 and to build them well4 ,that is1 he is required to be a good carpenter1 to do the very best work he can possibly do4 ,if1 therefore1 he does careless work1 imperfect1 dishonest1 slurred1 slighted work1 he is robbing ,god1 leaving only bad carpentering where he ought to have left good4 ,for even ,god himself will not build the carpenter's houses without the carpenter4 ,or1 here is a mother in a home4 ,her children are about her1 with their needs4 ,her home requires her skill1 her taste1 her refinement1 her toil and care4 ,it is her calling to be a good mother1 and to make a true home for her household4 ,her duty is to do always her very best to make her home beautiful1 bright1 happy1 a fit place for her children to grow up in4 ,faithfulness requires that she do always such service as a mother1 that ,jesus shall say of her home-making1 ,she hath done what she could4 ,to do less than her best is to fail in fidelity4 ,suppose that her hand should slack1 that she should grow negligent1 would she not clearly be robbing ,god8 ,for even ,god cannot make a beautiful home for her children without her4 ,so we may apply the principle to all kinds of work4 ,the faithfulness which ,god requires must reach to everything we do1 to the way the child gets its lessons and recites them1 to the way the dressmaker and the tailor sew their seams1 to the way the blacksmith welds the iron1 and shoes the horse1 to the way the plumber puts the pipes into the new building and looks after the drainage1 to the way the carpenter does his work on the house1 to the way the bridge-builder swings the bridge over the stream1 to the way the clerk represents the goods1 and measures or weighs them4 ,be thou faithful is the word that rings from heaven in every ear4 ,god's word for the doing of every piece of work that any one does4 ,how soon it would put a stop to all dishonesty1 all fraud1 all scant work1 all false weights and measures1 all shams1 all neglects or slightings of duty1 were this lesson only learned and practiced everywhere6 ,it does not matter1 people say1 whether ,i do my little work well or not4 ,of course ,i must not steal1 nor lie1 nor commit forgery1 nor break the ,sabbath4 ,these are moral things4 ,but there is no sin in my sewing up this seam carelessly1 or in my using bad mortar in this wall1 or in my putting inferior timber in this house1 or a piece of flawed iron in this bridge4 ,but we need to learn that the moral law applies everywhere1 just as really to carpentry1 or blacksmithing1 or tailoring1 as to ,sabbath-keeping4 ,we never can get away from this law4 ,besides1 it does matter1 for our neighbor's sake1 as well as for the honor of ,god's law1 how we do our work4 ,the bricklayer does negligent work on the walls of the flue he is putting in1 and one night1 years afterward1 a spark creeps through the crevice and reaches a wooden beam that lies there1 and soon the house is in flames and perhaps precious lives perish4 ,the bricklayer was unfaithful4 ,the foundryworker1 in casting the great iron supports for a bridge1 is unwatchful for an instant1 and a bubble of air makes a flaw4 ,it is buried away in the heart of the beam and escapes detection4 ,one day1 years later1 there is a terrible disaster4 ,a great railroad bridge gives way beneath the weight of an express train and hundreds of lives are lost4 ,in the inquest it is testified that a slight flaw in one beam was the cause of the awful calamity which hurled so many lives into eternity4 ,the foundry workman was unfaithful4 ,these are but suggestions of the duty and of its importance4 ,no work can be of so little moment that it matters not whether it be done faithfully or not4 ,unfaithfulness in the smallest things is unfaithfulness1 and ,god is grieved1 and possibly sometime1 somewhere1 disaster may come as the consequence of the neglect4 ,on the other hand1 faithfulness is pleasing to ,god1 though it be only in the sweeping well of a room1 or the doing neatly of the smallest things in household care4 ,then faithfulness is far-reaching in its influence4 ,the universe is not quite complete without each one's little work well done4 ,the self-culture that there is in the mere habit of faithfulness is in itself a rich reward for all our striving4 ,it is a great thing to train ourselves to do always our best1 to do as nearly perfect work as possible4 ,said ,michael ,angelo3 ,nothing makes the soul so pure1 so religious1 as the endeavor to create something perfect2 for ,god is perfection1 and whoever strives for it1 strives for something that is ,godlike4 ,the habit1 unyieldingly persisted in1 of doing everything with the most scrupulous conscientiousness1 builds up in the one who so lives a noble and beautiful character4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,without ,,axe ,,or ,,hammer4 ,souls are built as temples are1-- ,based on truth's eternal law1 ,sure and steadfast1 without flaw1 ,through the sunshine1 through the snows1 ,up and on the building goes2 ,every fair thing finds its place1 ,every hard thing lends a grace1 ,every hand may make or mar4 ,we read of the temple of ,solomon1 when it was in building1 that it was built of stone made ready in the quarry1 so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it went up4 ,no workman's steel1 no ponderous axes rung2 ,like some tall palm1 the noiseless fabric sprung4 ,so it is that the great work of spiritual temple-building goes on continually in this world4 ,we are all really silent builders4 ,the kingdom of ,god cometh not with observation4 ,the divine ,spirit works in silence1 changing men's hearts1 transforming lives1 comforting sorrow1 kindling hope in darkened bosoms1 washing scarlet souls white as snow4 ,the preacher may speak with the voice of a ,boanerges1 but the power that reaches hearts is not the preacher's noise2 silently the divine voice whispers in the soul its secret of conviction1 or of hope1 or of strength4 ,the ,lord is not in the storm1 in the earthquake1 in the fire1 but in the sound of gentleness1 the spirit's whisper1 that breathes through the soul4 ,perhaps the best work any of us do in this world is that which we do without noise4 ,words give forth sound1 but it is not the sounds that do good1 that brighten sad faces as people listen1 that change tears to laughter1 that stimulate hope1 that put courage into fainting hearts1--it is not the noise of our words1 but the thoughts which the words carry4 ,words are but the chattering messengers that bear the sealed messages2 and it is the messages that help and comfort4 ,we may make noise as we work1 but it is not our noise that builds up what we leave in beauty behind us4 ,it is life that builds1 and life is silent4 ,the force that works in our homes is a silent force1--mother-love1 father-love1 patience1 gentleness1 prayer1 truth1 the influences of divine grace4 ,it is the same in the building up of personal character in each of us4 ,there may be a great deal of noise all about us1 but it is in silence that we grow from a thousand sources come the little blocks that are laid upon the walls1--the lessons we get from others1 the influences friends exert upon us1 the truths our reading puts into our minds1 the impressions life leaves upon us1 the inspirations we receive from the divine ,spirit--ever the builders are at work on these characters of ours1 but they work silently1 without noise of hammer or axe4 ,there is another suggestion4 ,down in the dark quarries1 under the city1 the men wrought1 cutting1 hewing1 polishing1 the stones4 ,they hung their little lamps on the walls1 and with their hammers and chisels they hewed away at the great blocks4 ,months and years passed2 then one day there was a grand dedication1 and there in the glorious sunshine all the secret1 obscure work of those years was seen in its final beauty1 amid the joy of a nation4 ,if the men who had wrought in the quarries were present that day1 what a joy it must have been to them to think of their work in preparing the great stones for their place in the magnificent building6 ,here is a parable4 ,this world is the quarry4 ,we are toiling away in the darkness4 ,we cannot see what good is ever to come out of our lonely1 painful1 obscure toil4 ,yet some day our quarry-work will be manifested in the glory of heaven4 ,we are preparing materials now and here for the temple of the great ,king1 which in heaven is slowly rising through the ages4 ,no noise of hammer or axe is heard in all that wondrous building1 because the stones are all shaped and polished and made entirely ready in this world4 ,we are the stones1 and the world is ,god's quarry4 ,the stones for the temple were cut out of the great rock in the dark underground cavern4 ,they were rough and shapeless4 ,then they were dressed into form1 and this required a great deal of cutting1 hammering1 and chiselling4 ,without this stern1 sore work on the stones1 not one of them could ever have filled a place in the temple4 ,at last when they were ready they were lifted out of the dark quarry and carried up to the mountain-top1 where the temple was rising1 and were laid in their place4 ,we are stones in the quarry as yet4 ,when we accepted ,christ we were cut from the great mass of rock4 ,but we were yet rough and unshapely2 not fit for heaven4 ,before we can be ready for our place in the heavenly temple we must be hewn and shaped4 ,the hammer must do its work1 breaking off the roughnesses4 ,the chisel must be used1 carving and polishing our lives into beauty4 ,this work is done in the many processes of life4 ,every sinful thing1 every fault in our character1 is a rough place in the stone1 which must be chiselled off4 ,all the crooked lines must be straightened4 ,our lives must be cut and hewn until they conform to the perfect standard of divine truth4 ,quarry-work is not always pleasant4 ,if stones had hearts and sensibilities1 they would sometimes cry out in sore pain as they feel the hammer strokes and the deep cutting of the chisel4 ,yet the workman must not heed their cries and withdraw his hand1 else they would at last be thrown aside as worthless blocks1 never to be built into the place of honor4 ,we are not stones2 we have hearts and sensibilities1 and we do cry out ofttimes as the hammer smites away the roughnesses in our character4 ,but we must yield to the sore work and let it go on1 or we shall never have our place as living stones in ,christ's beautiful temple4 ,we must not wince under the sharp chiselling of sorrow4 ,says ,dr4 ,t4 ,t4 ,munger3-- ,when ,god afflicts thee1 think he hews a rugged stone ,which must be shaped1 or else aside as useless thrown4 ,there is still another suggestion from this singular temple-building4 ,every individual life has its quarries where are shaped the blocks which afterward are built into character1 or which take form in acts4 ,schools are the quarries1 where1 through years of patient study1 the materials for life are prepared1 the mind is disciplined1 habits are formed1 knowledge is gained1 and power is stored4 ,later1 in active life1 the temple rises without noise of hammer or axe4 ,homes are quarries where children are trained1 where moral truth is lodged in the heart1 where the elements of character are hewn out like fair stones1 to appear in the life in after days1 when it grows up among men4 ,then there are the thought-quarries back of what people see in every human life4 ,men must be silent thinkers before their words or deeds can have either great beauty or power4 ,extemporaneousness anywhere is of small value4 ,glib1 easy talkers1 who are always ready to speak on any subject1 who require no time for preparation1 may go on chattering1 forever1 but their talk is only chatter4 ,the words that are worth hearing come out of thought-quarries where they have been wrought ofttimes in struggle and anguish4 ,father ,ryan1 in one of the most exquisite of his poems1 writes of the valley of silence where he prepares the songs he afterwards sings3-- ,in the hush of the valley of silence ,i dream all the songs that ,i sing2 ,and the music floats down the dim valley ',till each finds a word for awing1 ,that to hearts1 like the dove of the deluge1 ,a message of peace they may bring4 ,so it is of all great thoughts4 ,thinkers brood long in the silence and then come forth and their eloquence sways us4 ,so it is with art4 ,we look at a fine picture and our hearts are warmed by its wondrous beauty4 ,but do we know the story of the picture8 ,years and years of thought and of tireless toil lie back of its enrapturing beauty4 ,or here is a book which charms you1 which thrills and inspires you4 ,great thoughts lie on its pages4 ,do you know the book's story8 ,the author lived1 struggled1 toiled1 suffered1 wept1 that he might write the words which now help you4 ,back of every good life-thought which blesses men1 lies a dark quarry where the thought was born and shaped into the beauty of form which makes it a blessing to the world4 ,or here is a noble and beautiful character4 ,goodness appears natural to it4 ,it seems easy for the man to be noble and to do noble things4 ,but again the quarry is back of the temple4 ,each one's heart is the quarry out of which comes all that the person builds into his life4 ,as he thinketh in his heart so is he4 ,everything that appears in our lives comes out of our hearts4 ,all our acts are first thoughts4 ,the artist's picture1 the poet's poem1 the singer's song1 the architect's building1 are thoughts before they are wrought out into forms of beauty4 ,all dispositions1 tempers1 feelings1 words1 and acts start in the heart4 ,if the workmen had quarried faulty stones in the caverns1 the temple would have been spoiled4 ,an evil heart1 with stained thoughts1 impure imaginings1 blurred feelings1 can never build up a fair and lovely character4 ,we need to guard our heart-quarry with all diligence1 since out of it are the issues of life4 ,the thoughts build the life and make the character4 ,white thoughts rear up a beautiful fabric before ,god and man4 ,soiled thoughts pile up a stained life1 without beauty or honor4 ,we should look well1 therefore1 to our heart-quarry1 where the work goes on in the darkness without ceasing4 ,if all be right there we need give little concern to the building of character4 ,diligent heart-keeping yields a life unspotted from the world4 ,a little child had been reading the beatitudes1 and was asked which of the qualities named in them she most desired4 ,i would rather be pure in heart1 she said4 ,when asked the reason for her choice1 she answered3 ,if ,i could but have a pure heart1 ,i should then possess all the other qualities of the beatitudes in the one4 ,the child was right4 ,a pure heart will build a beautiful life1 a fit temple for ,christ4 ,thinking over ,god's holy thoughts after him will make us like ,god4 ,thinking habitually about ,christ1 ,christ's beauty will come into our souls and shine in our faces4 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,doing ,,things ,,fob ,,christ4 ,we can best minister to him by helping them ,who dare not touch his hallowed garment's hem2 ,their lives are even as ours--one piece1 one plan4 ,him know we not1 him shall we never know1 ,till we behold him in the least of these ,who suffer or who sin4 ,in sick souls he ,lies bound and sighing1 asks our sympathies2 ,their grateful eyes thy benison bestow1 ,brother and ,lord1--',ye did it unto me4' --,,lucy ,,larcom4 ,if ,christ were here1 we say1 we would do many things for him4 ,the women who love him would gladly minister to him as did the women who followed him from ,galilee4 ,the men who are his friends would work to help him in any ways he might direct4 ,the children who are trying to please him would run errands for him4 ,we all say we would be delighted to serve him if only he would come again to our world and visit our homes4 ,but we can do things for him just as really as if he were here again in human form4 ,one way of doing this is by obeying him4 ,he is our ,lord4 ,nothing pleases him so well as our obedience4 ,it is told of a great philosopher that a friend called one day to see him1 and was entertained by the philosopher's little daughter till her father came in4 ,the friend supposed that the child of so wise a man would be learning something very deep4 ,so he asked her1 ,what is your father teaching you8 ,the little maid looked up into his face with her clear eyes and said1 ,obedience4 ,that is the one great lesson our ,lord is teaching us4 ,he wants us to learn obedience4 ,if we obey him always we shall always be doing things for him4 ,we do things for ,christ which we do through love to him4 ,even obedience without love does not please him4 ,but the smallest services we can render1 if love inspire them1 he accepts4 ,thus we can make the commonest tasks of our lives holy ministries1 as sacred as what the angels do4 ,there is a legend of a monk who painted in an old convent-cell pictures of martyrs and holy saints and of the sweet ,christ-face with the crown of thorns4 ,men called his pictures only daubs4 ,one night the poor monk mused1 ',could ,i but render ,honor to ,christ as other painters do-- ,were but my skill as great as is the tender ,love that inspires me when his cross ,i view4' ',but no1 'tis vain ,i toil and strive in sorrow2 ,what man so scorns still less can ,he admire2 ,my life's work is all valueless2 to-morrow ,i'll cast my ill-wrought pictures in the fire4' ,he raised his eyes within his cell--,o wonder6 ,there stood a ,visitor2 thorn-crowned was ,he2 ,and a sweet voice the silence rent asunder3 ',i scorn no work that's done for love of me4' ,and round the walls the paintings shone resplendent ,with lights and colors to this world unknown1 ,a perfect beauty and a hue transcendent1 ,that never yet on mortal canvas shone4 ,there is a beautiful meaning in the old legend4 ,christ scorns no work that is done for love of him4 ,most of us have much drudgery in our lives1 but even this we can make glorious by doing it through love for ,christ4 ,things we do for others in ,christ's name1 are done for him4 ,we all remember that wonderful inasmuch in the twenty-fifth of ,matthew4 ,if we find the sick one1 or the poor one1 and go and minister1 as we may be able1 as unto the ,lord1 the deed is accepted as if done to him in person4 ,mrs4 ,margaret ,j4 ,preston1 in one of her beautiful poems1 tells of a weary sister who grieved sorely because1 as it seemed to her1 she had not been able to do any work for ,christ4 ,by a mother's dying bed she had promised to care for her little sister1 and her work for the child so filled her hands that she had not time for anything else4 ,as she grieved thus once1 the little sister sleeping beside her stirred and told her of a sweet1 strange dream she had had4 ,she thought her sister was sitting sad because the ,king had bidden each one to bring him a gift4 ,and in my dream ,i saw you there1 ,and heard you say1 ',no hands can bear ,a gift1 that are so filled with care4' ,what care8' the ,king said1 and he smiled ,to hear you answer1 wailing wild1 ',i only toil to feed a child4' ,and then with such a look divine 7',twas that awaked me with its shine71 ,he whispered1 ',but the child is mine4' ,there are many for whom this little story-poem should have sweet comfort4 ,there are fathers and mothers who find it hard to provide for their children4 ,it takes all their time and strength1 and sometimes they say1 ,i cannot do any work for ,christ1 because it takes every moment to earn bread and clothing for my little ones1 and to care for them4 ,but ,jesus whispers1 ,yes2 yet your children are mine1 and what you do for them you do for me4 ,there is in a home an invalid who requires all the time and thought of another member of the household in loving attention4 ,it may be an aged parent needing the help of a child2 it may be a child1 crippled1 blind1 or sick1 needing all a parent's care2 or it may be a brother broken in health on whom a sister is called to wait continually with patient love4 ,and sometimes those who are required thus to spend their days and nights in ministry for others feel that their lives count for nothing in work for ,christ4 ,they hear the appeals for laborers and for service1 but cannot respond4 ,their hands are already filled4 ,yet ,jesus whispers1 ,these for whom you are toiling1 caring1 and spending time and strength are mine1 and in doing for them you are doing for me just as acceptable work as are those who are toiling without distraction or hindrance in the great open field4 ,sometimes the work we do for ,christ with purest love fails1 or seems to fail of result4 ,nothing appears to come of it4 ,there are whole lifetimes of godly people that seem to yield nothing4 ,a word ought to be said about this kind of doing for ,christ4 ,we are to set it down as true without exception1 that no work wrought in ,christ's name and with love for him is ever lost4 ,what we1 in our limited1 short-sighted vision1 planned to do may not be accomplished1 but ,god's purpose goes on in every consecrated life1 in every true deed done4 ,the disciples thought that ,mary's costly ointment was wasted4 ,so it seemed2 but this world has been a little sweeter ever since the breaking of the vase that let the perfume escape into its common air4 ,so it is with many things that are done1 and many lives that are lived4 ,they seem to fail1 and there is nothing on the earth to show where they have been4 ,yet somehow the stock of human happiness is larger and the world is a little better4 ,our work for ,christ that fails in what we intended may yet leave a blessing in some other way4 ,a faithful ,bible-class teacher through many months visited a young man1 a member of her class1 in sickness4 ,she read the ,bible to him and sang sweet hymns and prayed by his bedside4 ,he was not a ,christian and she hoped that he would be led to ,christ4 ,but at length he recovered and went out again1 unchanged1 or even more indifferent than ever to his spiritual interests4 ,all the faithful teacher's work seemed to have been in vain4 ,then she learned that a frail1 invalid girl1 living in an adjoining house1 had been brought to ,christ through the loving work done for the careless scholar4 ,the songs sung by the sick man's bedside1 and which seemed to have left no blessing in his heart1 had been heard through the thin wall of the house in the girl's sick-room1 and had told her of the love of the ,saviour4 ,the records of ,christian ministry are full of such good work done unintentionally4 ,failing to leave a blessing where it was hoped a blessing would be received1 it blessed some other life4 ,we may not say that any good work has failed until we know in the last great harvest all the results of the things we have done and the words we have spoken4 ,not all who seem to fail have failed indeed2 ,not all who fail have therefore worked in vain2 ,for all our acts to many issues lead2 ,and out of earnest purpose1 pure and plain1 ,enforced by honest toil of hand or brain1 ,the ,lord will fashion in his own good time 7,be this the laborer's proudly humble creed71 ,such ends as in his wisdom1 fitliest chime ,with his vast love's eternal harmonies4 ,there is no failure for the good and wise2 ,what though thy seed should fall by the wayside1 ,and the birds snatch it8--,yet the birds are fed2 ,or they may bear it far across the tide1 ,to give rich harvests after thou art dead4 ,many people die1 and see yet no harvest from their life's sowing4 ,they come to the end of their years1 and their hands are empty4 ,but when they enter heaven they will find that they have really been building there all the while1 that the things that have seemed to leave no result on the earth have left glorious results inside the gates of pearl4 ,there is no end to the sky1 ,and the stars are everywhere1 ,and time is eternity1 ,and the here is over there2 ,for the common deeds of the common day ,are ringing bells in the far away4 ,then even if the work we do does not itself leave any record1 the doing of it leaves a record--an impression--on our own life4 ,there is a word of ,scripture which says1 ,he that doeth the will of ,god abideth forever4 ,doing ,god's will builds up enduring character in us4 ,every obedience adds a new touch of beauty to the soul4 ,every true thing we do in ,christ's name1 though it leave no mark anywhere else in ,god's universe1 leaves an imperishable mark on our own life4 ,every deed of unselfish kindness that we perform with love for ,christ in our heart1 though it bless no other soul in all the world1 leaves its sure benediction on ourselves4 ,thousands of years since a leaf fell on the soft clay and seemed to be lost4 ,but last summer a geologist in his ramblings broke off a piece of rock with his hammer1 and there lay the image of the leaf1 with every line1 and every vein1 and all the delicate tracery1 preserved in the stone through these centuries4 ,so the words we speak1 and the things we do for ,christ to-day1 may seem to be lost1 but in the great final revealing the smallest of them will appear1 to the glory of ,christ and the reward of the doer4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,helping ,,and ,,over-,,helping4 ,as we meet and touch each day ,the many travellers on our way1 ,let every such brief contact be ,a glorious1 helpful ministry2 ,the contact of the soil and seed1 ,each giving to the other's need1 ,each helping on the other's best1 ,and blessing each as well as blest4 ,even kindness may be overdone4 ,one may be too gentle4 ,love may hold others back from duty1 and thus may wreck destinies4 ,we need to guard against meddling with ,god's discipline1 softening the experience that he means to be hard1 sheltering our friend from the wind that he intends to blow chillingly4 ,all summer does not make a good zone to live in2 we need autumn and winter to temper the heat1 and keep vegetation from luxuriant overgrowth4 ,the best thing we can do for others is not always to take their load or do their duty for them4 ,of course we are to be helpful to others4 ,no aim should be put higher in our life-plans than that of personal helpfulness4 ,the motto of the true ,christian cannot be other than that of the ,master3 ,not to be ministered unto1 but to minister4 ,even in the ambition to gather and retain wealth1 the spirit of the desire must be1 if we are ,christians at all1 that thereby we may become more helpful to others2 that through1 or by means of1 our wealth1 we may be enabled to do larger and greater good4 ,whatever gift1 power1 or possession we have that we do not seek to use in this way is not yet truly devoted to ,god4 ,fruit is the test of character1 and the purpose of fruit is not to adorn the tree or vine1 but to feed hunger4 ,whatever we are1 whatever we have1 is fruit1 and must be held for the feeding of the hunger of others4 ,thus personal helpfulness is the aim of all truly consecrated life4 ,in so far as we are living for ourselves1 we are not ,christians4 ,then there are many ways of helping others4 ,some people help us in material ways4 ,it is a still higher kind of help which we get from those who minister to our mental needs1 who write the books which charm1 instruct1 and entertain us4 ,mind is greater than body4 ,bread1 and clothing1 and furniture1 and houses will not satisfy our intellectual cravings4 ,there are those1 however1 who do help us in these loftier ranges4 ,music1 poetry1 and art minister both to our gratification and our culture4 ,good books bring to us inestimable benefits4 ,they tell us of new worlds1 and inspire us to conquer them4 ,they show us lofty and noble ideals1 and stimulate us to attain them4 ,they make us larger1 better1 stronger4 ,the help we get from books is incalculable4 ,yet the truest and best help any one can give to others is not in material things1 but in ways that make them stronger and better4 ,money is good alms when money is really needed1 but in comparison with the divine gifts of hope1 friendship1 courage1 sympathy1 and love1 it is paltry and poor4 ,usually the help people need is not so much the lightening of their burden1 as fresh strength to enable them to bear their burden1 and stand up under it4 ,the best thing we can do for another1 some one has said1 is not to make some things easy for him1 but to make something of him4 ,it is just here that friendship makes most of its mistakes4 ,it over-helps4 ,it helps by ministering relief1 by lifting away loads1 by gathering hindrances out of the way1 when it would help much more wisely by seeking to impart hope1 strength1 energy4 ,our friends1 says ,emerson1 are those who make us do what we can4 ,says another writer3 ,our real friend is not the man or woman who smooths over our difficulties1 throws a cloak over our failings1 stands between us and the penalties which our mistakes have brought upon us1 but the man or woman who makes us understand ourselves1 and helps us to better things4 ,love is weak1 and too often pampers and flatters4 ,it thinks that loyalty requires it to make life easy as possible for the beloved one4 ,too often our friendship is most short-sighted in this regard1 and most hurtful to those we fervently desire to aid4 ,we should never indulge or encourage weakness in others when we can in any way stimulate it into strength4 ,we should never do anything for another which we can inspire him to do for himself4 ,much parental affection errs at this point4 ,life is made too easy for children4 ,they are sheltered when it were better if they faced the storm4 ,they are saved from toil and exertion1 when toil and exertion are ,god's ordained means of grace for them1 of which the parents rob them in their over-tenderness4 ,there are children who are wronged by the cruelty and inhumanity of parents1 and whose cries to heaven make the throne of the ,eternal rock and sway2 but there are children1 also1 who are wronged of much that is noblest and best in their inheritance by the over-kindness of parents4 ,in every warm friendship1 too1 there is strong temptation to make the same mistake4 ,we have to be ever on our guard against over-helping4 ,our aim should always be to inspire in our friend new energy1 to develop in him the noblest strength1 to bring out his best manhood4 ,over-helping defeats these offices of friendship4 ,there is one particular point at which a special word of caution may well be spoken4 ,we need to guard our sympathies when we would comfort and help those who are suffering or are in trouble of any kind4 ,it may seem a severe thing to say1 but illness is ofttimes made worse by the pity of friends4 ,there is in weak natures a tendency to indulge sickness1 to exaggerate its symptoms1 to imagine that it is more serious than it really is1 and easily to succumb to its influence4 ,you find your friend indisposed1 and you are profuse in your expressions of sympathy1 encouraging or suggesting fears1 urging prompt medical help4 ,you think you have shown kindness1 but very likely you have done sore injury4 ,you have left a depressing influence behind you4 ,your friend is disheartened and alarmed4 ,you have left him weaker1 not stronger4 ,it may seem hard-hearted to appear to be unsympathetic with invalids1 and those who are slightly or even seriously sick2 not to take interest in their complaints2 not to say commiserating things to them2 but really it is the part of true friendship to help sick people fight the battle with their ills4 ,we ought1 therefore1 to guard against speaking any word which will discourage them1 increase their fear1 exaggerate their thought of their illness1 or weaken them in their struggle4 ,on the other hand1 we ought to say words which will cheer and strengthen them1 and make them braver for the fight4 ,our duty is to help them to get well4 ,perhaps the very medicine they need is a glimpse of cheerful outlook4 ,sick people ofttimes fall into a mood of disheartenment and self-pity which seriously retards their recovery4 ,to sit down beside them then1 and fall into their gloomy spirit1 listening sympathetically to their discouraged words1 is to do them sore unkindness4 ,the true office of friendship in such cases is to drive away the discouragement1 and put hope and courage into the sore heart4 ,we must try to make our sick friend braver to endure his sufferings4 ,then1 even in the sacredness of sorrow1 we should never forget that our mission to others is not merely to weep with them1 but to help them to be victorious1 to receive their sorrow as a messenger from ,god1 and to bear themselves as ,god's children under it4 ,instead1 therefore1 of mere emotional condolence with our friends in their times of grief1 we should seek to present to them the strong comforts of divine love1 and to inspire them to the bearing of their sorrow in faith and hope and joy4 ,so all personal helpfulness should be wise and thoughtful4 ,it should never tend to pamper weakness1 to encourage dependence1 to make people timid1 to debilitate manliness and womanliness1 to make parasites of those who turn to us with their burdens and needs4 ,we must take care that our helping does not dwarf any life which we ought rather to stimulate to noble and beautiful growth4 ,god never makes such mistakes as this4 ,he never fails us in need1 but he loves us too well and is too wise to relieve us of weights which we need to make our growth healthful and vigorous4 ,we should learn from ,god1 and should help as he helps1 without over-helping4 ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,only ,,one4 ,before the monstrous wrong he sets him down-- ,one man against a stone walled city of sin4 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,when the red dust has cleared1 the lonely soldier ,stands with strange thoughts beneath the friendly stars4 --,e4 ,r4 ,,sill4 ,there are a great many people in this world--hundreds of millions1 tables of population foot up4 ,yet in a sense each one of us is the only one4 ,each individual life has relations of its own in which it must stand alone1 and into which no other life can come4 ,companionships may be close1 and they may give much comfort and inspiration1 but in all the inner meaning of life each individual lives apart and alone4 ,no one can live your life for you4 ,no one but yourself can answer your questions1 meet your responsibilities1 make your decisions and choices4 ,your relations with ,god no one but yourself can fulfil4 ,no one can believe for you4 ,a thousand friends may encircle you and pray for your soul1 but until you lift up your own heart in prayer no communication is established between you and ,god4 ,no one can get your sins forgiven but yourself4 ,no one can obey ,god for you4 ,no other one can do your work for ,christ1 or render your account at the judgment-seat4 ,in the realm of experience also the same is true4 ,each person suffers alone1 as if there were no other being in the universe4 ,friends may stand by us in our hours of pain or sorrow1 and may sympathize with us or administer comfort or alleviation1 but they enter not really into the experiences4 ,in these we are alone4 ,no one can meet your temptations for you1 or fight your battles1 or endure your trials4 ,the tenderest friendship1 the holiest love1 cannot enter into the solitariness in which each one of us lives apart4 ,still in each heart of hearts a hidden deep ,lies1 never fathomed by its dearest1 best4 ,this aloneness of life sometimes becomes very real in consciousness4 ,all great souls experience it as they rise out of and above the common mass of men in their thoughts and hopes and aspirations1 as the mountains rise from the level of the vale and little hills4 ,all great leaders of men ofttimes must stand alone1 as they move in advance of the ranks of their followers4 ,the battles of truth and of progress have usually been fought by lonely souls4 ,elijah1 for example1 in a season of disheartenment and despondency1 gave it as part of the exceptional burden of his life that he was the only one in the field for ,god4 ,it is so in all great epochs2 ,god calls one man to stand for him4 ,as ,robert ,browning says3-- ,in life exceptional1 ,when old things terminate and new commence1 ,a solitary great man's worth the world4 ,god takes the business in his own hand ,at such time4 ,but the experience is not that only of great souls2 there come times in the lives of all who are living faithfully and worthily when they must stand alone for ,god1 without companionship1 perhaps without sympathy or encouragement4 ,here is a young person1 the only one of his family who has confessed ,christ4 ,he takes him as his ,saviour1 and then stands up before the world and vows to be his and follow him4 ,he goes back to his home4 ,the members of the home circle are very dear to him2 but none of them are ,christians1 and he must stand alone for ,christ among them4 ,perhaps they oppose him in his discipleship--in varying degrees this ofttimes is the experience4 ,perhaps they are only indifferent1 making no opposition1 only quietly watching his life to see if it is consistent4 ,in any case1 however1 he must stand for ,christ alone1 without the help that comes from companionship4 ,or it may be in the workshop or in the school that the young ,christian must stand alone4 ,he returns from the ,lord's ,table to his week-day duties1 full of noble impulses1 but finds himself the only ,christian in the place where his duty leads him4 ,his companions are ready to sneer1 and they point the finger of scorn at him1 with irritating epithets4 ,or they even persecute him in petty ways4 ,at least they are not ,christ's friends1 and he1 as follower of the ,master1 finds no sympathy among them in his new life4 ,he must stand alone in his discipleship1 conscious all the while that unfriendly eyes are upon him4 ,many a young or older ,christian finds it very hard to be the only one to stand for ,christ in the circle in which his daily work fixes his place4 ,this aloneness puts upon one a great responsibility4 ,for example1 you are the only ,christian in your home4 ,you are the only witness ,christ has in your house1 the only one through whom to reveal his love1 his grace1 his holiness4 ,you are the only one to represent ,christ in your family1 to show there the beauty of ,christ1 the sweetness and gentleness of ,christ1 to do there the works of ,christ1 the things he would do if he lived in your home4 ,perhaps the salvation of all the souls of your family depends upon your being true and faithful in your own place4 ,if you falter in your loyalty1 if you fail in your duty1 your loved ones may be lost and the blame will be yours2 their blood will be upon you4 ,in like manner1 if you are the only ,christian in the shop1 the store1 or the office where you work1 a peculiar responsibility rests upon you1 a responsibility which no other one shares with you4 ,you are ,christ's only witness in your place4 ,if you do not testify there for him1 there is no other one who will do it4 ,miss ,havergal tells of her experience in the girls' school at ,dusseldorf4 ,she went there soon after she had become a ,christian and had confessed ,christ4 ,her heart was very warm with love for her ,saviour and she was eager to speak for him4 ,to her amazement1 however1 she soon learned that among the hundred girls in the school1 she was the only ,christian4 ,her first thought was one of dismay--she could not confess ,christ in that great company of worldly1 un-,christian companions4 ,her gentle1 sensitive heart shrank from a duty so hard4 ,her second thought1 however1 was that she could not refrain from confessing ,christ4 ,she was the only one ,christ had there and she must be faithful4 ,this was very bracing1 she writes4 ,i felt ,i must try to walk worthy of my calling for ,christ's sake4 ,it brought a new and strong desire to bear witness for my ,master4 ,it made me more watchful and earnest than ever before1 for ,i knew that any slip in word or deed would bring discredit on my ,master4 ,she realized that she had a mission in that school1 that she was ,christ's witness there1 his only witness1 and that she dare not fail4 ,this same sense of responsibility rests upon every thoughtful ,christian who is called to be ,christ's only witness in a place--in a home1 in a community1 in a store1 or school1 or shop1 or social circle4 ,he is ,christ's only servant there1 and he dare not be unfaithful1 else the whole work of ,christ in that place may fail4 ,he is the one light set to shine there for his ,master1 and if his light be hidden1 the darkness will be unrelieved4 ,so there is special inspiration in this consciousness of being the only one ,christ has in a certain place4 ,there is a sense in which this is true also of every one of us all the time4 ,we really are always the only one ,christ has at the particular place at which we stand4 ,there may be thousands of other lives about us4 ,we may be only one of a great company1 of a large congregation1 of a populous community4 ,yet each one of us has a life that is alone in its responsibility1 in its danger1 in its mission and duty4 ,there may be a hundred others close beside me1 but not one of them can take my place1 or do my duty1 or fulfil my mission1 or bear my responsibility4 ,though every one of the other hundred do his work1 and do it perfectly1 my work waits for me1 and if ,i do not do it1 it never will be done4 ,we can understand how that if the great prophet had failed ,god that day when he was the only one ,god had to stand for him1 the consequences would have been most disastrous2 the cause of ,god would have suffered irreparably4 ,but are we sure that the calamity to ,christ's kingdom would be any less if one of us should fail ,god in our lowly place any common day8 ,stories are told of a child finding a little leak in the dike that shuts off the sea from ,holland1 and stopping it with his hand till help could come1 staying there all the night1 holding back the floods with his little hand4 ,it was but a tiny1 trickling stream that he held back2 yet if he had not done it1 it would soon have become a torrent1 and before morning the sea would have swept over the land1 submerging fields1 homes1 and cities4 ,between the sea and all this devastation there was but a boy's hand4 ,had the child failed1 the floods would have rolled in with their remorseless ruin4 ,we understand how important it was that that boy should be faithful to his duty1 since he was the only one ,god had that night to save ,holland4 ,but do you know that your life may not stand any day1 and be all that stands1 between some great flood of moral ruin and broad1 fair fields of beauty8 ,do you know that your failure in your lowly place and duty may not let in a sea of disaster which shall sweep away human hopes and joys and human souls8 ,the humblest of us dare not fail1 for our one life is all ,god has at the point where we stand4 ,this truth of personal responsibility is one of tremendous moment4 ,we do not escape it by being in a crowd1 one of a family1 one of a community4 ,no one but ourself can live our life1 do our work1 meet our obligation1 bear our burden4 ,no one but ourself can stand for us before ,god to render an account of our deeds4 ,in the deepest1 realest sense each one of us lives alone4 ,there is another phase of this subject1 however1 which should not be overlooked4 ,while we must stand alone in our place and be faithful to our trust1 our responsibility reaches only to our own duty4 ,others beside us have their part also to do1 and the perfection of the whole work depends upon their faithfulness as well as upon ours4 ,the best any of us can do in this world is but a fragment4 ,the old prophet thought his work had failed because ,baalism was not yet entirely destroyed4 ,then he was told of three other men1 who would come after him--two kings and then another prophet1 who each in turn would do his part1 when at last the destruction of the great alien idolatry would be complete4 ,elijah's faithfulness had not failed1 but his achievement was only a fragment of the whole work4 ,this is very suggestive and very comforting4 ,we are not responsible for finishing everything we begin4 ,it may be our part only to begin it2 the carrying on and finishing of it may be the work of others whom we do not know1 of others perhaps not yet born4 ,we all enter into the work of those who have gone before us1 and others who come after us shall in turn enter into our work4 ,our duty simply is to do well and faithfully our own little part4 ,if we do this we need never fret ourselves about the part we cannot do4 ,that is not our work at all1 but belongs to some other worker1 waiting now1 perchance1 in some obscure place1 who at the right time will come forward with new heart and skilful hand1 anointed by ,god for his task4 ,mr4 ,sill illustrates this truth in one of his poems1 where1 speaking of the young1 led on by courage and immortal hope1 and with the morning in their hearts1 he says3-- ,they to the disappointed earth shall give ,the lives we meant to live1 ,beautiful1 free1 and strong2 ,the light we almost had ,shall make them glad2 ,the words we waited long ,shall run in music from their voice and song4 ,mr4 ,whittier also suggests the same truth3-- ,others shall sing the song1 ,others shall right the wrong1 ,finish what ,i begin1 ,and all ,i fail of win4 ,what matter ,i or they1 ,mine or another's day1 ,so the right word be said ,and life the sweeter made8 ,so while we are alone in our responsibility we need give no thought for anything but our own duty1 our own little fragment of the ,lord's work4 ,the things we cannot do some other one is waiting and preparing now to do after the work has passed from our hand4 ,there is comfort in this for any who fail in their efforts1 and must leave tasks unfinished which they hoped to complete4 ,the finishing is another's mission4 ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,swiftness ,,in ,,duty4 ,life is a leaf of paper white1 ,whereon each one of us may write ,his word or two--and then comes night4 --,,lowell4 ,many good people are very slow4 ,they do their work well enough1 perhaps1 but so leisurely that they accomplish in their brief time only a fraction of what they might accomplish4 ,they lose1 in aimless loitering1 whole golden hours which they ought to fill with quick activities4 ,they seem to have no true appreciation of the value of time1 or of their own accountability for its precious moments4 ,they live conscientiously1 it may be1 but they have no strong constraining sense of duty impelling them to ever larger and fuller achievement4 ,they have a work to do1 but there is no hurry for it2 there is plenty of time in which to do it4 ,it is quite safe to say that the majority of people do not get into their life half the achievement that was possible to them when they began to live1 simply because they have never learned to work swiftly1 and under pressure of great motives4 ,there can be no doubt that we are required to make the most possible of our life4 ,mr4 ,longfellow once gave to his pupils1 as a motto1 this3 ,live up to the best that is in you4 ,to do this1 we must not only develop our talents to the utmost power and capacity of which they are susceptible1 but we must also use these talents to the accomplishment of the largest and best results they are capable of producing4 ,in order to reach this standard1 we must never lose a day1 nor even an hour1 and we must put into every day and every hour all that is possible of activity and usefulness4 ,dreaming through days and years1 however brilliantly one may dream1 can never satisfy the demands of the responsibility which inheres essentially in every soul that is born into the world4 ,life means duty1 toil1 work4 ,there is something divinely allotted to each hour1 and the hour one loiters remains forever an unfilled blank4 ,we can ideally fulfil our mission only by living up always to the best that is in us1 and by doing every day the very most that we can do4 ,so here hath been dawning another blue day2 ,think1 wilt thou let it slip useless away8 ,out of eternity this new day is born2 ,into eternity at night will return4 ,we turn over to our ,lord for example1 since his was the one life in all the ages that reached the divine thought1 and filled out the divine pattern2 and wherever we see him1 we find him intent on doing the will of his ,father1 not losing a moment1 nor loitering at any task4 ,we see him ever hastening from place to place1 from ministry to ministry1 from baptism to temptation1 from teaching to healing1 from miracle-working to solitary prayer4 ,his feet never loitered4 ,he lost no moments2 he seems indeed to have crowded the common work of years into a few short1 intense hours4 ,he is painted for us as a man continually under the strongest pressure1 with a work to do which he was eager to accomplish in the shortest possible time4 ,he was always calm1 never in nervous haste1 yet ever quietly moving with resistless energy on his holy errand4 ,we ought to catch our ,master's spirit in this celerity in the ,father's business4 ,time is short and duty is large4 ,there is not a moment to lose1 if1 in our allotted period1 we would finish the work that is given us to do4 ,we need to get our ,lord's straightway into our life1 so that we shall hasten from duty to duty1 without pause or idle lingering4 ,we need to get into our heart a consciousness of being ever on the ,master's errands1 that shall be within us a mighty compulsion1 driving us always to duty4 ,naturally we are indolent1 and fond of ease and self indulgence4 ,we need to be carried out of and beyond ourselves4 ,there is no motive strong enough to do this but love to ,god and to our fellow-men4 ,supreme love to ,god makes us desire to do with alacrity everything he commands4 ,love to our fellow-men draws us to all service of sympathy and beneficence for them1 regardless of cost4 ,constrained by such motives1 we shall never become laggards in duty4 ,swiftness or slowness in duty is very much a matter of habit4 ,as one is trained in early life1 one is quite sure to continue in mature years4 ,a loitering child will become a loitering man or woman4 ,the habit grows1 as all habits do4 ,lose this day loitering1 'twill be the same story ,to-morrow1 and the next more dilatory2 ,the indecision brings its own delays1 ,and days are lost1 lamenting o'er lost days4 ,are you in earnest8 ,seize this very minute4 ,what you can do1 and think you can1 begin it4 ,boldness has genius1 power1 magic in it4 ,only engage1 and then the mind grows heated2 ,begin it1 and the work will be completed4 ,many people lose in the aggregate whole years of time out of their lives for want of system4 ,they make no plan for their days4 ,they let duties mingle in inextricable confusion4 ,they are always in feverish haste4 ,they talk continually of being overwhelmed with work1 of the great pressure that is upon them1 of being driven beyond measure4 ,they always have the air of men who have scarcely time to eat or sleep4 ,and there is nothing feigned in all their intense occupation4 ,they really are hurried men4 ,yet in the end they accomplish but little in comparison with their great activity1 because they work without order1 and always feverishly and nervously4 ,swiftness in accomplishment is always calm and quiet4 ,it plans well1 suffering no confusion in tasks4 ,hurried haste is always flurried haste1 which does nothing well4 ,unhasting yet unresting is the motto of quick and abundant achievement4 ',without haste6 without rest6' ,bind the motto to thy breast2 ,bear it with thee as a spell2 ,storm or sunshine1 guard it well2 ,heed not flowers that round thee bloom1 ,bear it onward to the tomb4 ,haste not6 let no thoughtless deed ,mar for aye the spirit's speed2 ,ponder well and know the right2 ,onward then with all thy might2 ,haste not2 years can ne'er atone ,for one reckless action done4 ,rest not6 life is sweeping by1 ,do and dare before you die2 ,something mighty and sublime ,leave behind to conquer time2 ,glorious 'tis to live for aye ,when these forms have passed away4 ,haste not6 rest not6 calmly wait2 ,meekly bear the storm of fate2 ,duty be thy polar guide2 ,do the right whate'er betide4 ,haste not6 rest not6 ,conflicts past1 ,god shall crown thy work at last4 ,there is another phase of the lesson4 ,not swiftness only1 but patient persistence through days and years1 is the mark of true living4 ,there are many people who can work under pressure for a little time1 but who tire of the monotony and slack in their duty by and by1 failing at last because they cannot endure unto the end4 ,there are people who begin many noble things1 but soon weary of them and drop them out of their hands4 ,they may pass for brilliant men1 men even of genius1 but in the end they have for biography only a volume of fragments of chapters1 not one of them finished4 ,such men may attract a great deal of passing attention1 while the tireless plodders working beside them receive no praise1 no commendation2 but in the real records of life1 written in abiding lines in ,god's ,book1 it is the latter who will shine in the brightest splendor4 ,robert ,browning puts this truth in striking way in one of his poems3-- ,now1 observe1 ,sustaining is no brilliant self-display ,like knocking down or even setting up3 ,much bustle these necessitate2 and still ,to vulgar eye1 the mightier of the myth ,is ,hercules1 who substitutes his own ,for ,atlas' shoulder and supports the globe ,a whole day1--not the passive and obscure ,atlas who bore1 ere ,hercules was born1 ,and is to go on bearing that same load ,when ,hercules turns ash on ,oeta's top4 ',tis the transition-stage1 the tug and strain1 ,that strike men3 standing still is stupid-like4 ,so we get our lesson4 ,there is so much to do in the short days that we dare not lose a moment4 ,life is so laden with responsibility that to trifle at any point is sin4 ,even on the seizing of minutes eternal issues may depend4 ,of course we must take needed rest to keep our lives in condition for duty4 ,but what shall we say of those strong men and women who do almost nothing but rest8 ,what shall we say of those who live only to have amusement1 who dance away their nights and then sleep away their days1 and thus hurry on toward the judgment-bar1 doing nothing for ,god or for man8 ,life is duty2 every moment of it has its own duty4 ,there is no malfeasance so sad and so terrible in its penalties as that which wastes the golden years in idleness or pleasure1 and leaves duty undone4 ,shall we not seek to crowd the days with most earnest living8 ,shall we not learn to redeem the time from indolence1 from loitering1 from unmethodicalness1 from the waste of precious moments1 from self-indulgence1 from impatience of persistent toil1 from all that lessens achievement8 ,shall we not learn to work swiftly for our ,master8 ,you must live each day at your very best3 ,the work of the world is done by few2 ,god asks that a part be done by you4 ,say oft of the years as they pass from sight1 ',this is life with its golden store3 ,i shall have it once1 but it comes no more4' ,have a purpose1 and do with your utmost might3 ,you will finish your work on the other side1 ,when you wake in his likeness1 satisfied4 ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,shadows ,,we ,,cast4 ,the smallest bark on life's tumultuous ocean ,will leave a track behind for evermore2 ,the slightest wave of influence set in motion ,extends and widens to the eternal shore4 ,every one of us casts a shadow4 ,there hangs about us a sort of penumbra1--a strange1 indefinable something1--which we call personal influence1 which has its effect on every other life on which it falls4 ,it goes with us wherever we go4 ,it is not something we can have when we want to have it1 and then lay aside when we will1 as we lay aside a garment4 ,it is something that always pours out from our life1 like light from a lamp1 like heat from flame1 like perfume from a flower4 ,no one can live1 and not have influence4 ,says ,elihu ,burritt3 ,no human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness1 not only of the present1 but of every subsequent age of humanity4 ,no one can detach himself from this connection4 ,there is no sequestered spot in the universe1 no dark niche along the disk of non-existence1 to which he can retreat from his relations to others1 where he can withdraw the influence of his existence upon the moral destiny of the world2 everywhere his presence or absence will be felt1 everywhere he will have companions who will be better or worse for his influence4 ,these are true words4 ,to be at all is to have influence1 either for good or evil1 over other lives4 ,the ministry of personal influence is something very wonderful4 ,without being conscious of it1 we are always impressing others by this strange power that goes out from us4 ,others watch us and their actions are modified by ours4 ,many a life has been started on a career of beauty and blessing by the influence of one noble act4 ,the disciples saw their ,master praying1 and were so impressed by his earnestness1 or by the radiancy they saw on his face1 as he communed with his ,father1 that when he joined them again they asked him to teach them how to pray4 ,every true soul is impressed continually by the glimpses it has of loveliness1 of holiness1 or of nobleness in others4 ,one kind deed often inspires many kindnesses4 ,here is a story from a newspaper of the other day1 which illustrates this4 ,a little newsboy entered a car on the elevated railway train1 and slipping into a cross-seat1 was soon asleep4 ,presently two young ladies came in1 and took seats opposite to him4 ,the child's feet were bare1 his clothes were ragged1 and his face was pinched and drawn1 showing marks of hunger and suffering4 ,the young ladies noticed him1 and1 seeing that his cheek rested against the hard window-sill1 one of them arose1 and quietly raising his head1 slipped her muff under it for a pillow4 ,the kind act was observed1 and now mark its influence4 ,an old gentleman in the next seat1 without a word1 held out a silver quarter to the young lady1 nodding toward the boy4 ,after a moment's hesitation1 she took it1 and as she did so1 another man handed her a dime1 a woman across the aisle held out some pennies1 and almost before the young woman realized what she was doing1 she was taking a collection for the poor boy4 ,thus from the one little act there had gone out a wave of influence touching the hearts of two score people1 and leading each of them to do something4 ,common life is full of just such illustrations of the influence of kindly deeds4 ,every good life leaves in the world a twofold ministry1 that of the things it does directly to bless others1 and that of the silent influence it exerts1 through which others are made better1 or are inspired to do like good things4 ,influence is something1 too1 which even death does not end4 ,when earthly life closes1 a good man's active work ceases4 ,he is missed in the places where his familiar presence has brought benedictions4 ,no more are his words heard by those who ofttimes have been cheered or comforted by them4 ,no more do his benefactions find their way to homes of need where so many times they have brought relief4 ,no more does his gentle friendship minister strength and hope and courage to hearts that have learned to love him4 ,the death of a good man1 in the midst of his usefulness1 cuts off a blessed ministry of helpfulness in the circle in which he has dwelt4 ,but his influence continues4 ,longfellow writes3-- ,alike are life and death ,when life in death survives1 ,and the uninterrupted breath ,inspires a thousand lives4 ,were a star quenched on high1 ,for ages would its light1 ,still travelling downward from the sky1 ,shine on our mortal sight4 ,so when a great man dies1 ,for years beyond our ken ,the light he leaves behind him lies ,upon the paths of men4 ,the influence which our dead have over us is ofttimes very great4 ,we think we have lost them when we see their faces no more1 nor hear their voices1 nor receive the accustomed kindnesses at their hands4 ,but in many cases there is no doubt that what our loved ones do for us after they are gone is quite as important as what they could have done for us had they stayed with us4 ,the memory of beautiful lives is a benediction1 softened and made more rich and impressive by the sorrow which their departure caused4 ,the influence of such sacred memories is in a certain sense more tender than that of life itself4 ,death transfigures our loved one1 as it were1 sweeping away the faults and blemishes of the mortal life1 and leaving us an abiding vision1 in which all that was beautiful1 pure1 gentle1 and true in him remains to us4 ,we often lose friends in the competitions and strifes of earthly life1 whom we would have kept forever had death taken them away in the earlier days when love was strong4 ,often is it true1 as ,cardinal ,newman writes3-- ,he lives to us who dies2 he is but lost who lives4 ,thus even death doth not quench the influence of a good life4 ,it continues to bless others long after the life has passed from earth4 ,it is true1 as ,mrs4 ,sangster writes3-- ,they never quite leave us1 our friends who have passed ,through the shadows of death to the sunlight above2 ,a thousand sweet memories are holding them fast ,to the places they blessed with their presence and love4 ,the work which they left and the books which they read ,speak mutely1 though still with an eloquence rare1 ,and the songs that they sung1 and the dear words that they said ,yet linger and sigh on the desolate air4 ,and oft when alone1 and oft in the throng1 ,or when evil allures us1 or sin draweth nigh1 ,a whisper comes gently1 ',nay1 do not the wrong1' ,and we feel that our weakness is pitied on high4 ,it must be remembered that not all influence is good4 ,evil deeds also have influence4 ,bad men live1 too1 after they are gone4 ,cried a dying man whose life had been full of harm to others3 ,gather up my influence1 and bury it with me in my grave4 ,but the frantic1 remorseful wish was in vain4 ,the man went out of the world1 but his influence stayed behind him1 its poison to work for ages in the lives of others4 ,we need1 therefore1 to guard our influence with most conscientious care4 ,it is a crime to fling into the street an infected garment which may carry contagion to men's homes4 ,it is a worse crime to send out a printed page bearing words infected with the virus of moral death4 ,the men who prepare and publish the vile literature which to-day goes everywhere1 polluting and defiling innocent lives1 will have a fearful account to render when they stand at ,god's bar to meet their influence4 ,if we would make our lives worthy of ,god1 and a blessing to the world1 we must see to it that nothing we do shall influence others in the slightest degree to evil4 ,in the early days of ,american art there went from this country to ,london a young artist of genius and of a pure heart4 ,he was poor1 but had an aspiration for noble living as well as for fine painting4 ,among his pictures was one that in itself was pure1 but that by a sensuous mind might be interpreted in an evil way4 ,a lover of art saw this picture and purchased it4 ,but when it was gone the young artist began to think of its possible hurtful influence on the weak1 and his conscience troubled him4 ,he went to his patron and said1 ,i have come to buy back my picture4 ,the purchaser could not understand him4 ,didn't ,i pay you enough for it8 ,do you need money8 he asked4 ,i am poor1 replied the artist1 but my art is my life4 ,its mission must be good4 ,the influence of that picture may possibly be harmful4 ,i cannot be happy with it before the eyes of the world4 ,it must be withdrawn4 ,we should keep watch not only over our words and deeds in their intent and purpose1 but also in their possible influence over others4 ,there may be liberties which in us lead to no danger1 but which to others1 with less stable character and less helpful environment1 would be full of peril4 ,it is part of our duty to think of these weaker ones and of the influence of our example upon them4 ,we may not do anything1 in our strength and security1 which might possibly harm others4 ,we must be willing to sacrifice our liberty1 if by its exercise we endanger another's soul4 ,this is the teaching of ,st4 ,paul in the words3 ,it is good not to eat flesh1 nor to drink wine1 nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth2 and ,if meat maketh my brother to stumble1 ,i will eat no flesh for evermore1 that ,i make not my brother to stumble4 ,how can we make sure of an influence that shall be only a benediction8 ,there is no way but by making our life pure and good4 ,just in the measure in which we are filled with the ,spirit of ,god and have the love of ,christ in us1 shall our influence be holy and a blessing to the world4 ,,chapter ,,xix4 ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,opportunities4 ',to-day' unsullied comes to thee--newborn1 ,to-morrow is not thine2 ,the sun may cease to shine ,for thee1 ere earth shall greet its morn4 ,be earnest1 then1 in thought and deed1 ,nor fear approaching night2 ,calm comes with evening light1 ,and hope and peace4 ,thy duty heed 'to-day4' --,,ruskin4 ,if people's first thoughts were but as good and wise as their after-thoughts1 life would be better and more beautiful than it is4 ,we can all see our errors more clearly after we have committed them than we saw them before4 ,we frequently hear persons utter the wish that they could go again over a certain period of their life1 saying that they would live it differently1 that they would not repeat the mistakes or follies which had so marred and stained the record they had made4 ,of course the wish that one might have a second chance with any past period of time is altogether vain4 ,no doubt there ofttimes is much reason for shame and pain in our retrospects4 ,we live poorly enough at the best1 even the saintliest of us1 and many of us certainly make sad work of our life4 ,human life must appear very pathetic1 and ofttimes tragical1 as the angels look down upon it4 ,there are almost infinitely fewer wrecks on the great sea where the ships go1 than on that other sea of which poets write1 where lives with their freightage of immortal hopes and possibilities sail on to their destiny4 ,we talk sometimes with wonder of what the ocean contains1 of the treasures that lie buried far down beneath the waves4 ,but who shall tell of the treasures that are hidden in the deeper1 darker sea of human life1 where they have gone down in the sad hours of defeat and failure8 ,in dim green depths rot ingot-laden ships1 ,while gold doubloons1 that from the drowned hand fell1 ,lie nestled in the ocean-flowers' bell ,with love's gemmed rings once kissed by now dead lips2 ,and round some wrought-gold cup the sea-grass whips1 ,and hides lost pearls1 near pearls still in their shell ,where sea-weed forests fill each ocean dell1 ,and seek dim sunlight with their countless tips4 ,so lie the wasted gifts1 the long-lost hopes1 ,beneath the now hushed surface of myself4 ,in lonelier depths than where the river gropes1 ,they lie deep1 deep2 but ,i at times behold1 ,in doubtful glimpses1 on some reefy shelf1 ,the gleam of irrecoverable gold4 ,glimpses of these lost things--these squandered treasures1 these wasted possibilities1 these pearls and gems of life that have gone down into the sea of our past--we may have when the reefs are left bare by the refluent tides1 but glimpses only can we see4 ,we cannot recover our treasures4 ,the gleams only mock us4 ,the past will not give again its gold and pearls to any frantic appealing of ours4 ,there is something truly startling in this irreparableness of the past1 this irrevocableness of the losses which we have suffered through our follies or our sins4 ,about two centuries ago a great sun-dial was erected in ,all ,souls' ,college1 ,oxford1 ,england1 the largest and noblest dial1 it is said1 in the whole kingdom4 ,over the long pointer were written1 in large letters of gold1 the ,latin words1 referring to the hours1 ,pereunt et imputantur4 ,literally1 the meaning is1 ,they perish1 and are set down to our account2 or1 as they have been rendered in terser phrase1 ,they are wasted1 and are added to our debt4 ,it is said that these words on the dial have exerted a wonderful influence on the boyhood of many of the distinguished men who have received their training at ,oxford1 stimulating them to the most conscientious use of the golden hours as they passed1 and bearing fruit in long lives of earnestness and faithfulness4 ,the lesson is one that every young person should learn4 ,in youth the hours are full of privileges4 ,they come like angels1 holding in their hands rich treasures1 sent to us from ,god1 which they offer to us2 and if we are laggard or indolent1 or if we are too intent on our own little trifles to give welcome to these heavenly messengers with their heavenly gifts1 they quickly pass on and are gone4 ,and they never come back again to renew the offer4 ,on the dial of a clock in the palace of ,napoleon at ,malmaison1 the maker has put1 the words1 ,non nescit reverti2 ,it does not know how to go backward4 ,it is so of the great clock of ,time--it never can be turned backward4 ,the moments come to us but once2 whatever we do with them we must do as they pass1 for they will never come to us again4 ,then privilege makes responsibility4 ,we shall have to give account to ,god for all that he sends to us by the mystic hands of the passing hours1 and which we refuse or neglect to receive4 ,they are wasted and are added to our debt4 ,the real problem of living1 therefore1 is how to take what the hours bring4 ,he who does this1 will live nobly and faithfully1 and will fulfil ,god's plan for his life4 ,the difference in men is not in the opportunities that come to them1 but in their use of their opportunities4 ,many people who fail to make much of their life charge their failure to the lack of opportunities4 ,they look at one who is continually doing good and beautiful things1 or great and noble things1 and think that he is specially favored1 that the chances which come to him for such things are exceptional4 ,really1 however1 it is in his capacity for seeing and accepting what the hours bring of duty or privilege1 that his success lies4 ,where other men see nothing1 he sees a battle to fight1 a duty to perform1 a service to render1 or an honor to win4 ,many a man waits long for opportunities1 wondering why they never come to him1 when really they have been passing by him day after day1 unrecognized and unaccepted4 ,there is a legend of an artist1 who long sought for a piece of sandal-wood out of which to carve a ,madonna4 ,at last he was about to give up in despair1 leaving the vision of his life unrealized1 when in a dream he was bidden to shape the figure from a block of oak-wood1 which was destined for the fire4 ,obeying the command1 he produced from the log of common firewood a masterpiece4 ,in like manner many people wait for great and brilliant opportunities for doing the good things1 the beautiful things1 of which they dream1 while through all the plain1 common days1 the very opportunities they require for such deeds lie close to them1 in the simplest and most familiar passing events1 and in the homeliest circumstances4 ,they wait to find sandal-wood out of which to carve ,madonnas1 while far more lovely ,madonnas than they dream of1 are hidden in the common logs of oak they burn in their open fire-place1 or spurn with their feet in the wood-yard4 ,opportunities come to all4 ,the days of every life are full of them4 ,but the trouble with too many of us is that we do not make anything out of them while we have them4 ,then next moment they are gone4 ,one man goes through life sighing for opportunities4 ,if only he had this or that gift1 or place1 or position1 he would do great things1 he says2 but with his means1 his poor chances1 his meagre privileges1 his uncongenial circumstances1 his limitations1 he can do nothing worthy of himself4 ,then another man comes up close beside him1 with like means1 chances1 circumstances1 privileges1 and he achieves noble results1 does heroic things1 wins for himself honor and renown4 ,the secret is in the man1 not in his environment4 ,mr4 ,sill puts this well in his lines3-- ,this ,i beheld1 or dreamed it in a dream3 ,there spread a cloud of dust along a plain2 ,and underneath the cloud1 or in it1 raged ,a furious battle1 and men yelled1 and swords ,shocked upon swords and shields4 ,a prince's banner ,wavered1 then staggered backward1 hemmed by foes4 ,a craven hung along the battle's edge1 ,and thought1 ',had ,i a sword of keener steel-- ,that blue blade that the king's son bears--but this ,blunt thing4'--,he snapt and flung it from his hand1 ,and lowering crept away and left the field4 ,then came the king's son wounded1 sore bestead1 ,and weaponless1 and saw the broken sword1 ,hilt buried in the dry and trodden sand1 ,and ran and snatched it1 and with battle shout ,lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down1 ,and saved a great cause that heroic day4 ,with the blunt sword1 broken now1 which the craven had flung away as unfit for use1 the princely hand won its great victory4 ,life is full of illustrations of this very experience4 ,the materials of life which one man has despised and spurned as unworthy of him1 as having in them no charmed secret of success1 another man is forever picking up out of the dust1 and with them achieving noble and brilliant successes4 ,men1 alert and eager1 are wanted1 men with heroic heart and princely hand1 to see and use the opportunities that lie everywhere in the most commonplace life4 ,there is but one thing to do to get out of life all its possibilities of attainment and achievement2 we must train ourselves to take what every moment brings to us of privilege and of duty4 ,some people worry themselves over the vague wonder as to what the divine plan in life is for them4 ,they have a feeling that ,god had some definite purpose in creating them1 and that there is something he wants them to do in this world1 and they would like to know how they can learn this divine thought for their life4 ,the answer is really very simple4 ,god is ready to reveal to us1 with unerring definiteness1 his plan for our life4 ,this revealing he makes as we go on1 showing us each moment one little fragment of his purpose4 ,says ,faber3 ,the surest method of aiming at a knowledge of ,god's eternal purposes about us is to be found in the right use of the present moment4 ,each hour comes with some little fagot of ,god's will fastened upon its back4 ,we have nothing to do1 therefore1 with anything save the privilege and duty of the one hour now passing4 ,this makes the problem of living very simple4 ,we need not look at our life as a whole1 nor even carry the burden of a single year2 if we but grasp well the meaning of the one little fragment of time immediately present1 and do instantly all the duty and take all the privilege that the one hour brings1 we shall thus do that which shall best please ,god and build up our own life into completeness4 ,it ought never to be hard for us to do this4 ,god broke our years to hours and days1 that hour by hour ,and day by day ,just going on a little way1 ,we might be able all along ,to keep quite strong4 ,should all the weight of life ,be laid across our shoulder1 and the future1 rife ,with woe and struggle1 meet us face to face ,at just one place1 ,we could not go1 ,our feet would stop2 and so ,god lays a little on us every day1 ,and never1 ,i believe1 on all the way ,will burdens bear so deep1 ,or pathways lie so threatening and so steep1 ,but we can go1 if by ,god's power ,we only bear the burden of the hour4 ,living thus we shall make each hour radiant with the radiancy of duty well done1 and radiant hours will make radiant years4 ,but the missing of privileges and the neglecting of duties will leave days and years marred and blemished and make the life at last like a moth-eaten garment4 ,we must catch the sacred meaning of our opportunities if we would live up to our best4 ,,chapter ,,xx4 ,,the ,,sin ,,of ,,ingratitude4 ,the sun may shine upon the clod till it is warm1 ,warm for its own poor darkling self to live4 ,he smites the diamond1 and oh1 how glows the gem1 ,chilling itself1 irradiant1 to give4 ,the silent soul1 that takes but gives not out again1 ,in shining thankfulness1 a smile1 a tear1 ,absorbing1 makes none other glad1 and misses so ,the purest and the best of love's rich cheer4 --,,mary ,k4 ,a4 ,,stone4 ,a blessing given ought always to have some return4 ,it is better to be a diamond1 lighted to shine1 than a clod1 warmed to be only a dull1 dark clod4 ,we all receive numberless favors1 but we do not all alike make fitting return4 ,krummacher has a pleasant little fable with a suggestion4 ,when ,zaccheus was old he still dwelt in ,jericho1 humble and pious before ,god and man4 ,every morning at sunrise he went out into the fields for a walk1 and he always came back with a calm and happy mind to begin his day's work4 ,his wife wondered where he went in his walks1 but he never spoke to her of the matter4 ,one morning she secretly followed him4 ,he went straight to the tree from which he first saw the ,lord4 ,hiding herself1 she watched him to see what he would do4 ,he took a pitcher1 and carrying water1 he poured it about the tree's roots which were getting dry in the sultry climate4 ,he pulled up some weeds here and there4 ,he passed his hand fondly over the old trunk4 ,then he looked up at the place among the branches where he had sat that day when he first saw ,jesus4 ,after this he turned away1 and with a smile of gratitude went back to his home4 ,his wife afterward referred to the matter and asked him why he took such care of the old tree4 ,his quiet answer was1 ,it was that tree which brought me to him whom my soul loveth4 ,there is no true life without its sacred memorial of special blessing or good4 ,there is something that tells of favor1 of deliverance1 of help1 of influence1 of teaching1 of great kindness4 ,there is some spot1 some quiet walk1 some room1 some book1 some face1 that always recalls sweet memories4 ,there is something that is precious to us because in some way it marks a holy place in life's journey4 ,most of us understand that loving interest of ,zaccheus in his old tree1 and can believe the little fancy to be even true4 ,in what life is there no place that is always kept green in memory1 because there a sweet blessing was received8 ,yet there seem to be many who forget their benefits4 ,there is much ingratitude in the world4 ,it may not be so universal as some would have us believe4 ,there surely are many who carry in their hearts1 undimmed for long years1 the memory of benefits and kindnesses received from friends1 and who never cease to be grateful and to show their gratitude4 ,wordsworth wrote3-- ,i've heard of hearts unkind1 ,kind deeds with coldness still returning2 ,alas6 the gratitude of men ,hath left me oftener mourning4 ,however1 ,archdeacon ,farrar1 referring to these words1 says1 ,if ,wordsworth found gratitude a common virtue1 his experience must have been exceptional4 ,there certainly are hearts unkind that do return coldness for kind deeds4 ,there are children who forget the love and sacrifices of their parents and repay their countless kindnesses1 not with grateful affection1 honor1 obedience1 thoughtfulness1 and service1 but with disregard1 indifference1 disobedience1 dishonor1 sometimes even with shameful neglect and unkindness4 ,there are those who receive help from friends in unnumbered ways1 through years1 help that brings to them great aid in life--promotion1 advancement1 improvement in character1 widening of privileges and opportunities1 tender kindness that warms1 blesses1 and inspires the heart1 and enriches1 refines1 and ennobles the life--who yet seem never to recognize or appreciate the benefit and the good they receive4 ,they appear to feel no obligation1 no thankfulness4 ,they make no return of love for all of love's ministry4 ,they even repay it with complaint1 with criticism1 with bitterness4 ,we have all known years of continued favors forgotten1 and their memory wiped out by one small failure to grant a new request for help4 ,we have all known malignant hate to be the return for long periods of lavish kindness4 ,ingratitude is robbery4 ,it robs those to whom gratitude is due1 for it is the withholding of that which is justly theirs4 ,if you are kind to another1 is he not your debtor8 ,if you show another favors1 does not he owe you thanks8 ,true1 you ask no return1 for love does not work for wages4 ,only selfishness demands repayment for help given1 and is embittered by ingratitude4 ,the ,christly spirit continues to give and bless1 pouring out its love in unstinted measure1 though no act or word or look tells of gratitude4 ,if thy true service mounted1 in its aim1 ,no higher than the praise that men bestow ,on noble sacrifice1 there might be shame ,that thou hast missed it so4 ,but not for selfish gain or low reward1 ,didst thou so labor under shade and sun2 ,but with the conscious sense that for thy ,lord ,this weary work was done4 ,he asked no thanks1 no recognition nigh1 ,no tender acceptation of his grace1 ,no pitying tear from one responsive eye1 ,no answering human face4 ,to do ,god's will--that was enough for ,christ1 ',mid griefs that make all agonies look dim4 ,it shall for thee suffice--it hath sufficed1 ,as it sufficed for him4 ,yet while love does not work for wages1 nor demand an equivalent for its services1 it is sorely wronged when ungrateful lips are dumb4 ,the quality of ingratitude is not changed because faithful love is not frozen in the heart by its coldness4 ,we owe at least loving remembrance to one who has shown us kindness1 though no other return may be possible1 or though large return may already have been made4 ,we can never be absolved from the duty of being grateful4 ,owe no man anything but love is a heavenly word4 ,we always owe love2 that is a debt we never can pay off4 ,ingratitude is robbery4 ,but it is cruelty as well as robbery4 ,it always hurts the heart that must endure it4 ,few faults or injuries cause more pain and grief in tender spirits than ingratitude4 ,the pain may be borne in silence4 ,men do not speak of it to others1 still less to those whose neglect or coldness inflicts it2 yet ,it is like thorns in the pillow4 ,blow1 blow1 thou winter wind2 ,thou art not so unkind ,as man's ingratitude4 ,parents suffer unspeakably when the children for whom they have lived1 suffered1 and sacrificed1 prove ungrateful4 ,the ungrateful child does not know what bitter sorrow he causes the mother who bore him and nursed him1 and the father who loves him more than his own life2 how their hearts bleed2 how they weep in secret over his unkindness4 ,we do not know how we hurt our friends when we treat them ungratefully1 forgetting all they have done for us1 and repaying their favors with coldness4 ,there is yet more of this lesson4 ,gratitude1 to fulfil its gentle ministry1 must find some fitting expression4 ,it is not enough that it be cherished in the heart4 ,there are many good people who fail at this point4 ,they are really thankful for the good others do to them4 ,they feel kindly enough in their hearts toward their benefactors4 ,perhaps they speak to other friends of the kindnesses they have received4 ,they may even put it into their prayers1 telling ,god how they have been helped by others of his children1 and asking him to reward and bless those who have been good to them4 ,but meanwhile they do not in any way express their grateful feelings to the persons who have done them the favors or rendered them the offices of friendship4 ,how does your friend know that you are grateful1 if you do not in some way tell him that you are8 ,verily here is a sore fault of love1 this keeping sealed up in the heart the generous feeling1 the tender gratitude1 which we ought to speak1 and which would give so much comfort if it were spoken in the ear that ought to hear it4 ,no pure1 true1 loving human heart ever gets beyond being strengthened and warmed to nobler service by words of honest and sincere appreciation4 ,flattery is contemptible2 only vain spirits are elated by it4 ,insincerity is a sickening mockery2 the sensitive soul turns away from it in revulsion4 ,but words of true gratitude are always to human hearts like cups of water to thirsty lips4 ,we need not fear turning people's heads by genuine expressions of thankfulness2 on the other hand1 nothing inspires such humility1 such reverent praise to ,god1 as the knowledge which such gratitude brings1--that one has been used of ,god to help1 or bless1 or comfort another life4 ,silence is said to be golden1 and ofttimes1 indeed1 it is better than speech4 ,it is a fine thing in friendship1 says ,george ,mac,donald1 to know when to be silent4 ,there are times when silence is the truest1 fittest1 divinest1 most blessed thing1 when words would only mar the hallowed sweetness of love's ministry4 ,but there are times again when silence is disloyalty1 cruelty1 unkind as winter air to tender plants4 ,especially is this true of gratitude2 to be coldly silent1 when the heart is grateful1 is a sin against love4 ,when we have a word of thanks in our heart1 which we feel we might honestly speak1 and which we do not speak1 we have sorely wronged our friend4 ,especially in homes ought there to be more grateful expression4 ,we wrong home friends more than any other friends4 ,home is where love is truest and tenderest4 ,we need never fear being misunderstood by the loved ones who there cluster about us4 ,yet too often home is the very place where we are most miserly of grateful and appreciative words4 ,we let gentle spirits starve close beside us for the words of affectionateness that lie warm1 yet unspoken1 on our tongues4 ,none of us know what joy and strength we could impart to others1 if only we would train ourselves to give fitting1 delicate1 and thoughtful expression to the gratitude that is in our hearts4 ,we would become blessings to all about us1 and would receive into our life new gladness4 ,nothing is sadder than the sorrow witnessed about many a ,coffin2 the grief of bereavement and loss made bitter by the regret that now the too slow gratitude of the heart shall never have opportunity to utter itself in the ear which waited so long1 hungry1 and in vain1 for the word that would have given such comfort4 ,over the coffin pitiful we stand1 ,and place a rose within the helpless hand1 ,that yesterday1 mayhap1 we would not see1 ,when it was meekly offered4 ,on the heart ,that often ached for an approving word1 ,we lay forget-me-nots--we turn away1 ,and find the world is colder for the loss ,of this so faulty and so loving one4 ,think of that moment1 ye who reckon close ,with love--so much for every gentle thought1 ,the moment when love's richest gifts are naught3 ,when a pale flower1 upon a pulseless breast1 ,like your regret1 exhales its sweets in vain4 ,but it is not enough that we be grateful and show our gratitude to the human friends who do us kindnesses4 ,it is to ,god that we owe all4 ,every good and perfect gift1 no matter how it reaches us1 through what messenger1 in what form1 cometh down from above1 from the ,father of lights4 ,all the blessings of ,providence1 all the tender things that come to us through human love and friendship1 are ,god's gifts4 ,whence came the father-heart in man1 ,the mother-heart in woman8 ,the love throughout the cosmic plan ,which makes ,god's children human8 ,these never came3 what we control ,is good because 'tis given1 ,and all made better to man's soul ,by the sweet touch of heaven4 ,we owe thanks to ,god1 therefore1 for all that we receive4 ,when we have shown gratitude to our human benefactors1 we still owe our ,heavenly ,father thanks and gratitude4 ,it is possible1 too1 for us to be grateful to the friends who help us1 and yet be as atheists1 never recognizing ,god1 nor giving him any thanks4 ,this is the sorest sin of all4 ,we rob ,god1 and hurt his heart1 every time we receive any favor at whatsoever hand1 and fail to speak our praise to him4 ,whatever we may say about man's ingratitude to his fellow-men1 there is no question about man's lack of gratitude to ,god4 ,we are continually receiving mercies and favors from him1 and yet1 are there not days and days with most of us1 in which we lift no heart and speak no word in praise8 ,our prayers are largely requests and supplications for help and favor1 with but little adoration and worship4 ,we continue asking and asking1 and ,god continues giving and giving2 but how many of us remember always or often to give thanks for answered prayer8 ,the angel of requests--so the legend runs--goes back from earth heavily laden every time he comes to gather up the prayers of men4 ,but the angel of thanksgiving1 of gratitude1 has almost empty hands as he returns from his errands to this world4 ,yet ought we not to give thanks for all that we receive and for every answered request8 ,if we were to do this our hearts would always be lifted up toward ,god in praise4 ,there is a story of some great conductor of a musical festival suddenly throwing up his baton1 and stopping the performance1 crying1 ,flageolet6 ,the flageolet was not doing its part and the conductor's trained ear missed its one note in the large orchestra4 ,does not ,god miss any voice that is silent in the music of earth that rises up to him8 ,and are there not many voices that are silent1 taking no part in the song1 giving forth no praise8 ,shall we not quickly start our heart-song of gratitude1 calling upon every power of our being to praise ,god8 ,,chapter ,,xxi4 ,,some ,,secrets ,,of ,,happy ,,home ,,life4 ,the primal duties shine aloft like stars2 ,the charities that sooth and heal and bless ,are scattered at the feet of men like flowers4 99 99 99 99 ,the smoke ascends ,to heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth ,as from the lofty palace4 --,,william ,,wordsworth4 ,home life ought to be happy4 ,the benediction of ,christ on every home to which he is welcomed as an abiding guest is1 ,peace be to this house4 ,while perfection of happiness is unattainable in this world1 rich1 deep1 heart-filling happiness certainly may be1 and ought to be1 attained4 ,yet it requires wise building and delicate care to make a home truly and perfectly happy4 ,such a home does not come as a matter of course1 by natural growth1 wherever a family takes up its abode4 ,happiness has to be planned for1 lived for1 sacrificed for1 ofttimes suffered for4 ,its price in a home is always the losing of self on the part of those who make up the household4 ,home happiness is the incense that rises from the altar of mutual self-sacrifice4 ,it may be said1 in a word1 that ,christ himself is the one great1 blessed1 secret of all home happiness2 ,christ at the marriage altar2 ,christ when the baby is born2 ,christ when the baby dies2 ,christ in the days of plenty2 ,christ in the pinching times2 ,christ in all the household life2 ,christ in the sad hour when farewells must be spoken1 when one goes on before and the other stays1 bearing the burden of an unshared grief4 ,christ is the secret of happy home life4 ,but for the sake of simplicity the lesson may be broken up4 ,for one thing1 the husband has much to do in solving the problem4 ,does a man think always deeply of the responsibility he assumes when he takes a young wife away from the shelter of mother-love and father-love1 the warmest1 softest human nest in this world1 and leads her into a new home1 where his love is to be henceforth her only shelter8 ,no man is fit to be the husband of a true woman who is not a good man4 ,he need not be great1 nor brilliant1 nor rich1 but he must be good1 or he is not worthy to take a gentle woman's tender life into his keeping4 ,then he must be a man1 true1 brave1 generous1 manly4 ,he must be a good provider4 ,he must be a sober man2 no man who comes home intoxicated1 however rarely1 is doing his share in making happiness for his wife and family4 ,he must be a man of pure1 blameless life1 whose name shall grow to be an honor and a pride in his household4 ,husbands have a great deal to do with the matter of happiness at home4 ,the wife1 too1 has a responsibility4 ,it should be understood at the very beginning1 that good housekeeping is one of the first secrets of a happy home4 ,if a man must be a good provider1 a woman must be a good home-maker4 ,no woman is ready to marry until she has mastered the fine arts of housekeeping4 ,home is the wife's kingdom4 ,she holds very largely in her hands the happiness of the hearts that nestle there4 ,the best husband1 the truest1 the noblest1 the gentlest1 the richest-hearted1 cannot make his home happy if his wife be not in every sense a helpmeet4 ,in the last analysis1 home happiness does depend on the wife4 ,she is the true home-maker4 ,children1 too1 are great blessings1 when ,god sends them1 bringing into the home rich possibilities of happiness4 ,they cost care1 and demand toil and sacrifice2 ofttimes causing pain and grief3 yet the blessing they bring repays a thousand times the care and cost4 ,it is a sacred hour in a home when a baby is born and laid in the arms of a young father and mother4 ,it brings fragments of heaven trailing after it to the home of earth4 ,there are few deeper1 purer joys ever experienced in this world than the joy of true parents at the birth of a child4 ,much of home's happiness along the years is made by the children4 ,we say we train them1 but they train us ofttimes more than we train them4 ,our lives grow richer1 our hearts are opened1 our love becomes holier when the children are about us4 ,croons a young mother over her babe3-- ,and art thou mine1 thou helpless1 trembling thing1 ,thou lovely presence8 ,bird1 where is thy wing8 ,how pure thou art6 fresh from the fields of light1 ,where angels garner grain in robes of white4 ,didst thou bring 'sealed instructions' with thee1 dove1 ,how to unlock the fount of mother-love8 ,full well dost thou fulfil thy winsome part2 ,with holy fire they're writ upon my heart4 ,my child1 ,i fear thee6 thou'rt a spirit1 soul6 ,how shall ,i walk before thee8 keep my garments whole8 ,o ,lord1 give strength1 give wisdom for the task1 ,to train this child for thee6 ,yet more ,i ask3 ,life of my life1 for thee ,i crave best gifts and glad1 ,more than1 even in dreams1 thy mother had6 ,o ,father6 fine this gold6 ,oh1 polish this1 my gem6 ,till it is fair and fitting for thy diadem4 ,jesus said of little children that those who receive them1 in his name1 receive him4 ,may we not then say that children bring great possibility of blessing and happiness to a home8 ,they come to us as messengers from heaven1 bearing messages from ,god4 ,yet we may not know their value while we have them4 ,ofttimes1 indeed1 it is only the empty crib and the empty arms that reveal to us the full measure of home happiness that we get from the children4 ,those to whom ,god gives children should receive them with reverence4 ,there are homes where mothers1 who once wearied easily of children's noises1 sit now with aching hearts1 and would give the world to have a baby to nurse1 or a rollicking boy to care for4 ,children are among the secrets of a happy home4 ,turning to the life of the household1 affectionateness is one of the secrets of happiness4 ,there are hundreds of homes in which there is love that would die for its dear ones2 and yet hearts are starving there for love's daily bread4 ,there is a tendency in some homes to smother all of love's tenderness1 to suppress it1 to choke it back4 ,there are homes where the amenities of affection are unknown1 and where hearts starve for daily bread4 ,there are husbands and wives between whom love's converse has settled into the baldest conventionalities4 ,there are parents who never kiss their children after they are babies1 and who discourage in them as they grow up all longing for caresses4 ,there are homes whose daily life is marred by incessant petty strifes and discourtesies4 ,these are not exaggerations4 ,yet there is love in these homes1 and all that is needed is that it be set free to perform its sweet ministry4 ,there are cold1 cheerless homes which could be warmed into love's richest glow in a little while1 if all the hearts of the household were to grow affectionate in expression4 ,does the busy husband think that his weary wife would not care any longer for the caresses and marks of tenderness with which he used to thrill her8 ,let him return again for a month to his old-time fondness1 and then ask her if these youthful amenities are distasteful to her4 ,do parents think their grown-up children are too big to be petted1 to be kissed at meeting and parting8 ,let them restore again1 for a time1 something of the affectionateness of the childhood days1 and see if there is not a blessing in it4 ,many who are longing for richer home happiness1 need only to pray for a spring-time of love1 with a tenderness that is not afraid of affectionate expression4 ,comfort one another2 ,with the hand-clasp close and tender1 ,with the sweetness love can render1 ,and looks of friendly eyes4 ,do not wait with grace unspoken ,while life's daily bread is broken3 ,gentle speech is oft like manna from the skies4 ,we ought not to fear to speak our love at home4 ,we should get all the tenderness possible into the daily household life4 ,we should make the morning good-byes1 as we part at the breakfast-table1 kindly enough for final farewells2 for they may be indeed final farewells4 ,many go out in the morning who never come home at night2 therefore1 we should part1 even for a few hours1 with kindly word1 with lingering pressure of the hand1 lest we may never look again in each other's eyes4 ,tenderness in a home is not a childish weakness1 is not a thing to be ashamed of2 it is one of love's sacred duties4 ,affectionate expression is one of the secrets of happy home life4 ,religion is another of these secrets4 ,it is where the ,gospel of ,christ is welcomed that heaven's benediction falls3 ,peace be to this house4 ,there may be a certain measure of happiness in a home without ,christ1 but it lacks something at best1 and then when sorrow comes1 and the sun of earthly joy is darkened1 there are no lamps of heavenly comfort to lighten the darkness4 ,sad indeed is the ,christless home1 when a beloved one lies dead within its doors4 ,no words of ,christian comfort have any power to console1 because there is no faith to receive them4 ,no stars shine through their cypress-trees4 ,but how different it is in the ,christian home1 in like sorrow6 ,the grief is just as sore1 but the truth of immortality sheds holy light on the darkness1 and there is a deep joy which transfigures the sorrow4 ,then may we not even put sorrow down as one of the secrets of happiness in a true ,christian home8 ,this may seem at first thought a strange suggestion4 ,but there surely are homes that have passed through experiences of affliction that have a deeper1 richer1 fuller joy now than they had before the grief came4 ,the sorrow sobered their gladness1 making it less hilarious1 but no less sweet4 ,bereavement drew all the home hearts closer together4 ,the loss of one from the circle made those that remained dearer to each other than before4 ,the tears became crystalline lenses through which faith saw more deeply into heaven4 ,then in the sorrow ,christ came nearer1 entering more really into the life of the home4 ,prayer has meant more since the dark days4 ,there has been a new fragrance of love in the household4 ,there are many homes whose present rich1 deep1 quiet happiness sorrow helped to make4 ,but it is not in sorrow only that religion gives its benediction4 ,it makes all the happiness sweeter to have the assurance of ,god's love and favor abiding in the household4 ,burdens are lighter because there is ,one who shares them all4 ,the morning prayer of the family1 when all bow together1 makes the whole day fairer2 and the evening prayer before sleep1 makes all feel safer for the night4 ,then religion inspires unselfishness1 thoughtfulness1 the spirit of mutual helpfulness1 of burden-bearing1 and serving1 and thus enriches the home life4 ,after a while the young folks scatter away1 setting up homes of their own4 ,how beautiful it is then to see the old couple1 who1 thirty or forty years before1 stood together at the marriage altar1 standing together still1 with love as true and pure and tender as ever1 waiting to go home4 ,by and by the husband goes away and comes back no more1 and then the wife is lonesome and longs to go too4 ,a little later and she also is gone1 and they are together again on the other side1 those dear old lovers1 to be parted henceforth nevermore4 ,and that is the blessed end of a happy ,christian home4 ,,chapter ,,xxii4 ,,god',s ,,winter ,,plants4 ,the wind that blows can never kill ,the tree ,god plants2 ,it bloweth east2 it bloweth west2 ,the tender leaves have little rest1 ,but any wind that blows is best4 ,the tree ,god plants ,strikes deeper root1 grows higher still1 ,spreads wider boughs1 for ,god's good-will ,meets all its wants4 --,,lillie ,e4 ,,barr4 ,one of the papers tells of a newly discovered flower4 ,it is called the snow-flower4 ,it has been found in the northern part of ,siberia4 ,the plant shoots up out of the ice and frozen soil4 ,it has three leaves1 each about three inches in diameter4 ,they grow on the side of the stem toward the north4 ,each of the leaves appears to be covered with little crystals of snow4 ,the flower1 when it opens1 is star-shaped1 its petals being of the same length as the leaves1 and about half an inch in width4 ,on the third day the extremities of the anthers show minute glistening specks1 like diamonds1 which are the seeds of this wonderful flower4 ,is not this strange snow-flower an illustration of many ,christian lives8 ,god seems to plant them in the ice and snow2 yet they live and grow up out of the wintry cold into fair and wondrous beauty4 ,we should say that the loveliest lives of earth would be those that are reared amid the gentlest1 kindliest influences1 under summer skies1 in the warm atmosphere of ease and comfort4 ,but the truth is that the noblest developments of ,christian character are grown in the wintry garden of hardship1 struggle1 and sorrow4 ,trial should not1 therefore1 be regarded with discouragement1 as something which will stunt and dwarf the life and mar its beauty4 ,it should be accepted rather1 when it comes1 as part of ,god's discipline1 through which he would bring out the noblest and best possibilities of our character4 ,perhaps we would be happier for the time if we had easier1 more congenial conditions4 ,children might be happier without restraint1 without family government1 without chastening--just left to grow up into all wilfulness and waywardness4 ,but there is something better in life than present happiness4 ,disciplined character in manhood1 even though it has been gotten through stern and severe home-training1 is better than a childhood and youth of unrestraint1 with a worthless manhood as the outcome4 ,a noble life1 bearing ,god's image1 even at the price of much pain and self-denial1 is better than years of freedom from care and sacrifice with a life unblessed and lost at the end4 ,to serve ,god and love him1 says one1 is higher and better than happiness1 though it be with wounded feet and bleeding hands and heart loaded with sorrow4 ,so much we miss ,if love is weak2 so much we gain ,if love is strong4 ,god thinks no pain ,too sharp or lasting to ordain ,to teach us this4 ,it is well that we should understand how to receive trial so as to get from its hard experience the good it has for us4 ,for one thing1 we should accept it always reverently4 ,resistance forfeits the blessing which can be yielded only to the loving1 submissive spirit4 ,teachableness is the unvarying condition of learning4 ,to rebel against trial is to miss whatever good it may have brought for us4 ,there are some who resent all severity and suffering in their lot as unkindness in ,god4 ,these grow no better under divine chastening1 but instead are hurt by it4 ,when we accept the conditions of our life1 however hard1 as divinely ordained1 and as the very conditions in which1 for a time1 we will grow the best1 we are ready to get from them the blessing and good intended in them for us4 ,another important suggestion is that we faint not under trial4 ,there are those who give up and lose all their courage and faith when trouble comes4 ,they cannot endure suffering4 ,sorrow crushes them4 ,they break down at once under a cross and think they never can go on again4 ,there have been many lives crushed by affliction or adversity1 which have not risen again out of the dust4 ,there have been mothers1 happy and faithful before1 out of whose home one child has been taken1 and who have lost all interest in life from that day1 letting their home grow dreary and desolate and their other children go uncared for1 as they sat with folded hands in the abandonment of their despairing1 uncomforted grief4 ,there have been men with bright hopes1 who have suffered one defeat or met with one loss1 and then have let go in their discouragement and have fallen into the dust of failure1 never trying to rise again4 ,nothing is sadder in life than such yieldings4 ,they are unworthy of immortal beings4 ,the divine intention in trial never is to crush us1 but always to do good to us in some way1 to bring out in us new energy of life4 ,whatever the loss1 struggle1 or sorrow1 we should accept it in love1 humility1 and faith1 take its lessons1 and then go on into the life that is before us4 ,when one child is taken out of a home1 the mother should1 with more reverent heart and more gentle hand1 turn the whole energy of her chastened life into love's channels1 living more than ever before for her home and the children that are left to her4 ,the man who has felt the stunning blow of a sudden grief or loss should kiss the hand of ,god that has smitten1 and quickly arise and press onward to the battles and duties before him4 ,we should never accept any defeat as final4 ,though it be in life's last hours1 with only a mere fringe of margin left1 and all our past failure and loss1 still we should not despair4 ,what though the radiance which was once so bright1 ,be now forever taken from my sight2 ,though nothing can bring back the hour ,of splendor in the grass1 of glory in the flower1 ,we will grieve not1 rather find ,strength in what remains behind4 ,there is nowhere any better illustration of the way we should always rise again out of trial than we have in the life of ,st4 ,paul4 ,from the day of his conversion till the day of his death1 trouble followed him4 ,he was misunderstood2 he was cast out for ,christ's sake2 he met persecution in every form2 he was shipwrecked2 he lay in dungeons2 he was deserted by his friends4 ,but he never fainted1 never grew discouraged1 never spoke one word about giving up4 ,cast down1 but not destroyed1 was the story of his life4 ,he quickly arose out of every trial1 every adversity1 with a new light in his eye1 a new enthusiasm in his heart4 ,he could not be defeated1 for he had ,christ in him4 ,shall we not catch ,st4 ,paul's unconquerable spirit1 that we may never faint in any trial8 ,it requires faith to meet trouble and adversity heroically4 ,undoubtedly1 at the time1 the blessing is not apparent in the sorrow or the defeat4 ,all seems disastrous and destructive4 ,it is in the future1 in the outworking1 that the good is to come4 ,it is a matter of faith1 not of sight4 ,all chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous1 but grievous2 yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby1 even the fruit of righteousness4 ,oh1 the blessing of ,god's afterwards6 ,jacob one day thought and said that all things were against him1 but afterward he saw that his great afflictions and losses were wrought in as parts of a beautiful plan of love for him4 ,the disciples thought that the cross was the destruction of all their ,messianic hopes2 afterward they saw that it was the very fulfilment of these hopes4 ,the pruning1 which at the time cuts so into the life of the vine1 lopping off great1 rich branches1 afterward is seen to have been the saving and enriching of the whole vine4 ,so we always need faith4 ,we must believe against appearances4 ,under the fount of ill ,many a cup doth fill1 ,and the patient lip1 though it drinketh oft1 ,finds only the bitter still4 ,nevertheless1 ,i know1 ,out of the dark must grow1 ,sooner or later1 whatever is fair1 ,since the heavens have willed it so4 ,back and forth the plough was driven4 ,the field was covered with grasses and lovely flowers1 but remorselessly through them all the share tore its way1 cutting furrow after furrow4 ,it seemed that all the beauty was being hopelessly destroyed4 ,but by and by harvest-time came1 and the field waved with golden wheat4 ,that was what the ploughman's faith saw from the beginning4 ,sorrow seems to destroy the life of a child of ,god4 ,its rude share ploughs again and again through it1 making many a deep furrow1 gashing its beauty4 ,but afterward a harvest of blessing and good grows up out of the crushed and broken life4 ,that is what ,god intends always in trial and sorrow4 ,let us have the ploughman's faith1 and we shall not faint when the share is driven through our heart4 ,then by faith we shall see beyond the pain and trial the blessing of richer life1 of whiter holiness1 of larger fruitfulness4 ,and to win that blessing will be worth all the pain and trial4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii4 ,,unfinished ,,life-,,building4 ,let me not die before ,i've done for thee ,my earthly work1 whatever it may be4 ,call me not hence1 with mission unfulfilled2 ,let me not leave my space of ground unfilled2 ,impress this truth upon me1 that not one ,can do my portion1 that ,i leave undone4 ,we are all builders4 ,we may not erect any house or temple on a city street1 for human eyes to see1 but every one of us builds a fabric which ,god and angels see4 ,life is a building4 ,it rises slowly1 day by day1 through the years4 ,every new lesson we learn lays a block on the edifice which is rising silently within us4 ,every experience1 every touch of another life on ours1 every influence that impresses us1 every book we read1 every conversation we have1 every act of our commonest days1 adds something to the invisible building4 ,sorrow1 too1 has its place in preparing the stones to lie on the life-wall4 ,all life furnishes the material4 ,our to-days and yesterdays ,are the blocks with which we build4 ,there are many noble fabrics of character reared in this world4 ,but there are also many who build only low1 mean huts1 without beauty1 which will be swept away in the testing-fires of judgment4 ,there are many1 too1 whose life-work presents the spectacle of an unfinished building4 ,there was a beautiful plan to begin with1 and the work promised well for a little time2 but after a while it was abandoned and left standing1 with walls half-way up1 a useless fragment1 open and exposed1 an incomplete1 inglorious ruin1 telling no story of past splendor as do the ruins of some old castle or coliseum1 a monument only of folly and failure4 ,there is nothing sadder1 writes one1 than an incomplete ruin2 one that has never been of use2 that never was what it was meant to be2 about which no pure1 holy1 lofty associations cling1 no thoughts of battles fought and victories won1 or of defeats as glorious as victories4 ,god sees them where we do not4 ,the highest tower may be more unfinished than the lowest to him4 ,we must not forget the truth of this last sentence4 ,there are1 lives which to our eyes seem only to have been begun and then abandoned1 which to ,god's eyes are still rising into more and more graceful beauty4 ,here is one who began his life-work with all the ardor of youth and all the enthusiasm of a consecrated spirit4 ,for a time his hand never tired1 his energy never slackened4 ,friends expected great things from him4 ,then his health gave way4 ,the diligent hand lies idle and waiting now4 ,his enthusiasm no more drives him afield4 ,his work lies unfinished4 ,what a pity6 men say4 ,but wait6 ,he has not left an unfinished life-work as ,god sees it4 ,he is resting in submission at the ,master's feet and is growing meanwhile as a ,christian4 ,the spiritual temple in his soul is rising slowly in the silence4 ,every day is adding something to the beauty of his character1 as he learns the lessons of patience1 confidence1 peace1 joy1 love4 ,his building at the last will be more beautiful than if he had been permitted to toil on through many busy years1 carrying out his own plans4 ,he is fulfilling ,god's purpose for his life4 ,we must not measure spiritual building by earthly standards4 ,where the heart remains loyal and true to ,christ2 where the cross of suffering is taken up cheerfully and borne sweetly2 where the spirit is obedient though the hands lie folded and the feet must be still1 the temple rises continually toward finished beauty4 ,or here is one who dies in early youth4 ,there was great promise in the beautiful life4 ,affection had reared for it a noble fabric of hope4 ,perhaps the beauty had begun to shine out in the face1 and the hands had begun to show their skill4 ,then death came and all the fair hopes were folded away4 ,the visions of loveliness and the dreams of noble attainments and achievements lay like withered flowers upon the grave4 ,an unfinished life6 friends cry in their disappointment and sorrow4 ,so it seems1 surely1 to love's eyes1 from the earth-side4 ,but so it is not1 as ,god's eye looks upon it4 ,there is nothing unfinished that fulfils the divine plan4 ,god cuts off no young life till its earthly work is done4 ,then the soul-building which began here and seemed to be interrupted by death1 was only hidden from our eyes by a thin veil1 behind which it still goes up with unbroken continuity1 rising into fairest beauty in the presence of ,god4 ,but there are abandoned life-buildings whose story tells only of shame and failure4 ,many persons begin to follow ,christ1 and after a little time turn away from their profession and leave only a pretentious beginning to stand as a ruin to be laughed at by the world and to dishonor the ,master's name4 ,sometimes it is discouragement that leads men to give up the work to which they have put their hand4 ,in one of his poems1 ,wordsworth tells a pathetic story of a straggling heap of unhewn stones1 and the beginning of a sheepfold which was never finished4 ,with his wife and only son1 old ,michael1 a ,highland shepherd1 dwelt for many years in peace4 ,but trouble came which made it necessary that the son should go away to do for himself for a while4 ,for a time good reports came from him1 and the old shepherd would go out when he had leisure and would work on the sheepfold which he was building4 ,by and by1 however1 sad news came from ,luke4 ,in the great dissolute city he had given himself to evil courses4 ,shame fell on him and he was driven to seek a hiding-place beyond the seas4 ,the sad tidings broke the old father's heart4 ,he went about as before1 caring for his sheep4 ,to the hollow dell1 too1 he would repair from time to time1 meaning to build at the unfinished fold4 ,but the neighbors in their pity noticed that he did little work in those sad days4 ',tis believed by all ,that many and many a day he thither went ,and never lifted up a single stone4 ,there by the sheepfold sometimes was he seen ,sitting alone1 with that his faithful dog1 ,then old1 beside him1 lying at his feet4 ,the length of full seven years from time to time ,he at the building of his sheepfold wrought1 ,and left the work unfinished when he died4 ,years after the shepherd was gone the remains of the unfinished fold were still there1 a sad memorial of one who began to build but did not finish4 ,sorrow broke his heart and his hand slacked4 ,too often noble life-buildings are abandoned in the time of sorrow1 and the hands that were quick and skilful before grief came1 hang down and do nothing more on the temple-wall4 ,instead1 however1 of giving up our work and faltering in our diligence1 we should be inspired by sorrow to yet greater earnestness in all duty and greater fidelity in all life4 ,god does not want us to faint under chastening1 but to go on with our work1 quickened to new earnestness by grief4 ,want of faith is another cause which leads many to abandon their life-temples unfinished4 ,throngs followed ,christ in the earlier days of his ministry when all seemed bright1 who1 when they saw the shadow of the cross1 turned back and walked no more with him4 ,they lost their faith in him4 ,it is startling to read how near even our ,lord's apostles came to leaving their buildings unfinished4 ,had not their faith come again after their ,master arose1 they would have left in this world only sad memorials of failure instead of glorious finished temples4 ,in these very days there are many who1 through the losing of their faith1 are abandoning their work on the wall of the temple of ,christian discipleship1 which they have begun to build4 ,who does not know those who once were earnest and enthusiastic in ,christian life1 while there was but little opposition1 but who fainted and failed when it became hard to confess ,christ and walk with him8 ,then sin1 in some form1 draws many a builder away from his work1 to leave it unfinished4 ,it may be the world's fascinations that draw him from ,christ's side4 ,it may be sinful human companionships that lure him from loyal friendship to his ,saviour4 ,it may be riches that enter his heart and blind his eyes to the attractions of heaven4 ,it may be some secret1 debasing lust that gains power over him and paralyzes his spiritual life4 ,many are there now1 amid the world's throngs1 who once sat at the ,lord's ,table and were among ,god's people4 ,unfinished buildings their lives are1 towers begun with great enthusiasm and then left to tell their sad story of failure to all who pass by4 ,they began to build and were not able to finish4 ,it is sad to think how much of this unfinished work ,god's angels see as they look down upon our earth4 ,think of the good beginnings which never come to anything in the end2 the excellent resolutions which are never carried out1 the noble life-plans entered upon by so many young people with ardent enthusiasm1 but soon given up4 ,think of the beautiful visions and fair hopes which might be made splendid realities1 but which fade out1 not leaving the record of even one sincere1 earnest effort to work them into reality4 ,in all lines of life we see these abandoned buildings4 ,the business world is full of them4 ,men began to build1 but in a little time they were gone1 leaving their work uncompleted4 ,they set out with gladness1 but tired at length of the toil1 or grew disheartened at the slow coming of success1 and abandoned their ideal when it was perhaps just ready to be realized4 ,many homes present the spectacle of abandoned dreams of love4 ,for a time the beautiful vision shone in radiance1 and two hearts sought to make it come true1 but then gave it up in despair4 ,so life everywhere is full of beginnings never carried out to completion4 ,there is not a soul-wreck on the streets1 not a prisoner serving out a sentence behind iron bars1 not a debased1 fallen one anywhere1 in whose soul there were not once visions of beauty1 bright hopes1 holy thoughts and purposes1 and high resolves--an ideal of something lovely and noble4 ,but alas6 the visions1 the hopes1 the purposes1 the resolves1 never grew into more than beginnings4 ,god's angels bend down and see a great wilderness of unfinished fabrics1 splendid possibilities unfulfilled1 noble might-have-beens abandoned1 ghastly ruins now1 sad memorials only of failure4 ,the lesson from all this is1 that we should finish our work1 that we should allow nothing to draw us away from our duty1 that we should never weary in following ,christ1 that we should hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end4 ,we should not falter under any burden1 in the face of any danger1 before any demand of cost and sacrifice4 ,no discouragement1 no sorrow1 no worldly attraction1 no hardship1 should weaken for one moment our determination to be faithful unto death4 ,no one who has begun to build for ,christ should leave an unfinished1 abandoned life-work to grieve the heart of the ,master and to be sneered at as a reproach to the name he bears4 ,yet we must remember1 lest we be discouraged1 that only in a relative1 human sense can any life-building be made altogether complete4 ,our best work is marred and imperfect4 ,it is only when we are in ,christ1 and are co-workers with him1 that anything we do can ever be made perfect and beautiful4 ,but the weakest1 and the humblest1 who are simply faithful1 will stand at last complete in him4 ,even the merest fragment of life1 as it appears in men's eyes1 if it be truly in ,christ1 and filled with his love and with his ,spirit1 will appear finished1 when presented before the divine ,presence4 ,to do ,god's will1 whatever that may be1 to fill out his plan1 is to be complete in ,christ1 though the stay on earth be but for a day1 and though the work done fulfil no great human plan1 and leave no brilliant record among men4 ,thy work unfinished6 ,do not fear ,though at his coming may be found ,the stone unset4 ,yet1 for thy faith1 beyond the skies ,thine own shall be the longed-for prize4 ,he knoweth best who calls from labor now ,to rest1 to build no more4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv4 ,,iron ,,shoes ,,for ,,rough ,,roads4 ,our feeble frame he knoweth1 ,remembereth we are dust2 ,and evermore his face is kind1 ,his ways are ever just4 ,in evil and in blindness1 ,through darkened maze we rove1 ,but still our ,father leads us home1 ,by strength of mighty love4 --,,margaret ,e4 ,,sangster4 ,the matter of shoes is important4 ,especially is this true when the roads are rough and hard4 ,we cannot then get along without something strong and comfortable to wear on our feet4 ,one would scarcely expect to find anything in the ,bible about such a need as this4 ,yet it only shows how truly the ,bible is fitted to all our actual life to discover in it a promise referring to shoes4 ,in the blessing of ,moses1 pronounced before his death upon the several tribes1 there was this among other things for ,asher3 ,thy shoes shall be iron4 ,a little geographical note will help to make the meaning plain4 ,part of ,asher's allotted portion was hilly and rugged4 ,common sandals1 made of wood or leather1 would not endure the wear and tear of the sharp1 flinty rocks4 ,there was need1 therefore1 for some special kind of shoes4 ,hence the form of the promise3 ,thy shoes shall be iron4 ,even the ,bible words which took the most vivid local coloring from the particular circumstances in which they were originally spoken1 are yet as true for us as they were for those to whom they first came4 ,we have only to get disentangled from the local allusions the real heart of the meaning of the words1 and we have an eternal promise which every child of ,god may claim4 ,turning1 then1 this old-time assurance into a word for nineteenth-century pilgrims1 we get from it some important suggestions4 ,for one thing it tells us that we may have some rugged pieces of road before we get to the end of our life-journey4 ,if not1 what need would there be for iron shoes8 ,if the way is to be flower-strewn1 velvet slippers1 as ,dr4 ,mc,laren somewhere suggests1 would do4 ,no man wants iron-soled shoes for a walk through a soft meadow4 ,the journey is not likely to be all easy4 ,indeed1 an earnest ,christian life is never easy4 ,no one can live nobly and worthily without struggle1 battle1 self-denial4 ,one may find easy ways1 but they are not the worthiest ways4 ,they do not lead upward to the noblest things4 ,one reason why many people never grasp the visions of beauty and splendor which shine before them in early years is because they have not courage for rough climbing4 ,i reach a duty1 yet ,i do it not1 ,and1 therefore1 climb no higher2 but if done1 ,my view is brightened1 and another spot ,seen on my mortal sun2 ,for be the duty high as angel's flight-- ,fulfil it1 and a higher will arise ,even from its ashes4 ,duty is our ladder to the skies1 ,and climbing not1 we fall4 ,we shall need our iron shoes if we are to make the journey that leads upward to the best possibilities of our life4 ,but the word is not merely a prophecy of rugged paths2 it is also a promise of shoeing for the road1 whatever it may be4 ,one who is preparing to climb a mountain1 craggy and precipitous1 would not put on silk slippers2 he would get strong1 tough shoes1 with heavy nails in the soles4 ,when ,god sends us on a journey over steep and flinty paths he will not fail to provide us with suitable shoes4 ,asher's portion was not an accidental one2 it was of ,god's choosing4 ,nor is there any accident in the ordering of the place1 the conditions1 the circumstances1 of any child of ,god's4 ,our times are in ,god's hands4 ,no doubt1 then1 the hardnesses and difficulties of any one's lot are part of the divine ordering for the best growth of the person's life4 ,there was a compensation in ,asher's rough portion4 ,his rugged hills had iron in them4 ,this law of compensation runs through all ,god's distribution of gifts4 ,in the animal world there is a wonderful harmony1 often noted1 between the creatures and the circumstances and conditions amid which they are placed4 ,the same law rules in the providence of human life4 ,one man's farm is hilly and hard to till1 but deep down beneath its ruggedness1 buried away in its rocks1 there are rich minerals4 ,one person's lot in life is hard1 with peculiar obstacles1 difficulties and trials2 but hidden in it there are compensations of some kind4 ,one young man is reared in affluence and luxury4 ,he never experiences want or self-denial1 never has to struggle with obstacles or adverse circumstances4 ,another is reared in poverty and has to toil and suffer privation4 ,the latter seems to have scarcely an equal chance in life4 ,but we all know where the compensation lies in this case4 ,it is in such circumstances that grand manhood is grown1 while too often the petted1 pampered sons of luxury come to nothing4 ,in the rugged hills of toil and hardship1 life's finest gold is found4 ,there are few things from which young people of wealthy families suffer more than from over-help4 ,no noble-spirited young man wants life made too easy for him by the toil of others4 ,what he desires is an opportunity to work for himself4 ,there are some things no other one can give us2 we must get them for ourselves4 ,our bodies must grow through our own exertions4 ,our minds must be disciplined through our own study4 ,our hearts' powers must be developed and trained through our own loving and doing4 ,one writes of two friends and two ways of showing friendship3-- ,one brought a crystal goblet overfull ,of water he had dipped from flowing streams ,that rose afar where ,i had never trod-- ,too far for even my quickened eye to see4 ,they were fair heights1 familiar to his feet-- ,they were cool springs that greeted him at morn1 ,and made him fresh when noon was burning high1 ,and sang to him when all the stars were out2 ,his hand had led them forth1 and their pure life ,was husbanded1 with sacred thrift1 for flower1 ,and bird1 and beast1 and man4 ,the hills were his1 ,and his the bright1 sweet water4 ,not to me ,came its renewal4 ,i was still athirst4 ,the other looked upon me graciously1 ,beheld me wasted with my bitter need1 ,and gave me--nothing4 ,with a face severe1 ,and prophet brow1 he bade me quickly seek ,my own hard quarry--there hew out a way ,for the imprisoned waters to flow forth ,unhindered by the stubborn granite blocks ,that shut them in dark channels4 ,i sprung up1 ,for that ,i knew my ,master2 and ,i smote1 ,even as ,moses1 my gray1 barren rock1 ,and found sufficient help for all my house1 ,all my servants1 all my flocks and herds4 ,the best friend we can have is the one1 not who digs out the treasure for us1 but who teaches and inspires us with our own hands to open the rocks and find the treasures for ourselves4 ,the digging out of the iron will do us more good than even the iron itself when it is dug out4 ,shoes of iron are promised only to those who are to have rugged roads1 not to those whose path lies amid the flowers4 ,there is a comforting suggestion here for all who find peculiar hardness in their life4 ,peculiar favor is pledged to them4 ,god will provide for the ruggedness of their way4 ,they will have a divine blessing which would not be theirs but for the roughness and ruggedness4 ,the ,hebrew parallelism gives the same promise1 without figure1 in the remaining words of the same verse3 ,as thy days so shall thy strength be4 ,be sure1 if your path is rougher than mine1 you will get more help than ,i will4 ,there is a most delicate connection between earth's needs and heaven's grace4 ,days of struggle get more grace than calm1 quiet days4 ,when night comes stars shine out which never would have appeared had not the sun gone down4 ,sorrow draws comfort that never would have come in joy4 ,for the rough roads there are iron shoes4 ,there is yet another suggestion in this old-time promise4 ,the divine blessing for every experience is folded up in the experience itself1 and will not be received in advance4 ,the iron shoes would not be given until the rough roads were reached4 ,there was no need for them until then1 and besides1 the iron to make them was treasured in the rugged hills and could not be gotten until the hills were reached4 ,a great many people worry about the future4 ,they vex themselves by anxious questioning as to how they are going to get through certain anticipated experiences4 ,we had better learn once for all that there are in the ,bible no promises of provision for needs while the needs are yet future4 ,god does not put strength into our arms to-day for the battles of to-morrow2 but when the conflict is actually upon us1 the strength comes4 ,as thy days so shall thy strength be4 ,some people are forever unwisely testing themselves by questions like these3 ,could ,i endure sore bereavement8 ,have ,i grace enough to bow in submission to ,god1 if he were to take away my dearest treasure8 ,or could ,i meet death without fear8 ,such questions are unwise1 because there is no promise of grace to meet trial when there is no trial to be met4 ,there is no assurance of strength to bear great burdens when there are no great burdens to be borne4 ,help to endure temptation is not promised when there are no temptations to be endured4 ,grace for dying is nowhere promised while death is yet far off and while one's duty is to live4 ,of all the tender guards which ,jesus drew ,about our frail humanity1 to stay ,the pressure and the jostle that alway ,are ready to disturb1 what'er we do1 ,and mar the work our hands would carry through1 ,none more than this environs us each day ,with kindly wardenship--',therefore1 ,i say1 ,take no thought for the morrow4' ,yet we pay ,the wisdom scanty heed1 and impotent ,to bear the burden of the imperious ,now1 ,assume1 the future's exigence unsent4 ,god grants no overplus of power3 'tis shed ,like morning manna4 ,yet we dare to bow ,and ask1 ',give us to-day our morrow's bread4' ,there is a story of shipwreck which yields an illustration that comes in just here4 ,crew and passengers had to leave the broken vessel and take to the boats4 ,the sea was rough1 and great care in rowing and steering was necessary in order to guard the heavily-laden boats1 not from the ordinary waves1 which they rode over easily1 but from the great cross-seas4 ,night was approaching1 and the hearts of all sank as they asked what they should do in the darkness when they would no longer be able to see these terrible waves4 ,to their great joy1 however1 when it grew dark they discovered that they were in phosphorescent waters and that each dangerous wave rolled up crested with light which made it as clearly visible as if it were mid-day4 ,so it is that life's dreaded experiences1 when we meet them1 carry in themselves the light which takes away the peril and the terror4 ,the night of sorrow comes with its own lamp of comfort4 ,the hour of weakness brings its own secret of strength4 ,by the brink of the bitter fountain itself grows the tree whose branch will heal the waters4 ,the wilderness with its hunger and no harvest has daily manna4 ,in dark ,gethsemane1 where the load is more than mortal heart can bear1 an angel appears1 ministering strength that gives victory4 ,when we come to the hard1 rough1 steep path we find iron for shoes4 ,the iron will be in the very hills over which we shall have to climb4 ,so we see that the matter of shoes is very important4 ,we are pilgrims here and we cannot walk barefoot on this world's rugged roads4 ,are our feet shod for the journey8 ,how can ,i get shoes1 and where8 one asks4 ,do you remember about ,christ's feet1 that they were pierced with nails8 ,why was it8 ,that we might have shoes to wear on our feet1 and that they might not be cut and torn on the way4 ,christ's dear feet were wounded and sore with long journeys over thorns and stones1 and were pierced through with cruel nails1 that our feet might be shod for earth's rough roads1 and might at last enter the gates of pearl and walk on heaven's gold-paved streets4 ,dropping all figure1 the whole lesson is that we cannot get along on our life's pilgrimage without ,christ2 but having ,christ we shall be ready for anything that may come to us along the days and years4 ,,chapter ,,xxv4 ,,the ,,shutting ,,of ,,doors4 ,never delay ,to do the duty which the hour brings1 ,whatever it be in great or smaller things2 ,for who doth know ,what he shall do the coming day8 ,the shutting of a door is a little thing and yet it may have infinite meaning4 ,it may fix a destiny for weal or for woe4 ,when ,god shut the door of the ark the sound of its closing was the knell of exclusion to those who were without1 but it was the token of security to the little company of trusting ones who were within4 ,when the door was shut upon the bridegroom and his friends who had gone into the festal hall1 thus sheltering them from the night's darkness and danger1 and shutting them in with joy and gladness1 there were those outside to whose hearts the closing of that door smote despair and woe4 ,to them it meant hopeless exclusion from all the privileges of those who were within and exposure to all the sufferings and perils from which those favored ones were protected4 ,here we have hints of what may come from the closing of a door4 ,life is full of illustrations4 ,we are continually coming up to doors which stand open for a little while and then are shut4 ,an artist has tried to teach this in a picture4 ,father ,time is there with inverted hour-glass4 ,a young man is lying at his ease on a luxurious couch1 while beside him is a table spread with rich fruits and viands4 ,passing by him toward an open door are certain figures which represent opportunities2 they come to invite the young man to nobleness1 to manliness1 to usefulness1 to worth4 ,first is a rugged1 sun-browned form1 carrying a flail4 ,this is labor4 ,he invites the youth to toil4 ,he has already passed far by unheeded4 ,next is a philosopher1 with open book1 inviting the young man to thought and study1 that he may master the secrets in the mystic volume4 ,but this opportunity1 too1 is disregarded4 ,the youth has no desire for learning4 ,close behind the philosopher comes a woman with bowed form1 carrying a child4 ,her dress betokens widowhood and poverty4 ,her hand is stretched out appealingly4 ,she craves charity4 ,looking closely at the picture we see that the young man holds money in his hand4 ,but he is clasping it tightly1 and the poor widow's pleading is in vain4 ,still another figure passes1 endeavoring to lure and woo him from his idle ease4 ,it is the form of a beautiful woman1 who seeks by love to awaken in him noble purposes1 worthy of his powers1 and to inspire him for ambitious efforts4 ,one by one these opportunities have passed1 with their calls and invitations1 only to be unheeded4 ,at last he is arousing to seize them1 but it is too late2 they are vanishing from sight and the door is closing4 ,this is a true picture of what is going on all the time in this world4 ,opportunities come to every young person1 offering beautiful things1 rich blessings1 brilliant hopes4 ,too often1 however1 these offers and solicitations are rejected and one by one pass by1 to return no more4 ,door after door is shut1 and at last men stand at the end of their days1 with beggared lives1 having missed all that they might have gotten of enrichment and good from the passing days4 ,take home4 ,a true ,christian home1 with its love and prayer and all its gentle influences1 is almost heaven to a child4 ,the fragrance of the love of ,christ fills all the household life4 ,holiness is in the very atmosphere4 ,the benedictions of affection make every day tender with its impressiveness4 ,in all life there come no other such opportunities for receiving lovely things into the life1 and learning beautiful lessons1 as in the days of childhood and youth that are spent in a home of ,christian love4 ,yet how often are all these influences resisted and rejected4 ,then by and by the door is shut4 ,the heart that made the home is still in death4 ,the gentle hand that wrought such blessing is cold4 ,many a man in mid-life would give all he has to creep back for one hour to the old sacred place1 to hear again his mother's voice in counsel or in prayer1 to feel once more the gentle touch of her hand and to have her sweet comfort4 ,but it is too late4 ,the door is shut4 ,take education4 ,many young people fail to realize what golden opportunities come to them in their school-days4 ,too often they make little of the privileges they then enjoy4 ,they sometimes waste in idleness the hours they ought to spend in diligent study and helpful reading4 ,they might1 if they would1 fit themselves for high and honorable places in after years2 but they let the days pass with their opportunities4 ,by and by they hear the school door shut4 ,then1 all through their years they move with halting step1 with dwarfed life1 with powers undeveloped1 unable to accept the higher places that might have been theirs if they had been prepared for them1 failing often in duties and responsibilities--all because in youth they wasted their school-days and did not seize the opportunities that then came to them for preparation4 ,napoleon1 when visiting his old school1 said to the pupils1 ,boys1 remember that every hour wasted at school means a chance of misfortune in future life4 ,thousands of failures along the years of manhood and womanhood attest the truth of this monition4 ,friendship is another opportunity that offers great blessing4 ,before every young person stand two kinds of friends1 ever reaching out a beckoning hand4 ,the one class whisper of pleasures that lead to sin and debasement4 ,they offer the young man the wine-glass1 the gambling-table1 the gratification of lust and passion4 ,they offer the young woman flattery1 gay dress1 the dance1 pleasures that will tarnish her womanly purity4 ,we all know the end of such friendship4 ,but there is another class of friends who stand before young people1 wooing them to noble things4 ,they may be plain1 perhaps homely1 almost stern in their earnestness of purpose and in the seriousness with which they talk of life4 ,they call to toil1 to diligence1 to self-denial1 to heroic qualities of character1 to purity1 to usefulness1 to whatsoever things are true1 whatsoever things are just1 whatsoever things are honorable1 whatsoever things are lovely4 ,it is impossible to overstate the value of the blessings that true1 wise1 and worthy friendship offers to the young4 ,it seeks to incite and stimulate them to their best in character and achievement4 ,it would lift them up to lofty attainment1 to splendid victoriousness4 ,the young people to whom comes the offer of such friendship are most highly favored4 ,but how often do we see the blessing rejected for the solicitation of mere idle pleasures that bring no true good1 that entangle the life in all manner of complications1 that lead into the ways of temptation1 and that too often end in disaster and sorrow4 ,there is a time for the choosing of friends1 and when that time is passed and the choice has been made1 the door is shut4 ,then it is too late to go back4 ,there are many people in mid-life1 bound now in the chains of evil companionships1 who would give all they have for the sweet delights and pure pleasures of friendship which once might have been theirs1 which in youth reached out to them in vain white hands of importunity and blessing4 ,but it is too late2 the door is shut4 ,so it is with the opportunities of doing good to others1 comforting1 helping1 cheering1 lightening burdens1 giving gladness and joy4 ,we stand continually before open doors which we do not enter4 ,ofttimes we shrink with timid feeling from the sweet ministry1 holding back the sympathetic word or restraining ourselves from the doing of the gentle kindness1 thinking our proffer of love might be unwelcome4 ,or we do not perceive the opportunity to give a blessing4 ,this is true very often1 especially in the closer and more tender intimacies of life4 ,we do not recognize the heart-hunger in our loved ones1 and we walk with them day by day1 failing to help them in the thousand ways in which we might help them1 until they are gone from us and the door is shut4 ,then all we can do is to bear the pain of regret1 having only the hope that in some way in the life beyond1 we may be able to pay--though so late--love's debt4 ,how will it be ,when you at last in heaven we see-- ,dear souls1 whose footsteps in lost days ,made musical earth's toil-worn ways1 ,while we not half the loneliness ,that bound you to our side could guess8 ,where angels know your footfall we ,are fain to be4 ,we never knew-- ,so heedlessly we walked with you-- ,the drops we jostled from your cup1 ,that spilt1 could not be gathered up2 ,we might have given you foam and glow ,from our own beaker's overflow2 ,ah6 what we might have been to you ,we never knew4 ,we might have lent ,such strength1 such comfort and content ,to you1 out of our ample store2 ,we might have hastened on before ,to lift the shadows from your way1 ,darkened1 ere noon1 to twilight's gray2 ,with earth's chilled air love's warm heart-scent ,we might have blent4 ,dear1 wistful eyes1 ,ye haunt us with your kind surprise1 ,your tender wonder that a heart ,should thus be left alone1 apart1 ,so loving1 so misunderstood ,by us1 in our self-centred mood3 ,alas6 in vain to you arise ,our longing cries4 ,oh1 will you wait ,for us beyond the shining gate8 ,though lovely gifts behind you left1 ,we want yourselves2 we are bereft4 ,from your new mansion glorious ,will you lean out to look for us8 ,shut is the far-off1 shining gate-- ,are we too late8 ,these are but illustrations4 ,the same is true in all phases of life4 ,every day doors are opened for us which we do not enter4 ,for a little time they stand open with bidding and welcome1 and then they are closed1 to be opened no more forever4 ,to every one of us along our years there come opportunities1 which1 if accepted and improved1 would fit us for worthy character1 and for noble1 useful living1 and lead us in due time to places of honor and blessing4 ,but how many of us there are who reject these opportunities and lose the good they brought for us from ,god6 ,then one by one the doors are shut1 cutting off the proffered favors while we go on unblessed4 ,there is another closing of doors which is even sadder than any of those which have been suggested4 ,there is a shutting of our own heart's door upon ,god himself4 ,he stands at our gate and knocks and there are many who never open to him at all1 and many more who open the door but slightly4 ,the latter1 while they may receive blessing1 yet miss the fulness of divine revealing which would flood their souls with love2 the former miss altogether the sweetest benediction of life4 ,he that shuts ,love out in turn shall be ,shut out from ,love1 and on his threshhold lie ,howling in outer darkness4 ,nor for this ,was common clay made from the common earth1 ,moulded by ,god and tempered with the tears ,of angels to the perfect shape of man4 ,this sad sound of closing doors1 as it falls day after day upon our soul's ears1 proclaims to us continually that something which was ours1 which was sent to us from ,god1 and for which we shall have to answer in judgment1 is ours no longer1 is shut away forever from our grasp4 ,it is a sad picture--the five virgins standing at midnight before a closed door through which they might have entered to great joy and honor1 but which to all their wild importunity will open no more4 ,it is sad1 yet many of us are likewise standing before closed doors1 doors that once stood open to us1 but into which we entered not1 languidly loitering outside until the sound of the shutting fell upon our ear as the knell of hopeless exclusion3-- ,too late6 ,too late6 ,ye cannot enter now6 ,of course the past is irreparable and irrevocable1 and it may seem idle to vex ourselves in thinking about doors now closed1 that no tears1 no prayers1 no loud knockings1 can ever open again4 ,yes2 yet the future remains4 ,the years that are gone we cannot get back again1 but new years are yet before us4 ,they too will have their open doors4 ,shall we not learn wisdom as we look back upon the irrevocable past and make sure that in the future we shall not permit ,god's doors of opportunity to shut in our faces8