We once heard of an old Christian lady who had never been heard to speak an unkind work about anything or any person. Some young people conceived the idea that they would ask her what she had to say about the devil, thinking, perhaps, that she would surely say something bad about such a character as he is. To their great surprise her answer was that if we would all attend to our business as closely as he does to his we would accomplish more than many of us do. A very wise answer and one that we ought to ponder well. Are we attending to our business, or are we letting our tongues meddle in somebody's else business? is the question for us all to consider. The disease is fatal if not cured. Among the many diseases that humanity is heir to, the Giver of every good and perfect gift has provided a remedy. Man, assisted by the power of God, and with the means he has provided, can cure a great many diseases. The disease of leprosy was beyond the power of human skill and is a type of sin, but Christ could cure the leper; and the same Christ can cure the desire to use the tongue in the wrong way. Are you willing to place yourself under his care? He has never lost a case where the patient implicitly trusted him. Let the fountain be made pure and the stream will be pure. Let the heart be made right and the tongue will talk right. The heart wrong and the tongue will talk wrong. IDLE WORDS.-We are to account for them. Once upon a time we attended where the people had assembled to hear a graphophone. The manager made a proposition that if any one would talk in the ear of the instrument that the instrument would talk it back to the crowd. We tried it and found it true. Will what we talk to and about others be talked back to us? The evidence seems to run that way. "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6: 38. Are our words like the echo from the opposite bank of the river, going to come back to us, and will they be as gratifying as when they went from our unhallowed tongues? Surely they will not if our tongues are not tamed by the grace of God. A good rule by which to be governed: If we cannot truthfully speak well of a person refrain from speaking at all. There are but few people who are not possessed with some good qualities. Speak of the good and leave off the bad. Children we believe are sometimes disheartened and discouraged because their parents are quick to scold for the wrong and never praise them for doing right. Kind words are. an inspiration to any life, be it man, woman or child. In the great battle of life kind and encouraging words are more helpful than the fife and drum to a marching army. In the natural world there are days when the dark clouds hover over us, and we long to see the sunshine and hear the music and songs of the birds in the air. In our financial days many of them with some of us have been very dark. New York had its Black Friday, and every depositor rushed to the bank and demanded his money. Every nation, every city, and every individual have had their black days. We remember one day when the financial horizon was dark and lowering, something happened that day we do not wish to forget. We met a man who had been successful in business and he spoke words of encouragement. He said, "You will succeed." All along the road of adversity that man's cheering words have been an inspiration, whether we ever succeed or not. We want to be like the Dutchman who was hired to see how many miles he could walk in one day. He walked till they cried out, "The sun is down." And then he fell his full length forward and made his mark with his staff. Such is our purpose by the grace of God. There are many all over this land and country who are hungering for a kind word—a word of encouragement. When the brave fireman was fighting the flames to save some one in a burning building, some one cried out, “Give him a cheer." They cheered and the one in danger was saved. Brothers, let's you and I go out with words of cheer for those who are about to faint in the great struggle for liberty, and life. Words of cheer are so cheap we can all afford them. For the want of a word of cheer many are falling by the wayside. A TOUCHING STORY.-In the great city of Baltimore, Md., there was an iron ladder reaching from the ground to the top of a tall building. On the top of the building some carpenters were at work making a noise with hammer and saws. They had climbed the ladder to a point where they were useful. At the foot of the ladder a little child was innocently playing, and a short distance from the ladder there was a man who had never climbed the ladder himself, and whose business it was to keep others from climbing. The little child heard the sound of the carpenter's hammer and in its childish heart said, "I want to go up there where them men are at work," and fearless of all danger commenced climbing step by step. When half way up the ladder the man cried out, "My Lord, and my God, look yonder at that child. He is going to fall." He said the wrong thing at the wrong time. His doleful words unnerved the poor child and stopped its progress upward. There it was swinging and almost ready to turn loose. Oh, how many have perished in consequence of the wrong word at the wrong time! The wrong use of the unruly member, the tongue. While the child was swinging almost ready to turn loose the sensible carpenter on top of the building looked down and saw the predicament of the child, and with a cheery tone said, "Son, there is no danger. Come up higher," and the child renewed its efforts and climbed safely to the top of the building. In conclusion, we ask where are you and what are you saying to the multitude around you? Are you saying to the struggling, Ah, you can't make it, or are you saying, Come up higher? We are all speaking good or bad things with our tongues, and as we speak to others it will be spoken to us. If we speak discouraging words of cursing and blasphemy, the Judge of the quick and the dead will speak to us and say, Depart ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you; but if we speak from the fountain of a heart made clean by the blood of Christ, to us it will be spoken, Come and receive a crown of everlasting life and dwell forever with him who spake as never man spake, and who is abundantly able to cause you and I to speak right words while on the road of time and a tongue of immortality with which to praise him through eternity. "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, CHAPTER III EGOTISM Be not wise in thine own eyes. Prov. 3: 7. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise. I Corinthians 3: 18. As we attempt to discuss the subject of egotism we want to be certain that we are clear of its unhallowed influence before we proceed. There are many things that get in the way that have a tendency to hinder the progress of humanity in the right direction. Among the many hindrances that might be pointed out, we believe that a spirit of egotism is one of the greatest. Solomon must have had a great deal of observation on the subject. He is the author of a great many strong and beautiful expressions, warning us all against its evil influence. "Be not wise. in thine own eyes," comes to us by the power of inspiration, and brings a very practical and important lesson. When a man becomes wise in his own eyes he is perhaps the only man in all the world that realizes that he is wise. It seems from the obser |