He asked her to let him take it in his hand. He purposely turned it on the wrong side, and then remarked to her that it did not seem beautiful to him, and that he wondered why she should be wasting her time upon it. "Why, sir," she replied, "you are looking at the wrong side. Turn it over." "That is just what you are doing," he replied. "You are looking at the wrong side of God's workings with you. Down here we are looking at the tangled side of God's providence; but He has a plan-here a stitch and there a movement of the shuttle—and in the end a beautiful work."-W. R. Clark. 13. When I was on holiday I came to the top of the high hills of Devonshire. My attention was attracted by an ant, which I watched carrying a long straw, and looking like a man carrying the longest telegraph-pole you ever saw, until it came to a crack in the rock, which was like a precipice to the tiny creature. After attempting to take its burden across in several ways, the ant got to one end of the straw and pushed it in front of him over the crack till it reached to the other side, crossed over on the straw, and then pulled it after him. There is no burden you and I carry faithfully but some day is going to become a bridge to carry us.-William Jagoe. 14. A jeweller gives, as one of his surest tests for diamonds, the "water test." He says: "An imitation diamond is never so brilliant as a genuine stone. If your eye is not experienced enough to detect the difference, a simple test is to place the stone under water. The imitation diamond is practically extinguished, while a genuine diamond sparkles even under water, and is distinctly visible. If you place a genuine stone beside an imitation under water, the contrast will be apparent to the least experienced eye." Many seem confident of their faith so long as they have no trials, but when the waters of sorrow overflow them, their faith loses its brilliancy; it is then that true servants of God, like Job, shine forth as genuine jewels of the king.— Christian Age. 15. Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things. Far up the mountain-side lies a block of granite, and says to itself: "How happy am I in my serenity above the winds, above the trees, almost above the flight of the birds! Here I rest, age after age, and nothing disturbs me!" Yet, what is it? It is only a bare block of granite, jutting out of the cliff, and its happiness is the happiness of death. By and by comes the miner, and with strong and repeated strokes he drills a hole in its top, and the rock says, "What does this mean?" Then the black powder is poured in, and, with a blast that makes the mountain echo, the block is blown asunder, and goes crashing down into the valley. Ah!" it exclaims as it falls, "why this rending?" Then some saws to cut and fashion it; and humbled now, and willing to be nothing, it is borne away from the mountain and conveyed to the city. Now it is chiselled and polished, till, at length, finished in beauty, by block and tackle it is raised with mighty hoistings, high in air, to be the top stone on some monument of the country's glory.-H. W. Beecher. 16. "Close to Bracelet Bay, Mumbles, is a bell-buoy marking a concealed rock. This bell rings only in the storm. It is only when the wind is high and the billows roll and beat against it that it gives forth the music that is in it." 17. "We are apt to believe in Providence so long as we have our own way; but if things go awry, then we think, if there is a God, He is in heaven, and not on earth. The cricket in the spring builds his little house in the meadow, and chirps for joy because all is going so well with him. But when he hears the sound of the plough a few furrows off, and the thunder of the oxen's tread, then the skies begin to look dark, and his heart fails him. The plough comes crunching along and turns his dwelling bottom side up, and as he goes rolling over and over without a home, he says, 'Oh, the foundations of the world are destroyed, and it is going to ruin!" But the husbandman who walks behind the plough, singing and whistling as he goes, does he think the foundations of the world are breaking up? Why, he does not so much as know there was any house or cricket there. He thinks of the harvest which is to follow the track of the plough: and the cricket, too, if he will but wait, will find a thousand blades of grass where there was but one before. We are like the crickets. If anything happens to overthrow our plans, we think all is going to ruin." AMUSEMENTS 18. Implanted within us is a desire for amusement, the entire suppression of which is as injurious as it is unauthorised. The Christian religion is antagonistic only to that which is hurtful to spiritual life. It is not opposed to wholesome amusements. It does not rob us of any pleasures which are consistent with our eternal welfare. Healthy recreation should be encouraged, with one proviso-that it be never forgotten that there is a higher end in life than to amuse or be amused. Care should be taken, not to suppress the desire for amusement, but to moderate and rightly direct it. The limitation which devotion to Christ imposes must ever be observed, lest pleasure be made the business of life, instead of life's relaxation. "Religion does not banish mirth, but moderates and sets the rule to it." The selection of fitting sources of amusement should not be difficult. There are many such, without tampering with questionable ones, which may prove detrimental and even destructive to spiritual life. The question requiring settlement is: “Am 1, by the amusement in which I indulge, being spiritually helped or hindered? Is my soul being lifted, or more heavily weighted?" The Christian must "use the world, as not abusing it," or, "using it to the full" (R. V. margin), remembering that "the fashion of this world passeth away" (1 Cor. 7:31). He must guard against excess, lest, like the widow of 1 Tim. 5:6, "giving herself to pleasure," he be dead even while he liveth. He should find pleasure, not only in the world's confectionery, but chiefly in the strong meat of the Word. 19. The principle is, to "use this world as not abusing it." Here Christianity stands between the worldly spirit and the narrow religious spirit. The worldly spirit says: "Time is short; take your fill: live while you can." The narrow religious spirit: "All the pleasure here is a snare and dangerous; keep out of it altogether." In opposition to this narrow spirit, Christianity says: “Use the world;" and in opposition to the worldly spirit: "Do not abuse it. All things are yours. Take them and use them; but never let them interfere with the higher life which you are called on to lead." "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth."-F. W. Robertson. 20. "Men cannot live as if they were all spirit. God has given pleasure as a girdle to bind the soul for awhile to her bodily habitation." 21. To this end the Christian pleasure remains in its bloom; nay, rather, there is no end of our pleasure, for our good things have no limit. If, then, any love pleasure, let them lay hold on virtue, that they may win good things both now and hereafter. -Chrysostom. 22. Pleasures are to religion like breezes of air to the flame. Gentle ones will fan it, but strong ones will put it out.-Dr. Thompson. 23. "A ship's all right in the sea, so long as the sea is not in the ship.” A Christian is all right in the world, so long as the world-spirit is not in the Christian. 24. In Rochester, New York, U. S. A., there is a little picture hanging in an art gallery which represents a young man riding very swiftly on a horse. Out in front of him is floating what seems to be an angel, holding in her hands a crown. The young man is reaching out his hands to get the crown. He is trampling under his feet flowers and helpless children. He almost touches the crown, but just one more leap of the horse and he will go over the precipice in front of him. Suppose he does reach the crown, he will have it in his hands only for a moment, and then he is lost. That is the way it is with many who are bound to have pleasure, whether they have to sin in obtaining it or not.-C. H. Tyndall. 25. Did you ever read of the bee in the fable, that found a pot of honey ready-made, and thought it would be fine to save all the trouble of flying about the meadows and gathering its sweet stores, little by little, out of the cups of flowers, and began to sip out of the dish? Then it went in and revelled in the sweets; but when it began to get tired and cloyed, it foundpoor bee! that its wings were all clogged and would not open, nor could it drag its body out of the mass. So it died, buried in pleasure. There are many persons, like this bee, that find death in their pleasures.-Dr. Edmund 26. What a diabolical invention was the "Virgin's Kiss," once used by the fathers of the Inquisition! The victim was pushed forward to kiss the image, when, lo, its arms enclosed him in a deadly embrace, piercing his body with a hundred hidden knives. The tempting pleasures of sin offer to the unwary just such a virgin's kiss. The sinful joys of the flesh lead, even in this world, to results most terrible, while in the world to come the daggers of remorse and despair will cut and wound beyond all remedy.-C. H. Spurgeon. 27. "The story has been told of a soldier who was missed amid the bustle of a battle, and no one knew what had become of him, but it was known that he was not in the ranks. As soon as opportunity offered, his officer went in search of him, and, to his surprise, found that the man, during a battle, had been amusing himself in a flower garden. When it was demanded what he did there, he excused himself by saying, 'Sir, I am doing no harm.' But he was tried, convicted and shot! What a sad but true picture this is of many, who waste their time and neglect their duty, and who can give no better answer than, 'Lord, I am doing no harm!'" ASSURANCE 28. Assurance is a feeling of certainty of one's salvation. The owner of property desires a title which the brainiest lawyer could not prove invalid. So the Christian desires personal possession of a clear title to heaven. Sure assurance is commanded. "Make your calling and election sure" (1 Pet. 1:10). What is the ground of such confidence? It is twofold. 1. The word of God. 2. Personal consciousness. There are two joint witnesses. "The Spirit himself beareth witness with [testifies with, through the inspired Word] our spirit, that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16). Here are two witnesses God's Spirit and our consciousness. If we have heard and obeyed the voice of the Spirit, we know that we are children of God, for the word |