138 LOVE SHOWN IN DEeds. cause of Christ, in process of time came into the possession of an ample fortune, greatly to the joy of all who knew her benevolent disposition. But it was with no small regret that her minister observed she no longer came forward unsolicited towards the cause of Christ, and that, when applied to, she yielded her aid but coldly and grudgingly, and sometimes excused herself from giving at all. On one occasion, she presented a shilling to the same cause to which she had formerly given a guinea, when in a state of comparative poverty. The minister felt it his duty to expostulate with her, and remind her of her former generosity, when her means were so circumscribed. "Ah, sir," she affectingly replied, “then I had the shilling means, but the guinea heart; now I have the guinea means, but only the shilling heart. Then I received from my Heavenly Father's hands, day by day, my daily bread, and I had enough and to spare; now I have to look to my ample income, but I live in constant apprehension that I may come to want."-Cyclopædia of Moral and Religious Anecdote. 1380.-LOVE SHOWN IN DEEDS. John iii. 18.--"My little children, let us not love in word, neither 'in tongue; but in deed and in truth" [R.V.]' With the. Illustrative.-A child had a beautiful canary, which sung to him from early morning. The mother of the child was ill,—so ill, that the song of the little bird, which to the boy was delicious music, disturbed and distressed her so that she could scarcely bear to hear it. He put it in a rooin far away, but the bird's notes reached the sick bed, and caused pain to her in her long, feverish days. One morning, as the child stood holding his mother's hand, he saw that when his pet sung, an expression of pain passed over her dear face. She had never yet told him that she could not bear the noise, but she did so now. "It is no music to me," she said, as he asked her if the notes were not pretty. He looked at her in wonder. "Indeed I do," she said. "And do you really dislike the sound?" The child, full of love to his mother, left the room. The golden feathers of the pretty canary were glistening in the sunshine, and he was trilling forth his loveliest notes; but they had ceased to pleased the boy. They were no longer pretty or soothing to him, and taking the cage in his hand, he left the house. When he returned, he told his mother that the bird would disturb her rest no more, for he had given it to his little cousin. 66 But you loved it so," she said; "how could you part with the canary?" "I loved the canary, mother," he replied; "but I love you more. I LOVE TO CHRIST SPRINGS FROM CHRIST'S LOVE TO US. 139 could not really love anything that gave you pain. It would not be true love if I did."-The Quiver. A teacher in a Sunday School in the vicinity of London thus reports :-I found an orphan in my class who had no hymn-book, and as he had not the means to buy one, the other boys immediately said, "Let us subscribe together, and buy him one." They did so; and finding that there was more money than was required, they proposed that he should have a Bible also. The boy, however, did not return to the class, in consequence of a new arrangement at the orphan school; and some time afterwards, when the teacher went with his scholars to the Zoological Gardens, the orphan was invited to go with them. His railway fare and expenses were paid by his fellow-scholars; and at the close of the day, after the boys had thoroughly enjoyed themselves, a balance of eight pence was handed to him for pocket-money. I. JOHN IV. 1381.—THE SUMMARY OF GOSPEL TRUTH. I John iv. 8.-" God is love." Illustrative.--This single announcement of the beloved disciple, contradicted by so many appearances, yet carrying its own evidence; in the world around us met by many a No and many a murmur, and from the caverns of despair fetching up a fiendish laughter, and yet countersigned by Jehovah's handwriting on the ruined tablets of the heart, and in trumpet tones reverberated from the hills of immortality ;-this shortest of sentences, and most summary of gospels, which a breath can utter, and which a signet ring can contain, is the truth which, shining bright at the Advent, will overspread the world in the millennium's mild lustre. It is a truth on which no man has mused too much, even although he has pondered it all his days; and to which no anthem can do justice, except that in which golden harps mingle, and in which the redeemed from among men are helped by the seraphim.-DR. JAMES HAMILTON, 1382.-LOVE TO CHRIST SPRINGS FROM CHRIST'S LOVE TO US. Illustrative.-Have you seen a broad, straight path of silver brightness lying by night upon a smooth sea, and stretching from your feet away 140 LOVE TO Christ springs FROM CHRIST'S LOVE TO US. until it was lost in the distance-a path that seemed to have been trodden by the feet of all the saints who have ever passed through a shifting world to their eternal home? Oh, that silver path by night across the sea, it glittered much but it was not its brightness that lighted up the moon in the sky; neither was it the love to Jesus, trembling in a believer's heart, that kindled forgiving love in Him! The love that makes bright a forgiven sinner's path across the world was kindled by the light of life in the face of Jesus.-REV. WILLIAM ARNOT. "Mother, the birdies all love father," said a little boy of five summers, as he stood with his mother watching the robins enjoying their morning meal of cherries from the old tree that overhung the house. "Does anybody else love father, Charlie?" * "Oh, yes! I love him, and you love him; but we know more than the birds." "What do you think is the reason the birdies love your father?" Charlie did not seem to hear this question. He was absorbed in deep thought. "Mother," at last he said, "all the creatures love father. My dog is almost as glad to see him as he is me. Pussy, you know, always comes to him, and seems to know exactly what he is saying. Even the old cow follows him round the meadow, and the other day I saw her licking his hand, just as a dog would. What can be the reason, mother?" 'Think, Charlie; try and find out a reason yourself." "I think it is because father loves them, mother. You know he will often get up, when he is tired too, to give pussy something to eat if she is hungry; and he pulls carrots for the cow to eat from his hand, and pats her, and talks to her; and somehow I think his voice never sounds so pleasant as when he talks to the creatures." "I think his voice sounds pleasant when he is talking to his little boy." Charlie smiled. "Father loves me," he said, "and I love him dearly. He loves the birds, too, I am sure. He whistles to them every morning when they are eating cherries, and they are not a bit afraid of him, though he is almost near enough to catch them. They look at him with their funny little eyes, and chirp and eat away just as if they knew he liked to see them. I wish you could hear him whistle to the 'bogalink,' as little Mamy calls them. They come and sit on a twig close by him, and sing so loud, and make such funny noises. It always makes me laugh to hear him try to do as they do. Mother, I wish everything loved me as well as they do father." "Do as father does, Charlie, and they will. Love all living things, and be kind to them. Do not speak roughly to the dog. Don't pull pussy's tail, nor chase the hens, nor try to frighten the cow. Never CHRISTIAN IDOLS. 141 throw stones at the birds. Never hurt nor tease anything. Speak gently and lovingly to them. They know as well as you do who has a pleasant voice. Feed them and seek their comfort, and they will love you, and everybody that knows you will love you too."-Tract Journal. I. JOHN V. 1383.-OVERCOMING THE WORLD. 1 John v. 4.-"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." [R.V.] Begotten; 2 hath overcome. Illustrative. We read in history of one in departed days who fancied that he had accomplished this hard task. We read how he carried his victorious arms over every region of the then known earth; how he subjugated king after king, and brought nation after nation beneath his sway, and then fancied that he had "overcome the world." We read how he felt it sad to think that his heroic task was done; and how he wept that there were no more worlds to conquer. Oh, far astray, far mistaken! There was one world to conquer yet, to which that conqueror was a slave ; a world to overcome which the arms of Alexander were of no avail; for "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."—REV. A. K. H. BOYD. 1384.-CHRISTIAN IDOLS. I John v. 21.-" Little children, I keep yourselves from idols." [R.V.] 1 Guard. Expository. This idea is a general and very comprehensive one : it embraces all things and everything which may be opposed to the God revealed in Christ and to His worship in spirit and in truth. Pre-eminently, therefore, it embraces the delusive and vain idols of the Corinthian Gnosticism. whether ancient or modern; but it includes also the idols and false mediators of superstition, to whom the confidence is transferred which is due only to God in Christ-be their name Madonna, or saints, or Pope, or priesthood, or good works, or pictures, or office, or church, or sacraments. The one Being in whom we have the "life eternal" is Christ. . . . And this Christ we possess through the Spirit of God, whose marks and tokens are not priestly vestments, but faith and love. In this meaning the Apostle's cry sounds forth through all the ages in the ears of all Christians "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." The holiest things may become a snare if their letter is regarded and not their spirit. Every Christian church has a tendency to worship its own brazen serpents. Happy are they who have a Hezekiah to call them Nehushtan (a piece of worthless brass).—EBRARD. SECOND EPISTLE, OF JOHN. II. JOHN. 1385. ANCIENT INK. 2 John 12.-"I would not write with paper and ink." Illustrative.-Pliny says, of the ink used by the Romans, that it was made of soot in various ways with burnt resin or pitch. "For this purpose they have built furnaces which do not allow the smoke to escape. The kind most commended is made in this way from pine-wood: it is mixed with soot from the furnaces or baths, and this they use for writing on rolls. Some also make a kind of ink by boiling and straining the lees of wine." The black matter of the cuttle-fish was also sometimes used for writing. THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN. III. JOHN. 1386. JOHN'S CARE FOR YOUNG DISCIPLES. 3 John 4.-"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." Illustrative.-Tradition has been more than ordinarily busy in preserving anecdotes of St. John. Eusebius relates a beautiful and not improbable story, to this effect :-John, on a visit to a city in the neighbourhood of Ephesus, commended to the care of the bishop a young man of fine stature, graceful countenance, and ardent mind, as suited to the work of the ministry. The bishop neglected his charge. The young man became idle and dissolute, and was at length prevailed on to join |