M
HAN-Fallen.
We saw at Hanover the unfinished palace of the deposed monarch: we were shown his state and private carriages and his stables of cream-coloured horses. A saddening sight to see all the emblems of sovereignty and no king; the insignia of royalty and the monarch for ever exiled. How like to human nature, which has so much about it prepared for the service of the King of kings, so much of faculty for heavenly occupation, but the king has departed and the house is left desolate, and all the furnishing thereof perverted to alien uses. Thought, imagination, judgment, memory, all fit to be yoked to celestial chariots, become the very hacks of the devil, and the body once a palace now a haunt of thieves. Alas, alas! poor manhood!
MAN (THE GOOD; -Beneficial Influence of,
Alexander Von Humboldt thus writes of the cowtree: — “On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the stone. For several months of the year not a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The negroes and natives arc then seen hastening from all quarters, furnished with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow, and thickens at its surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree itself, others carry the juice home to their children.”
May not the earnest Christian ministering good on all sides be imaged in this marvellous tree? He is in his own esteem full often a withered and dead tree, but there is within him a living sap, which wells up with blessing to, all around. His surroundings are all against him, the soil in which he grows is hostile to grace, yet he not only lives on, but luxuriates. He derives nothing from earth, his fountain is from above, but he enriches the sons of earth with untold blessings, and though they often wound him they experimentally know his value. To him full many of the poor and needy look up as to a friend in need, he is full of the milk of human kindness; where he cannot give in golden coin he distributes comfort in sympathy and words of cheer.
MAN (THE GOOD: -Beneficial Influence of.
In a hot summer’s-day, some years ago, I was sailing with a friend in a tiny boat, on a miniature lake, enclosed like a cup within a circle of steep, bare Scottish hills. On the shoulder of the brown sun-burnt mountain, and full in sight, was a well with a crystal stream trickling over its lip, and making its way down towards the lake. Around the well’s
mouth and along the course of the rivulet, a belt of green stood out in strong contrast with the iron surface of the rocks all around. We soon agreed as to what should be made of it. There it was, a legend clearly printed by the finger of God on the side of these silent hills, teaching the passer-by how needful a good man is, and how useful he may be in a desert world. — W, Arnot.
MAH — Natural State of.
A MUSICAL amateur of eminence, who had often observed Mr. Cadogan’s inattention to his performances, said to him one day, “Come, I am determined to make you feel the power of music, pay particular attention to this piece.” It was played. “Well, what do you say now f “Just what I saidbefore.” “What! can you hear this and not be charmed? I am surprised at your insensibility! Where are your ears?’ “Bear with me, my lord,” replied Mr. Cadogan, “since I too have had my surprise; I have from the pulpit set before you the most striking and affecting truths; I have found notes that might have awaked the dead; I have said, Surely he will feel now; but you never seemed charmed with my music, though infinitely more interesting than yours. I too might have said — ‘Where are his ears?”’
Man, until sovereign grace opens his ears, is deaf to the heavenly harmonies of the love of God in Christ Jesus, although these are the ravishment of angels and the wonder of eternity. JU3T — Perversion of hii Facilities.
According to the fable, the tail of the snake obtained precedence of the head and led the way in the creature’s journeying. Being altogether blind the new guide dashed against a stone at one moment, and the nest came violently against a tree, and at last drowned both itself and the head in the river of death. Here may be seen the unhappy condition of men in whom their baser nature is dominant, the
animal controlling the intellectual. They invert the order of nature, they rebel against common sense; their course cannot but be unwise and dangerous, and their end must be fatal. God made man upright, and placed his thoughtful faculties aloft in the place of sovereignty, but man in his folly permits the appetites which he holds in common with the brute creation to reign supreme, while the mind, which ought to rule, is degraded to meanest servitude.
MAS — a Stain on the Universe.
RUSKIN says: — “The Savoyard’s cottage, standing in the midst of an inconceivable, ini;;>ri;ssi:]li: beauty, set on some sloping bank of golden sward, with clear fountains flowing beside it, and wild (lowers, ;ind nobk trots, and goodly rocks, gathered round into a perfection as of Paradise, is itself a dark and plague-like stain in the midst of the gentle landscape. Within a certain distance of its threshold the ground is foul and cattle-trampled; its timbers are black with smoke, its garden choked with weeds and nameless refuse, its chambers empty and joyless, the light and wind gleaming and filtering through the crannies of their stones.”
Alas! too fit an illustration of unregenerate manhood in the midst of divine mercies, surrounded with displays of boundless goodness.
“Every prospect, pleases,
And only man is vile.”
MEANS OF GKACE — tteir Disuse a Sad Loan.
Mv lEoIian harp is not sounding and yet a fine fresh wind is blowing in at the window. Why hear I not its soft mystic strains? I remember, it was put away in the lumber room and some of its strings are broken. There is a gracious revival in the church, and believers are greatly refreshed by the visitations of God’s Spirit, but I am in a sadlyworldly unbelieving condition. May it not be because I neglect private prayer, and have not been regular at the prayer-meeting; my family
concerns and business cares have kept my heart in the lumber room, and my soul has lost her first love? Yes, these are the reasons. Lord, tune my heart, and I will again seek the places where the heavenly wind of thy Spirit blows graciously and refreshingly. How can I bear to be silent when thy daily mercies arc all around me singing of thy love?
MEDITATION - to be Practised.
Those who would be in health do not sit still in their houses to breathe such air as may come to them, but they walk abroad and seek out rural and elevated spots that they may inhale the invigorating breezes; and thus those godly souls who would be in a vigorous spiritual state, do not merely think upon such holy doctrines as may come into their minds in the ordinary course of thought, but they give time to meditation, they walk abroad in the fields of truth, and endeavour to climb the heights of gospel promises. It is said that Enoch walked with God: here is not an idle but an active communion. The road to bodily health is said to be a footpath, and the way to spiritual health is to exercise one’s self in holy contemplation.
MERCIKS (TF.MFOKAL) -an Argument.
If the Lord has enriched you in temporals, though you have not feared him, have you not every reason to expect that he will do as well for you in spirituals, if you ask him to do so? You call at a friend’s house on horseback; he takes your horse into the stable, and is remarkably attentive to it i the creature is well groomed, well housed, well fed; you are not at all afraid that you will be shut out, there is surely a warm place in the parlour for the rider, where the horse is so well accommodated in the stable. Now, your body, which we may liken to the horse, has enjoyed temporal prosperity in abundance, and surely the Lord will take care of your soul if you seek his face! Let your prayer be,” My God, my Father,
be my guide. Since thou hast dealt so well with me in these external matters, give me true riches, give me to love thy Son and trust in him, and so be henceforth thy child.”
HEBCY — Abuse Of.
A certain member of that parliament wherein a statute for the relief of the poor was passed, was an ardent promoter of that Act. He asked his steward when he returned to the country, what the people said of that statute. The steward answered, that he heard a labouring man say, that whereas formerly he worked six days in the week, now he would work but four; which abuse of that good provision so affected the pious statesman that he could not refrain from weeping. Lord, thou hast made many provisions in thy Word for my support and comfort, and hast promised in my necessities thy supply and protection; but let not my presumption of help from thee cause my neglect of any of those means for my spiritual and temporal preservation which thou hast enjoined.
KEECT-Oontinnal.
A benevolent person gave Mr. Rowland Hill a hundred pounds to dispense to a poor minister, and thinking it was too much to send him all at once, Mr. Hill forwarded five pounds in a letter, with simply these words within the envelope, “More to follow.” In a few days’ time, the good man received another letter by the post — and letters by the post were rarities in those days; this second messenger contained another five pounds, with the same motto, “And more to follow.” A day or two after came a third and a fourth, and still the same promise, “And more to follow.” Till the whole sum had been received the astonished minister was made familiar with the cheering words, “And more to follow.”
Every blessing that comes from God is sent with the selfsame message, “And more to follow.”” I forgive you your
sins, but there’s more to follow.” “I justify you in the righteousness of Christ, but there’s more to follow.” “I adopt you into my family, but there’s more to follow.” “I educate you for heaven, but there’s more to follow.” “I give you grace upon grace, but there’s more to follow.” “I have helped you even to old age, but there’s still more to follow.” “I will uphold you in the hour of death, and as you are passing into the world of spirits, my mercy shall still continue with you, and when you land in the world to come there shall still be more to follow.”
MEBCY-DisBoi™ tha Heart.
You may have heard of some persons condemned to execution, who ;it the scaffold have been so obdi:;-;i:o and stifl-necked that not a cry or a tear came from them; yet, just as they have been going to lay their necks upon the block, when a pardon has come, and they were at once discharged from guilt, imprisonment, and death, they that could not weep a tear before, no sooner saw the pardon sealed, and themselves acquitted, than they dissolved into tears of joy, thankfulnees, and surprise. So it is with believers. The more they see Christ in the pardon of sin, and the love of God in Christ to receive and embrace them, the more they melt. — Tobias Crisp.
MERCY its Effect on the Soul.
A MAN convicted of high treason and condemned to die is not only pardoned, but taken into the favour of his sovereign. He is riding in the royal carriage, and on the road he sees some of his fellow traitors pinioned and manacled, led forth in the midst of officers to die for the offence in which he had as deep a hand as they. What think you, will he not entreat the gracious monarch to extend his clemency to his fellow rebels? Will not the tears stand in his eyes as he admires the difference which his sovereign’s free mercy has
made? Will he not be moved with emotions impossible to describe, of mingled joy and grief, pity and gratitude, wonder and compassion? Christian, see your likeness here drawn to the life, you must surely feel ready to fall down on your knees, and cry,” Lord, why dost thou reveal thy mercy to me and not to these? Save them also, O Lord, for thy name’s
MEECY — Excellence of.
I remember well being taken one day to see a gorgeous palace at Venice, where every piece of furniture was made with most exquisite taste, and of the richest material, where statues and pictures of enormous price abounded on all hands, and the floor of each mom was paved with mosaics of marvellous art, and extraordinary value. As I was shown from room to room, and allowed to roam amid the treasures by its courteous owner, I felt a considerable timidity, I was afraid to sit anywhere, nor did I hardly dare to put down my foot, or rest my hand to lean. Everything seemed to be too good for ordinary mortals like myself; but when one is introduced into the gorgeous palace of infinite goodness, costlier and fairer far, one gazes wonderingly with reverential awe at the matchless vision. “How excellent is thy lovlngkindness, O God 1” “I am not worthy of the least of all thy benefits. Oh 1 the depths of the love and goodness of the Lord.”
MEKCY -Seen in our Lives.
What a rugged, precipitous, ungainly pass is that Col D’Obbia! It was shrewd common sense, and true humanity which suggested the erection of that poor little hospice at the summit. Never was a shelter more opportune, a refuge more welcome. One could not have expected to find a retreat in so desolate a region, but there it was, and we were received into it with cordiality. The great Lord of pilgrims has taken care that in the hardest parts of our road to the Celestial 10
City there should be blessed resting places, where beneath the shade of promises, weary ones may repose within the shelter of love. God’s hospice may be confidently looked for whenever the way is more than ordinarily difficult.
MEEITS.
A ship on her way to Australia met with a very terrible storm,andsprunga]cak. As evils seldom come alone, a little while after another tempest assailed her. There happened to be a gentleman on board, of the most nervous temperament, whose garrulous tongue and important air were calculated to alarm all the passengers. When the storm came on, the capt;iin, who kin’-u wh.u misdvief maybe done by a suspicious and talkative individual, managed to get near him with a view to rendering him quiet. The gentlemen addressing the captain, said in a tone of alarm, “What an awful storm; I am afraid we shall go to the bottom, for I hear the leak is very had.” “Well,” said the captain, “as you seem to know it, and perhaps the others do not, you had better not mention it to any one, lest you should frighten the passengers or dispirit my men. Perhaps as it is a very bad case, you would lend us your valuable help, and then we may possibly get through it. Would you have the goodness to stand here and hold hard on this rope; pray do not leave it, but pull as hard as ever you can till I tell you to let it go.” So our friend clenched his teeth, and put his feet firmly down, and kept on holding this rope with all his might, till he earnestly wished for a substitute. The storm abated; the ship was safe, and our friend was released from his rope-holding. He expected a deputation would bring him the thanks of all the passengers, but they were evidently unconscious of his merits; for it is too often the case that we forget our greatest benefactors. Even the captain did not seem very grateful; so our hero ventured, in a roundabout style to hint, that such valuable services as his, having saved the vessel, ought
to be rewarded at least with some few words of acknowledgment; when he was shocked to hear the captain say, “What, sir, do you think you saved the vessel? Why, I gave you that rope to hold to keep you engaged, that you might not be in such a feverish state of alarm.”
The self-righteous may here see how much men contribute to their own salvation apart from Christ. They think they can certainly save [.hi”! selves, and there they stand holding the rope with their clenched teeth and their feel tightly fixed, while they are really doing no more than our officious friend, who was thus befooled. If ever you get to heaven, you will find that everything you did towards your own salvation, apart from the Lord Jesus, was about as useful as holding the rope; that in fact, the safety of the soul lies somewhere else, and not in you; and that what is wanted with you is just to get out of the way, and let Christ come in and magnify his grace.
THE sharp shrill cry of “Acqua! Acqua!” constantly pierces the ear of the wanderer in Venice and other towns of sultry Italy. There is the man who thus invites your attention. Look at him. On his back he bears a burden of water, and in his hand a rack of bottles containing essences to flavour the draught if needed, and glasses to hold the cooling liquid. In the streets of London he would find but little patronage, but where fountains are few and the days are hot as an oven, he earns a livelihood and supplies a public need. The present specimen of water-dealers is a poor old man bent sideways, by the weight of his daily burden. He is worn out in all but his voice, which is truly startling in its sharpness and distinctness. At our call he stops immediately, glad to drop his burden on the ground, and smiling in prospect of a customer. He washes out a glass for us, fills it with sparkling water, offers us the tincture which we abhor, puts it back
the rack again when we shake our head, receives half-a-dozen soldi with manifest gratitude, and trudges away across he square, crying still, “Acqua! Acqua!” That cry, shrill as as sounded sweetly in the ears of many a thirsty sou!, 11 for ages yet to come, if throats and thirst survive so How forcibly it calls to our mind the Saviour’s imagery, in which he compares the grace which he bestows on all who diligently seek it, to “living water;” and how much that old man is like the faithful preacher of the word, who, having filled his vessel at the well, wears himself out by continually bearing the burden of the Lord, and crying, “Water! water!” amid crowds of sinners, who must drink or die. Instead of the poor Italian water-bearer, we see before us the man of God, whose voice is heard in the chief places of concourse, proclaiming the divine invitation, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!” until he grows grey in the service, and men say, “Surely those aged limbs have need of rest;” yet rest he courts not, but pursues his task of mercy; never laying down his charge till he lays down his body, and never ceasing to work until he
At the door of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, we bought a glass of what should have been the pure element, but when we began to drink, a pungent flavour of something which had previously been in the cup, made us leave the rest of our purchase, thirsty though we were. The water was good enough, but the vessel which held it imparted an evil taste to it; the like has often happened in the ministry, the gospel preached has been true and divine, but the unhallowed savour of an inconsiitenr life, or a bitter disposition, has marred the s of the Word. May all of us by whom the Lord hands o water of life, see that we are clean and pure ii vessels fit for the Master’s use. Men who are very thirsty will drink out of any cup, however dirty; but no conceivable advantage can arise from filth, and hundreds will turn away from the
water because of it, and thus a very faulty ministry may be useful because of the truth contained in it, but its sinfulness can do no good, and may serve as an excuse to the ungodly for refusing the gospel of Christ
In the square of the Doge’s palace are two wells, from which the sellers of water obtain their stock-in-trade, but we can hardly compare either of them with the overflowing spring from which the preacher of righteousness draws his supplies. One of the wells is filled artificially and is not much used for drinking, since the coldness and freshness of water springing naturally from earth’s deep fountains is lacking. It is to be feared that many preachers depend for their matter upon theological systems, books, and mere learning, and hence their teaching is devoid of the living power and refreshing influence which is found in communion with “the spring of all our joys.” The other well yields most delicious water, but its flow is scanty. In the morning it is full, but a crowd of eager persons drain it to the bottom, and during the day as it rises by driblets, every drop is contended for and borne away, long before there is enough below to till a bucket. In its excellence, continuance and naturalness, this well might be a fair picture of the grace of our Lord Jesus, but it fails to
set him forth frot
an overflow, an
n its poverty of supply. He has a redunde
infinite fulness, and there is no possibili
his being exhau
though ten thou;
sted by the draughts made upon him,
sand times ten thousand should come w:
thirst as deep I
” Spring up,
with copper, intc
by the waiting n
of the coveted
is the abyss. We could not help sa’
well,” as we looked over the margin cov
which strings and ropes — continually 1
lany — had worn deep channels. Very
liquid was brought up each time, but
as fast as there 1
was’ a cupful to be had. O that men
half as diligent:
which are pricel
in securing the precious gifts of the S]
ess beyond compare! Alas! how few 1
I5D MV NOTE BOOK.
David’s thirst for the well of Bethlehem. The cans sent down had very broad sides, so that they dropped down flat upon the bottom of the well, and were drawn up less than half full; larger vessels would have been useless, and so, indeed, would small ones if they had not been made to lie quite down upon their sides, along what we must call the floor of the well, and had they have been erect they would not have received a drop. Humility is always a profitable grace; pride is always as useless as it is foolish. Only by bowing our minds to the utmost before the Lord, can we expect to receive his mercy, for he promises grace unto the humble in that same verse which foretells his resistance of the proud. If there be grace anywhere, contrite hearts will get it. The lower ive can kill, Lin: soone- “ill the spi ^’i; ;;’; w ater of giace reach us, and the more completely shall we be filled with it.
‘It would be a great misfortune for those who buy their water in the streets, if the itinerant vendors should begin to fill their casks and bottles from muddy streams. At Botzen, in the Tyrol, we saw many fountains running with a liquid of a very brown colour, and a seller of such stuff might cry “Acqua!” very long and very loudly before we should partake of his dainties. Sundry divines in our age have become weary of the old-fashioned well of which our fathers drank, and would fain have us go to their Abana and Pharpar, but we are still firm in the belief that the water from the rock has no rival, and we shall not, we hope, forsake it for any other. May the Lord send to our happy land more simple gospel, more Christ-exalting doctrine, more free-grace teaching, more distinct testimony to atoning blood and eternal love. In most of theSwiss village? there are streaming fountains bythedozen, and the pure liquid is to be had at every corner; may we yet see the Word of God as abundantly distributed in every town, viDage, and hamlet in England. Meanwhile, having recorded the prayer, we resolve, by divine grace, to cry more loudly than ever, “Acqua! Acqua!”
HIFISTEB.
HOWEVER learned, godly, and eloquent a minister may be, he is nothing without the Holy Spirit. The bell in the steeple may be well hung, fiiirly fashioned, and of soundest metal, but it is dumb until the ringer makes it speak j and in like manner the preacher has no voice of quickening for the dead in sin, or of comfort for living saints until the divine Spirit gives him a gracious pull, and bids him speak with power. Hence the need of prayer from both preacher and hearers.
MINISTER Need ot Personal Tenderness,
Speaking of the temper requisite to the right discharge of ministerial duty, Payson said, “I never was fit to say a word to a sinner, except when I had a broken heart myself; when I was subdued and melted into penitency, and felt as though 1 had just received pardon to my own soul, and when my heart was full of tenderness and pity. No anger, no anger.”
WNISTIlR-Self-dissatiEfac tion of.
“Swift of foot was Hiawatha,
He could shoot an arrow from him,
And run forward with such fleetness,
That the arrow fell behind him!”
The fable is even less than truth with the fervent preacher:
he darts arrows of fire in flaming speech, but his eagerness
to win souls far outruns his words. He projects himself far
beyond his language. His heart outstrips his utterance. He
embraces souls in his love, while his words as yet are but on
the wing. Often and often will he weep when his sermon is
over, because his words “fell behind him;” yet has he cause
for joy, that he should have received so divine a spirit from
his Master’s hand: his very dissatisfaction proves his zeal.
MINISTER — Should he a Hnramg Father.
In a church in Verona stands, or rather sits, a wooden image of St. Zeno, an ancient bishop, with knees so ludicrously short that there is no lap on which a babe could be dandled. He was not the first nor the last ecclesiastic who has been utterly incapable of being a nursing father to the church. It were well if all ministers had a heavenly instinct for the nourishing and bringing up of the Lord’s little ones. Is there not much lack in this?
MINISTRY — Heat Men Needed fer it.
“Amongst the Jesuits they have a rule, that they who are unapt for greater studies, shall study cases of conscience.” Is this to be adopted among Protestants, and when a man is too brainless to succeed in any common calling, is he therefore to argue that he is called to the ministry? This mischievous notion fills pulpits, but it empties pews. The fact is, the very pick of our Christian men are wanted for a work “Which well might fill an angel’s heart: Did fill a Saviour’s hands.”
MISTAKES-Onr Aptness to Make.
We were riding along in the afternoon of a lovely but blazing day from Varallo to Riva, and to quench our thirst on the road we carried with us some bottles of an excellent lemonade. The empty bottles were of no use to us, and one of them was given to a friend on the box seat of the carriage to throw away. He happened to be the essence of gentleness and liberality, and seeing two very poor peasant women trudging along with huge empty baskets strapped on their backs, he thought it would delight them if he dropped the bottle into one of their receptacles; a bottle being far more a godsend there than in England. Alas, for our friend’s happiness during the whole of the next twenty-four hours! The motion of the carriage made him miss his aim,’ and the
bottle fell on the head of the woman instead of into her basket. There was a shrill cry, and a good deal of blood and speedy faintness. Of course, we were all in an instant binding up the wound with silver, and our friend we feel sure used golden ointment, so that the poor old creature would have cheerfully had her head broken ten times to receive such a sum as she obtained by way of solatium; butstillthe accident saddened us all, and especially our dear tended-hearted friend from whose hand the missile was dropped. How often has his case been ours! We meant to cheer a troubled conscience and instead thereof we wounded it yet more. We intended nothing but love, but our words save pain; we had miscalculated, and missed our aim. This has both astonished us and caused us the deepest regret. Yet such a blunder has made us the more careful, and has humbled us under a sense of our readiness to err, and moreover it has led us to be still more liberal in the use of that precious treasure of the gospel, which easily recompenses for all our blundering. Loving reader, be careful with your kindnesses, but be not too much depressed should they fail to comfort. The Lord knows your
HONEY-MAKIHG-Nothing but Play.
MR. RUSKIN, in his lecture on “Work,“* says : —” Whatever we do to please ourselves, and only for the sake of the pleasure, not for an ultimate object, is ‘play,’ the ‘pleasing thing,’ not the useful thing. ‘.... The first of all English games is making money. That is an all-absorbing game and we knock each other down oftener in playing at that than at foot-ball, or any other rougher sport; and it is absolutely without purpose; no one who engages heartily in that game ever knows why. Ask a great money-maker what he wants
* In “The Crown of Wild Olive, Three Lectures on Work, Traffic, and War,” By John Ruskin, M.A., 1866.
to do with his money — he never knows. He doesn’t make it to do anything with it. He gets it only that he may get it. ‘What will you make of what you have got?’ you ask. ‘Well, I’ll get more,’ he says. Just as at cricket, you get more runs. There’s no use in the runs, but to get more of them than other people is the game. And there’s no use in the money, but to have more of it than other people is the game. So all that great foul city of London there — rattling, growling, smoking, stinking — a ghastly heap of fermenting brickwork, pouring out poison at every pore — you fancy it is a city of work? Not a street of it! It is a great city of play; very nasty play, and very hard play,, but still play. It is only Lord’s Cricket Ground without the turf — a huge billiard-table without the cloth, and with pockets as deep as the bottomless pit, but mainly a billiard table after all.”
MONEY-MAKIHG-Ho Time for.
A gentleman of Boston (U. S.), an intimate friend of Professor Agassi;, onto expressed his wonder that a man of such abilities as lie (Agassi*) possessed should remain contented with such a moderate income. “I have enough,” was Agassiz’s reply. “I have not time to make money. Life is not sufficiently long to enable a man to get rich, and do his duty to his fellow men at the same time.” Christian, have you time to serve your God and yet to give your whole soul to gaining wealth? The question is left for c
MORALIST.
THE dahlia would surely be a very empress among flowers if it had but perfume equal to its beauty; even the rose might need to look :o her sovereignty. Florists have tried all their arts to scent this lovely child of autumn but in vain, no fragrance can be developed or produced; God has denied the boon, and human skill cannot impart it. The reflecting
mind will be reminded of those admirable characters which are occasionally met with, in which everything of good repute and comely aspect may be seen, but true religion, that sweet ethereal perfume of grace, is wanting; if they had but love to God, what lovely beings they would be, the best of the saints would not excel them, and yet that fragrant grace they do not seek, and after every effort we may make for their conversion, they remain content without the one thing which is needful for their perfection. O that the Lord would impart to them the mystic sweetness of his grace by the Holy Spirit! MOTIVES.
THERE are overshot water-wheels and undershot. In the one case the motive power falls from above, in the other the water turns the wheel from below; the first is the more powerful. Men, like wheels, axe turned by forces from various sources, and too many move by the undercurrent — mercenary desires and selfish aims drive them; but the good man’s driving force falls from above; ?e: him endeavour to prove to all men that this is the most mighty force in existence.
MOTIVES.
Standing near the remarkable spring at Ewell, in Surrey, and watching the uprising of the waters, one sees at the bottom of the pool innumerable circles with smaller circles within them, from which extremely fine sand is continually being upheaved by the force of the rising water. Tiny geysers upheave their little founts, and from a myriad openings bubble up with the clear crystal. The perpetual motion of the water, and the leaping of the sand are most interesting. It is not like the spring-head in the field, where the cooling liquid pours forth perpetually from a spout, all unseen, till it plunges into its channel; nor like the river-head where the Stream weeps from a mass of mossy rock; but here are the fountains of earth’s hidden deeps all unveiled and laid bare, the very veins of nature opened to the public gaze. How
would it amaze us if we could in this fashion peer into the springs of human character and sec whence words and actions flow! What man would wish to have his designs and aims exposed to every onlooker? But why this aversion to being known and read of all men? The Christian’s motives and springs of action should he so honest and pure that he might safely defy inspection. He who has nothing to be ashamed of has nothing to conceal. Sincerity can afford, like our first parents in Paradise, to be naked and not
If other men cannot read our motives, we ought at least (o examine them carefully for ourselves. Day by day with extreme rigour must we search into our hearts. Motive is vital to the goodness of an action. He who should give his body to be burned might yet lose his soul if his ruling passion were obstinacy, and not desire for God’s glory. Self may be sought under many disguises, and the man may he utterly unaware that thus he is losing all acceptance with God. We must not impute ill motives to others, but we must be equally clear of another more fascinating habit, namely, that of imputing good motives to ourselves. Severity in estimating our own personal character very seldom becomes excessive; our partiality is usually more or less blinding to our judgment. We will not suspect ourselves if we can help it; evidence must be very powerful before it can convince us of being governed by sordid aims. The stream of generosity does not always spring from gratitude to God. Zeal is not at all times the offspring of deep-seated faith. Even devotional habits may be fostered by other than holy affections. The highest wisdom suggests that we spend much patient and impartial consideration upon a matter so fundamental as the heart’s intent in the actions which it directs. “If thine eye be single, thine whole body shall be full of light.” Dear reader, stand by thine inner springs and watch, and make faithful notes of what thou seest, lest thou be deceived.