The Stranger Within Thy Gate.
Do NOT permit the wayside pilgrim who tarries for a week, or perhaps but for a day, in your midst, to depart without a warm grasp of the hand, or a fervent God bless you! A young married couple went to make their home in a strange city. Selecting a church of their own denomination, the first Sunday found them unnoticed by the ushers, timidly making their way down the long aisle. Uninvited, they entered a pew, and were beginning to feel somewhat comfortable, when a haughty, middle-aged lady and her daughter came bustling in. By their looks and whispered conversation, the strangers felt that they were unwelcome guests; and the soothing hymns and eloquent sermon brought them no restful comfort. Instead of being strengthened and helped, they carried to their home wounded, disaffected spirits; and the next Sunday they turned aside to worship in a more humble temple, where they found more of the spirit of Christ. A young mechanic came into a Christian community, and, for several Sundays, took a back seat in the village church. He was a splendid type of physical manhood, strong, handsome, and intelligent. “I must speak to that young man, if he comes again,” thought the Sunday-school superintendent, as he walked home from service one afternoon. “I wish I had invited him into a class this morning—he looked so lonely.” “That young man has been at church several times. He is a stranger, and if he comes again, I must speak to him,” said the pastor, as he bowed gravely to the eager youth. Willie Gray was robust and ambitious, and threw his whole strength into the work of the day; but one night he retired in his usual health, and before the morning’s dawn, his earthly career was closed. “You are dying, Willie,” said a friend who had been hastily summoned to his bedside. “I know it; and oh! I am not prepared at all,” he cried. “Bring the minister,” he commenced, but the flow of blood checked further utterance, and in ten minutes he was dead. He had overtaxed his strength during the day; and a slow but fatal hemorrhage had been the result. The minister came, but it was too late. The superintendent was shocked, but that could not do what had been left undone. The “next time” that they both intended to do him a kindness, never came. Speak to the stranger within your gate, for you know not what good a kind word may accomplish.—S. S. Times.