LESSON FROM A DYING COAL.
A COAL of fire when laid by itself soon loses its brightness and its heat; and there are some lessons to be learned from an expiring coal. A writer tells the story of a minister who “called upon a member who had been neglecting the week-night service, and went straight up to the fireplace in the sitting-room, and with the tongs removed a live coal from off the fire, and placed it on the hearth, then watched it while it turned from the red glow of heat to a black mass. The member in question carefully observed the proceeding, and then said, ‘You need not say a single word, sir; I’ll be there on Wednesday night.’” There are multitudes of Christians who to-day are like this dying coal. They are alone. They have forsaken the assembling of themselves together. They have lost the interest they once had, and the power they once possessed. Let such take heed to their ways and turn their feet in the Lord’s testimonies. He bids His people exhort one another, and so much the more as they see the day approaching. They that fear the Lord are to speak often one to another; and tho it is within the power of God to keep alive the flame of Christian love in the hearts of those who are lonely and desolate, yet when persons deliberately disobey the divine commands, and neglect the privileges and opportunities of Christian fellowship and mutual encouragement, it is not strange that the light of the lonely ones grows dim, and the fires of love die out from within their hearts.—Selected.