Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 11, 1858
Are We all Awake in Ohio?
By John Clarke
The work in this State is begun. The tent-meeting held last season in Gilboa, has been the means of spreading the truth far and wide, and the efforts of the messengers since have been attended with a blessing.
But shall the work stop here? Shall not the loud cry still ring in the ears of this people, until all are warned of the impending storm? Certainly, says every saint. Amen. Let all hear.
How shall it be done? Funds are indispensable. Men must eat, drink and wear. Who will bear the burden? Shall eight, or ten, or twenty persons have all the burden to bear? A tent should be well manned: three or four preachers, and at least two good able-bodied and devoted men with the exclusive care of the tent; and these men should be well supplied with needful aid, and their families comfortably provided for at home, so that all anxiety on that score may be removed from their minds; then they can labor gladly and cheerfully. How must a man feel fifty miles from home, with a letter in his pocket from his wife stating that the meal box is empty, and the children's shoes worn out, as he rises to preach and thinks of the bleeding cause of his Master, the impending storm that awaits a heartless world? And then as his mind wanders to the hungry, scant-clad dear ones at home, (for he loves his family,) what an effort of his faith to present the truth.
How his mind wanders from the subject. But says one, (a rich one, too,) an elder must be willing to endure hardness. Let an elder trust in God and go out and God will take care of him. So he will, dear man, when you, and the like of you, wail and lament. Yes, God will take care of those faithful ones who endure for his sake, when the vials of his wrath fall upon the rich men.
Now is the time for rich men to become poor, if it is not already to late. Now, now sell some of those acres, some of those colts, those fine cattle, now that extra farm. Soon it will be too late, soon you will throw the silver and gold in the streets. Perhaps there is yet time to lay it up in heaven. Perhaps mercy will linger a little longer.
Let us make the case our own. How would a farmer feel with only a week's provision in his house, only fifty pounds of hay in the barn, only one suit of clothes, &c.?
One of the pioneers in the present truth has traveled three hundred miles on four cents, has slept in barns, and beneath his buggy, while publishing the truth. Who is accountable for this? Certainly those whom God has made stewards of his treasure, those who are heaping up treasure for the last days.
But says A., I must reserve land for my son. Stop; dear brother: think a moment. The 2300 days have closed. The angel upon sea and land has sworn to the close of time. Mercy lingers a moment. O how precious these moments. Seize the golden opportunity. Make the heart of Christ glad with your offerings. Make the angels smile with your sacrifices, while plenty and peace fill the hearts and homes of his chosen messengers.
J. CLARKE.
CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. No. 2.
By M. E. S.
In the previous number we noticed the gospel as a promise made to the fathers, and have seen that the fulfillment of that promise is yet future, and that future life is promised in order to that fulfillment. We understand, moreover, that the recipients of the promise must also, when resurrected, be made immortal, otherwise how could they receive an everlasting possession. 2 Tim. i, 10. "Who (i. e., Jesus) hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Sceptics may query—If Christ brought life and immortality to light, a promise made in Abraham's time could not have revealed them. We have seen that all nations were to be blessed in Abraham's seed; the promises were all to come through Christ, being first made to him, conditionally however, and until he had performed the conditions, he could neither receive nor transmit the promises, which were the blessing to all nations; but when he, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, &c., he sealed the promise; hence though life and immortality were brought to light in the gospel promise to Abraham, they were not made sure till the testament was sealed by the blood of Christ. Heb. ix, 17. Had he failed on his part, we could now have no hope for the future. But glory to our Redeemer! he kept all his Father's commandments, [Jno. xv, 10,] and "was faithful to him that appointed him," [Heb. iii, 2,] thus opening the way of salvation for the fallen race of man.
We will now proceed to consider this subject still farther, noticing specifications which show that the promise includes a kingdom. Passing down from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the line of their literal descendants, we find [1 Sam. viii, 5-7,] the children of Israel would have a king, after having been governed by judges for 450 years, Jehovah himself being their Supreme Ruler. The Lord told Samuel to hearken unto the voice of the people; "for (said he) they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them." Their request was granted, and the kingdom of Israel was established under Saul, succeeded by David, of the tribe of Judah, to whom we find another promise. Ps. lxxxix, iii, 4. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Also verses 34-38. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me." Turn to Isa. ix, 6, 7. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace: of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
After him, David's descendants sat upon his throne for fourteen generations. In the reign of Zedekiah, king of Israel, the Lord speaks to him by the mouth of the prophet. Eze. xxi, 25-28. "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end; thus saith130the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." Turn to the record of the fulfillment of this prediction, as far as it concerns Zedekiah. 2 Kings xxv, 7. "And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death." Jer. lii, 11. Were the kings of Israel restored on the return from captivity? See Neh. ix, 36, 37, a confession of those of the children of Israel who had returned from Babylon. "Behold we are servants this day; and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers (not for an everlasting possession; this could not be till after the resurrection; but) to eat the fruit thereof, and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it; and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us (they were still under tribute) because of our sins; also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress." Since the days of Zedekiah, the throne of David has been unoccupied, the Jews tributary in their best estate afterwards to other nations, and having no anointed kings of their own. Josephus, after giving an account of the taking of Jerusalem and Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, says, [b. 10, chap. 8, sec. 4,] "And after this manner have the kings of David's race ended their lives, being in number twenty-one, until the last king, who all together reigned 514 years, 6 months, and 10 days." From the prediction to Zedekiah we learn that some one had a right to David's throne, and that God promised to give it him. Let us ascertain who it was. In the annunciation to the virgin Mary, the angel says to her, [Luke i, 31, 32,] "And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David." Also Acts ii, 30. (Where was David's throne? Ans. In Jerusalem, on the earth; and his dominion extended over all Israel and Judah [2 Sam. v, 5] as Christ's also will—remember "they are not all Israel which are of Israel.") The Jews understood that Christ was to take this literal throne, and when he appeared they expected the restoration of the kingdom of Israel; consequently we hear them exclaiming, being convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus, "Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: hosannah in the highest." Mark xi, 10. The Jews did not understand that Christ must suffer before he could be glorified. Luke xxiv, 26. Their hopes were blighted. How deeply must the disciples have felt this disappointment when they saw him in whom their hopes centered, bound, led to a mock trial and crucified: "For as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead." Chap. xx, 9. But by "many infallible proofs" their faith is revived, and Jesus continues with them forty days after his resurrection. Acts i, 3. (Peter in alluding to the resurrection of Christ says, [1 Pet. i, 3,] "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," &c.) The disciples being then convened together ask him, saying, "Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (showing the kingdom was not yet re-established.) "And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." Acts i, 6, 7, 9. They are again disappointed. Jesus has gone, and the kingdom of Israel is not yet restored—but again their hopes are renewed to the end. "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Acts i, 10, 11. Jesus likened himself to a nobleman, who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. (An allusion to the ancient custom of the governors of provinces repairing to head quarters to receive the right of rule, and then returning to exercise that right.) Luke xix, 12. He spake this parable "because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear."
Now the question comes home, are we promised any share in the kingdom of God as such? See Dan. vii, 27. "And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High," &c. To man was given the first dominion of the earth. Gen. i, 26-28. This the prophet assures us shall be restored to man. See Micah iv, 8. "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." But in order to this fulfillment, the same earth upon which we now live (it was not another whose dominion was given to Adam) must be brought back to the beauty and bloom of its Eden state; otherwise man could not be restored to the kingdom as it was when Adam received it. The Apostle taught this restitution, the times of which would commence when the Lord should send Jesus Christ. Acts iii, 19-21. Adam was created to be a king; so the faithful are to be kings and priests. Rev. v, 10. "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth."
These are, as Peter says, "exceeding great and precious promises." Let us endeavor to study carefully, that we may ascertain the conditions upon which they are based, giving diligence to make our calling and election sure. "For so (says Peter) an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
'TWILL BE ALL THE SAME IN A HUNDRED YEARS.
'Twill be all the same in a hundred years!
What a spell-word to conjure up smiles and tears!
O, how oft do I muse, 'mid the thoughtless and gay,
On the marvellous truth that these words convey!
And can it be so? Must the valiant and free
Have their tenure of life on this frail decree?
Are th' trophies they've rear'd and th' glories they've won
Only castles of frost-work, confronting the sun,
And must all that's as joyous and brilliant to view
As a midsummer's dream, be as perishing too?
Then have pity, ye proud ones—be gentle, ye great,
O remember how mercy beseemeth your state;
For the rust that consumeth the sword of the brave
Is eating the chain of the manacled slave,
And the conqueror's frowns and his victim's tears
Will be all the same in a hundred years!
'Twill be all the same in a hundred years!
What a spell-word to conjure up smiles and tears!
How dark are your fortunes, ye sons of the soil,
Whose heir-loom is sorrow, whose birthright is toil,
Yet envy not those who have glory and gold,
By the sweat of the poor and the blood of the bold;
For 'tis coming, howe'er they may flaunt in their pride,
The day when they'll moulder to dust by your side,
Death uniteth the children of toil and of sloth,
And the democrat reptiles carouse upon both;
For time, as he speeds on his viewless wings,
Disenamels and withers all earthly things;
And the knight's white plume, and the shepherd's crook,
And the minstrel's pipe, and the scholar's book,
And the emperor's crown, and his Cossack's spears,
Will be dust alike in a hundred years!
'Twill be all the same in a hundred years!
O most magical fountain of smiles and tears!
To think that our hopes, like the flowers of June,
Which we love so much, should be lost so soon!
Then what meaneth the chase after phantom joys?
Or the breaking of human hearts for toys?
Or the veteran's pride in his crafty schemes?
Or the passion of youth for his darling dreams?
Or the aiming at ends that we never can span?
Or the deadly aversion of man for man?
What availeth it all? O, ye sages, say,—
Or the miser's joy in his brilliant clay?
Or the lover's zeal for his matchless prize—
The enchanting maid with the starry eyes?
Or the feverish conflict of hopes and fears,
If 'tis all the same in a hundred years?
Ah! 'tis not the same in a hundred years,
How clear soever the case appears;
For know ye not that beyond the grave,
Far, far beyond where the cedars wave,
On the Syrian mountains, or where the stars
Come glittering forth in their golden cars,
There bloometh a land of perennial bliss,
Where we smile to think of the tears in this?
And the pilgrim reaching that radiant shore,
Has the thought of death in his heart no more,
But layeth his staff and sandals down
For the victor's palm and the monarch's crown,
And the mother meets in that tranquil sphere,
The delightful child she had wept for here;
And the warrior's sword that protects the right,
Is bejewelled with stars of undying light;
And we quaff of the same immortal cup,
While the orphan smiles, and the slave looks up!
So be glad, my heart, and forget thy tears,
For 'tis not the same in a hundred years!
[Dublin Telegraph.]
Peaceful Conscience and Contented Mind
"A peaceful conscience and a contented mind are the principal elements of happiness; the cross of Christ, and the promises of God, are designed to produce these, and no Christian should rest short of them."
SELECTIONS.
THEATER OF THE UNIVERSE.
[The following is a copy of a Bill, written by the late Rev. ROWLAND HILL, which was stuck up at RICHMOND, on Saturday, 4th of June, 1774, close to the Play Bill for that day. The design of which was to divert the minds of the gay and dissipated from the vain amusements of the THEATER, and to fix their attention to the awful circumstances which usher in and succeed "The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord."]
**BY COMMAND OF THE KING OF KINGS. And at the desire of all who love His appearing. **
AT THE
# THEATER
OF THE UNIVERSE.
ON THE EVE OF TIME, WILL BE PERFORMED
# The Great Assize
OR
# DAY OF JUDGMENT.
THE SCENERY,
Which is now actually preparing, will not only surpass everything that has yet been seen, but will infinitely exceed the utmost stretch of human conception. There will be a just REPRESENTATION of ALL THE INHABITANTS of the WORLD, in their various and proper colours; and their costumes and manners will be so exact, and so minutely delineated, that the most secret thought will be discovered.
"For God shall bring every Work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be Good, or whether it be EVIL," Eccl. xii, 4.
This THEATER will be laid out after a new plan, AND WILL CONSIST OF
# PIT & GALLERY
only; and, contrary to all others, the GALLERY is fitted up for the reception of persons of High (or heavenly) Birth, and the PIT for those of Low (or earthly) Rank.
*N. B.—The Gallery is very spacious, and the Pit is without bottom.*
To prevent inconvenience, there are separate Doors for admitting the company; and they are so different, that none can mistake that are not willfully blind. The door that opens into the GALLERY is very narrow, and the steps up to it somewhat difficult: for which reason there are seldom many people about it. But the door that gives entrance to the PIT is very wide and very commodious, which causes such numbers to flock to it, that it is generally crowded.
N. B.—The Straight door leads towards the right hand, and the Broad one to the left.
It will be in vain for one in tinselled coat and borrowed language to personate one of HIGH BIRTH in order to get admittance into the upper places, for there is One of wonderful and deep penetration, who will search and examine every individual; and all who cannot pronounce SHIBBOLETH in the language of Canaan, or has not received a white stone and a new name, or cannot prove a clear title to a certain portion of the LAND of PROMISE, must be turned in at the left door.
"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the Gospel," but "to be glorified in his Saints." "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the Judgment was set, and the books were opened." "And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire."
ACT FIRST
Of this Grand and Solemn piece will be opened by An ARCHANGEL with the Trump of GOD!!!
"For the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be raised."—1 Cor. xv, 52.
ACT SECOND
PROCESSION OF SAINTS
In White, with Golden Harps, accompanied with Shouts of Joy and Songs of Praise.
ACT THIRD.
AN ASSEMBLAGE OF ALL THE UNREGENERATE
THE MUSIC will chiefly consist of CRIES, accompanied with WEEPING, WAILING, MOURNING, LAMENTATION, and WOE.
TO CONCLUDE WITH AN
Oration by the Son of God.
It is written in the twenty-fifth of Matthew, from verse 31 to the end of the chapter. (But for the sake of those who seldom read the Scriptures, I shall here transcribe two verses.) 'Then shall the King say to them on his Right Hand, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Then shall he also say unto them on his Left Hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared (not indeed for you, but) for the Devil and his angels." '
After which the Curtain will drop.
Then O to tell!
Some rais'd on high, and others doom'd to hell! (a)
Those praise the Lamb, and sing redeeming Love, (b)
Lodged in his bosom, all his goodness prove; (c)
While those who trampled under foot his grace, (d)
Are banished now forever from his face, (e)
Divided thus, a Gulf is fixed between, (f)
And everlasting closes up the scene. (g)
"Thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do thus unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel."—Amos iv, 12.
A Remarkable Vision.
By Editor
We make the following extract from a memoir of Dr. Bond, published in the Christian Advocate:
About this time occurred a very extraordinary incident in the life of Dr. Bond, which we narrate, with great doubt as to the propriety of the publication. He very rarely mentioned it, and never ventured to designate or explain it. Its truth is, however, beyond question. The circumstances forbid the supposition of optical illusion, or temporary hallucination. There are those living who testify to such of the facts as were subject to observation, and the memorials of the transaction are yet distinctly preserved in the religious character of sons and daughters of some who were immediately affected by it.
Being on a visit to his father, he was deeply grieved to find the church, which he had left in a state of prosperous activity, languishing, lukewarm and weak. His thoughts were much occupied with the subject, and of course, it was the matter of earnest and frequent prayer. In this state of mind, one morning he was walking over the fields to a neighboring house, when suddenly he seemed to be in a room where a number of people were assembled, apparently for worship. The room he recognized as an apartment in the house of a neighbor, where a prayer-meeting was to be held on the evening of that day. Had he stood in the midst of it, he could not have been more conscious of the scene. There was nothing of the dim, or shadowy, or dreamy about it. He recognized the people, noticed where they sat and stood, remarked his father near the table, at which a preacher was rising to give out a hymn, and near the middle of the congregation he saw a man named C., for whose salvation he felt considerable anxiety, standing with his son beside him. While gazing with astonishment upon the scene, he heard the words, "Go and tell C. that he has an offer of salvation for the last time."
Naturally supposing that the too great concentration of mind upon one subject had induced some hallucination of the senses, Dr. Bond fell down on his knees, and besought God to preserve his reason. The scene, however, continued; it would not disappear or change in any of its particulars. In vain he struggled to dispel it, the voice yet repeated, with indubitable distinctness, "Go tell C. that he has an offer of salvation for the last time." Yet how would he dare to deliver so awful a message! For a great length of time he struggled for deliverance from what he still considered an illusion. At length an expedient occurred to him, which he adopted. He had never been in the room in which he was apparently present, when it was used for a public religious meeting. He, of course, did not know how it was commonly prepared for such occasions. He therefore noted with great care the particulars of the scene. He saw where the little table for the preacher, the benches and chairs for the people, were placed. He noticed his acquaintances, and where they sat and stood, and when he was satisfied that he had possessed himself perfectly of those details, he said, "I will go to this meeting, and if I find all things there to correspond with what I now see, it shall be a sign from the Lord, and I will deliver the message." Immediately the scene vanished, and he was alone in the green fields.
With a spirit indescribably agitated, he returned home, where he found ladies, who required him to escort them a long distance, and it was somewhat past the hour fixed for the meeting, when he reached the awful place. During the day he had freely indulged the hope, that on his entrance into the room his trouble would disappear. He thought he had been the subject of an illusion, the fruit of an excited brain, and that a want of correspondence, immediately to be detected, between the real scene and the one presented to his disordered fancy, would at once satisfy him as to the morbid character of his morning vision, and release him from the obligation of delivering the terrible message, with which he was conditionally charged. When he opened the door, however, he saw again, in all its minuteness of detail, the morning scene. In vain he searched the room for a variant particular. There sat his father in the designated place. The preacher at the table was rising to give out the hymn. In the midst of the room stood C., with his son beside him. Everything demanded that the message should be delivered.
After the preliminary exercises, he rose and stated the circumstances as we have related them, and then going to C., he laid his hand upon him, and repeated the words he had heard. The effect was indescribable. C. and his son fell down together and called upon God. An awful solemnity rested upon all present. Many cried for mercy, and from that time began a revival which spread far and wide; the fruits of which are yet seen, after many days.—Sel.
The Peril of Indecision.
WHAT is it you are wavering between? Dust and ashes, and "a crown of glory that fadeth not away." On your right hand is Christ, heaven, and an immortality of blessedness; on your left hand is disobedience, rebellion, discontent, remorse, despair, misery and death. Between these you are halting! While you halt the "gulf" is forming that will soon be fixed; the character is deepening that will soon be stereotyped forever. Indecision becomes decision; you decide for hell while you waver about heaven. And how imminent the peril of those that are wavering! It is now, or it is never; it is here or it is nowhere. The door will soon be shut that can never be opened, and the dark abyss set that can never be crossed. O that I could bring home to every halting man the position that, as a sinner without Christ, he occupies!
Some will remember a touching tale mentioned in one of the little periodicals published for the laboring classes. It was published some years ago. It narrates how a poor man, on one of the rocky coasts of our country, that got his bread by gathering sea-fowls' eggs, went out one morning on his perilous adventure, and looking down a terrific steep, he saw midway a ledge abutting from the rock, covered with a cluster of the sea-fowls' nests. He fastened his rope to a tree above the cliff, and lowered himself cautiously down till he stood upon the ledge. In his eagerness to grasp the spoil he unwittingly dropped the noose of the rope by which he had descended, and it swung, as it appeared, far beyond his reach, and there he stood on that narrow ledge, above him a fearful height he had no hope to scale, below him a terrific precipice with the sea dashing at its base. It was a moment of unutterable anguish. In intensity of dismay, by a desperate effort he sprang upward. It pleased God he should grasp the rope. He drew himself up to the summit, trembling with transport and terror. Every one of us can realize the peril of that fellow-creature. But how akin to this, but intensely more awful, the condition of every waverer! He stands on the narrow ledge of life; above him is the terrific mountain of his guilt that he has no power in himself to scale; below him is the fearful abyss of death. O awake, fellow-sinner; awake to thy true and perilous position! It is late, but not too late. There is yet the rope that hangs from the cross of Jesus, or rather from the throne of God; that rope can lift thee over the mount of thy guilt, and land thee on the brink of the shore of eternal safety and peace. O leap, and live! "Fly for refuge and lay hold of the hope set before you," and as God liveth your soul shall live! He is "slow to anger and plenteous in mercy." "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent and live. Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die."
TICKETS FOR THE PIT
at the easy purchase of following the pomps and vanities of the Fashionable World, and the desires and amusements of the Flesh, to be had at every flesh-pleasing Assembly. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die."—Rom. viii, 13.
TICKETS FOR THE GALLERY,
at no less rate than being converted, forsaking all, denying self, taking up the Cross, and following Christ in the Regeneration —to be had nowhere but in the Word of God, and where that word appoints.
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." "And be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."—Matt. xi, 15. Gal. vi, 7.
N. B.—No money will be taken at the door, nor will any Tickets give admittance into the Gallery but those sealed by the Lamb, "Watch, therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh."—Matt. xxiv, 44.
"Hold forth the Word of Life."
We remember, says one, to have read a conversation with the keeper of the lighthouse at Calais. The watchman was boasting of the brilliancy of his lantern, which can be seen ten leagues at sea, when the visitor said to him, "What if one of the lights should chance to go out?"
"Never; impossible," he cried, with a sort of consternation at the bare hypothesis. "Sir," he cried, pointing to the ocean, "yonder, where nothing can be seen, there are ships going to every part of the world. If, to-night, one of my burners were out, within six months would come a letter—perhaps from India, perhaps from America, perhaps from some place I never heard of—saying, such a night, at such an hour, the light of Calais burned dim, the watchman neglected his post, and vessels were in danger. Ah, sir, sometimes in the dark nights, in stormy weather, I look out to sea, and I feel as if the whole world were looking at my light. Go out? Burn dim? Oh, never!"
Was the keeper of this lighthouse so vigilant, did he feel so deeply the importance of his work and its responsibility; and shall Christians neglect their light, and suffer it to grow dim—grow dim when, for need of its bright shining, some poor soul, struggling amid the waves of temptation, may be dashed upon the rocks of destruction? No. "Hold forth the word of Life." This is the way to save souls. "Holding forth the word of life," says the Apostle; why? "that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain nor labored in vain."
"For sadder sight the eye can know
Than proud bark lost, or seaman's woe—
The shipwreck of the soul." —Brust.
Duty and Devotion
Never neglect one duty under pretence of attending to another: you honor God as much in attending to your calling in a right spirit, as you do when upon your knees, or in his house.