Class _^V.^ 50/
Book. *-£4££5l
GopightK"
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
SIDE WINDOWS;
OR,
Lights on Scripture Truths.
BY/
MATTE M. BOTELER,
Author of **The Conversion of Brian O'DiUon" and **Shut In/»
Anno Domini
MDCCCCI.
^^^^-^:t:^
CINCINNATI, O.
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING CO.
Publishers <A Christian Literature.
THE LiBPARY OF
CONGRESS.
Two Ccp-Es Rece've::
MAY 31 1901
CO*»YJt*G«T ENTRr
LASS C^XXc N«.
COPY 3. :
Copyright, 1901, br
Th£ Sta>'dard Publishi>'g Comp^xt.
With ivhom I hive had th^ rare privilege of
being associated in Christian service^
^his ^aak h ^ordinlh inscribed.
TOPICAL INDEX.
Amusements: 62, 105, 108, 119, 138, 139, 161, 205.
Bible: 20, 80, 86, .115, 140, 159, 192, 217.
Carh for Others: 25, 27, 34, 37, 49, 53, 67, 7G, 102, 104, 109
112, 119, 121, 132, 153, 158, 186, 211.
Christ: 17, 19, 21, 28, 29, 30, 44, 47, 1G9, 189, 212.
Church: 42, 149, 156, 164, 194.
Example: 90, 96, 111, 119, 124, 163, 214.
Faith: 32, 91, 112, 140, 142, 144, 148.
Faultfinding: 84, 99, 113, 173, 194.
Fear of Evil: 60, 61, 65, 8^, 108, 177.
Following Christ: 21, 87, 95, 102, 161.
Future Life: 45, 50, 142, 150.
Giving: 49, 97, 145, 202.
Home: 90, 121, 154.
Hypocrites: 90, 119, 126, 206.
JoYFULNESs: 60, 71, 112, 135, 192, 212.
Liberty: 73, 119, 139.
Little Things: 58, 65, 77, 110, 154.
Love of God: 17, 19, 39, 41, 117, 169, 176, 177, 180, 181, 189, 218,
Missions: 71, 97, 104, 122, 127, 158, 196, 200, 204.
Obedience: 32, 34, 40, 70, 131, 154, 159, 176, 194.
Opportunity: 24, 31, 107, 134, 144, 208.
Prayer: 26, 46, 57, 92, 97.
Promises: 46, 60, 68, 83, 109, 1J2, 131, 135, 140, 218.
Punishment: 35, 43.
8 Topical Index,
Purpose: 85, 95, 103, 106, 116, 147, 152, 160, 172, 208.
Reformation: 46, 86, 94, 125.
Rejecting Christ: 41, 74, 106, 191.
Responsibility: 53, 64, 70, 72, 82, 89, 96, 115, 119, 128, 133, 134,
149, 151, 171, 185, 201, 203, 210.
Revivals: 25, 55, 76, 77, 162, 164.
Rewards: 48, 58, 13S, 168, 179.
Riches: 24, 31, 33, 50, 74, 83, 93, 150, 164, 197, 213, 215.
Self-denial: 22, 39, 61, 81, 114, 133, 181, 188, 215.
Service: 62, 66, 80, 85, 98, 114, 116, 119, 132, 141, 152, 158, 160,
168, 185.
Sin: 22, 31, 36, 58, 85, 131, 199.
Sinners: 41, 54, 134, 153, 160, 162, 198.
Spirit (The): 44, 68, 87, 223.
Sympathy: 77, 88, 108, 117, 137, 157, 187.
Temperance: 75, 130, 184.
Trial: 60, 68, 69, 122, 148, 181.
WoRLDLiNESs: 72, 143, 156, 188.
Young People: 72, 119, 163, 174, 193.
CONTENTS.
Page.
Abundant Life 181
According to Our Own Doing 35
Afterward 58
Already Unlocked 131
As for Yourself 64
Babylon and Jerusalem 163
Be Definite 147
Be Frank 103
Believe in Them 117
"Belonging to the Chureh" 149
Be Sincere 126
Best Evidence (The) 209
Best Preaching (The) 124
Better Answer (A) 26
Bright Side (The) 157
Business Christian (A) 152
By His Authority 46
Calling the Righteous or Sinners 134
Can You Take It with You? 50
Childish Things 194
Church in Business (The) 42
Cold Comfort 90
Comforter (The) 68
Contentious Peacemakers 66
Contradictory Testimony 221
Converts Expected 153
Copying Christ 28
Cost of a Good Reputation (The) Ill
Costliness of Sympathy (The) 188
Costly Mistake (A) 115
Cost of It (The) 62
Cost of Neglect (The) 193
Cowardly Courtesy 184
Danger of Revival Meetings (The) 76
Dangers Unseen 6S
Dealing Justly with God 210
Diamonds and Corn » . , 215
9
10 Contents*^
Page.
Dactors and Revivals 162
Double Reward (A) 186
Drifting into It. 83
Easy Yoke (An) 114
End of the Journey (The) 43
Evading Taxation 89
Exact Obedience 32
^^Except Ye Turn" , 222
Faith and Obedience 193
Fearless or Foolhardy? 60
Fellowship with Christ 44
First Person — Plural 137
Garment of Service (The) 221
Getting Advice and Taking It 106
Getting Unyoked 161
Give Him the Best 119
Go Look in the Glass 94
Go or Send 57
Great Question (The) 160
Grieving the Spirit 87
Have a Purpose 172
He Commended His Love 19
Help OtheTPS — and Yourself 146
He Needs You 169
Herein Is He Glorified 52
He Shall Have Them in Derision 174
He's Waiting for You 41
He Understands 212
Home Evangelism 121
How Christ Drawls 29
How God Allows Us to Sin 85
How Satan Gets Possession 58
How the Saloon Bothered Him — 130
How They Brought a Revival 164
How They Find Fault 84
How to Tell the Difference 98
How We Get Lost 54
"If I Were a Christian" 173
If Thou Hadst Known 24
If Thy Hand Offend Thee 22
If We Confess Our Sins 36
If You Hadn't Tried 138
Impertinent Question (An) 67
"In the Beginning God", .,,.,,,,,,.,,, ,. ,,,,,..,. , 176
Contents. 1 1
Page.
Into All the World 122
Inviting Temptation 199
Irreproachable Idols 143
It Requireth Haste 37
It Will Hold You Fast 188
Jacob 91
"Jest Dangerous" 69
Keeping Up the Lights 151
Keep the Way Open 92
Knowing His Voice 189
Lamps or Lights?. 223
Life's Little Pieces 110
Little Dangers 65
Living Gratitude 224
Looking for Trouble 187
Lord's Day or Ours (The) 183
Lot Went with Him 96
Love's Offering 202
Machines or Men? 131
Make Them Hungry 112
Master Has Said It (The) - 140
Memory that Saved (A) 90
Methods and Men 80
Missionary Submission 200
Misunderstanding God 177
Modern Prodigal (The) 175
Moth Can Not Corrupt 150
Move Something 85
Narrow Way ( The ) 39
Necessary Choice (A) 190
Neglected Duty (A) 180
Neglected Opportunity (A) 128
Neither Saved nor Lost 41
"No Interruption to Business" 95
Not Fastened in the Right Place 170
One Kind of Questioner 99
Only a Block 100
Our Advocate ^ 200
Palaces or Pig-pens? 171
Parable of the Oil^mill (The) 185
Parade ot Service 218
Paying Too Much for Some Good Things , 78
Peril of Souls (The) 204
12 Contents.
Page.
Power of the Individual (The) 77
Prejudiced Criticism 80
Preserving the Landmarks 217
Prevention and Cure 174
Price of Prayer (The) 51
Price of Success (The) 164
Pulpit on Fire (A) 156
Putting Them to Silence 214
Question of Investment (A) 93
Question of Ownership (A) 213
Realizing on the Promises 83
Real Surrender (The) 61
Refusing the Prize 74
Rejecting Deliverance 101
Rejoice in the Lord 135
Repeating the Promises 109
Rescue on the Brain 55
Responsibility and Opportunity 82
Responsibility for the Lost 53
Sacrificed for Us. 220
Safety of Pear (The) 88
Saved to Serve 116
Saving or Showing Off 132
Saving the Good Ones 27
Secret of Contentment (The) 212
Seeing Stars 60
Seek First! 63
Serious Result (A) 119
Some Other Way 159
So Shall Thy Strength Be 148
Speaking for Christ 30
Spiritual Vagrancy 204
Stepping Over Things 154
Still Waters (The) 192
Such as You Have 49
Tarnished Name (A) 102
Terms of Admission (The ) 40
That Ye May Obtain 48
There's a Man in There! 104
They Know Not What They Do. 107
They Shall See God 144
They that Are Sick 198
Thirsting for the World ; 47
Thy Will, Not Mine 81
Contents. 13
Page.
Time Is Short (The) 144
To Let 177
Triflers 191
Trust and Obedience 127
Turning It into Money 197
Twin Frauds 141
Two Ways of Looking at It 72
Uncertain Riches : 33
Uncle Sam as a Priest 75
Unfailing Test (An) 105
Ungracious Thanksgiving 136
Unimportant Commands 34
Unprofitable Servants 160
Unspotted from the World 205
Unwarranted Faith 112
Useless Knowledge 86
Using Your Liberty 73
Voice (The) 79
Wages of Sin (The) 31
Walking with Christ ; 21
Walk with Me 102
Wasting and Spending 133
Wear Your Colors 134
Weighted Prayers 97
We Then that Are Strong 139
What Does Your Face Say? 71
What Heaven Will Be 142
What Is Your Business? 106
What Shall This Man Do? 70
What the Temple Is for QQ
What They Really Want 219
What We Deserve 168
What Your Idleness Will Cost 158
When an Excuse Does Not Excuse 178
When He Comes 45
When the Bible Is Unreasonable 20
When They Enlisted 87
Where the Hypocrite Belongs 206
Who Is Hurt? 138
Wholesale Reformation 56
Whom Riches Make Happy 145
Whose Fault Is It? 25
Why He Felt Secure 218
Why He Isn't Hurt 108
14 Contents.
Why the Christian Is Not Afraid 207
Why You Are Yourself 208
Will God Rob Man? 201
Wisdom of God (The) 216
With Common Sense 125
Without Pain 108
Word Made Flesh (The) 17
Work of His Hands (The) 211
Work We Leave Behind (The) 182
W^orthy of the Cost 196
Your Anchor 122
Your Best Friend 127
Your Name 72
Yourself and Others 113
Your Supreme Opportunity 208
PREFACE.
In so far as one may lay claim to originality for any
product of the mind, the author does so for the appended
illustrations. Many of them have appeared in her work
on the Lookout and Christian Standard. Others were
born of the needs of the hour on the platform and in the
Bible-class room. They are sent out with the hope that
they may help Christian workers, in many fields, to make
more luminous the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
M. M. B.
I
SIDE WINDOWS;
OR,
LIGHTS ON SCRIPTURE TRUTHS.
THE WORD MADE ELESH.
t —
(JoHis- X. 14.)
Early in the seventies, a wealthy Eastern capitalist
invested a large sum of money in the mining districts
of Sontli America.
While the mines were known to be rich and pro-
ductive, they had thus far brought little profit to their
owner. Many of the men employed in the mines wq^vo
fugitives from the law and were from e^^ory nation
under the sun. As a class they were treacherous and
bloodthirsty, and riots and mutinies were frequenti.
One manager after another had attempted to superin-
tend the work, but with the same dire results.
Mr. Barrows, the new owner of the mines, believed
that there was a cause for all this, and straightway
set about trying to find out what it was. He enquired
into the conditions under which the men lived, and
was appalled at the result. The work, which kept the
^len under the ground the greater part of the time,
was, at best, wearing, and w^as attended with great
18 Side Wiiidoius; or,
danger. In orde-r to keep tliem at it, the oveTseers
had resorted to the most severe means. They were
driven in gangs like so many animals, and no
attention was paid to their comfort. If one lagged
behind, the lash was applied; if he grew stubborn,
there was the pit and twenty-four hours' starvation
to bring him to his senses. Here, it seemed to Mr.
Barrows, was the root of the whole trouble.
^^Men are not apt to behave like brutes unless they
are treated like brutes,'' he said. He gave orders for
a new system of dealing with the men. Instead of
punishments for slackness, there were to be rewards
for faithfulness. The new overseer, who went out,
carried with him a message from the o^vuer, e^j)^^^^'
ing his friendly interest in them, and the promise that
just as rapidly as possible he would improve their
condition.
Do you imagine that all this worked an imme-
diate change? Well, it did not. The new agent was
looked upon with suspicion, and the message he brought
as a decoy, by which they were to be led into a still
i more bitter slavery. A worse riot than any that had
preceded it broke out, and the agent wired the owner
that he had started back and that there was not money
enough in the United States to induce him to stay.
By this time Mr. Barrows was more interested in the
men than he was in the mines* He said^ "I will go
Liglits on Scripture Truths. 19
myself." So for three long years he went in and out
with thean, while he planned for their betterment-
He slept where therj^ slept, he ate what they ate. Tie
encouraged them, and they saw what was in his heart.
They no longer needed a word to tell them of his love
and intere^. He had spoken to them by his life.
Love had been translated into a living man. The word
had been made flesh, and had dwelt among them.
HE COMME^^DED HIS LOVE.
In a Sonthern city a poor colored man went into
one of the worst districts and tried to preach to his
people. Men wondered at his temerity in venturing
into a quarter where even the officers of the law had
been roughly handled. The people hooted at the old
man and threatened to kill him. Thev cursed at his
professions of love, and decared that he had come in
the hope that he might get money out of them.
^^Xo, brothers," he protested sadly, ^^the good Lord
knows I has n't come here for monev. I 's come here
because I loves you and wants to save your perishin'
souls."
A terrible plagTie swept over the city. In almost
every house in the colored, quarter at least one poor
body lay burning with fever. Those who were able
to do so fled, leaving the dead and the dying together.
2f0 Side Windoivs; or.
In and out of the plague-stricken hovels the old
preacher went, ministering to the needs of the sufferers.
When the pestilence had about spent itself the old man
fell a victim to its withering touch. As his people
gathered around him and looked into his still, lifeless
face, they needed no voice to commend his love to
them. He himself had done this in that while they
3^et hated him he had died for them.
WHEN THE BIBLE IS Uis'EEASOIs^ABLE.
My friend was sorely distressed about something
he had found in the Bible. "Ah ! no one can live up
to that/' he said, pointing to the disturbing verse.
"Have you looked up the connections ?" I ques-
tioned, for I strongly suspected my friend of having
scant acquaintance with his Bible.
"ISTo," was the cold reply; "if the Bible is reliable,
it ought to mean just what it says here. If there is
something somewhere else that contradicts it, so much
the worse.'^
Suppose Ave should carry this ideia into all the
affairs of life? We would run against more than one
stubborn impossibility. Truth needs always the light
of truth. Let me give you an illustration: Shortly
after I came to Cincinnati to work for the Standard
Publishing Company, I saw on the wall of one of the
Lights on Scripture Truths, 21
tooms this notice: ^^Employes of the Company Must
Wash Inkstands on the First Floor." Wow, I was an
employe of the company, but if I obeyed this order
how was I to perform the editorial work I had come
here to do? Do you suppose a difficulty of this kind
suggested itself to me? I^ot for a moment, nor would
it have suggested one to any sane person. While T
certainly believed that the order meant what it said,
I read it in the light of common sense, and in the
light of information I had previously received. Those
who find unreasonable things in the Bible are usually
those that read it without applying the rules that would
govern reason and judgin^nt everywhere else.
WALKING WITH CHEIST.
While men have doubtless been saved when they
■\wre very near the end of the journey of life, what can
compensate for the loss of years that might have been
spent here in the companionship and service of Christ ?
Several years ago two young men spent their vacation
at a little resort far up in the mountains. There was
stopping at tlie hotel a quiet old man Avho several times
asked the young men to accompany him in his walks.
Finally one of them, George Bennet, consented to go..
The other declared that he had come to the mountains
to. have a good time and not to wander about with
C -'>
Side Windoivs; or.
an old sobersides. George came back entbusiastic over
the trip he had taken. Even this did not influence
his friendj so George went again and again without
him. The day before their departure, however, he
accepted the old man's invitation. They had gone but
a short distance AVhen he discovered that the plain-
looking man was none other than a celebrated naturalist
whom he had long desired to meet. That day he saw
the world with a new vision. As the walk came to
an end, the look of enjoyment faded out of the young
man's face. "Oh! to think what I have missed/' he
exclaimed. "I shall never cease to regret that I walked
all these days by myself, when I might have been
walking with you."
My brother, that is one argument in favor of your
immediate acceptance of Jesus Christ. Many a man
who has put off coming till the best of life has been
spent, is saying with deep regret, "To think that I
might have been walking with Him all these years !"
IF THY HA^D OFFEND THEE.
(Matt. v. 30.)
^^I see you have had the misfortune to lose one
of your hands," some one said to a fine-looking man
the other day. The gentleman smiled, and hesitated
a moment before he answered :
LigJits on Scripture Truths. 23
'"'Yes, or the good fortune. While a man can't
exactly rejoice that he must go through life with only
one hand, he must acknowledge that it is better than
not going through life at all. The loss of that hand
saved my life. It was this way/' he went on. ^^Some
years ago I bought a large manufacturing plant, and
while I knew notJiing about machinery, it had a great
fascination for me. In spite of the warnings of the
men, I was always poking about into places that I
had been told were dangerous. One day (I never
knew just ho^v it happened) my hand was caught in
the machinery, and in an instant I felt myself dra^\Ti
into the very jaws of the machine that would have
crushed my body into pulp. The foreman saw my
danger. He knew that by the time the machinery
could be stopped it would be too late. Without the
least hesitation he seized a great cleaver and, with
an unerring blow, severed my hand from my arm.
It was heroic treatment, and for awhile it looked as
though I should die from the eflfects of it. You see
that I did not."
Could there be found a better illustration of the
meaning of the words of Christ, when he said: "If
thy hand offend thee, cut it off and cast It from thea
It is better to enter into life halt or maimed rather
than having two hands to be cast into everlasting fire" ?
In spite of Qvery warning, men are continually being
24: Side Windows; or,
caught in the whirl of sin and folly, to find at last
that their only hope lies in cutting off that which is
a very part of them. Many such go limping through
the world, thankful for their deliverance and yet a
sorrowful reminder of the awful cost of sin.
IF THOU HADST KNOWK
(John IV. 10.)
In his intercourse witli men, Jesus more than
once virtually said that if they had really known who
he was their course of action would have been widely
different.
It was so of the whole Jewish nation. They had
long waited and sighed for the coming of their Prince,
but Avhen he came they knew^ him not. A young man
w^as taken prisoner and Avas to be shot at sunrise. As
he lay upon the ground that night between his sleep-
ing guards, his heart was full of bitter thoughts. Oh,
for a single sight of the dear ones at home ! What
would he not give to be free once more ? Suddenly
he saw a solitary figure steal out from behind a clump
of bushes. The man saw that he was awake and began
to make signs as though trying to communicate with
him. He crept nearer and nearer. The soldier thought
he could see a grin of derision on the man's face.
J]vidently one of his enemies had heard of his plight
Lights on Scripture Truths. 25
and had come here to taunt him. He wa.s mad with
rage. It was enough to have to die like a dog, but
this cruel mocking was more than he could endure.
With a shriek of anger he sprang up. In a moment
his guards had awakened and the entire camp was in
an uproar. In the midst of the excitement the stranger
had fled, and the condemned man never knew that
the one he repulsed was a friend who had come to
deliver him fro^m the hands of his enemies..
There are manv men who will find out when it
is too late that they allowed themselves to be blinded
to their day of opportunity. If they had known that
the trial they rebelled at was but a message of mercy !
If they had known that the invitation they treated
lightly was the last chance for escape ! ^^If thou
knewest who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to
drink; thou Avouldst have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water."
WHOSE FAULT IS IT?
Xow and then some one complains because Bro.
^Terventzeal's converts" do n't hold out. Well, that
is a bad thing — for the converts at least. But are we
certain that we have put the blame in the right place?
One day a young wife complained to her husband that
his tailor did poor work. When she was asked for
26 Side Windows; or,
an explanatio'ii she said: ^^Why, there is that coat
he made for yoii. I have sewed that one button on
five times, and now it is off again/^ The button was
like the evangelist's ^^converts/' After months of
indifferent attention, o-r perhaps of no attentiion at
all, they are off again. And we are ready to declare
that our brother is a very poor workman.
A BETTER ANSWER.
A young man went away from home to embark in
a modest enterprise. His capital was small, but it
represented the earnings of many years. He had won
the esteem of his employer, and, as he was about to
leave, the merchant said to him, "Don, if you ever
get into a tight place, let me know of it. I will be
glad to help you.'' Fo^r awhile the young man pros-
pered; then came a misfortune. This was followed
by others in such rapid succession that he began to
see before him bankruptcy and ruin. He thought of
his old employer, and at last resolved to write to him
and ask for help. He had not the courage to sue for
the whole amount, but hoped the small sum he asked for
would enable^ him to somehow retrieve his fortunes.
He waited eagerly for an answer, but no answer came.
He knew that the merchant was at home, and that he
was not a man who ever procrastinated about what he
Lights on Scripture Truths. 27
intended to do. Don's heart greAV sick. To-morrow
his creditors would seize upon his goods. There seemed
to be no way of escape. As he sat wrapped in h>3
gloomy tJioughtSj the door opened and his old employer
stood before him.
^^My boy,'' he said, ^^I i^eoeived your letter, and
while you said you wanted money, I made up my
mind that you needed me. I have been to see your
creditors, and they understand that my entire fortune
is back of you."
His friend had kept his promise, but he had an-
swered in a way that the petitioner had not dared to
hope. Brother, if your Lord has given you exceeding
great and precious promises, do not allow yourself to
fear that he will not fulfill them. God does n't always
give his loved ones what they ask, but he never fails
to supply their needs.
SAVING THE GOOD ONES.
A boy asked his father if he might go to the cellar
and get some apples to eat. ^^Yes," replied tie parent,
^^but be sure you take the bad ones.''
^^But, suppose there ain't any bad ones?"
"Well, then, wait till there are. I can't afford to
have you eating sound apples when they are worth a
dollar a bushel."
28 Side Windows; or.
The old man's idea of economy was, after all, not
an uncommon one^ We have a notion that we must
let a good many things spoil before we begin to try
to save them. It costs too much to hold meetings ot
open reading-rooms to hold the young people of the
church, who were never bad anyway. We must wait
until some of them are specked and scarred with sin.
Nothing less than saving reprobates will satisfy us.
COPYING CHKIST.
At work one day in the studio, trying to copy the
face of a child, I became sadly perplexed. Instead
of growing in beauty, the picture seemed only to be-
come less and less like what I had hoped to make it%
By and by I became conscious that the teacher was
standing by my chair. Turning about, I said to him,
"Is this right V^ inclining my head toward the picture.
I shall never forget the sternness of his look as he
answered :
"Why do vou ask me ? Where is your studv ?"
AlaSi! I had long ago forgotten the picture I
wanted to reproduce. It was at that moment lying
face downward upon the floor. Even then I could not
help making a spiritual application. How many of
us who profess to be trying to copy the Christ grow
perplexed and troubled over what we have wrought,
Lights on Scripture Trutlis. 29
while the real model has been lost sight of. The Word
which would reveal him to us is neglected, while we
appeal to those who can never direct us otherwise than,
imperfectly.
HOW CHEIST DRAWS.
(JoHx XII. 32.)
A gentleman who was being urged to accept Christ,
said to the preacher, ^^ There are some things in the
Bible that seem to me to be highly contradictory.
Christ must have overestimated himself. Once he
declared that he would draw all men unto him, and yet
he has n't done it. I know you will remind me that
he has n't yet been lifted up before all men, but even
that docs not alter the case. ^len go to church and
listen to you; they even read the Bible, and then go
awav and live worldlv lives. Thev devote themselves
to money-making and sensuality, and are not drawn
to vour Christ — at least, not more than one of them
in a hundred is."
^^Do you believe that there is such a thing as gravi-
tation?" the preacher asked.
^^Certainly I do."
^Well, what is it ?"
^^I believe philosophers define it as being an in-
visible force by which all matter is dra^vn to the center
of the earth."
30 Side Windotus; or.
The preacher stopped to the window. ^^Come
here/' he said. ^^Do you see tliose gilt balls f point-
ing to the pawnbroker's sign across the street.
- ^^Yes.."
^^How about the power of gravitation now ? You
say that it draws all matter to the center of the earth,
and yet those balls have been hanging there for three
years."
^^Oh, well !" said the young man^ his face flushing,
^^they are fastened to that iron rod."
^^Yes/' replied the preacher, ^^and it is so with the
men of whom you speak. One is bound fast by the
lusts of the flesh ; another is anchored by his ambitions,
and still another finds his business an iron rod that
holds him fast."
Christ draws men wherever he is lifted up to their
view, but they can resist him if they will.
SPEAKING FOR CHEIST.
^^No, I nevei' have anything to say on religious
subjects, and do n't feel called upon to speak in prayer-
meeting," said a young girl. ^^I believe in testifying
by your life instead of your lips."
A little while after^vard a friend of the young
woman was arrested upon the charge of theft. The
evidence was circumstantial, and a good deal turned
Lights on Scripture Truflis. 31
upon the success of the accused in establishing a good
reputation. Among those who were called to testify
as to his integrity was the young woman in question.
She might have said that she preferred to testify for
him by her life, but she did nothing of the kind. She
went courageously upon the witness-stand and spoke
in his favor. She was glad of the opportunity to help
set her friend right in the eyes of the others.
Valuable as is the service of hands and feet, there
are times wheal lip seirvice is not to be despised.
THE WAGES OF SIX,
In one of our large factory towns a plant was
erected for the manufacture of artificial flowers. The
w^ork was pleasant, and the wages paid to the girls
were far better than thev had been able to earn else-
where. The establishment was looked upon as a god-
send, and the proprietor as a benefactor to the neigh-
borhood.
Very soon, however, the health of one of the
brightest and most capable girls began to fail. She
went listless and Aveary to her work, and when it was
done was barely able to drag herself home. One day
she was not able to leave her bed, and a week later
the undertaker's wagon stood at the door. She had
been the support of a feeble mother and several small
32 Side Windoivs; 01%
children, Anotlier and anotheir one of the girls went
home from the factory white and fainting, to go to
work no more. Finally an investigation was made,
and it was foiund that the girls had been all the while
inhaling the most deadly poisons, which were used in
the coloring of the flowers. While they had been
liberally paid in money, a part of the real wag^es was
• — death. Does this not make plain the words of Paul,
^^The wages of sin is death'' ? Sin may pay you lib-
erally in mirth or money, but that isn't all. There
is a part of the pay that can be deferred for a time,
but it is sure to come. ^^The soul that sinneth, it
shall die!"
EXACT OBEDIE^^CE.
A gentleman once discharged a capable servant
because, as he said, the man obeyed and more too.
"He was continually doing things he had not been
told to do," he complained. A friend who heard of
the matter went immediately and engaged the dis-
charged man, remarking that it would be refreshing
to have an employe who would go beyond his orders.
All went well for a time, when one day the man was
ordered to take some boxes from one side of the ware-
room and put them in the furnace-room under the
factory. The man carried out the order, and, seeing
Lights on Scripture Truths. 33
that tJiere were bo'xes on the other side of the room,
he removed them also-. Some of tlie latter contained
explosives, and as a. result the factory was wrecked.
If we own tiiat God knows more about us than we do
ourselves, we must be content to let him set the limits.
Mem who have attempted to improve upon tiie com-
mandments of God have invariably found that the
sequel was disaster.
UNCERTAIN EICHES.
Don't spend the day of life accumulating that
«
which you can not take with you across the dark river
that divides time from eternity. Three travelers who
had journeyed far in search of gold and precious stones
heard of a cave whose floor was strewn with sands of
pure gold, and whose w^alls were studded with gems.
When they had almost reached the place, they found
that between them and the place of treasure there rolled
a black and turbulent stream. They resolved to brave
even this, though the only boat they could procure was
frail. They found the cave all that they had dreamed
it could be. Two of the men busied themselves in
picking up the smallest and rarest jewels, for these
alone, they said, could they carry back with them.
The third began to break off great pieces from the
sides of the cave and was soon staggering under the
34 Side Windows; or,
weight df his load. The others reononstrated with
him, but in vain. By and by they prepared to return.
The man with the hoavy load tried in vain to get into
the bo'at^ It became plain at last that if he would
save himself, he must cast overboard all of his
treasures.
Beware of spending your day of opportunity
gather'ing that which you can not take beyond the
river of death.
TJNrMPOETA:?TT COMMAITDS.
When we talk of commands that are not important
we virtually speak of the unwisdom of those who sent
them forth. The importance of any edict or message
lies not so much, in what it contains as in who sent
it. A messenger boy brings you an envelope; you
open it and find written upon a scrap of paper an
order to go to a certain place at a certain time. The
importance of that message to you will depend upon
the name attached to it. If the signature is that of
an irresponsible or an unimportant person, you will
toss the paper into the waste-basket. If, on the other
hand, the name is that of your employer, or it is signed
by some other person w^ho has the right to give you
orders, the aspect of the case is changed. So in your
religion, if there are unimportant things, be sure they
Lights 01% Scripture Trutlis, 35
are not those of divine oTdering. You may not see
how obedience to this or that command can have to
do with your salvation, but that is not the important
point. Who gave the command ? The signature will
test its importance-.
ACCOEDIXG TO OUR OWJnT DOING.
^^I do n't believe that God would create a soul and
bring it down to everlasting hell in the end/' some
one volimteers. ISo^ my friend, he never did. Look
at that man who has just died from dissipation or
exposure. Does it seem strange to you that God would
create a physical body and then wreck it like that?
^^But God did n't do it/' you say. ^The man defied
the laws by which he might have preserved his life.'^
So it is with the man w-ho chooseB the destiny of the
wicked.
Last night a man leaped from the great bridge that
spans the Ohio River, and Avas drowned. One of his
friends heard of his purpose and plead with him to
stay at home; another caught him and tried to hold
him as he mounted the pier. A policeman even,
plunged into the water and gave his life trying to keep
the man from drowning. The man's will baffled all
of them. Let me tell you that the sinner who goes
down to everlasting death d(X^s so in spite of all that
36 Side Windoios; or,
God and man could do to keep him from it. He has
rejected the pleadings and warnings of his friends, and
even pushed aside the outstretched hand of the Christ
who died to save him. ^^He that pursueth evil, pur-
sueth it to his own death/'
IF WE CONFESS QUE SINS.
(I. John i. 9.)
Jesus plainly stated that he came to save sinners.
The man who refuses to be called a sinner puts himself
beyond the possibility of salvation.
A wealthy gentleman was traveling In California
in search of health; while spending a few days in
an inland town, he learned that in this village there
resided a man who owed him a lar2:e sum of money.
The young man had come here after an unsuccessful
career in the East, and was beginning to prosper in
a small way.
^'The young man seems to have been trying to help
himself," said the rich man, "and I am going to destroy
the note I hold against him.'' The note, however, was
miles away among his papers, and he realized that he
might not live to return. Not knowing the exact
amount of the note, he sent his private secretary to the
young man, to make enquiry concerning it, and to offer
to give the debtor a receipt against it; thus protecting
Lights on Scripture Truths. 37
him from proceedings that might in future be entered
against him, should the capitalist die before he reached
home. To the surprise of the secretary, the young
business man put on an indignant manner and denied
the debt.
^^When I owe your master it will be time enough
for you to be talking to me about forgiveness/' he
said.
The debt remained unforgiveu and the heirs of the
rich man insisted upon the collection of the note. This
was done, to the ruin of the man who remained unfor-
given because he was no^t willing to own that there was
anything to forgive.
IT EEQUIEETH HASTE.
A new family had moved into the neighborhood.
They were people of some means and had been accuS'-
tomed to a society where great stress was laid upon
good form. The mother, Mrs. Lands, took great in-
texest in the people about her, since they expected to
make the neighborhood their home. Through a mutual
friend, she knew something of the family who occupied
the imposing house next to theirs, and was S0'mef^vhat
disappointed that the lady of the house had not called
upon her. One day she noticed that the doctor's buggy
stood before her neighbor's door. She noticed the
38 Side Windows; or,
same thing tli6 next day and the next. By and by he
began to coiaie tAvice a day, and up stairs and down
the lights were kept burning all night.
^^They are in trouble, and I am going over to see
if I can be of anv service," she said.
^^But, mamma," objected her daughter, ^^Mrs. Gage
has never called or even sent a card. I am sure I
should like to have you do soimething for them, but I
think you had better wait till you get at least a recog-
nition from them."
^^It is the King's business, and it requireth haste,"
the mother answered, as she prepared to go out. At
the door of her neighbor's house she w^as met by Mrs,
Gage herself.
^^An angel must have sent you," she said, grasping
the lady's hand. ^^My husband is at death's door, and
w^hile we are doing all that w^e can for him, he is in
great distress of mind. He used to be a Christian, but
for a long while he has been so taken up with business,
and I with society, that we have forgotten God. He
wants some one to p^ay with him, but I did not know
who to send for."
Mrs. Lands went at once to the bedside of the
sick man, and for an hour sought, with prayerful ear-
nestness, to turn his eyes to the Christ he had so long
neglected. When at last he passed into the beyond,
it was with a prayer of penitence on his lips.
Ligliis on Scripiure Trutlis. 39
^^I think I know what Jesus meant when he told
his messens^ers to salute no one by the wav," she said
afterward. ^^It was not that he despised even their
elaborate salutations, but that there was just then no
time for them. He would say the same thing of what
we call good form, when we allow it to keep us from
carrying out his work."
THE :n^aeeow way.
(Matt. vii. 14.)
A party of tourists wore scaling a lofty peak. The
path along which the guide led them was very narrow,
and in some places a wall had been builded to keep
the travelers from stepping aside. A young woman of
the party complained loudly of the narrowness and
inconvenience of the way. ^'Let us take the path over
yonder/' she said, pointing to a winding road a little
distance away. ^^It is broader than this one; then, it
is shady and I can see such beautiful flowers on either
side." The guide only shook his head, but when they
had reached the summit he called the young woman
to him and bade her look back over the way they had
come. Both roads were plainly visible. She saw that
the one she had longed to take lay along a dangerous
precipice, where a misstep would have meant death.
The verv flowers she had admired covered treacherous
40 Side Windows; or,
places. Witli tears in her eyes, she turned and thanked
the guide for having kept her in the narrow path. So
I believe it will be with you, if you let the All-wiso
Guide mark out your path for you. There may be
times when the broad road seems inviting, but eternity
will reveal the fact that the narrow way was just nar-
row enough to keep you from the things that would have
been your ruin.
We'H look along the path we came
And sing Hosanna to His name,
Who led us in safety home.
THE TERMS OF ADMISSION
^^I really can't see why I need to be baptized/^
said a young man who had been for a long time hesi-
tating over the question of confessing Christ.
^^He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved/^
quoted the preacher.
•^^Yes., I know/' returned the objector, triumphantly,
^^but it does n't say that you can 't be saved without it."
^^I think you. said you were not going to the s.ym-
phony concert to-night," said the preacher, irrelevantly
picking up a hand-bill that lay on the table. ^^May I
ask why you are not going? You are certainly fond
of music."
"I can't afford to go," returned the young man,
wonderingly. ^'The admission is two dollars."
Lights on Scripture Truths. 41
^^Oh, yes, I kna^v it says, ^Admission two dollars/
on the bills. But I notice one thing, it does n't say
you can't get in without the two dollars/' was the
significant reply.
HE 'S WAITIXG FOE YOU.
A little girl had been away all day with the family
of a neighbor; they were belated in their return, and,
instead of reaching home before dark, as they expected,
it was almost midnight when they arrived at the house.
^^I will get out first and rouse your father/' one
of the gentlemen said to the little girl.
^^Eouse him!" said the child; ^^mv father won't
have to be roused. He 's waiting for me."
Men out of Christ, do vou ima^iine that it is onlv
through continued beseeching that you can gain the ear
of God ? Let me tell vou, vour Father does n't have
to-be roused. He 's waitina" for vou.
XEITHER SAVED XOR LOST.
If there is one thing above another that the average
man out of Christ does not like, it is to be told that he
is lost. He is not willing to stand out for Christ when
the call is made, but he certainly does not want to be
counted among those who are against him.
42 Side Windows; or^
It was beginning to rain^ and the mother called to
her little son to come into the house. The child paid
no attention to the command.
^^Are n't jou coaming in V^ said his aunt f ro^m the
doorwav.
^^Then you are going to disobey mamma?"
^^No^ I am not/' returned the boy^ with an injured
air. ^^I 'm not going to do anything. I 'm going to
stay right here where I am.''
So with the man who hears God's call and refuses
to come. lie is n't obeying, but then he is n't disobey-
ing. He is n't going to do anything. He is just going
to stay where he is.
THE CHUECH IN BUSINESS.
A church-member was remonstrated with by the
preacher for the way in which he made his living.
While it was not what is generally called gambling,
even the man himself did not deny that it was that.
^^ There is nothings unfair about it/' said the man;
^^men know the risks when they go into it."
^^Then you would n't object to the other members
of the ch.urch making their money in the same way V^
^^No, except that the business would be apt to be;
overcrowded."
Lights on Scripture Truths. 43
^^Suppose we raise a fund and go into it as a
church f The man hesitated.
^^That would be different/' he said. ^^I think a
church ought to be religious, and has no business
meddling with such things/'
^Then neither have you^" the minister replied.
"The church is simply the men and women who belong
to it."
THE END OF THE J0UK:N'EY.
Here Is a man who tells me that he believes in the
Bible and, therefore, in future reward and punishment.
He would like to go to heaven when he dies. Indeed,
he has friends whom he hopes one day to meet there.
Still, he is going in the opposite direction, because he
likes the road better. Let me show him how incon-
sistent he is. He informs me that he has been offered
a position in San Francisco. It is just the place he
has been looking for, and he has friends he wishes to
join there. Indeed, it is the only possible opening
for him. By and by I see him taking the train for
Washington. "Why," I say, "what does this mean?
This train will not take voai to San Francisco. I
thought you wanted to go there ?"
"Oh, I do!" he returns earnestly, ^^but I like the
Baltimore & Ohio Koad better than the Pacific."
44 Side Windows; or.
You would doubt that man's sanity. ^^Wkat is he
going to do when he gets to the end of his journey V^
you ask. What indeed? It is a queistion for you to
ask yourself. yVhat are you going to do?
FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST.
A young man who was highly ambitious, and who
believed that he had made an important mechanical
discovery, found himself in such sore straits that he
was forced to accept the position of a common laborer
about a large factory. He hoped to get togeither suffi-
cient means to enable him to perfect the invention
that would give him fame and fortune. His work,
however, was so exhausting that he could scarcely keep
awake, much less study after his daily tasks were
finished. Once or twice the wish had come to him
that he might have the opportunity of laying the matter
before the owner of the mill, but there was small hope
that he would ever be able to gain an audience with
the great man.
One day he was notified that he would be expected
to go to work in another part of the factory. ^^The
work is a good deal harder than what you are doing
noAV," his informant told him, ^^but the boss saw you
the other day and picked you out as the only man in
the room fitted for it." For a moment the young; man's
Lights on Scripture Truths. 45
heart grew faint within him. Harder work than he
was doing now! How conld he do it? His strength
was now being used to the limit. Still there seemed
to be nothing else to be done, so the following morning
he went with the superintendent to his new place. As
he entered the room, he saw a noble-looking man in-
specting one of the machines.
"Yes, that 's the boss/' the superintendent whis-
pered, answ^ering his questioning look; 'lie always
comes and works beside the man that takes this joh/^
The Young man could scarcely realize the good for-
tune. Here was the opportunity he had not dared to
hope for, and he had come so near turning away from
it. How many have learned a like lesson ! They have
gone tremblingly to some heavy task, saying, "I am
not able," to find in it a new and close fellowship with
him whose life was that of a servant. The Master
always comes and toils beside the servant who takes
up some heavy task for his sake.
WHEJs^ HE COMES.
A gentleman visiting a cei-tain schoc^-l gave out that
he would give a prize to the pupil whose desk he found
in the best order when he returned. "'But when will
you return ?" some of them asked.
"That I can not tell,'' was the answer.
46 Bide Windows; or,
A little girl, who had been noted for her disorderly
habits announced that she meant to win the prize.
^^You!" her schoolmates jeered; ''whj, your desk
is always out of order."
^^Oh ! but I mean to clean it the first of every week."
^^But suppose he should come at the end of the
week ?" some one asked.
"Then I will clean it every morning."
"But he may come at the end of the day."
For a moment the little girl was silent. "I know
what I'll do," she said decidedly; "I'll just keep it
clean."
So it must be with the Lord's servants who would
be ready to receive the prize at his coming. It may be
at midnight, at cock-crowing, or in the morning. The
exhortation is not, "Get ye ready," but, "Be ye ready."
BY HIS AUTHOEITY.
(John XIV. 13.)
"If ye shall ask anything in my name [by my
autliority']^ I w^ill do it." Let me give yoii an illustra-
tion that helped make those w^o-rds plain to me. My
fatheir was a dry-goods merchant and I remember that
he somednaes sold goods to men who did not pay foT
them in money. They were factory employes, and,
instead *of money, they brought orders from their
Lights on Scripture Truths. 47
employers. "Whatever you ask for by my authority/'
the employer had said to his men, "you will get." If
John Smith brought an order for ten dollars' worth
of goods, and signed by his employer, he got them.
It did n't, however, warrant tbe man in asking for
twenty dollars' worth of goods. He had no authority
for that ; his employer had not told him that he could
go to the store and get whatever he wanted, but whatever
his signature authorized. Jesus never gave a warrant
for indiscriminate asking. We have no authority for
asking for everything that desire prompts. If we ask
for these things, it must be in our owm name, and not
in the name of Him who never directed us to do it.
THIKSTIXG FOR THE WORLD.
"The man would never have gone back to his cups
if he had had plenty of nourishing food," said a phy-
sician, concerning a reformed man who had lately con-
formed. "As long as he was eating and drinking of
that which nourished his body, the old appetite did
not assert itself."
I thought of the words of Jesus regarding the living
water, "'He that drinketh shall never thirst." It is
he that has ceased to drink at this fountain who is in
danger. The Christian who is continually drinking in
supplies of gTace from the Word and from the place
48 Side Wmdows; 07%
of prayer will not thirst after the world. Beware of
neglecting the living water. It is the devil's opportu-
nity for snggesting that the wine of the world is pleasr
ant to the taste.
THAT YE MAY OBTAIN.
A half-dozen boys were playing yesterday over in
the lot. By and by one of them proposed a raca In
a moment they were busy arranging details. There
were to be prizes and honors to be given, not only to
the winner, but to those who should finish the course
in a certain length of time. With a great flourish
the six started down the track. It would have been
hard to tell which ones were likely to win. By and
by they retorned, all of them breathless and two of
them triumphant. These two had brought back all
the honors. ^^But what was the trouble with the
others ?'' some one questioned. "Did n't they run ?"
"Oh, yes," returned one of the small victors ; "they
run as hard as anybody, an' maybe a little harder
while tiiey was at it. The reiason that they didn't
get anything was that they did n't keep on. People
has all their runnin' fo'r nothin' if they don't keep
it up," he added sagely. The boy's philosophy will
hold good in many places beside on the playground.
There is a great deal of purposeleBs running iii tliif?
Lights on Scripture Truths, 49
world, and the worst failure is that w^hieh. makes
previous effort count for naught "So run that ye may
obtain/' Paul exhorts. I think he must have had in
mind the Christian who was for awhile full of zeal
and good works and then dropped out of the contest.
The Christian who lives by fits and st-arts may succeed
in spending a great deal of muscular strength, but it
is all to no purpose. Beating the air is a profitable
exercise beside it. We need not merely to try, but to
keep on trying; not simply to run, but to hold out to
the end.
SUCH AS YOU HAVE.
Two mechanics, going home one cold night, passed
a lame man who had been on the street all day trsdng,
with little success, to sell his poor wares. "Dear me !'^
said one of them, "hoAV miserable' that poor fellow
looks. If I had plenty of money, I should like nothing
better than to relieve such cases. The first thing I
would do would be to get him a good pair of shoes
and a comfortable cinitch that would make walking
less painful for him." In the meantime, his friend
had stopped and was talking to the lame man.
^^Pretty bad walking, neighbor,'' he said cheerily.
''Take my arm and maybe you can get along better.
I am going your way ; that is, if you will tell me where
50 Side Windows ; or,
yon live.'^ He did not stop nntil he had seen the man
safe in the little room and had sncceeded in kindling
a fire. He filleidj the cracks ^ronnd the window with
paper^ and left the poor man by his steaming kettle;,
cheered and comforted. He did not say anything about
his benevolent desires. He had no money, but he had
given freely of what he had. He was like Peter, who
said to the man who asked for alms, ^^Silver and gold
have I none^ but such as I have, give I unto thee."
Too many of us are disposed to be generous with such
as we have not.
CAK YOU TAKE IT WITH YOU?
An artist spent many weary months modeling a
wonderful group of figiireis. It was the embodiment
of his loftiest dreams, and he spent his very life upo-n
it. At last it was completed, and he made ready to
transport it to the exhibition, where he hoped to win
the prize that meant fame and fortune. At the last
moment it was found that there was no way of getting
his masterpiece out of the room in which it had been
created. His work was a failure because it would
not bear transportation. Instead of the triumphant
hour of which he had dreamed, he must go to the place
where the test was to be made, empty-handed. That
is just what you are doing, my brother, if you are
Lights on Scripture Truths. 51
speoiding your life in amassing moneys or in the get-
ting of f ame^ or any other worldly thing. It may look
like a success to you now, but what of the time wheaa
the call comes for you to appear before the Judge of
all the earth ? It will be small satisfaction to you in
that hour if you must go to meet God empty-handed,
leaving behind you that which you have wrought.
THE PEICE OF PEAYEE.
^^I wish you would come down and lead our prayer-
meeting to-night/' a young man said to a friend he
met do^vn-town. ^*We are particularly anxious to get
up an interest, and you know you have a gift for stir-
ring people/' The young man thus petitioned demurred
for a moment. What his friend had said was trua
He was a Christian, so far as a blameless life was
concerned, and yet it had been impossible to enlist
him in really unselfish effort. His gift for "stirring"
people had been exercised chiefly in furthering what
was to his personal advantage. His friend's words
appealed to his pride somewhat, so he agreed to go.
When he arrived at the place of meeting, he learned
that the prayer-meeting was to be held for the purpose
of enlisting workers in a certain mission that was just
now in great need. He tried to speak of the needs of
the ease and to urge his hearers to help, but somehow
52 Side Windoit^j or,
his eloquent tongue soeoned to have deserted liim.
When lie knelt down to pray, he foomd himself in a
still mo-re difficult situation. He was mocking God
when he asked him to put it into the hearts of others
to do the things he himself was unwilling to do-. A
conception of the needs of tJie case rushed over him,
and, instead of asking that laborers be raised up, he
finished in broken tones, ^^Lord, I am ready to go.
Take me and use me/'
It was not the first time that prayer for a sacrifice
to lay upon the altar had led the man to offer himself.
When men begin really to pray to God to send helpers,
they may expect to hear their own names called. Jesus
said unto his disciples, ^^Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest." Then he called the twelve unto him and
sent them forth, saying, ^^As ye go, preach."
HEEEIN IS HE GLOEIFIED.
Two friends were talking of the family of a promi-
nent man who had just died. "His oldest son wtas the
source of great joy to him," one of them said. "He
brought great distinction upon the family name."
"And what of the other two?"
"Oh! they were well enough. That is, they never
did anything to disgrace their father. Still, they
Lights on Scripture Truths, 53
never glorified his name. If it depended upon them,
the name would perish with tiiem/'
There are disciples of whom something like this
might be said. They have never done anything to
disgrace the name they wear, but they have certainly
not added to its influence and power. Jesus said,
^^Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear mudi
fruit/'
EESPO^'SIBILITY FOR THE LOST.
If you have been persuading yourself that you can
withhold vour hand from the Lord's work and still
remain gaiiltless, let me tell you that you are making
an awful mistake.
Out there is a field of grain that seems to be literally
ervins; out for tbe sickle. For davs the o^^mer of the
field had been scouring the country in search of men to
help him gather in the harvest. The grain had reached
that stage at which a single day's delay will mean its
loss, ^ow the reapers are trooping out to the fields.
You do not mean to join them, although you are nomi-
nally one of them. ^^What a host there is!" you say.
You really wish tliem success, but th.e day is warm and
surely there are enough workers without you. Evening
comes at last, and as the gleaners return from the field,
you hear them say that much of the grain still remains
54 Bide Windows; or,
imgathered. That night thexe is a heavy rain and the
outstanding grain is ruined. Who is to blame? Yon
are. Not for all the loss, but for all the grain your
hands might have garnered. Men, women, pledged
to the service of God, can it be possible that you do
not know that the force of workers now afield is piti-
fully insufficient ? They know it, and even while they
garner in what tJiey can, their hearts are breaking over
that which must be lost. Pretty soon the darkness
will be coming down upon us all. There will be some
souls which no hand has reached out to save. Who is
responsible ? You are. God pity you if you do not
realize this till it is too late.
HOW WE GET LOST.
^^How did you get lost, darling?'' a mother asked
of the little one who had been restored to her after
hours of suspense.
^^Why, it was this way,'' said the little girl. ^^I
thought I could see more of the parade if papa did n't
keep me so close to him, so I let go of his hand. I
intended to take hold of it again in a minute, but some
one came between us and then I could n't find him.''
Does n't tJiat sound like a leaf out of your history ?
You never thought of getting away from Christ, but
there came an hour when you concluded that you could
Lights on Scripture Truths. 55
see more of the world's pageant if you did not keep
so close to him. You let go of his hand, and before
you knew it something had come between you and him,
so you wandered further and further gfe^vay. ^^Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ?" l\"o one,
beloved, so long as we keep hold of his hand.
RESCUE O^ THE BEAIX.
A gentleman tells the amusing story of a little dog
that one day rescued a child from droiAvning. As a
matter of course, he was praised and petted fo^r liis
bravery. This so delighted his dogship that, from that
time forth, savs his master, he had rescue on his brain.
He utterly forsook his duties as house-dog and devoted
himself to the more exciting business of rescuing the
perishing.
K^ either man, beast nor fowl could from that time
forward venture into the water without encountering
the danger of being violently seized and dragged to the
shore by the zealous beast. Who has not met the human
counterpart? There is the man who, in the revival
meeting, succeeds in the noble achievement of saying a
soul from the floods of sin. It is natural and right
that he should not be satisfied y/ith once doing this,
but there is such a thing as getting rescue on the brain
to the exteiit that less attractive duties will b^ for-
56 Side Windows; or,
gotten. When simply filling the place in the pew on
Sunday mornings, or teaching a quiet little class in
the Sunday-school; or attending the mid-week prayer-
meetingS; becomes too tame for his taste, he is not
likely to be the man that God will use for emergencies.
WHOLESALE EEFOEMATIOK
A woman who had tried in vain to scrape the paint
from the kitchen floor, finally hit upon the plan of
pouring oil upon the floor and setting fire to the oil.
It is needless to add that she got rid of the paint —
and, incidentally, the house along with it. This
extravagant method of gaining a point has no lack of
precedent.
A "schoolmaster,'' who knew that one of his pupils
had broken a window, gave each one of them a sound
whipping in order to make certain of the punishment
of the guilty one.
These incidents seem ridiculous enough, and yet
you and I are in danger of applying the same principle
in far mo-re serious matters. We negleiot ipersorDal
reproof and expostulation, and deliver ourselves to
an hundred or.five hundred people when we are aiming
at one or two.
Perhaps the preacher is the greatest sinner in this
particular, but a good many of us are certainly not in
Lights on Scripture Truths, 57
the position to cast the first stone at him. How manj
times you have used your time in prayer-meeting to
give some one a ^^good hit" regardless of the forty-nine
other listeners who needed no hitting ? It is an easier
way than that of personal remonstrance, but certainly
it is n't a better one. Christ showed us a more excollent
way, though it tabes more time and godly patience to
follow it up: ^^If thy brother shall trespass against
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him
alone."
GO OR SEXD.
A young woman who, while poor herself, had many
rich, influential friends and relatives^ felt that she
ought to devote her life to working among the neglected
classes in one of our large cities. Her friends tried
to turn her from her purposa They ridiculed her,
and told her that she simply wanted to do something
sensational. A servant girl in the family where the
young woman made her home, heard of it. She was
ignorant and poor, but she was a Christian. One night,
when her work was done, she went timidly to the young
woman's door and tapped for admission. ^^I just
wanted to tell you to go," she said simply ; "I 've al-
ways wanted to, but I can't. I hope you will go in
my place." The would-be missionary had been just
\
58 Side Windoivsj or^
on the point of giving np, but this message saved her.
^^Yes, I will go/' she said, joyful tears running down
her cheeks. ^^I will go in your stead, for God will
know and I know that it was yoiu who sent me.''
HOW SATAK GETS POSSESSION.
There is a story of a man who rented a piece of
ground, with the agreement that he was to ha.ve pos-
session of it until his crop should have matured. He
utilized the opportunity and made the ground virtually
his own by sowing acorns. The lesson is an obvious
one. Give the devil one hour in which to scatter his
seed in your heart, and he may stay with you the rest
of your lifetime to look after the crop.
AFTEKWAED.
Do n't be deceived into thinking a thing is pleasure
because it starts off well. Enquire of your friend at
the end rather than at the beginning of his journeiy,
if you would know whether it paid.
It was one Sunday afternoon in the early summer,
and there were only a few people on the streets. A
tally-ho rolled by. Its occupants were laughing and
singing and waving their banners. They were on their
way to one of the summer gardens outside the city,
Lights on Scripture Trutlis, 59
where there would be feasting and drinking and danc-
ing, that would last w^ell into the night.
A dozeai young people with hjniin-books and Bibles
passed do^^nl the s-treot. They w^ere neither laughing
nor singings though they certainly did not look un-
happy. They were on their w^ay to hold a gospel meet-
ing in a neglected part of the city. AccoTding to the
careless looker-on, the first party was going out for an
afternoon's pleasure, the other to perform a disagree-
able duty. It was time for the evening service in one
of the do\^Ti-town churches when the mission w^orkers
returned. After the gospel meeting they had separated.
One liad gone to see a sick man, another to look up
Sunday-school scholars; others) to talk wtth friends
who seemed to be on the verge of the kingdom. Xow,
as they met, they were eagerly talking over their
experiences. How their faces shone. Somehow it
was not like the light that comes from ordinary pleas-
ures. Like the seventy, they had returned with joy.
Without planning for it, they had been having a ^^good
time."
It was almost midnight when the other party came
back. What a sorry-looking set they were ! Their very
belongings had a disgusted, disheveled look. Some of
them w^ere singing, but their songs w^ere discordant and
w^ere mingled with curses and angry yells. As for their
faces — v/ell, you w^ould n't have cared to look into them
60 Side Windows; 01%
a second time. No, they were not returning with joy.
Men never do when they have been pursuing the pleas-
ures of sin, and, after all, it is the afterward that
counts.
FEARLESS OE EOOLHARDY?
A young woman, telling the story of an experience
wdth a fractious horse, said, ^Tather was frightened,
but I was n't alarmed in the least.'^
^^That w^as because you hadn't sense enough," an
old horseman interposed, bluntly. While her fearless-
ness may not have been due to lack of sense, it was
at least to be attributed to a failure to understand the
danger to which she was exposed. Now and then a
young Christian boasts that he has no fear of tempta-
tion. Instead of impressing us with his strength of
character, he only succeeds in impressing us with his
foolhardiness.
SEEING STARS.
I remember when I was a child of hearing a man,
who had been digging a well, say that when he was
in the bottom of the well, he looked up and saw the
stars. I was shocked at the man's lack of veracity.
^^He could n't have been telling the truth," I said, ^^be^
cause there are no stars in the daytime." I lived to
Lights on Scripture Truths. 61
learn that tlie stars were always there, but that it
needed surrounding darkness to reveal them to our
eyes. Did you ever think that it is thus with so many
of the promises of God ? The gay devotee to the world,
with the sun of prosperity shining full upon him, hears
the Christian speak of the exceeding joy that servico
and sacrifice have brought into his life, looks dubiously
at the man, and then sets him down as a mysticist.
^^The idea of his finding pleasiire in such things ! Why,
there is no pleasure there." It is the soul that descends
into the depth where the world's light has not power
to penetrate, to whom the stars of divine love and hope
and consolation reveal their glory.
THE REAL SURRENDER.
A little girl, who was what we call ^^left-handed,'^
was toiling over her copy-book, awkwardly striving to
trace the word of the copy with her left hand.
^^Margaret," the teacher said, coming and bending over
her, ^^do n't you know that you will never learn to ^vrite
w^ell in that way ?" The child humbly assented. ^^And
do n't you want to give up writing with your left
hand r
"No, ma'am, I do n't want to," the little one replied
frankly. "You see, it is because I like best to do it
this way that makes me want to; but, teacher," look-
62 Side Windoius; or,
ing up appealingiy, ^^I wish some one would make me
want to do it the right way."
Here is a pretty good illustration of the diificulty
that surrounds many of us. We may desire to be wholly
surrendered to the Lord, and yet, so long as an idol is
an idol, no man can truthfully say that he Avants to
tear it from his heart. Consecration, for most of us,
means not a mere lip surrender, and asking God. to take
what we are not willing to give up, but the willingness
to put ourselves into the hands of the great Teacher,
that we may be made willing.
THE COST OF IT.
The question of what the stage gives you in the
way of entertainment is not the only one, my friend.
First let me ask, w^hat did iti cost? How many lives
are every year sullied by the temptations behind the
scenes, in order that the play-going public may be en-
tertained ?
A young woman, walking near a steep precipice,
saw a lovely flower growing a little distance below her,
and expressed a wish to possess it. Her companion
volunteered to get it for her. He did so, but as he
placed the flower in her outstretched hand, his foot
slipped and he was hurled to an awful death on the
rock below. The young woman carried the flower
Lights on Scripture Truths, 63
home, but we can scarcely imagine that its beauty was
now delightful to her. It may be, my young Christian,
that the pleasure you find at the theater is sometimes
in itself beautiful; what I want you to remember is
that souls for whom Christ died were risked that vou
might have it.
SEEK FIEST!
A young woman spent last winter in a Western city.
While she was there she formed an acquaintance with
a lady who was stepping at the same house, and the
acquaintance ripened into friendship. This fall the
visitor came to the citv where her friend lived. She
K.
remained in the city four months, and huntefl up all
the people she had ever known; but not until the day
before her departure did she seek out her former
friend. It is true that the others she had sought out
were society people and people of wealth ; this in itself
explained her conduct. But you may be sure that her
friend no longer believed in her professions of affec-
tion. All this was natural. Xo matter what she might
sav, the visitor had shown bv her actions that she
estimated the other verv liorhtlv. Here is a thouorht
for us about early seeking God. We show that we put
very little value upon him when we seek everything
else first Yet this is cue of the most common sin^i-
64 Side Windcios; or,
K large proportion of tlie young men and womeoa who
stay away from Christ really intend to seek him some
day. They have simply put som.e other thing first,
^^When I have accomplished this or that/' is the excuse.
God never asked for the second place in any life.
AS FOE YOUKSELF.
A mother, going away for a few hours, told her
daughter not to take any of the berries from the little
bed in the garden, as she had promised them to a sick
friend. On her return, she was surprised to find the
vines stripped of their fruit, and the child's dress and
hands covered w^ith beorry stains. ^^I know you told me
not to touch them, mamma," the little girl began in
iself-justiifiteatiion, ^^but some childreD) came into the
yard and were about to take them all. I thought that
if they were to be eaten, I might as well have a part
of them. You see, I could n't have saved the berries
by letting them alone." ^^But you might have saved
your own clothes from being stained," the mother re-
turned significantly, looking at the ruined dress.
The child's logic is strikingly akin to that with
which the evil one beguiles a good many grown-up
childTen. A minister, when remou'strated with for
having performed a marriage ceremony betweetn an
ignorant^ though innocent, young girl, and a vicious,
Lights on Scripture TrutUs. 65
dissipated man, said, "If I had not done it, some one
else would.'^ He forgot the stain it put upon his own
garments. A young man is offered a position with a
firm whose business he knows to be a hurtful one. If
it were in his power to exterminate the business, he
would do it, but it is not. Somebody will take the
plaee if he refuses it, so what difference can it make ?
The difference between staining his soul and keeping
it clean. God's commands look not alone toward stop-
ping the progress of evil without, but toward keeping
ourselves unspotted from the world.
LITTLE DANGEKS,
The power of little things isn't always a pleasant
thing to think about. A few years ago there was, in a
certain section of our country, an awful loss of life
caused by the breaking of a dam. A party of pic^
nickers had been camping near the dam, and a young
man drove a small, sharpened stick into the wall, that
he might hang the dinner-pail upon it. It was a
small opening, but it allowed a few^ drops of water
to trickle through. It opened the way for the great
flood of waters that, in a few hours, swept over the
country. It is an illustration of what has happened
in many a life. An evil thought has opened the way
for an evil life. A little time spent in the company
66
Side Windows; 01%
of one who was base has ruined a soul for eternity.
When we tjhink of the awful power that may be
wrapped up in a little thing, how dare we try to live
our lives without His guiding hand?
COJs^TENTIOUS PEAOEMAKEES.
Perhaps it has been true at times that the only
way to get peace was by means of war ; oftener, how-
ever, the remedy has proven far worse than that which
it strove to banish. There is a story told of a man
who was wakened one night by the sound of a pistol-
shot in his room. On inquiring the cause, his servant
replied that there was a rat in the room, and, fearing
it would waken his master, he shot it.
Here is logic surpassed only by that of the brotheir
who is willing to throw the w^hole church into a turmoil
for the sake of getting rid of something that he fears
may cause dissension.
WHAT THE TEMPLE IS FOE.
Suppose, when that beautiful chapel of yours was
completed, the trustees had said: ^Trom henceforth
we are going to see that this temple is kept clean, and
that nothing unworthy ever enters its doors." So the
house was kept clean and free from dust, but it was
Lights on Scripture Truths. 67
ne-ver once opened for service. ]^o hymns of prayer or
praise ascended here, and never a soul found Christ
within its walls. Would n^t we say that these men had
been untrue to their trust ? The temple should be kept
clean, it is true, hut it was built for service. So, Chris-
tians, let us not make sure that we are using the temple
of this body to his glory, simply because we are keep-
ing it strong and pure. It was built for service.
AN IMPERTINENT QUESTION.
On the train last summer a young girl was fairly
boiling ove-r with indignation at a preacher who had
been asking her some plain questions about her soul.
^^Why, he even asked me if I were sure I was really
on the road to heaven," she said. "He liad no right
to talk like that to me, and to make me feel perfectly
dreadful.'^
"What did the brakeman say to you when yoai
boarded the train?" her friend asked.
"Why, he only asked me where I was going.'^
"And you didn't mind it at all. You knew that
he was asking you to save you from a possible mis-
take. The preacher had the same motive, only the
case was a good deal more serious."
The young woman is only one of a very large class,
who consider it an intrusion when you concern your-
68 Side Windows; or^
selves about their lack of concern. There is one thing
here worth noting: whenever questions like this are
disturbing us, it is pretty conclusive proof that we are
shutting our eyes to danger.
THE COMFOETEE.
During the war some of the men who were holding
a few prisoners received a message that relief was on
the way. They were holding their own at the greatest
cost ; provisions were low, and they felt that they could
not hold out much longer. What cheeir the message
brought! They we-re not alone. They were allied to
a great power that was at their service. But the pris-
oners did not rejoice ; they had no part in the blessings
of their captors. So the Coon'foirter comes to help
the children of God alone, and they alone rejoice in
the promise of his coming.
DAIs^GEES Uis^SEEN,
A doctor was hurrying along a lonely road at a
late hour one night, thinking only of reaching home
as soon as jK>ssible. As he neared a small house by
the roadside, he heard what seemed to be a cry of
distress. Alighting from his horse, he found that a
little child had been calling to him from the doorway.
Lights 0)1 Scripture Truths. 69
Inside was a man who would have died but for his
timely aid. He remained all night with the man, and
thought nothing of it, except that he had saved the
man's life. He never knew that do^^Ti the road that
night two men had lain in wait to rob and murder
him.
So those of us who have given ourselves to God
will never know^ the full storv of our deliverance.
Saved, means saved from the evil that awaited us, had
we pursued our own way.
^^JEST DAJs^GEEOUS."
Among those who enlisted during the Civil War
was a man commonly supposed to be only half-witted.
When the first skirmish in which his company took
part was over, he was found crouching under a wagon
some distance away from the scene of battle. He
refused to go back to the ranks, but finally succeeded
in making his way back home, where, on account of
his mental weakness, he was not arrested.
^^Eun ?" he exclaimed, a little while afterward when
some one was twitting him on his army experience.
^^I guess anybody would have run. I tell you it 's jest
dangerous to be in the army.''
There is something truly ludicrous about the soldier
being surprised that he should encounter danger, but
70 Side Windoivs; or,
I am sure most of us could find a counterpart of it
without seeking far. It is n't as much trouble to enlist
Christian soldiers as it is to get them to stand at their
post of duty after the firing has begun. Too many
are surprised and indignant that they should encoun-
ter the enemy^ and justify their desertion on the plea
that it is ^^jest dangerous."
WHAT SHALL THIS MAN DO?
(John XXI. 22.)
What Christian worker has not encountered this
question over and over again? Press home to the
heart of some one the plain teaching of God's word
till he can no longer evade the truth, to but meet with
the irrelevant question, ^^But what of this one, or that
one? My mother never saw the matter in that light,
and surely God accepted her." My friend, what is
that to you? Be content to leave to God the things
that are God's, and set to work upon the problem of
your own salvation.
Hear this parable of the children, A group of
children were playing in a grove near a schoolhouae.
By and by the master came to the door and called them
to come in. They heard the sound, but did not recog-
nize the voice, and went on with their play, so the
master kept on calling. At last some of the children
Lights on Scripture Truths, 71
wandered near eaiough to discern the voice of their
teacher, and to understand that he was calling them
to come.
^Tet us go into the house at once," one of them
exclaimed, ^^or we shall be punished.'^
^^ITo/' returned the other, ^^I do not thinly we need
to go. The boYS back there are among the most
obedient scholars in the school, and they will not come.
They do not even know that he called."
"Yes, but we know it, Tom," was the reply, "and
that makes all the difference in the icorldf'
"Why will we who have the light seek to be judged
by the standard of those that have it not ? They could
not come, since they did not know He had called. But
we have heard, and that makes all the difference in
the world.
WHAT DOES YOUE FACE SAY?
A young man once said: "When I was a little
fellow and a new dish came on the table, I was always
afraid of getting something I did not like ; so I would
Vv^ait till my brother tasted it. If he looked as though
he enjoyed it, then I would try it, but if he made a
wry face, nothing would ever persuade me to take it
into my mouth. His very look was a testimony for
or against." Did it ever occur to you that the world
72 Side Windoiusj of,
is watching you and me in much the same way? I
do n't know that they are conscious of it, but the fact
that you go with frowning, dissatisfied face to your
work will count for more than you think, while the
shining face is a wonderful testimony for Christ.
TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT IT.
^^Children and young people are often brought into
the church before ihej know what the step means,'^
a gentleman said the other day. ^Te^ver persons who
liave been brought to Christ in their maturer years
fall away than those who take the step in early life.''
Very true — for the same reason that white sheep
eat more than black ones, and that the deiath rate
among persons over ninety is fa.r less thaoi amon^g
people under that age.
YOUE NAME.
A salesman in a furniture store was showing some-
thing which is called a bookcase. ^^I wish you would
open the door and show me where you put the books,"
said the lady to whom he was showing it.
^^Oh, that isn't what it is for," was the rejoinder.
^^It is used as a bedstead." The good woman was
indignant. It was dishonest, she averred, to call a
Lights on Scripture Truths. 73
piece of furniture one thing when it was to be used f o^r
another. Doubtless she was right. The matter is,
however, more seirious when mortal and spiritual things
are concerned. Fot instance, to call a man a Christian
when he is really de^^oted to selfish and not to Chris^
tian uses, is dishonest, but it is more than that. It
leads men to go to him for that which they will not
be able to find in him. Aleixander is said to have
commanded a retreating soldier who woTe the eanpor-
or's name, *^^Honor that name o-r drop it." The Cap-
tain of our salvation is not less jealous of his honor.
USII^G YOUR LIBERTY.
Recently several small boys, left alone in the house
for the afternoon, conceived the brilliant idea of form-
ing a fire company. To make the affair more realistic,
they built a fire of boxes and barrels in the cellar, with
the intention of putting out the fire by means of the
garden hose. When the real fire company succeeded
in putting out the fire, it was found that the only
serious damage done was the burning of the kit<chen
floor. That night the mother of one of the boys un-
dertook to reprove him for his part in the affair.
'^^Why, mamma,'' he returned, with an injured air,
^^you did n't tell us not to build a fire. You told us
pot to track in mud, ot let burglars get into the house,
74 Side Wmdoivs; or,
or load up the old rifle. I noticed the fire was about
the only thing you didn't mention.''
The incident reminded me of the individual, all
too well knowm to most of us., whose eyes are open not
to read the marching orders of the King, but rather
to see how many things he can do without breaking the
letter of the law. ^^Why, I can do this," he exclaims
joyfully; ^^you can't find a word in the Bible against
it." True. The Bible is silent upon a good many
subjects that even common law takes up. For instance,
there is nothing in the Bible about making counterfeit
money, wrecking railroad trains, or riding on the elec-
tric cars without paying your fare.. The fact that the
Bible does not prohibit a thing is really no argument
in its favor.
REFUSIls^G THE PRIZE.
^^There 's a man that once offered me ten thousand
dollars and I did n't take it," a young man said of a
gentleman Who passed down the street.
'^Why did n't you?"
"Because I did n't know it was ten thousand dol-
lars," he answered.
The fact was the gentleman had come to him and
given him a bit of advice, to which no heed was given.
It turned out afterward that if he had taken the advice.
Liglils on. Scri/pture Truths.. 75
it would have made him ten thousand dollars. I think
you and I have had a good many experiences like that,
only the riches we might have won are impeTishable.
That day when Duty said, "Go/' and you said, "Oh^
I can't go/' you mis-sed a prize that would have been
yours through all eternity.
UNOLE SAM AS A PKIEST.
One can hardly give careful attention to the end
of the liquor question where the counting of the cost
comes in, without being convinced that our Uncle Sam
is exceedingly shoTt-siig'hted. The liquor man pays
him money — ^big money, to follow his own elegant waj
of expressing it^ — and our uncle builds him a few miles
of turnpike, or puts a stained-glass window into some
public building, in the belief that the liquor man ia
paying the bill. To be sure, he is held up for the
support of idiots, lunatics and paupers, and to pay the
cost of murdeir trials, etc., for which the liquor man is
undoubtedly responsible; but — oh, well, sucsh things
do not count!
There is a little story, which comes doiwn to us from
the sixteenth century, that furnishes something like a
parallel. When the practice of selling indulgences was
at its height, a nobleman, who had a grudge against
a certain priest, sent for the father and asked him to
76. Side Windoivs; or,
name the price for tlie privilege of berating and ro'b-
bing the man he hated. The priest named a good
round sum^ and^ after some parleying, the money was
paid over and the writ of permission delivered into
the hands of the nobleman. On his way home with
the gold, the priest was waylaid by the nobleman, and
was beaten and robbed of his money. When he was
arraigned for committing the crime, the "gentleman'^
produced his license and was discharged. But that
happened in the Dark Ages.
THE DAlsTGEE OF EEVIVAL MEETIlTaS.
The life-saver dashes out into the raging water,
and comes to shore with a man who, but fox him, would
have perished. He turns tha half-drowned man over
to the group on the shore and goes back to his woxk.
The next day we learn that the rescued man has died,
and we say, ^^Ah! there is the danger in saving
men.'' It is true that he was lost where he was. It
is true that we left the poor fellow just where the
rescuer laid him when he was b'rought out of the
water. Some people might say that he really died of
neglect and expo-sure, and — he did. The same thing is
true of the large proportion of those who do not long
survive the special meeting. We are not willing to
work to hold what we worked to get. There is peril.
Lights on Scripture Truths. 77
real peril, surrounding the soul that has lately been
brought to shore, but it is not in the revival, but in
the afterward. Surely the displeasure of God must
rest upon the church that refuses to ente>r into an
effort to bring men and women to Christ, because it
does not want to take the responsibility of caring for
them until they have become strong.
THE POWEK OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
Several years ago George Marsh went over to a fac-
tory town to work in the planing-mills. He was just a
common sort of boy; he could read and write credit-
ably, but he had not what any one could call an edu-
cation. Still he was a deeply ardent Christian, and
had faith enough in God to enable him to forget him-
self. He went into the church, and though he felt
the coldness, he said, ^^I '11 warm< up my comeir any-
way." He shook hands with the young people neixt to
him in the Sunday-school and in the Endeavor society,
and told them that he was a stranger, and hoped they
would help him to find a way to make himself useful.
He invited the men at the shops to come to the meetr
ing, and then went around to the president of the
Endeavor society and the chairman of the Social Coan-
mittee and asked them to help him give the young men
a hearty welcome. The sight of strangers being cor-
78 Side Windows; or,
diallv welcomed stirred the whole society, and one and
another ventured to do a little personal work. I can't
tell the whole story, but the leaven worked, and to-
day people like to go to that church, because the fires
o£ love for souls burn so brightly. The preacher who
told the story said that the whole transformation could
be traced to George March, and the young man had n't
done a thing either that any common man could n't
have done.
PAYIXG TOO MUCH FOR SO:\rE GOOD
THIXGS.
The good woman of the house had just returned
from a shopping campaign, and was showing her pur-
chases to her bosom friend. ^'Here is something," she
said, unwrapping a pair of warm, winter shoes of a
peculiar fashion, ^^that I have been looking for for
three years. I paid five dollars for them, and I ex-
pect them to save me no end of colds and neuralgic
pains."
^^They are certainly excellent shoes," returned her
friend, ^'but you paid too much for them. I bought
a pair exactly like them last week for three dollars."
"Oh, well," said the first, ''I could better afford to
pay fifty dollars than go without them."
Xo doubt this was true, but it remained that her
five dollars had not returned to her the full equivalent
Lights on Scripfure Truths. 79
for its purchasing power. Some one was commenting
on the folly of a man and his wife who had just re-
turned from a three vears' bicvcle-ride-*
t' c
'*It certainly wasn^t a profitable expenditure of
time and strength," he ventured.
"I do n't agree with you/' said anothei'. "You re-
member how they rode that morning they started out?
They beoit almost to the handle-bars. They came back
sitting erect. It was worth a journey around the
world for them to learn that it does n't pay to make
a jack-knife of your spinal column.""
Probably this would have been true if the lesson
could not have been learned in a less expensive way.
It is paying too much when one takes a journey roimd
the globe to learn what was within his reach within
the corporation limits.
In entering upon a series of meetings to which the
church had long looked forward, the leader refused to
consider the advice of the majority. ^V^lile at first
there seemed to be a promise that scores would be
brought to the Lord, the effort resulted in the con-
version of but one man. "Oh, well, it paid, if it was
expensive," said the heady leader. "One soul is worth
more than the meeting could have cost,"
Xo one will dispute this last statement, and yet
there had been money and power dissipated, that ought
to have brought in good returns. God doesn't ask us
80 Side Windoivs; or^
simply to do something good: he asks us to do our
best. In the Lord's business as w^U as in our own,
we ought to concern ourselves about making the most
possible out of that which has been invested in it.
PKEJUDICED CEITICISM.
A young woman, just reiturned from a fashionable
finishing-school, saw in the garden a flower that she
greatly admired, and enquired what it was. She was
informed that it was a hollyhock. ^^Surely, it can't
be," she replied. "Or, if it is, it must be a very im-
perfect specimen, because I did some hollyhocks in
oil when I was at school, aud these are not at all like
them."
The young woman reminds us forcibly of tho
critic who is certain of the faultiness of the Bible,
because it is not at all like the theories he has con-
trived concerning it.
METHODS AND MEN.
A physician, taking charge of a patient, pi^ofessieid
to be able to cure the man if he would folloav direcr
tions. Less than a week after this the sick man died,
and the doctor was severely censured. In reply to
the charge of having made false pretensions, he s^id
Lights oa Scripture Truths. 81
that a part of his directions was that the patient should
take the i^^emedies for at least a year, and his orders
had not been carried out. Whether the man of medi-
cine we're honest or not, we will at least agree that to
begin upon a patient that can not possibly last a month,
a course of treatment that it will take a year to com-
plete, shows a lack of wisdom.
It is so in spiritual matters. While the Christian,
who comes into the church with years of careful train-
ing behind the step, is apt to furnish the most satis-
factory results, we must reach the man who is trem-
bling on the verge of ruin by a speedier, more heroic
method.
THY WILL, NOT MINE.
A young girl, who had struggled with the question
of submission to God, said : '^I could see easily enough
that making God's way my way was very different
from submitting just because I had to do it, or because
I felt that it was my duty. I was on the way down to
Miss Howlanid's to see about having my new dress
made. I had some notion of how I wanted it to look,
but when I showed her the materials she told me how
it ought to be made and trimmed, and it was n't the
least bit as I had planned. I did n't altogether under-
stand her, but I fell right in with her plan and was
82 Side Windows; or,
perfectly satisfied to have her go ahead with it. Now,
it is just because I know Miss Howland so well, and
we are in such perfect sympathy on questions of color,
etc., that I am at rest in letting her work it out, though
I do n't know just how she is going to do it She
knows what suits me better than I know myself. And
it seemed to me," dropping her voice a little, "that
we ought to be just that wHy with God."
If our hearts are in harmony, we will be able to
say that his will is ours, even when we don't know
what it is. He know^s what is suited to us better than
we can possibly know.
EESPONSIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY.
Now and then men seem to get satisfaction out
of the fact that they have had opportunities for being
religious. Jesus tells of the men who shall come up
in the judgment and offer as a reason for the clemency
of the Judge, "Thou hast taught in our streets."
"Lord," they will say, "don't you remember when,
through one of your ambassadors, you spoke to the
crowds down in Cincinnati, or New York, or Chicago,
I stood on the edge of the crowd? When you taught
in a little country church, where father and mother
used to find so much comfort, I used to sit and listen."
Yery flimsy it sounds? Yes, my brother, it is worse
Lights on Scripture Triitlis, 8
o
than that. Whoever has once consciously stood before
the open door of opportunity can not be quite the same
again. It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for you.
DEIFTING INTO IT.
A lady brought her little girl to a teacher that
she might learn music. The child came up week after
week without knowing her lesson, and finally the teach-
er appealed to tbe mother. ^^Does your daughter prac-
tice?" she asked. ^'^JTo," returned the mother, "and I
won't mate her do it ; I 'd rather she 'd drift into music
sort of natural." It is needless to say that she never
drifted into it. I am afraid that there are people who
come into the church with pretty much the same ideas.
They make the start and then never give tbemselves
any more concern. They expect to drift into saint-
hood.
EEALIZING ON THE PEOMISES.
A man was found on the street almost frozen and
starving to death. Those who took him in were sur-
prised to find on his person, checks amounting to
several hundred dollars. The checks were payable to
the man, and bore the name of a rich philanthropist.
84 Side Wmdoius; or,
^^Why did you suffer when you had these ?" they ques-
tioned.
"Oh, well, that was not money,'' he replied. "Then,
how did I know that I would get the money if I pre-
sented them?''
So we, with a check on heaven for strength suffi-
cient for all things, often fail to realize upon it the
great riches for which it stands.
HOW THEY Fmi) FAULT.
Last summer a florist, whose roses were in danger
of being destroyed by slugs, sent a small boy out into
the garden to help rid it of tlie destructive pests. After
the boy had gone over the garden, tlie owner went out,
and, finding tte slugs seemingly as numjerous as ever,
went to the boy and said:
"Did you find any slugs on the roses ?"
"Oh, yes," returned the boy; "I found the buslies
covered with them.".
"And left them in that way, it seems," said the
man, sarcastically.
"Why, yes," was thei wondering reply. "You told
me to see how many I could find, but you did n't say
anything about my killing them."
That boy was a typical faultfinder. I know of some
churches who have his ilk upon their roll-books. They
LigJiis on Scripture Truths. 85
can find faults and foibles in abundance in those who
have been entrusted to their charge, but as to going fur-
ther and trying to eradicate the fault — such a thing
seems never to have entered their minds.
MOVE SOMETHING.
It became noised about that a certain inventor had
lost his mind. The first suspicion of the fact came
while he w^as woirbing upon a wonderful machine/ It
was costly and complicated. There were wheels and
bands and bolts, and a steam attachment which set the
machinery going at a marvelous rate'. When asked
what the machine was for — ^what he expected to manu-
facture on it — he replied coolly, ^^Oh, nothing." The
wheels turned and power was generated to no pur-
pose. Is n't that like some of our lives — like some of
our church life? We want to be alive and keep the
machinery moving, but let us be certain that it moves
something.
HOW GOD ALLOWS US TO SIK
A little girl, left in the room with her grandfather,
disobeyed her mother by taking down a vase of flowers
and pouring the water upon her dress. When her
grandfather saw her plight, he said, "What do you
suppose your mamma will say?" "I think," said the
86 Side Windows; or,
child, severely, ^^that she will scold you for allowing
me to be bad.''
The answler is a characteristic one, in that it is
strikingly akin to what we sometimes hoar from the
lips of older children. "Why has God allowed me to
do wrong?'' the sinner questions imperiously, leav-
ing out of the question his free will, and that he knew
perfectly well what he was doing when he went con-
trary to the command of God. Truly the babies are
not all in a nursery.
USELESS KNOWLEDGE.
The prompt action of a young woman had saved
the life of a man whose arm had been almost severed
from his body. When the others were praising her
for what she had done, she replied modestly that she
deserved no especial praise, as her teacher at school
had taught her what to do under such circumstancea
^^Oh, I knew that, too," exclaimed another young
lady, "and if any one had asked how to stop the flow
of blood from a wound, I could have given the ansA\^r
just as it is in the book; but I never thought of apply-
ing it to this casa"
The young woman is a typical character. In cases
of spiritual peril, a good many of us, who could give
the answer "just as it is in the Book," never think
Lights on Scriyture Truths. 87
of applying our knowledge for the benefit of those
■\vho are in danger. Too many, who know the great
Physician for themselves, never seem to think of send-
ing their friends to him.
WHE2s" THEY EXLISTED.
When Jesus said, ^Tollow me/' he didn't mean,
^•^Do something," but, rather, begin to do. What would
you think of the man who went to the recruiting-offioe,
and, after being enlisted as a soldier, went back home
and got into his slippers and his easy-chair, saying:
^^There ! I 've done my duty to my country — I can
have some peace of mind !"
^^Come, follow the Son of God!" the preacher etx-
horted. A young man went forward and took ujDon
him the vows of enlistment. Then he went back and
took his seat. But that was n't following Christ. Fol-
lowing him is n't an act. It is rather the beginning of
action.
GEIEVmG THE SPIRIT.
Once a man who owned a beautiful house invited
one of his friends to come and live vdth him. He
provided for his guest a room, a bed to sleep on, and
a place at his table. By and by, though, he met another
man, who charmed hixn> so he invited this one also to
88 Side Windows; 01%
come and stay witli him. He went to the one that he
had invited first and asked that he share his room with
the stranger; a little while afterward he was asked to
give up his bed for the same purposo; then to sur-
render his place at the table. We are not surprised
to know that, deeply grieved, he left the house alto-
gether.
Thus has many a man crowded the bleissed Guest
from his heart. When the world begins to war with
the Spirit for the possession of your heart, beware lest
the holy One be grieved and take his departure.
THE SAFETY OF FEAK.
The fear of evil ought to have a large place in the
Christian's heart. One day a party of young people
went out from a hotel in the mountains for a day
among the rocks. While the place to which they were
going was noted for its picturesque scenery, it was
known that scaling some of the heights was attended
with great danger.
^^I am not uneasy about my daughter,'^ said a
mother, as she gazed after the party. ^^She Is so cool-
headed and so sure-footed that I have no fear of her
getting hurt.''
^*^And I feel equally secure about my daughter,
but for another reason," said her friend. ^^She is
Lights on Scripture Truths. 89
so timid about climbing that she will not go to the
dangerous pla-ces at all."
The young person who fears the precipice to the
extent that he will not venture near its edge is cer-
tainly safer than he who boasts that he knows no such
thing as fear.
EVADIXiG TAXATIOIsL
A wealthy woman died the other day, after having
spent thirteen years in a truly remarkable mannei*.
From the time of the launching of the big steamer
Lucania till her death, she never missed a trip, crossing
the ocean but to recross it again. In this way she spent
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Was she
sane ? Yes, and no — it depends upon the view we
take. Yes, if it is sanity to take account of self alone
and shrewdly plan an escape from all personal dis-
comfort. Freedom from the worries of maintaining
a house, of entertaining and being entertained; from
tax-paying, and from social and church obligations — •
all these things did this eccentric woman obtain.
It is true, there is another side. There were pleas-
ures very dear to the heart of most of us that must be
foregone. But, leaving them out of the question, what
right has one human being, even if he may, to make
life a play-day? "When we stop to think of it, one of
ji
90 Side Windows; or,
tlie le^st pleasing pictures in tlie world is that of a
self -centered life.
The woman might evade tax-paying here, but there
Avill come a time when taxes must be paid; and how-
ever purposeless a voyage life may be, we are going
somewhere, and will be obliged to put into port one
day whether we will or not.
COLD COMFOKT.
A young woman once contemptuously informed an
old preacher that she was as good as lots of church-
members.
"I knofw it, my sister/' ho replied, shaking his
head sadly, "and no one regrets mora than I do that
we have so many unworthy people in the church/'
A MEMOKY THAT SAVED.
What a blessed thing to the prodigal was the mem-
ory of hi^ father^s house. However wretched and
barren the world was here, at home there was bread
enough and to spare. The memory of a Christian
home and of Christian parents has proven a beacon-
light to many a doubting soul. In a company of gay
young people, a young man was speaking sneeringly of
religion. The old Ideas of God and of heaven and hell
Lights on Scripture Truths. 91
were worn out, he declared. They were old-fashioned,
and the world had outgrown them. A young woman,
who had known the skeptic's mother, took him aside
and said:
^^You were not telling the truth awhile ago. You
believe that thea-e is a God, and that he used to hear
vour mother's prayers. And you will not dare to deny
that you think of her as being in heaven at this mo-
ment."
The young man was deeply affected.
"You are right,'' he said. "I can not be a skeptic
when I remember my mothers Christian life."
JACOB.
A young man, professedly pledged to the service of
God, goes out into the world to make his way among
men, who ai'e mad each wath. the desire to supplant
the other. Gradually and unconsciously the interests
of this world begin to wrap theaiiselves about him, until
by and by his w'hole life is anchored fast to it. Sud-
denly, and W'ithout warning, there sweeps down upon
him the menace of an awful danger. A horrible fear
takes possession of him. The storm bursts upon him.
Where are those things that a little while ago seemed
everything to him — the flocks and the herds, the gold
and the silver? Ah! these could not stand the test.
.92 Side Windows; oi\
He has beeai swept away from his f aste.nings. But in
tliis moment as, conscioois of his peril, he wavers to
and fro, he grasps at that which alone is an anchor
in the midst of the torrents This honr of darkness that
came upon Jacob was, after all, his salvation. So
such experiences have been to many a soul. ITothing
short of this could have loosed tlie moorings that held
us to the world, and given us that sense of helplessness
that alone impels us to reach out after our Father's
hand. Just how much Jacob owed to the memory of
that night back in Bethel we can not know. Not do
w^e eveir know how much we owe sometimes to the
memory of the prayers and promises of our early days.
But all men do not come out of the test like this ; and
the flood that dtrives some men to the rock sweeps
others away to hopeless ruin.
KEEP THE WAY OPEN.
The head of a manufacturing concern was in the
habit of going to a room on the roof of the building
and locking himself in, that he might be free from
interruptions. One day he discovered that the build-
ing was on fire. He flew to the door to find that the
lock had become set, and he was unable to open it.
He remembered the speaking-tube which communi-
cated Avith the room below. But, alas! his calls were
Lights on Scripture Truths. 93
in vain. It was many months since he had availed
himself of it, and it had become so obstructed with
soot and dust that it was useless. How fit an illus-
tration is this of the prayerless life. It is by daily
fellowship that we keep the way open between our-
selves and God.
A QUESTION OF IXVESTMENT.
(Matt. xvi. 25.)
Twenty years ago, a farmer died, leaving to his
two sons nothing but a granary full of wheat. The
grain was equally divided between the two. The elder
remarked to the younger that he intended to use a
part of his wheat for seed and sell the rest, as he
knew oi a profitable inves^tment he could make with
the money. The younger brother shook his head and
said that he meant to hold his wheat for a higher
price. He did so, but, instead of advancing, every year
the price went lower and lower. He needed the money
the wheat w^ould have brought, but still he kept it
hoarded away. At the end of twenty years he found
himself not only in abject poverty, but so deeply
in debt to the man who had stored the grain
that he was forced to turn it over to his creditor.
He had saved, but in saving he had been the loser.
He lost not only his original capital, but the profit
94 Side Windows; or,
that might have been his had he followed his brother's
example. The lesson is not an obscure one. We make
much or little of our lives in proportion to our invest-
ments. It is. the man that spends who lea^rns the
meaning of heavenly riches.
GO LOOK IN THE GLASS.
Just inside the hall, wheire those who came and
went could not help taking a look at themselves, swung
ft great, glistening mirror. In view of the fact that
strict economy was the rule of the household, I had
wondered not a little that so handsonie a piece of fur-
niture should have been placed where it was apparently
of so little use.
I think the littL* woman of the house must have
divined my thoughts, for, as I sat watcliing the boys,
who were just starting out for school, one after another
pausing to survey themselves in the mirror, she simply
said :
"That looking-glass has paid for itself a dozen times
over.'^ Seeing my look of surprise, she went on. "I
need hardly tell you that a mother of seven boys finds
the problem of having them always clean and neatly
dressed no easy one. Well, I used to have a good deal
of trouble with them, and unless I gave each one a
personal inspection, some of them were likely to go
Lights on Scripture Truths. 95
to school witJi streaked faces and soiled collars. Of
course, they were always mortified, when they became
aware of it. I saw that the trouble was that they had
forgotten to look in the glass. I put on my thinEing-
cap and that was the result/' nodding her head toward
the mirror. ^^I have no need now of telling Ted and
Joe to wash their faces, or Charlie that he needs a
clean collar. That glass tells them in a way that tbey
simply can't resist. For, after all," she added sagely,
^'I think one of the principal steps toward reforming
people is to get them to look at themselves."
^^^O INTEEEUPTIO^ TO BUSHsTESS."
Going down the street, I noticed that the sidewalk
in front of a large building was obstructed with build-
ing materials. A great scaffolding had been built
across the front, and from it was suspended a sign
bearing the words, ^^No Interruption to Business."
The public, however, seemed not to agree with the
proprietor of the store, since not only were there no
signs of customers about the store, but passersby even
shunned that part of the street. The decision of the
storekeeper that his business should not be interrupted
did n't settle the matter, after all.
A yoimg man who had been zealous for Christ and
the church tools: on business responsibilities which ab-
96 Side Windows; or,
sorbed the time he had been giving to spiritual activi-
ties. ^^I am not going to let it interfere with my
Christian life/' he told the pastor, and yet it did. He
had piled so many obstructions between himself and
the spiritual influences that had once had access to
his heart that they ceased to touch him.
A preacher allowed himself to be dazzled by a bit
of political honor. ^^I don't intend that it shall hin-
der my work as a soul-saver/' he said, but that was
only one side of the case. Men ceased to come to him
with their burdens. They saw obstructions between
them and the man they had once felt free to confide
in, so they passed by on the other side. The Chris-
tian's first concern ought to be that nothing shall in-
terrupt him in his legitimate business — that of carry-
ing out the commission of the Master.
LOT WENT WITH HIM.
When Abraham went out to Canaan, we are told
that ^Tot went with him." There came a time, no
doubt, when Abraham devoutly wished that Lot had
stayed in Mesopotamia. Even now, when a man
resolves to change his plane of living, somebody is
pretty sure to conclude to go with him. A father, who
became a Christian after the age of fifty, was alarmed
to find that, during his years of reckless living, his
Lights on Scripture Truths. 97
young son had been following him. The son had gone
still further away, and all of the father^s efforts to
bring him back v^exe of no avail.
On the other hand, there is comfort in the thought
that, if we are climbing upwiard, we will be sure to
inspire other souls to do the same thing. And I be-
lieve that, when we reach the better country, we will
find those who date their start in the upward way to
the moment w^hen we folded our tents and set our faces
toward Canaan.
WEIGHTED PRAYEES.
When it became known among the friends of a
cert.ain gentleman that he was going to go abroad, they
came in great numbers to see him, each one with a
commission for him to execute^ A lady wanted him
to buy her a real Paris bonnet; a scientific friend
wanted a microscope, and so on with all who oame to
see him. When they had gone away, he looked over
the list and found, to his dismay, that if he made all
these purchases he would have no money with which
to meet the expense of the trip. Of all the number,
only one had bro-ught the money with which to pur-
chase what he wanted.
When the man returned, his friends gathered round
him eager to see what he had brou^t back. To their
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surprise, they found that he had made but one of the
purchases he had been asked to make.
"One day, as I sat upon the deck, looking over
your lists, a breeze came and blew them all away
except this one,'' ha explained.
"But how could that be?'' some one questioned,
"Ah!" was the reply, ^^his ordejr was weighted
down. It had the silver wrapped up in it."
Do you see the point? Real, prevailing prayer
must have your very best offering of self and substance
wrapped up in it. When you pray for the relief of
the poor, is your prayer anything more than words?
When you somewhat peremptorily instruct the Lord
to convert the heathen, is there any silver wrapped
up in your prayer?
HOW TO TELL THE DIFFEEENCE.
Some one tells the story of a man who made a
bee which, by some automatic arrangement, went
buzzing around so naturally that he challeoiged his
friends to distinguish between them when the real
and the counterfeit were placed t.ogether. By and
by some one brought a bunch of clover and placed it
near them. Immediately one of the bees went for the
clover, and began to extract honey from it; the other
simply kept on buzzing. This is a pretty good illusr
Lights on Scripture Truths. 99
tration of the difFeremce betAveen the real and the arti-
ficial Christian. They may make so nearly the same
professions that you can distingnish no difference.
The presence of some duty is usually the test. The
real Christian is drawn to it, while the false one sim-
ply keeps on buzzing.
ONE KIND OF QUESTIONER
There is the story of the keeper of a little railroad
station in northern Michigan, who had been instructed
to flag the train when there was a passenger to go
aboard. Accordingly, on the first morning he hoisted
the signal, and the train came to a standstill.
"Where are your passengers?" the conductor queE-
tioned, as he stepped down upon the platform.
"Well," rejoined the old man coolly, "there was n^t
anybody tliat wanted to get on, but I 'lowed maybe
somebody might want to get off."
There is no more admirable or useful trait than
that of healthful curiosity. And we all owe more or
less to the individual who "wants to know" and is n't
ashamed to say so. He is a good person to keep close
to. But there is a good deal of questioning that has
its source in an altogether different motive. Who
hasn't seen workers hindered and their valuable time
consumed by some one who was intent on propounding
LafC,
100 Side Windows; or^
a "poser" ratli©r tlian on re>ally getting information ?
When we see men stopping missionary and En-
deavor workers, the blessedness of whose labors can
not be doubted, with all sorts of irrelevant questions,
we are led to suspect that, instead of seeking infor-
mation that theiy may get on and help, they desire
rather to induce some one to get off.
ONLY A BLOCK.
Many years ago, a city, situated in an arid region,
was supplied with water from a beautiful lake far up
in the mountain. One day, in the midst of the hot,
dry season, the water supply gave out, and the word
went from month to mouth : "The lake is dry !"
Twenty-four hours passed, the people were famishing
for water, when one man declared his intention of
climbing up to the lake, hoping to find a little water.
Imagine his joy when he found the beautiful lake not
dry, but overflowing.
All of the water which supplied the city must pass
through a great leaden pipe. Into this a block of
wood had floated, and had become so closely wedged
siiS to stop the flow of the water.
This is a fair illustration of what a very insignifi-
cant block of humanity may do in the way of hinder-
ing the progress of God's work in the world. It is a
Lights on Scripture Truths. 101
wholesome thought for us to carry home, that there
are some souls in the world that will never receive
the blessings of the gospel if we do not see to it our-
selves.
EEJECTING DELIVEEA^sTCE.
There is the s-tory of a man of great wealth and
goodness, who had heard that a little girl had been
taken captive by a band of robbers, and was being
cruelly treated. He resolved to rescue her.
The journey was long and perilous, and when at
last he made his way into the robbers' camp, he was
bruised and bleeding, and could scarcely drag himself
along for wearines-s-. But at the sight of the prisoner
he forgot his sufferings.
^^I have come to save you,'' he said, stretching out
his bleeding hands. ^^I will give you my name, and
you shall live with me in my own beautiful home."
The young girl saw the wounded hands and feet — •
she knew that he had borne it all for her; but she
shook her head and said, ^^I will not come now,'^ and,
turning away from his pleadings, she went back to her
old life of bondaga She had not spoken a disrespect-
ful word. She had even wept a little, when he plead
with her, yet the fact remained that she had despised
his offer and the love that prompted it. Her sense of
102
Side Wmdoics; or.
value was peirvetrted, because she saw more in her
wretched life than in the one that had been offe'red
her.
Let every one who rejects Christ read here the
story of his own ingratitude.
A TAEOTSHED NAME,
A lady concluded to buy a grapevine of a man
who was selling nursery stock. She selected the one
she thought she wanted, but when she heard the name
of it she refused to take it. An aunt of hers out in
Iowa had a vine of that kind, and it never bore fruits
The nurseryman tried to convince her that the trouble
was not with the kind of vine, but with the special
one to which she referred. It is the same way with
unworthy Christians. They cause some people to
think badly of Christians in general.
WALK WITH ME.
If the commonest of us do not find opportunity for
saving souls, it is because we do not follow in the foot-
steps of Him whose pathway always lay hard by^the
door of the needy and sinful.
A company of students were in the habit of going
with a favorite teacher to the forest in search of bo-
IJghts on Scripture Trufhs. 103
tanical specimens. There Tvere those who invariably
brought back valuable trophies; a few, however, re-
ported having found nothing worth while. One of the
latter complained to the teacher of the barrenness of
his search. ^^Walk beside me to-morrow," the teacher
answered, ^^and I assure von that vou will not return
emptv-handed.'^
Fellow Christian^?, if your life has been barren of
results, take thisi to yourself. Go taucli widi your
feet His footprints. I need not remind you where
they will lead you. If you follow^ Him, he will inaJce'
you a fisher of men. It is a costly thing to follow the
Son of man, who despised all things that he might win
souls for the kingdom of heaven.
BE FEAIO:.
While the soul-winner has need of \ tact (a name
which we give to the wisdom that cometh only from
above), anything short of frankness is sure to disgust
those upon whom it is tried. Frankness, let us keep
in mind, however, does not mean the brutal rudeness
that sometimes masquerades under that nama The
Christian has always a loving mind toward those he
wishes to reach, and is, therefore, kindest in his speech
when he is most candid. If you are interested in peo-
ple, and want them to become Christians, tell them sa
104 Side Windoivs; of.
Do it delicately and considarajtely, but do n't sham
about it. A lady visiting in a minister's family was
told of some bright, genial people in the neighborhood,
who were, however, irreligious, and never even went
to church.
^T will go and see them," she said.
^^What will you have fo'r an, excuse?" said the
hosteiss. ^^Oh, yes; take this pattern. Mrs. B
asked me for it the other day."
"But I do n't want an excuse," was the reply. "I
want them to know that some one is interested in them."
As a result of that visit, not only the father and
mother, but the son, were led to regularly attend church
and eventually to become Christians. "It touched me
as nothing ever did before," as the mother said after-
ward, "to know that some one was anxious about me
and was praying that I might be^come a Christian."
THEKE 'S A MAIsT 1^ THEKE !
In a certain city, a great building was on fire.
Along the street were great cro^vds of men and boys
watching the fire. They were retarding the efforts of
the firemen, but even the policemen were powerless in
their endeavors to keep them back. Suddenly there
was a cry: "There's a man in there!" Like a flash
tihe words went from lip to lip, and in an instant the
Lights on Scripture Truths. 105
indifferent Iwkers-on were eager to do somethings even
to the risking of their own lives, to save the life that
was in jeopardy. Men and women will be ready eaiough
to ^^throw out the life-line" when we can get them to
realize that some one is actually drowning. Impress
the church with the peril of those who ai^ out of Christ,
and we will have conquered, in a great measure, its
apathy upon the subject of the evangelization of the
world.
AK Ui^FAILIXG TEST.
There is a great deal said about drawing the line
between sinful and harmless pleasures, that might be
settled by answering the question, ^^What hold doe^ it
usually have upon people?" Kny pleasure that has
made men lose their judgment, as Herod in the case
of the dancing girl, may be set down as sensual and
worldlv.
In a certain circle one winter the craze for dancing
broke out The greater number of those who engaged
in it were Christians. The pastor expostulated with
them. A few renounced it, but the greater number
said: ^^If we must choose between the church and the
dance, we v/ill give up the church." A lady, who had
thus far looked upon it as a harmless amusement, said :
^'There must be something in it I have failed to dis-
.106 Side Windows; or,
cover. It is enough for me, though, to knpw that there
is no safety in that which has so fascinated young
men and women that they have eixpressed a. willing-
ness to give up for it that on which their hope of
heaven depends/'
GETTING ADVICE AND TAKING IT.
"It seems strange that nothing could have heem
done for her/' some one was saying of a woman who
had just died. "I have been told that she consulted
some of the most eminent physicians in the country."
"Oh, yes.; she oonsjulted them/' was the rerply.
"The trouble was that it ended there. She never took
the advice they gave her."
The . same is true of a good many of us. It is n't
that there has been a lack of advice, but rather a r€h
fusal to take it.
WHAT IS YOUE BUSINESS?
"What is your business?" or, as the Yankee would
put it, "What are you driving at ?" is the question that
shapes everything about our lives. It forms our habits,
chooees our friends, and determines the road we will
take. If you meet a man with his fishing-rod on his
shoulder, you don't need to ask him what be h goek-^
Lights on Scripture Triitlis. 107
ing. You don't wonder if he isn't going out to pick
grapes. I believe tha-t each one of us carries about us
that which proclaims the object that we have in view.
A man who goes into the mines dressed like a miners
and with a pick on his shoulder, may say that he is
merely going to look at the scenery, but nobody will
believe him. So, if we are dressed in the garments
of the world and persist in hanging about its quarters,
the fact that we call ourselves Christians is n't going
to carry much weight with it.
THEY KJTOW 'EOT WHAT THEY DO.
When Jesus hung upon the cross, he said : "They
know not what they do.'' Neither do they know what
they do who turn away from him now. Some chil-
dren were playing in the yard when the mother called
them.
"I 'm not going in," one of them said, "it is so
lovely here, and I haven't been outdoors half long
enough." It was not until it was too late that the
child found out what it had missed. His mother had
called him that he might go with her to a beautiful
place up the river, which he had been longing to see.
So, when God calls us to his service, there are so many
who say, "Oh, I don't want to give up this or that
pleasure ;" or, "I can't afford to follow him. It will
.108 Side Windows; or,
cost too much/' Oh, if we could only get them to see
the other side! Accepting him does mean giving up
some things ; but I tell you these things will look very
poor and mean to you when once you have tasted what
God has for those that love him.
WHY HE IS WT HUET.
In a menagerie the public was wont to be delighted
over an exhibition in which the lion and the lamb
actually lay down together. Subsequent developments,
however, revealed the fact that the lamb was a stuffed
one. This is an illustration of what you vdll gener-
ally find on investigating cases where the saint leagues
himself with the children of darkness, and yet boasts
that he is not harmed by it. The sheep in the lion's
cage looked genuine enough, and so it was, so far as
the outside was concerned, but the lion recognized its
natural prey by som€fthing else besides skin.
WITHOUT PAIN,
Occasionally I see something like this appended to
a dentist's advertisement: ^^Teeth extracted without
pain." It always brings to my mind the story of a
man .who went to one of these dentists to have a toot.h
removed. The operation was exceedingly painful, and
Lights on Scripture Truths. 109
tlie man was indignant ^^I thought you said that you
extracted teeth without pain," he roared.
^^So I did/' returned the dentist, ^^and I assure you
that I extracted this one without the least pain. I
did n't even feel it''
"There is really nothing painful about confessing
a sin," said an individual noted for his censorious
spirit
"J^To, not if it happens to be the sin of your neigh-
bor," was the quick reply.
It is St good deal the same in many other line©.
We are readv to correct our friends' faults and reform
their lives by a painless process — so far as we our-
selves are concerned. What it costs them is another
matter.
EEPEATING THE PEOMISES.
Jesus had regard to the human need of his disciples
when he reminded them of his promises. Just how
much they owed to these frequent reminders we can
not know. ITor do we know how much we owe to the
open Word, where we may go day by day and be
assured that "He has promised."
Cold reason might say that we have no need to
read again and again what he has said. But it is the
experience of every heart that, anon, as the way nar-
110 Side Windoius; or,
rows, and thick clouds shut ooit the light, we need to
hoar his voice saying, ^^Lo, I am with you alway/'
The mother bending over her child repeating, ^^Mother
loves you ; mother will take care of you !'' tells it noth-
ing new, and yet how those words calm and cheer the
troubled little heart So, "as one whom his mother
comforteth," he means that we shall be reminded of
his love over and over again.
LIFE'S LITTLE PIECES.
In most things we are reasonable enough to with-
hold judgment until we have examined them in their
entirety. Eor instance, no man attempts to judge as
to the vastness and grandeur of the ocean because he
has seen a cup of its water ; to the beauty and strength
of a building from a bit of the brick of which it is
built, or of the purpose of the author from a word
cut here and there from one of his books. When we
look at our own lives, however, logic seems to weaken,
and we draw the most unreasonable conclusions. We
plunge into some dark cavern and straightway raise
the lament, "Oh that all my labor and pains should
have come to this! Oh that God should have turned
a deaf ear to my pleadings !" If we would wait long
enough, we would see that we have been gently forced
into the only avenue through which the light we asked
Lights on Scripture Truths. Ill
for can be reached. Israel stubbornly refusing to look
beyond for the land to which the Lord their God would
lead them, is not without a counterpart in our modern
life.
THE COST or A GOOD KEPUTATIOK
A young man, who had been active in Christian
work, went to a distant city to take a position. Some
time afterward a friend, calling on him, mentioned
his former work in the presence of some of his new
acquaintances. The young man looked annoyed, and
when he and his friend were alone, he said : "I did n't
intend that tliese people should know about my church
work."
^^I am sure your record was n't one to be ashamed
of," his friend rejoined.
^^Oh, no," was tbe answer, ^*but I didn't want
them to expect so much of me." The fact was that he
had made up his mind to lower the standard of his
Christian living, and did not want those with whom
he associated to expect anything better of him.
There is a warning in the incident. While it cost^
something to win a good reputation, it also costs some-
thing to hold fast to it. If there ever comes a time
when you feel that you would a little rather those
around you did ii't know you professed to be a Chris-
113 Side Windoiosj or,
tian, you need to question yourself closely as to the
reason. Peter, who denied his Lord, first sought to
have it appear that he belonged, not to the disciples,
but to the crowd.
MAKE THEM HUNGKY.
A young girl had recovered from a long illness,
and had no appetite. The doctor told her friends to
take her wheTO she could watch them eating, and to
talk to each other, in her presence, about good things
to eat. By and by she said, ^^I believe I 'd like to
taste that.'^ I want to tell you that I believe we might
make a good many people hungry for the living bread
by applying the same principle. A young Christian
said, "I remember the first thing that led me to think-
ing about becoming a Christian, was hearing the girla
talk about how they enjoyed the sunrise prayer-meet-
UNWAEEAlstTED EAITH.
A man that had proven a failure at everything
that he undertook, finally decided that it was his
mission to preach. After he had begun his work he
came home one night and offered up, in the presence
of his wife, a prayer, in which he outlined rather
minutely what he thought the Lord ought to do» ^^I
Lights on Scnpture Truths. 113
know the Lord will answer that prayer/' he said con-
fidently to his wife. When the good woman seemed
to dissent, he was very indignant, and questioned ex-
citedly, ^^Haven't you faith in God?'' 'Tes/' was
the calm rejoinder, ^^I Ve got too much faith in him
to suppose that he's going to trust you to run his
business for him." This is a distinction we do not
always make. The faith that doesn't trust God ex-
cept when he lets us have our own way is a poor sort.
YOURSELF AXD OTHERS.
The newspaper wag represents Mrs. Housekeeper
bubbling over with indignation because of some butter
one of her neighbors has just brought in, in return
for some she had borrowed.
'^Jane," she says angrily, addressing the servant,
^^I telieve this is tie very same butter I loaned that
woman this morning." Jane sniffs at tlie butter and
agTees that it smells like it.
"Well," continues the injured woman, "I don't
see how she could have the assurance to send such
stuff here."
The dlifference was, of course, not between the
butter sent and that received, but in the sender and
the recipient. A good many things beside butter would
seem mere unpalatable to us, when sent to us from our
114 Side Windows; or,
neighbors, than when we ourselves are the senders.
It may be a needed thing that you give your friend
^^a piece of your mind/' but before you do it put your-
self in his place for a moment and ask how you
would receive it, if this same friend were to atteonpt
to correct you for some of your own faults. It might
not keep back the rebuke, but you would at least be
likely to temper it with mercy.
AN EASY YOKE.
A young preacher, visiting for the first time in the
country, was reading aloud the words of Christ about
bearing his yoke.
"How do you understand that reference to^ the
yoke?'^ his host questioned.
The young man began to say something about it
standing for the hardships we endured for Christ's
sake, when the farmer stopped him.
"Look here,'' he said, "do you know why I put
a yoke on my oxen this morning when I took them
out to draw a load of stone?''
"Why, I suppose it was to keep them from getting
away," the young man replied.
"Just as I supposed. You thought, while it was
necessary, it was adding a burden to the neck that
carried it ? On the contrary, it simply unites the two
Lights on Scripture Truths, 115
for service, and the strength of the one becomes the
strength of the other/'
Christ's yoke, my brother, unites you to him for
service. Instead of being itself a load, it becomes pos--
sible for you to bear the load that you have.
The popular conception of tlie yoke of Christ is
not the true one. Even those who come into the
church often seem to think that the one purpose of
it all is to keep them from breaking into something
that they ought to keep out of.
When Jesus declared his yoke to be an easy one,
he did not say that men found it easy to assume it.
On the contrary, his words have rather the sound of
reassurance to those who approach his service with
trembling and doubt. The ox doubtless finds the yoke
hard to adjust, and, before it is put to use, irksome.
So those of us who have followed the behest of selfisli
inclination must come to the new life in the spirit of
self-denial.
A COSTLY MISTAKE,
Xot long ago one of our large daily papers was
forced to pay an extensive damage bill for printing
an advertisement that a certain firm would sell hoaise
dresses at 9c., when it should have been 99c. A large
number of persons were misled by the statement, and
116 Side Windows; or,
the results on both sides were disastrous. We say it
served the publishers right, and will certainly lead
them to be more careful. Perhaps so; but may not
others besides publishers find here a warning ? If it is
a serious thing to mislead people as to the price of
things that perish with the using^ what shall wei say
of It when we fail to present the terms of salvatioai
according to the divine copy?
Present the bright side of the religion of Christ
to the world, because It has a side whose brightness
is beyond anything the world can offer, but do n't
cheapen it by making people believe that it doesn't
cost anything to be a Christian. If the plan of salva-
tion were yours or mine, the omission of a few details
would probably make little difference, but since it is
of God there is but one way left to us.
SAVED TO SEEVE.
I once knew an old man who was possessed with a
mania for buying up wheels of all sorts. A wheel,
whether from a, wagon, a cart or a wheel-barrow, poe^
sessed peculiar attractions for him; and yet In all his
life he never owned even a wheel-barrow. He did not
put his wheels to any use. He is a pretty good coun-
t^erpart of the man the ultimatum of whose idea of
successful church work is that of getting people to
Lights on Scripture Truths. 117
join cliurch. A good many churches where this idea
has been, followed up axe, therefore, practically noth-
ing iriore than a heap of wheels and bolts and bars
that are of no use because they have been put to none.
"Saved to serve^' is a good motto, but it implies
more- than we aire sometimes disposed to take into
consideration. It means that we must train people
as well as save them. It is not enough that we induce
men and womeai^ to be good; we are to see to it that
they are put in the way of becoming good for -some-
thing.
BELIEVE m THEM.
More lost men and women have been rescued by
the thought that somebody belie\'ed in them, than by
any other human agency. There is nothing thai will
go so far toward making your class the most giddy
or the most unruly class in, the school, as to once let
them know that they bear such a reputation.
I recall just now a striking instance of this sort.
In a certain village the grade of conduct in the public
school had fallen so low that the teachers universally
agreed that it was beyond them. One after another
came with stern visage and artfully laid plans, deter-
mined to conquer the belligerents. But all in vain. At
length there came a teacher, a lover of young people,
and a man of such guileless mind that he seemed to
lis Side Windows; or,
have no other thought than that his gentleness would
be refturned in kind. To their own astonishment, the
scholars found that there Avas something about him
that put them on their good behavior when they were
in his presenca Still, there were threats as to the
daring pieces of mischief they would execute in his
absence.
One day, after he had been with them not quite
a week, he had occasion to go into one of the other
departments.
^^You may go on with your studies just as though
1 were here,'' he said naturally. They looked at each
other in astonishment, ^o other teacher had ever
thought of trusting them out of his sight. They were
suspicious. It must be some kind of a trap he was
setting for them. But they were mistaken. When
they found that they had been really left alone, they
were silent for a moment from sheer astonishment.
Then the boy made bold to shy his geography across
the room at the head of one of his schoolmates. But
the fun, like the book, fell flat, and looks of disap-
proval were cast upon him. They seemed to say, ^^We
are not afraid of whippings and scoldings, but a man
that believes in us when nobody has told him anything
good about us, is too much."
That man remained for almost ton years with the
school, and saw it rise to be an acknowledged model.
Lights on Scripture Truths. 119
He saw those boys and girls develop into a manhood
and womanhood that was in every way different from
anything of which they gave promise before they came
in contact with him.
GIVE HIM THE BEST.
A young man, who had been employed to act as
night watchman for a large business concern, made a
practice of spending his days going on pleasure jaunts
and coming to his post at night breathless and ex-
hausted. The result was that he soon lost his place,
because of the indifferent manner in which he per-
formed his work. 'No man can come into the kingdom
and serve God. well if he has spent the early pai*t of
his life aiid strength in serving self.
A SEEIOUS RESULT.
There came to one of our large cities, a year ago,
a young man unused to the ways of the world. He
was an easy prey to the tempter, and it looked for
awhile as though he had utterly gone to the bad. K
young man found him and heartily and cordially in-
vited him to church. He went, and was so impressed
with what seemed to him to be the unaffected piety of
the young people^ that he began to believe tiiat there
120 Side Windows; or,
must be something real in the religion of Christ. Af-
ter the lapse of several weeks, he felt that a crisis had
come, and so he resolved to seek out the young man
who had befriended him, and ask his advice.
Going to the house, he was shown into a brillianir
ly lighted parlor, where a half dozen yo'ung men were
engaged in a game of cards. Among the players was
the one who had been to him these weeks the embodi-
ment of all that was consecrated and unworldly. lie
did not stop to reason that it was merely "a little
social game;" the cards had an association that noth-
ing could reconcile with the solemn vows and prayers
to which he had listened. The young man himself was
embarrassed. He had told himself over and oveir
again that there was no hann in what bo was doing,
and yet — the idea of meeting thu-s the young man he
had urged to forsake the world and come to Christ,
was distui^bing. He felt that his hold upon the
stranger was gone forever, and so it was. The young
fellow went from the hotise railing at himself for Hav-
ing been made a fool of, and at Christian profession as
empty and hypocritical. The end of the story is the
saddest part of all. The young man wEo had been
so near the kingdom, went out of life in the midst of
a disgraceful drunken brawl.
Of course, I know that what seemed the inconsist-
ency of one who had professed consecration to Christ,
Lights on Scriptu7^e Truths. 121
was no excuse; but, if for nothing more than foT the
sake of keeping the weak one from falling, would n't
it have been ^vorth while for him to have given up that
which it is so well understood belongs to the world ?
If you want to make certain that you are ready for
the revival, and that worldly people will not laugh in
their sleeves and say, ^^Oh, what a Christian ! He has
to go to the same places w© do for his pleasures,'^
suppose you try reading those wo-rds of Paul's, some-
thing like thiSj ^^If progressive euchre and the dance
make my brother to offend, I will engage in them no
more while the world standeth."
HOME EVANGELISM.
It may be a hard thing to do, but that person makes
a mistake who passes by the humblest member of his
own household, and goes outside to invite people to
accept Christ. A very worldly woman once said:
"I don't know many Christians, but somehow I
canH help regarding them as hypocrites."
^^But your sister-in-law, she lives in the same house
with you; surely you must acknowledge that she is
a devoted Christian."
"That 's just it," was the laughing reply. "She
has a very lovely disposition, and she just devotes her
life to missions and Sunday-schools, but she has never
122 Side Wlndoius; or,
said a word to me about becoming a Ohristian. It 's
only make-believe with her about souls being in danger.
You need n't tell me! I know that she 's fond of me,
and if she believed all that, do you think &he wouldn't
have said something?"
INTO ALL THE WOELD.
^^Go, bring in all the fruit from my orchard/' the
father commands.
^^Not all of it/' the son objects. ^^Some of it is
so poor."
"Go, gather it all."
"But some of It is so far up in the trees. It will
not pay for the labor."
"What is that to you ? Do as I bid you."
YOUE ANCHOE.
The city was brave with flags and bunting; every-
body seemed to be more or less bent on celebrating In-
dependence Day. The trains wore carrying loads of
people out of the city, while down at the wharf the
scene was a gay one. Boat after boat took on its load
of human freight and bounded away across the water
till only one was left — a trim little yacht, whose fresh-
ly painted sides and clean canvas told that it had not
Lights on Scripture Truths, 123
yet tested its powers against wind and wave. The
wind came and whispered ta it as though inviting it to
go. How happy and free the others looked, riding on
this wave, and then on that ; what happy shores might
lie over yonder where the water seemed to touch the
sky! The little craft began to tug gently as though
longing to go. But, alas ! it was powerless ; it was fas-
tened to a great, heavy weight, that held it fast, so
that all day long it rocked to and fro, as though chafing
against the unseen hindrance that kept it so close to
the sheltering shore.
There was a storm that afternoon, and the clouds
that a few hours ago had looked like angels of peace,
blackened and spread till the heavens were a sheet of
menacing blackness. The pleasure-seekcTS were, many
of them, taken unawares, and the end of the pitiful
story was told the next day by the broken fragments
that strewed the shore. But the yacht ? Ah ! the storm
had not touched it, and there it lay serene and smiling
like a thing of life. It knew now that the heavy thing,
whose weight' it had fejt so painfully, wais onl^ a
friendly anchor, which had held it fast when the wind
would have swept it away.
Do you find your sermon there, my brother?
There were tbose plans you laid; you- were ceirrtain
that success lay in their fulfillment; but just when
you were ready to venture out, something hindered
124 Side Windows; or,
you, and you wondered th^t God could allow! it to be
so. Of course, you learned long ago that It was all a
mistake, and you are glad for the hindrance, only it
was not a hindrance. It was an anchor; call it that,
and thank God for it, and never again think of it as
a matter of chance.
THE BEST PEEACHING.
Some years ago, an old woman went to make her
home in a wretched cabin in one of the mining dis-
tricts of Pennsylvania. The peoj3le were wicked and
vicious, and the only church in the neighborhood was.
five miles away. Yet every Sunday morning the old
woman might have been seen hobbling feebly along the
road that led to the meeting-house. Here and there
throughout the entire distance were scattered the cabins
of the miners ; and as she passed, many of them would
stop their carousings long enough to fling some blas-
phemous taunt at her. But beyond an occasional word
of kindness, or a gentle entreaty to them to go with
her, the old saint took their railings in silence.
One day the word went from mouth to mouth that
Mother Eulton was dead, and a man was dispatched
to the town for a preacher. During the funeral seir-
vioes tihe rough men and ^vomen stood quiet and re-
spectful; and many hardened cheeks were wet with
Lights on Scripture Truths. 125
tears. As the preacher finished, one of the men
stepped up to him.
"We want you to come back again, parson/' he
said. "We never had any use for such things, but
if you can tell what made her like that/' inclining his
head toward the pine coffin, "we '11 listen to you."
Thus a long-sought-for door was opened, and a
harvest of souk wa^ the result. While the preacTier
had been preaching Christ from the pulpit, this woman
had every Sunday been preaching a sermon five miles
long; and all along that road she traveled, a harvest
was gathered.
We have certainly no need to envy those who, witli
the "tongues of men and of angels," reach the multi-
tudes. You may, if you will, preach e\^ery day a ser-
mon' the length of the sti^eet up and down which you
pass, or deliver sermons twelve houi*6 long to those
at your fireside. The world mav do .as it will with
what we say; it can not resist what we do.
WITH OOMMOX SE]S^SE.
The value of most good things is relative, and
means and methods are always to be considered in
connection with the people upon whom they are to
be used. There is a story of a young woman who, on
her summer outing, spent two mights on an ocean
126 Side Windows; or,
steamer. '^1 am almost dead for sleep/^ she confided
to a friend, when she had reached her destination.
^^I read the directions for putting on the life-preserver,
and tried to follow them, but I suppose I did n't get it
right. Anyway, I couldn't sleep a mite with it on.''
IsTow, the probabilities are that the life-preserver was
all right, and that the young woman had literally
followed directions. The trouble was that she was
using it at the wrong time. Let us get a lesson from
this; the fact that severe measures are necessary and
successful on certain occasions does not justify us in
resorting to them at all times. Don't neglect to use
the homely commodity of common sense.
BE SINOEEE.
A gentleman one day came across a beggar, who,
while wearing a card lettered, "I 'm blind," gave
pretty good evidence that such was not the case.
^^You are no more blind than I am," the gentleman
»aid.
"ITo ; but the man I bought out was," was the reply.
"He said it paid him, but I 've found it a mighty poor
route."
There are a good many people that have no thought
that they ajrel guilty of hlypocirisy, who wiear -labels
and adopt cant phrases just because somebody else has
Lights on Scripture Truths, 127
made a success that way, all tlie while Avondering why
they are such dismal failures. Don't say, ^^I am
an imworthy and unprofitable servant/' if you do n't
feel that way, or that you are conscious of your lack
of ability, if you are not. These professions are all
well enough when worn by those who make them sin-
cerely, otherwise they are not.
TEUST A2^D OBEDIE^^CE.
"Are you not uneasy as to the outcome of this ill-
ness ?" some one asked of a sick man.
"^N'o," was the reply. "Dr. B is attending
me, and he says he can pull me through. I trust him
fully." ^And yet the man died. What was the trou-
ble? Misplaced confidence? i^o; the doctor was all
he professed to be. The patient did not do his part.
He refused to obey the doctor's orders. It is vain for
men to trust the Great Physician so long as they do
not obey his commands.
YOUK BEST FKIEND.
A young woman who makes her own living, and
a very good one, too, put fifty cents into the basket
when the collection was taken for Foreign Missions,
and seemed rather complacent over it. The friend be-
128 Side Windotos; or,
side her, whose circumstances were about equal to her
own, dropped in a five-dollar hill.
A ferw days later the two went out to select wed-
ding presents for a mutual friend. The fifty-cent
young woman bought one, which she grumbled was
quite beyond her means; the other invested seventy-
five cents in a modest little gift.
"Really," said the first young lady, indignantly, "I
should be ashamed to give anything of so little value
to my best friend.'^
"Very likely," was the reply, %VLt we have changed
places since Sunday. You may coimt Miss Smith a
better friend than the Lord, but I do not."
A NEGLECTED OPPOETUNITY.
The whole church, and particularly those who were
interested in the Sunday-school, felt that they were
subjects foir congratulation when Miss Lexicon con-
sented to take a class. She was teacher of ancient hisr
tory in the college, and was an enthusiast on the sub-
ject of Sunday-schools. She impressed the pastor with
this fact upon the occasion of their first meeting.
"We really have no thorough teaching in the Sun-
day-school," she said decidedly. The good man, re-
membering how many of the souls that had come into
the kingdom under Hs preaching, whose conversion
Lights on Scripture Truths. 129
he attributed directly to the influence of the Sund^-
school teacher, acquiesced rather doubtfully. But y^hen.
she told him of how one very bright young persom
had spoken confidently of Joseph, the husband of Mary,
as having been sold into Egypt by his envioms breth-
ren, and of another adult scholar who ,had the im-
pression that Palestine was the chief -cifcy of the
Jews, be was quite ready to agree with her. A
class of young men, who had been very irregular in their
attendance at the Sunday-school, was given to her, and
for awhile the superintendent rubbed his hands joyfully
over the great interest that was manifested by these
hitherto indifferent young people. There was a good
deal of disappointment, however,, when a little later
a series of meetings, at which the gospel invitation was
lovingly and earnestly presented, met with no response
from them. At the very close of the meetings there
came a Sunday so stormy that no more than a score
ventured out Miss Lexicon was in her place; so also
was one of her pupils — a young man whose reckless
life had been a source of much sorrow to his friends.
Had Miss Lexicon been less deeply absorbed in some
diflScult points in the text, she would have noticed the
look of nervous interest on his face. He did not come
back to the evening service, but went instead with a
gay party across the country foT a sleigh-ride. The
sleigh was struck by the fast train and the young man
ISO Side Windows; or,
went out of life without a moment's warning. The
niother sent for Miss Lecxicon.
^^You were the last one that talked with him/^ she
said; ^Vhat did yo<u talk about?''
"About the probable location of the temple and the
influence of such a structure upon the architeeture of
that time/' she faltered, reluctantly.
For the first time in her life, and when it was too
late, Miss Lexicon realized the meaning of the word
"opportunity."
HOW THE SALOON BOTHEKED HIM.
A young man, just going into business, was asked
to join a society, the purpose of which was the sup-
pression of the saloon.
"If every young man were like I am," he said,
"the saloons would close soon enough. I never
bother saloons, and am not afraid that they will
bother me." His business was that of manu-
facturing soaps, and he had put into it all of
his capital. A chemist of considerable ability had
charge of the laboratory, and had furnished the
formula and cost of the goods. After the factory
had been Iii operation for some time, it became evident
that something was wrong. The proprietor was hope-
lessly involved, and a failure was thQ result, Investi-
Lights on Scripture Truths, 131
gation proved tliat he had been selling the soap at about
one-half the cost of production. The chemist had been
under the influence of liquor when he made out his
estimate, and the mistake cost the young man all his
earthly possessions.
MACHINES OR MEN?
^^Why did n't God make it impossible for me to do
wrong?'' some one asks. My brother, "a thing'' con-
structed like that would n't have been a man. It
would have been a machine. No one ever feels like
taking off his hat to a combination of wheels and belts
and levers for performing its w^ork. It can't do any-
thing else. God has made it possible for every man
to be honorable and noble. If he had made it im-
possible for him to be anything else, honor and nobility
would be meaningless terms.
ALEEADY UNLOCKED.
What a great amount of fretting and blundering
we sometimos do over troubles that are already past!
Some time ago a pastor, wishing to show his nefw
church to a friend, took his key, and tlie two went to-
gether over to the chapel. Putting his key into the
lock, he made several attempts to unlock the door,
132 Side Wmdows; or,
but all in vain. He was on the point of going to find
the janitor, when the door opened from within and the
man himself appeared.
"What is the mattor with the door?" the pastor
questioned. "I tried a number of timeis, but oould
not unlock it.'^
"ITo wonder you could n^t/' the janitor replied.
"That door was already unlocked.''
There are those to-day who are standing outside of
the kingdom, trying first one key and then another
of their own forging, and all the while the door is
unlocked to all those that choose to enter in.
SAVING OR SHOWIiTG OFF.
Determination is a necessary qualification for the
soul-winner, but it is n't the only one. A man, who
had more determination than deivotion, heard a
preacher remark that the case of a certain man was
hopeless. He made up his mind to show the faithless
shepherd what be could do; so he worked day and
night till he had induced the man to confess Christ.
The convert was, however, soon disgusted with the
inconsistent life of the man who had urged him to
become a Christian, and fell back into his old ways.
The worker had silenced the preacher, but he had not
saved a sinner. The four men who brought the para-
Lights Oil Scripture Truths. 133
lytic to Christ were not simply determined to show the
CTQwd that when they started out to do a thing, they
were not to be hindered. The fact that Christ com-
mended their faith shows that they thoiis'ht more about
carrying the man than about carrying their point.
WASTING AXD SPEXDI^^G.
The proprietor of a country store was displaying
to a customer a piece of dress goods which he fished
out from a barrel of rubbish. The stuff was thin,
slazy and very narrow. On these grounds his cus-
tomer objected to it. "JTarrow?" the man roared, as
he drew yard after yard from the depth of the barrel,
^^but look at the length of it!'' There are not a fe^v
who, in like manner, seem to think of human life
that length of days will make up for all deficiencies.
Xot long ago a man, speaking of Frances Willard,
said: "Of course she did a great deal of good, but
she died twenty-five years before her time, because
she worked too hard."
IsTo doubt he was right; and yet a life like Fran-
ces Willard's, spun to the thinness her critics would
have advised, would have made her a centenarian, and
more. Length of life is beautiful only where the life
has breadth and depth also. A life is wasted, though
it be drawn out threescore and ten, if it has not been
134 Side Windows; or,
the servant of mem; and that life is profitably spent,
thougli its course be run in a score of years, if it has
made the world better. ^^He that saveth his life shall
lose it ; and he that loseth his life for my sake and the
gospel's, the same shall find it/'
CALLIKO THE EIGHTEOUS OE SINNEES?
"Won't yooi see if you can't interest that young man
in coming to church ?" I said the other day, to a young
Christian worker.
"What! that fellow?" he replied. "Why, I met
him on Vine Street yesterday with a cigarette in his
mouth."
I suppo'se that is the usual way of looking at such
cases, yet it is fearfully inconsistent.. If I were to
call on you to help get a drowning man out of the
water, you might doubt your ability to do so, but you
would hardly say, "What! that man? Why, his
clothes are wet!"
WEAE YOUE COLOES,
A young lady, a member of the church, and who
felt very complaisant in regard to her Christian life,
was thrown one winter a good deal into the society of
a young man who was not a Christian. One evening
Lights on Scrvpture Truths. 135
she went with him to a se.rviee where great religious
interest was being manifested. On the way home he
remarked :
^^After all, I do n't know but that you and I are as
well off as these church people."
^^But I am one of the church people myself/' she
stammered.
The young man made a polite attempt at an apology,
but the arrow had hit the mark. A private Christian
life is an essential thing, but the one who has no public
life is not likely to have a private one that is worth
taking account of.
EEJOICE IN THE LORD!
In a certain school several young women wore try-
ing to fit themselves for positions of usefulness. The
struggle against poverty was a fierce one, and over and
over again they were on the point of gi^'ing up. It
was not the fact that they were sometimes hungry,
and were continually the subjects of derision on the
part of some of the well-to-do students, which weighed
heavily upon them, but the fear that they might after
all be forced to abandon their purpose. One of the
young women, however, was never discouraged. She
ate her scanty crusts and wore her shabby clothing
with the utmost cheerfulness. The president of the
136 Side Windoius; orP
institutioai was her friend, and he had assured her
that she should not leave the school even though her
own means should be exhausted. When she had
lifted all she could, he would lift the rest. In the
midst of poverty not less grinding than that of her
associates, she was able to rejoice — not in herself, but
in her friend.
Do you not see. in this, my brother, something akin
to your own experience? In the midst of trial, not
unlike that which comes to the rest of the world, you
may rejoice — rejoice in the Lord, who has promised
to stand for you in the mo'ment of your need.
UNGKACIOUS THANKSGIVING.
At school, one Christmas, the scholars gave their
teacher a Bible. He was an eccentric man, and as he
took it, he said, very coldly : "^^I thank yoii very much,
but— I see it has no concordance in it." Of course^
they were all hurt at this show of ingratitude, and his
^^I thank you" didn't count for much. I am afraid
that a good many of us take our blessings from the
hand of God in much the same way. We say, ^T am
thankful," in a perfunctory manner, ^^but — I could
make things better if I had my way.''
When we repine because of the unalterable environ-
ments of our lives, we render our words of praise of
Lights on Scripture Truths. 137
no effect. A Cliristian grumbler is a monstrosity.
And if we go from the praise service to find fault with
everything about us, from the weather to the minis-
ter's sermon, we are guilty of dissembling with our
lips.
riEST PERSOX— PLUEAL.
A young man who had been a strong leader in
Christian work, went away from his old home and
there met with even greatCT s-uccess. On his return
to the home church, he was eagerly invited to take
his old place, which he did. This time, however,
everything seemed to go wrong, and it was not long
till it was plain that the ^yovk was on the doAvn-grade.
Mortified and hurt, he resigned the place, w^ondering
all the while where the trouble lay.
In truth, the first word of the first speech that he
made on assuming the place, revealed the root of the
trouble. ^^You Endeavorers,'' he beg^n, and with that
cut the cord that ooight to have bound leader and led
together. Then he was not one of them! The old
power to inspire and to lead was gone. This man
might be a gTcat deal better than they were, but he
was a straiager. The mistake is one against which
we need continually to guard. When we begin to
think of our brethren as "you,'^ there is the begin-
138 Side Windows; or,
ning of the etnd of our usefulness. Jesus became the
Sou of man because it was man he had come to save,
and the significance of that life which touched our
own at every point is something we dare not forget.
WHO IS HUKT?
The fact that you can go to the theater without
hurting your morals, no more proves that it is right
if or you to go than it is proof that it is not wrong for
a man to attend a prize-fight, because he comes hack
without a scratch or a bruise on his own body. He
is not physically hurt himself, but he is responsible
for the physical hurt of those who make beiasts of
themselves for his amusement.
The moral theater-goer should noft forget those the
wrecking of whose morals, which, while it is on
the other side of the scenes, is a part of the yearly
cost of the stage that must be kept up for his amuse-
ment.
IF YOU HAD WT TEIED.
The writer remembers an incident that, very early
in her career as a Sunday-school teacher, brought very
forcibly to her the fact that the teacher's work may
sometiiueis be a negative one. A man, noted for his
^Lights on Sci^ipture Timths. 139
great success in Siinday-scliool work, was questioning
me about my class.
"And wliat have you done for your boys ?" he said
kindly.
"Oh, I haven't done anything," I returned
impulsively. "Js'ot one of them has become a Chris-
tian ; indeed, I 'm not sure but they are all more
reckless than thev were when I took the class."
"Yes ?" and the answer that followed has helped
me and encouraged me a thousand times; "but just
remember, that if you had n't done anything for those
boys, they might have been clean gone to the devil by
this time."
WE THEF THAT AEE STEOIS^G.
A young girl, who was being urged to come into
the church, said franklv:
"I am fond of dancing and cards, and, though I
don't see any harm in them, I know most religious
people are opposed to them. Should I join the
church and keep on at those things, lots of people
would think I was a hypocrite."
"Well, what of that, if you are sure you are right ?"
"Why — Avhy, I 'd be harming the people who
did n't believe in me. At leasts, I could n't do them
any good." Out of her own mouth she had condemned
140 Side Windows; or]
herself. She had confessed that these worldly plea^
ures were responsible for her remaining ont of Chrisf,
and she had no reason for believing that her case wa^j
an exceptional one. She had admitted that they
spoiled the Christian influence of those who indulged
in them. The only plea in their favor was^, ^*^They
do not hurt me.'' Has this admonition gone out of
fashion, ^^We then that are strong ought to bear the
infirmities of the weak, and not to plq^^se ourselves/'
or have we substituted, ^^We then that are strong oiight
to do as we please because we can" ?
^THE MASTER HAS SAID IT."
A schoolmaster gave to three of his pupils a dlfB-
cult problem.
^^You will find it very hard to solve," he said, ^^but
there is a way."
After repeated attempts, one of them gave up in
despair.
^There Is no way!" he declared.
The second pupil had not succeeded, yet he was
smiling and unconcerned.
"I know it can be explained, because I have seen
It done."
The third worked on, long after the rest had given
up. His head ached and his brain was In a whirl.
'Lights on Scripture Truths, 141
Yet, as he went over it again and again, he said with-
out faltering, ^^I know there is a way, becan^ the
master has said it/'
Here is faith — ^that confidence that rests not upon
what it has seen, but upon the promises of God.
TWI^^ FEAUDS.
The other day a man was arrested and sent to the
workhouse on a peculiar charge. He had a very sore
hand: it not only excited the pity of mo-st people to
whom he insisted on exhibiting it, but it unfitted him
for manual labor. What was the trouble ? Why, the
man was keeping his hand sore, that he might escape
work, and live upon the bounty of kind-hearted people.
A young woman came into the society a year or
so ago, affected with prayer-meeting-tongue paralysis.
She had had it a long while; in fact, the pastor had
been greatly troubled about her case. Then she had
another affliction, that usually struck her when there
were strangers at the services, and kept her from giv-
ing them a word of welcome. We all hoped that the
Endeavor Society would help her to overcome her
troubles, but it hasn't. Shall I tell you why? She
ivont let herself he cured!
Like the man with the sore hand, she keeps pour-
ing on an irritant by declaring that she never could
142 Side Windows; or,
say anything in meeting, and that she is so dread-
fully timid that it ^ould frighten her to death to
have to greet a stranger. She remembers of having
once heard of a lady who turned her back on an En-
deavorer who tried to shake hands with her. What
if some one shoiuld treat her like that? She would
never get over it.
Her malady is bad enough, but, as in the case of
the man with the sore hand, there are compensations.
She gets some sympathy — and she gets out of a great
deal of work that people might otherwise insist on
her doing.
WHAT HEAVEN WILL BE.
A banquet was to be given to a number of notable
people. One of the projectors of it went to a friend,
who was in greater authority than himself, and asked
with some anxiety what the menu was to be.
"I really don't know," was the reply.
"And you are not concerned about it?''
"No; B ," mentioning the name of a famous
caterer, "Is to prepare the feiast, and that is assurance
enough that it will be all right."
He did not have to examine into the details. He
would not have fully understood them if he had. It
was enough to know that the matter was in the hands
Lights on Scripture Truths. 143
of one Avho never made a mistake. When Jesus said,
'^I go to prepare a place for yon/' he told all that
we need to know. He knows our needs and our long-
ings as w€ do not know them ourselves. It is enough.
If his hand is to make ready the feast, we have no
need to question as to whether or not it will fully
satisfy.
lEKEPEOACHABLE IDOLS.
The idols that the Israelites set up were made of
pure gold. It was not that there was something base
in the idols themselves, that made their sin so great,
it was the fact that the place they gave them belonged
to God. So, when something comes bet^veen^ us and
him to whom we owe e^^erythingj it is n't always some-
thing that is wrong. Yet just because of this there is
all the more danger.
A young man just starting in business desired
greatly to have money to devote to carrying the gospel
to the heathen. He said, ^^I long to get rich, that I
may carry out my plans for God."
He was sinc-ere enough in Avhat he said. But he
gave up the mid-week meetings of the church because
he found he could use this time profitably in his busi-
ness. The end justified the means to him. It was
Bot long before he threw aside everything but that
144 Side Windows; oi\
which ministered to hia one aim. He did become
rich, but lo'ng before that time he had forgotten all
about his first plan and put the god of mammon in
the place of the true God.
THE TIME IS SHOET.
In a certain factory, where each man was required
to finish so much work in a given length of time,
bells were rung at intervals to remind the men just
how: much time they had left.
"The men work better when they realize that the
day is slipping away from them/' the manager ex-
plained.
The same thing is true of us concerning spiritual
things. We need often to be reminded that ^^the time
is short." "The night cometh when no man can work."
We work better when we realize that the day is slip-
ping away from us.
THEY SHALL SEE GOD.
During the Civil War a young man was arrested
on the suspicion that he was a spy. In vain he pro-
tested his imrocence. The soldiers who took him had
what seemed to be the best proof of his guilt, so they
held him while they awaited the coming of the su-
Lights on Scripture Truths, . 145
perior officer before whom he was to be tried. What
was their astonishmeait to find, upon the arrival of
their superior, that the young man wias not only a
loyal soldier, but a personal friend of the officer him-
self.
"Were you not alarmed at the prospect before
you?" they asked of the young man.
"Ko/' was the reply; "I knew that I was inno-
cent, and that my friend would not allow any harm
to come to me. I could literally see him standing
between me and danger.'^
Thus it is that the pure-hearted man shall see God,
not merely in the life that is to come, but in every
hour of need he may look up as did Saint Stephen
and see God standing beside him as Master and Friend.
WHOM EICHES MAKE HAPPY.
I knew a man to w^hom riches brought happiness.
I do not believe he would have been happy without
them. When he was a mere boy he had a fine head
for business. He was wise, industrious, and had a
wonderfully clear financial insight. But he wanted to
be a preacher. He tried two years, and then said,
"I can't do that, but I will give the Lord the one
talent I have." So he became a stock-raiser. He was
fair, businesslike and paiinstaking. The resuJt was
146 Side Windoivs; or,
that he prospered marvelously. He became nofted for
the high grade of his stock and for his remarkable
sense of honor.
There were temptations, but he stood so firmly by
his Christian faith that men never felt that there was
anything incongruous about it when he stopped in the
midst of a business transaction and talked freely to
them of the greater riches. All the while he gave, he
gave for Christ's sake. ITever a needy soul that came
in contact with him went away without realizing that
here was a man to love and to honor.
Toilers in hard fields at home and abroad were able
to work with better heart because he gave of his sub-
stance, though many of them never knew his name.
He thought sometimes of his boyish dream of preach-
ing the gospel. Still it seemed to him the greatest
thing in tha world, but he was happy because he knew
that he was doing it. Riches had brought him happi-
ness.
HELP OTHEES— AND YOURSELF.
A lad saw a man lifting great, heavy weights. He
would lift them and then put them down just where
he found them. He did n't seem to be doing anything
in particular ; so, by and by, the boy asked the man
what he was trying to do. He said that lifting would
Lights on Scripture Truths. l-i7
make him strong. At once there was a question in the
lad's mind as to why, while he was at it, he didn't
lift something that needed to be lifted. Of course,
I need n't remind you that, spiritually, it is lifting that
makes us strong. Christian exercise, however, differs
from physical athletics in this : The man gets strength
when he is not making an effort in his own behalf at
all. As a rule, his own uplifting and strength come
to him as a surprise.
BE DEFIIs^ITE,
A certain evangelist, who had a marvelous faculty
for drawing audiences, and for holding their atten-
tion, was continually puzzled over the paucity of the
results of his preaching. The trouble was just here.
Instead of throwing all his power into the presenta-
tion of one truth, he flashed out one truth after an-
other, till his sermon was nothing more than an enter-
tainment.
Instead of a single* powerfully drawn picture, held
up until it had burned itself into the consciousness of
those that beheld it, there was a sort of stereopticon
entertainment, whose rapidly dissolving pictures left
only the impression that it had been ^Very beautiful."
A wicked man, who listened to the preacher, and
had been repeatedly moved to tears by the flow of
148 Side Windows; or,
pathos, was asked by some of his companions one
night what he had been crying about.
"That '9 the strangest part of it, boys/' he said
mysteriously; "I know that I cried like a fool, but
after I got out of the house, I studied the matter
over, and I couldn't toll for the life of me what it
was about/'
SO SHALL THY STEENGTH BE.
In a poor and remote district of a certain kingdom,
the peasants, had construoted la rud0 bridge. They
were unskilled, and their materials were poor; still,
by means of the bridge, they were able to cross the
roaring torrent to the forests beyond, where they went
daily to cut timber.
One day the royal messenger came that way to an-
nounce to the people that the king, with his attend-
ants, was coming, and would cross the bridge to the
territory that lay beyond. "Our poor bridge will be
ruined if the great chariot passes over it," they said,
"and we will not be able to build another one." But
they had scarcely done speaking, when a great army
of the king's stonemasons and bridge-builders appeared.
The old bridge was taken away and a splendid one,
with stone battlements and carefully fitted timbers,
took its place. But for the severe test, the weak, un-
Lights on Scripture Truths. 149
certain structurei migLt have remained. So, my
brother, do you not see that God blesses you in strength-
ening you for the trial, rather than in keeping the
trial from coming ? He has not promised to make the
day fit for your strength, but instead your strength
for the day.
^^I have always prayed that the Lord would spare
me that trial," a young Christian said the other day,
speaking of the experience of a friend. ^^My patience
is so small that I am certain I should never be able
to stand the test^'' You see, she made two mistakes;
one in thinking that the Father could so err in judg-
ment or in kindness as to bring together a man and
a burden that were not suited to each other ; the other
in thinking of him as fitting the burden to his chil-
dren, rather than his children to the burden.
^^BELONGING TO THE CHUKCH."
In the first place, there are more people who be-
long to tJie church than you have any idea of. Stat-
isticians tell us that one-third of our adult popula-
tion is in the church. But Avhat of the other two-
thirds w^ho are not in the church? Why, they belong
there. If the church is a divinely provided home for
those who would be loyal to the Saviour of the world,
then every man, woman and child, who is old enough
150 Side Windoivs; or,
to imderstaiid the plain coanmaiids of tEe Bible, be-
longs tbere.
The wayward son, who leaves his father^s house
and becomes a wanderer on the face of the earth, may
come back and peer in the windows at the brothers
and sisters who are there. He may say, "If I were
in there, I would be more respectful or devoted than
they are/^ Well, he belongs there, at least; and his
father has the same right to his devotion. So, my
friend, whatever airs of indifference you may assume,
you do belong to Christ's church, and it has the right
to aSik your whole-hearted support.
MOTH OAIT NOT COEEUPT.
We wonder a little that the child can take such pride
in a soap-bubble, not because the bubble is not beautifulj,
but because it is so soon ' destroyed. The artist puts
a bubble upon the canvas and we say of his work that
it is a great achievement. Yet the canvas will one
day fall to pieces. There is just one thing which ^ve
may give ourselves that is absolutely imperishable. I
have often thought of why it is that fellowship in
soul-saving is so much sweeter than fellowship of any
other sortw It is not transient. It is hardly possi-
ble that when they meet over beyond the river of death,
those who are friends because they were of the same
Lights on Scripture Truths. 151
business taste® will have the same things in common.
But soul-savers will undoubtedly have something to talk
over, since they w^ill find there the treasures for v^hich
they toiled.
KEEPING UP THE LIGHTS.
One night, in a fearful storm, the great railroad
bridge was swept away. The old section boss discov-
ered the fact; but, as the wires were down, he could
not communicate with the station-keepers. There was
only one thing to do. He must build a fire on the
track and keep it burning till after time for the four
o'clock express. There were likely to be extra freights,
and these must be warned. The storm raged, but for
hours the old man stood and fed the fire. Finally he
began to realize that his strength was giving away.
What if he should drop at his post? Ifot only would
he himself perish, but the fire would die down and
there would be nothing to prevent the trains rushing
to the wrecked bridge and to certain death. He went
to the shanty, and, rousing his son, bade him attend
to the fire while he took an enforced rest. Eor awhile
the young man was faithful; but by and by the fire
began to die down and he grew sleepy. ^^I will have
plenty of time to replenish it when I hear the rum-
ble of the train/' he said, wrapping himsoli in his
152 Side Windows; or,
great coat. Wheoi he awakeoied^ the express was rush-
ing by, and he knew that many lives would be lost be-
cause of his carelessness.
When Jesus was here he said, ^^As long as I am
in the world, I am the light of the world." Now he
says to you and me, "Ye are the light of the world."
Do n't let your light grow dim, even f ot a single hour.
Some one may go to his death because you did not
honor your trust.
A BUSINESS CHEISTIAN.
After a brief business career, which at first prom-
ised well, a young man ended in a particularly bad
failure,
"The trouble with Iiim was," said an old business
man, "that he never knew exactly what he was trying
to do. He took the road ostensibly to work up trade
for his house, but he planned the trip that he might
take in lakes and mountains and all sorts of attractive
places. He stopped to visit some old college friends-,
and never allowed business to interfere with any so-
cial pleasures within his reach. The fact was, being
a business man was only incidental with him."
The case reminded me of the Christian who made
a failure of his Christian profession. He started out
to follow Christ, but following Christ was never more
Lights on Scripture Tridlis, 153
than a side issue with him. It was not that it would
have been impossible for him to be a Christian and
a business man^ or a Christian and an agreeable fel-
low; the trouble was that he put these latter things
first.
CONVEKTS EXPECTED.
j^re you expecting them? You may cast in the
linCj you may study methods of soul-wiinning, you
may exhort and pray, but are you really expecting
results? There are certain conditions that will an-
swer that question more truthfully than it can be an-
swered in words.
If Your friend asks vou to dine with him and vou
go around to his house at the appointed hour to find
that no provision has been made for you — what then ?
Why, you will conclude that the invitation was not
given in sincerity, and that he did not expect you
at all. When C. E. stands for company expected, it
means that you have your house swept and garnished
and all things in readiness for the expected guest.
It can not meian less in the church. You have in-
vited the stranger, you have put upon your cards
and annoimced ^^Strangers welcome;" are you ready
to receive them ?
In some cases I am afraid that expectancy is so
slight that if he were to come, the stranger would
154 Side Windoivs; or^
find that no> onje really eixpected him. Peirhaps he
would have to stand unwelcomed while you settled it
among yourselves whose place it was to speak to him
first.
STEPPING OVEK THINGS.
An office boy, whose duty was partly that of col-
lecting bills, and partly that of taking care of the office,
was recently responsible for his own discharge. While
he v/a,s very zealous about the former tasks, he was
eixtremeily careless about the latter. His employeir,
thinking one day to give him a reminder, placed the
empty coal-bucket where it Vv^ould be in his way as he
started on his morning rounds. Coming back, how-
ever, the gentleman found the bucket lying on one side,
still empty. The boy had solved the question by step-
ping over the bucket. Collecting bills was certainly
not less important than keeping up the fires, but, in.
passing a duty unfinished, to take up one beyond it, he
showed himself to be untrustworthy.
A prominent woman philanthropist tells of how,
when she was about to start across the continent on a
mission to San Francisco, her baby put its soft little
arms about her neck, begging mamma not to go away
and leave it again, and how the little one volunteered
to get into the little trunk and be very good, if only
Lights on Scripture Truths. 155
she might be allowed to go with her mother. After
telling ho^v the child's pleadings WTung her heart, she
adds, ^^But I did not tarry. Duty called me om.'^
Did it, indeed? Awful and pressing as are the
needs of the men she is trying to save, do they call
a mother to give over to strangers the duties that
belong to motherhood ? Is not the woman who does it,
however much she may desire to do God's service,
rather stepping over an obligation that is most impo^rt-
ant, because it is first?
Whatever condition deprives the little child of its
home life (and there is no home life if there is not
a mother in the home) is wrong.
But the illustration is only one of many. How
many times have you been tempted to step over the
commonplace duty right before you, because there was
something beyond it, harder, perchance, yet for this
very reason more attractive? You feel more like you
deserve a laurel wreath, and your f riemds are far more
likely to vote you one, if you spend your aftemoom
in climbing tenement-house stairs than if you give
it up to making the hours pass more pleasantly to
the fretful child or the dull invalid in your own
home. Yo-u may be able to reach a half-hundred
hearts while you are reading papers or delivering ad-
dresses at the conventions, but how will you settle it
with God about the obligation you assumed when you
156 Side Windows; or^
took charge of those six boys that were left teacher-
less in your abseoice?
God may call you to do something the world calls
heroic — to labor in some remote field — ^but be assured
that it is not his voice that calls, so long as it means
stepping over that to which you have put your hand
and have not finished.
A PULPIT ON FIEE.
In an article on how to fill up the pews in our
churches, a writer drops the sententious remark that
when a pulpit is on fire there will be no lack of people
to come to see it burn. The meaning the writer in-
tended to convey was that intense spirituality in the
church always attracts. We know that this is true.
It is not curiosity alone that fills up our churches
when the menibers are aroused, or, to use a popular
phrase, when a revival is in progress.
The statement, though, may have another meaning.
It is no evidence that the church is fulfilling its mis-
sion when it attracts crowds of people. A house that
is being devoured by flames is sure to have plenty of
on-lookers. There are pulpits that are being consumed
of worldliness and sensationalism which the crowds
come to view with the keenest interest. The churches
are frequented with very much the same spirit in which
Lights on Scripture Tumtlis. 157
a good many newspaper readers pounce upon a scan-
dal that involves the downfall of those that have sat
in high places.
When the church resorts to stage effects, and poses,
it may be with the laudable desire of getting people
to come to hear the gospel preached. The trouble is
that the gospel has to be set aside to make room for
these things, and is wholly lost sight of. Its predica-
ment is similar to that of the good mother who re-
solved to buy sweetmeats with which to induce her
children to eat the homely, wholesome fare that they
needed, but discovered too late that she had spent all
her money for the bribe and had none left with which
to buy bread and butter. Those that have seen the
Sunday service,, the Endeavor Society, and the church
prayer-meeting almost deserted, after some special ef-
fort in the way of a festival or spectacular diversion,
will readily grasp the sad meaning of this illustra-
tion. The church has spent all its force before it came
to the real issue.
THE BEIGHT SIDE.
^Took on the bright side,'' may be a wholesome
exhortation, but it depends on circumstances. There
are individuals who are so determined not to have
their pleasure spoiled by the unpleasant things of the
158 Side Windows; or,
world that they either turn their eyes or pass by on
the other side when they know there is a case of dis-
tress at hand.
^^jSTo, I never visit the sick," said a young woman.
"It makes me feel uncomfortable.'^ Another an-
nounces that she never attends a funeral or goes to
the house of mourning, for the same reason. The at-
titude is an intensely selfish one, and is certainly not
becoming to one who professes to be following in the
footsteps of the Christ. He looked on the dark side of
human life. He it was who saw the man blind from
his birth, discerned the presence of the cripple, and
stopped by the side of the mourning widow of Nain.
If looking on the bright side means making the best
of our losses and hoping for better things, very well;
but God never meant that we should hide our faces
from the world's sorrows.
WHAT YOUR IDLENESS WILL COST.
Your idleness and mine means souls lost through-
out eternity. A young man who had just come from
Cuba told how there were brought into their camp one
day a lot of sick and starving soldiers. There were
no nurses to look after them, and so the soldiers were
detailed to help give out food, and otherwise min-
ister to the needs of the distressed. The call was n't
Lights on Scripture Truths. 159
official, so some of the soldieirs did n't respond. One
of them was lying in his tent asleep, and a comrade
went and tried to get him up.
"I 'm not coming till I have taken a nap/^ was
the reply. "I guess I need a little rest, and a half
hour won't make much difference.''
^^Maybe it won't make much difference to you,^
was the reply. ^^But it will make a difference to the
score or more poor fellows who will die for lack of
what you might have done for them in that time."
SOME OTHER WAY.
(JOHX X. 1.)
Men who take great liberties with the plan of sal-
vation are fond of telling us that it does n't matter
how men are saved, so they are brought into the
kingdom. Maybe that is true, though the assurance
has not been given, except with God's plan; but has
it ever occurred to you that there is a good deal of
presumption in deliberately planning to accept the
most gracious of offers and still to reject the conditions ?
Suppose you make a splendid feast and invite me
to your home to partake of it. Along with the invita-
tion there are a few instructions. "Come to the
main entrance," you say, "present this card, and the
footman will admit you to the banqueting-hall." What
160 Side Windows; or,
if, at the appointed hour for the feast, you should
find me trying to force my way into the house through
one of the cellar windows? It would not be easy,
I think, for me to persuade you that my intentions
were honorable ones. Jesus said, ^^He that . . .
climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and
a robber/'
THE GEEAT QUESTION
^^Did you spend much time in discussing how far
Cana was from Sychar ?" one teacher said to another
as they came from the classroom. "I didn't men-
tion it,'' was the quick reply; ^^I was too much taken
up with the thought of how far some of my scholars
were from Jesus Christ."
UNPEOFITABLE SEEVAIsTTS.
Is it not strange that we need to be urged to do
the very things we profess to have adopted for our
chief business ? Suppose a man answers a farmer's
advertisement for a farm-hand. The farmer says, "I
want you to plow that field and put in a crop, and I
will pay you so much." The young man accepts the
offer and ostensibly goes to work. Yet all summer
long the farmer and his family have to keep exhorting
Lights on Scripture Truths. 161
the young man to go out and plow. He even employs
a man to come once a week and urge the man to plow.
Of course, all this is ridiculous ; no farmer would toler-
ate such conduct, and no farm-hand would be so unrea-
sonable as to think that he would ; still, the ways of too
many of the Lord's so-called servants are not much
more consistent. We all know that our preachers have
to use the time and strength, that ought to be spent
in saving sinners, in stirring up the saints and exhort-
ing them to plow.
GETTING UI^TOKED.
A good many people do; and it has been the prob-
lem of the churcJi always why so many who have
started well become recreant and cast off the yoke t'hey
have assumed. In every case, the trouble is just this
— ^tbe desire to do things in which we can not ask
Christ's help. There is one of two things to be done
— subdue the wrong desire or take off the yoke.
A young Cliristian, who thinks it quite proper for
her to amuse herself in the ballroom, at the card-table
or at the theater, was disgusted with a preacber who
made a practice of going to the play.
^^But you are a regular habitue," we suggested.
"That has nothing to do with it," was the cool re-
joinder. "I 'm not yoked to the preacher."
162 8ide Windows; or,^
^^Which means, I suppose, that if you were obliged
to drag your pastor along with you, you wouldn't go
to some of these placesl''
"Of course not. I think a preacher ought to Be —
different.'^
"And how about taking Christ with you? I be-
lieve that you profess to be yoked t0 him."
There was an ominoiis silence. She saw that when
she indulged in things which she did not care to see
those who made special pretensions at goodness imi-
tate, she co'uld not consistently expect to take Christ
with her. She must, for the time being at least, slip
off the yoke. It is true she may put it on again. But
siome day she will not care to go back to it, and the
world that encouraged her to do it, will laugh in its
sleeve and say: "Another backslider!''
DOCTOES AND REVIVALS.
A critic raised a protest against the revival, on
the ground that it indicates an unnatural state of
affairs somewhere. You are right, brother. We might
add that we are forced to a similar conclusion con-
cerning the: state of affairs in your home, when we
see the doctor's buggy stopping before your door.
Of course, it would be better if all the Christians
who have been made spiritually whole would remain
Lights on Scripture Truths. 163
that way. It would be less expensive if sinneTS could
always be brought around without a special course of
treatment, just as it would be better if our throats
and lungs and stomachs never needed to be readjusted.
However, since we must deal with the real rather
than the ideal, we are not likely to be in a position
to disjDense with either the doctor or the revival this
side of millennium.
BABYLOlf A2^D JEEUSALEM.
That the Jews learned at least one lesson from
their captivity in Babylon can not be disputed, !N'ever
again did they cast their eyes longingly after strange
gods. For all that, the lesson was dearly bought. In
the day when liberty to the captives was proclaimed,
comparatively fenv of the people responded. While
many returned to Jerusalem, many more lingered in
Babylon. Some of them, no doubt, were wedded to
the ways of Babylon and had no desire to leave it.
Others, perhaps, were so bound down by domestic and
business relations that they could not get away.
The same things are true of those who are carried
off into the Babylon of sin. K few return to the Jeru-
salem of peace, having profited by their bitter experi-
ence, but many more never come back at all. They
love the wavs of sin, or they have become so anchored
164 Side Windows; or,
to its institutions that escape has become well-nigh
impossible. Let the yomng man who co-nnts upon tak-
ing his "fling'' among the attractions of a sensual life
be warned. He may be among those who will never
return to the city of peace.
THE PEICE OF SUCCESS.
A tersely expressed truth was the answer of the
business man when his friend asked him if he had
met with success in business. "Met with it?" he re^
joined ; "I should say I have n't. All the success, I 've
attained I had to run after."
Quite the same is true in our spiritual lives. Men
and women do not meet the ideal casually. Neither
do they become saints while they are asleep.
HOW THEY BEOUGHT A REVIVAL.
^^Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that
there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now
herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open
you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a bless-
ing that there shall not be room enough to receive
it," the preacher read.
Well, surely they hoped that this might be the
case at Broken Ridge. It had been long enough since
Lights on Scripture Truths. 165
there had been anything like a revival. But the
preacher was not talking about revivals. He was
speaking of the old flour-mill in the valley below, and
of the thoughts that had come to him yesterday as he
passed it on his way to the Eidge.
A picture was before him, and he seemed to see
an almost endless train of men and women moving
through the low, broad doorways. It was made up of
those that through almost half a century had come
here and gone away loaded with that which, so far
as the natural wo^rld was concerned, was the most
precious thing in the world, since it meant bread. But
there was another pictura Before these went out
laden with bread, there had been a procession of ruddy
farmers, who poured into the great hoppers something
that looked like gold. Some years they had poured in
with lavish hands, and there had been bread in abund-
ance ; again, the harvest had been meager, and the old
mill had given out a scanty supply. As he came in
sight of the meeting-house another thought had come
to him. God's people were asking for bread. They
wanted more fervency and zeal in the church; they
wanted to see sinners brought into the kingdom, and
surely God wanted to do these things for them, but
had they brought the tithes into the storehouse?
A strange thrill went through the house. The
question seemed so intensely personal, that men and
166 Side Windows; or,
women moved uneasily as though some were
about to hold up their hidden faults to the gaze
of others.
At the mention of the word "tithes/' Deacon Lim-
ber's eye had brightened. The deacon was known to
be a "close'' man, yet nobody could ever say that he
shirked his honesti obligations. Especially was this
true in what he considered his debts to the church.
He wondered just now how Asa Lemon felt. He had
refused to pay anything toward the protracted meet-
ing. He did n't pay more than seventy-five cents in
a whole year to the support of the church, the deacon
averred. ISTow, he — but the deacon progressed no fur-
ther in his self-congratulations.
"Your tithe is not simply the money you owe
God/' the preacher was saying, "though that is a part
of it. It is everything he asks of you, and everything
you promised to give him when you confessed him be-
fore men. Do n't ask him to pour out a blessing while
you say ^no' to him. He can't do it. The poor and
the hungry are here in his stead. Have you given
them the loving ministry he asks of you?"
Deacon Limber started. Some one had told him
yesterday that Biddy McMorrow and her children
were seeing hard lines. He had said that it ought to
be a lesson to her. But now it looked different to
him. Biddy never knew this. She only knew that
Lights on ScHpture Truths. 167
on that cold Sunday aiternoon food and warmth came
into her hut.
But to go back to the sermon: God had asked for
their time. Were not some of them spending six days
working for self, and one in idleness, while the Lord^s
work languished ? The schoolteacher bowed her head.
What was it she had said when they asked her to
lend a hand to the discouraged little Sunday-school?
No time !
God had bidden them to give cheer and kind words
to one another. How dared they ask for spiritual
blessings when their hearts were hard toward each
oth^r? A woman over by the stove turned a startled
look toward a woman in the third row. No one else
saw the look that met her own, and only a few saw the
two, when meeting was out, meet each other in a
clumsy embrace.
^^Sairv, I 'm sorrv I said it/' one of them sobbed.
^^No, Lizzie, I 'm the one that 's most to blame,''
was the whispered response.
At the close of the sermon Sunday night three
young people confessed Christ "It was powerful
preaching/' some one said, a month later, "to start the
revival the very first night."
"It wasn't the preaching that started me," John
Limber declared. "It was pa. I never thought he
believed in his own religion until last night. But
168 Side Windows; or,
when he and Sairy Morse and Miss Long and the
schoolteacher talked and prayed the way they did, I
felt like I wanted to get into it, too/'
"Anyway, Bro. Bixley must he a masterful hand
at movin' sinners,'^ some one said to the deacon, as
he finished reading the report of the Broken Eidge
meeting.
"Well, yes," the deacon returned cautiously.
"But I say his forte is movin' the saints; which
we Ve found out here at Broken Ridge,'' he added,
after a minute's reflection, "is about the surest way
to move sinnors."
WHAT WE DESEEVE.
I wonder what an employer would think of one
of the men in his service if he would assume the same
attitude concerning his work that we do about our pro-
fessed service of the Lord ? Can you imagine a book-
keeper saying that he thinks his employer ought to
show him special favors because he has been at his post
every day for a week? We say, certainly not; that
is simply a part of what he agreed to do when he
took the place. Indeed, he could n't expect to keep
the situation if he failed to do these things. I^Tot
long ago I heard a man say that he served the Lord
faithfully for three years, but he found that he did n't
Xights on Scripture Truths. 169
get anything for it. His neighbor, who made no pre-
tensions at being a Christian, had better luck in busi-
ness and had prospered generally more than he had,
I learned afterward that his ^^service" had consisted
in going to church when everything was favorable.
Well, I think that, if the Lord saw enough in his
Christianity to entitle him to the hope and privileges
of a Christian, he ought to have been humbly thank-
ful,' instead of asking for a premium.
HE NEEDS YOU.
While salvation is certainly a personal matter, men
sometimes forget that there is God as well as them-
selves to be taken into consideration.
A young man had been repeatedly urged to accept
Christ.
"I intend to come sometime,'^ was his invariable
reply, ^^but not just now.''
Back in the old home he had left was 9l mother
whoan he loved with a mosti ardent devotion. One
dav the friend wiho had so often talked with' him
about his soul, said : ^^I wonder what you would do
if a telegram should be brought to you, saying, 'Come
home! Your mother needs youT Would you say,
■Well, I will go sometime,' and put the telegram in
170 ^Side Windows; or,
your pocket and go about your business just as you
did before r
'^No/' the young man answered, emphatically; ^^I
would go to her as fast as the train could carry me.'^
"And yet/' his friend went on, ^^I have come to
you and brought you a message not less tender and
urgent It says, 'SoUy come Jiome. Your Father needs
you/ How have you treated it?"
The arrow struck home. The young man saw
that he had been treating his best friend with dis-
respect and ingratitude, and immediately answered
the call.
NOT FASTENED IN THE EIGHT PLACE.
An old woman, w^ho went away from home every
day, w^as veiy much annoyed by the disobedience of
her children. Every day she told them not to go into
the garden to play, and every day they disobeyed her.
At last she brought a locksmith, who put iron staples
on their shoes so they could be fastened to the floor
with a padlock. This the mother did and took the
key with her. When she returned she found the shoes
still fastened to the floor, but the children had slipped
out of them. The fastenings were all right, but they
should .have been on the children instead -of on the
shoe^, TheistOT^Is 4 greTty goodi illustration of what
Lights on Scripture Truths. 171
we often see. People join the church and sign pledges,
and we think they are established. By and by,
though, some temptation comes along and they break
away because it was not their hearts that were an-
chored.
PALACES OK PIG-PEXS-
A man who had been very imfortunate as to his
temporal concerns took his family and sought out a
solitary place in a rocky, barren country, and there
builded him a rude hut. Out of the stone that
abounded in the region, he constructed a shelter for
the few swine he had brought with him. Here for
many years the family eked out a scanty existence.
Life was poor and hard, and yet they lived. One
day a stranger came to his door and inquired concern-
ing the stone he had used in making shelter for his
animals. The old man told the stranger where he
had obtained the stone, adding that it was of poor qual-
ity and had crumbled under the rough usage to which
it had been put, but tbat it had answered the pur-
pose. Imagine his surprise when he was informed that
the stone he had put to such base use was a rare kind
of marble that was worth almost its weight in gold.
He had made a shelter for swine out of that which
would have provided him with a palace. God has put
172 Side Windows; or,
into the hands of every man that out of which he
may provide for himself a royal crown and a mansion
in the world to come. Too many, alas ! nse their riches
of talent and treasure to shelter and feed the baser
part of their being. Paul says, "It doth not appear
what we shall be/' neither doth it appear what we
might be, if we would invest ourselves wisely.
HAVE A PURPOSE.
A good deal is gained by the young Christian when
he makes up his mind as to what his business really
is in the world. A queer genius in a back country
district invented a wonderful machine. It generated
a good deal of power, and seemed to be capable of
accomplishing something, if only it were put to the
task. "What is it for ?" some one asked the inventor.
"Well,'' was the reply, "it might be used for a
sausage-grinder, or it might do to hitch to a sewing-
machine. Then I had thought some of using it for
a printing-press." Because he never thoroughly made
up his mind on this point, the wonderful machine was
allowed to stand idle.
A good many really forceful people are lost lo tKe
church in pretty much the same way. They think they
might be useful in this capacity, or perhaps in that.
Then they have had an idea of devoting themselves
Lights on Scri/pture Truths. 173
to something else. The consequence is that they have
done nothing.
We are disposed to be hard on the rich man who
had more of this world's goods than he knew what
to do withj and sat do^vn to devise some new way
of disposing of them. I am afraid that a good many
of us who have not an overplus of this sort of wealth
are equally guilty. The young person who looks for
something b}^ which he may ^^kill time'' needs to re-
member that he has at command that by which he
might bless many who need his ministry.
"^IF I WEEE A CHEISTIAK"
'^If I were a Christian/' a man was saying the
other day, as he viewed critically a faulty church-
member, "I would certainly try to live up to my obli-
gations."
^^If you would live up to your obligations, you
would be a Christian," was the so-mewhat startling re-
ply. The average man who holds himself aloof from
the church seems to forget that the same God who cre-
ated the Christian created him also, and that, in the
strictest sense, God is the Pather of them both. The
fact that he goes into an alien land to live out his
life, and deairives his Father of his service altO'gether, ^
does not free him from accountability. It ,does^riot]
174 Side Windows; or^
even warrant him in making a favorable comparison
between himself and the son who remains at home
and renders imperfect service to the one to whom he
owes so much.
PREVET^TIO^ ATTD CUEE.
Some one wrote to the honsehold editor of a cer-
tain magazine for a remedy for mosquito bites. I
don't remember how the wise editor replied to the
inquirer, but I think if I had been answering him, I
should have suggested wire screens and a good mos-
quito bar. Cure up the wounded, of course, but see to
it that the carnage stops right where it is. Prevent-
ive remedies are the very best kind, and are always
the cheapest. Keeley cures and inebriate asylums are
all right for those who have been victimized, but it
is a poor way if we expect to keep it up.
HE SHALL HAVE THEM IK DERISIOX.
Such instances as the following give one a clearer
insight into the meaning of the Psa[Imist when> he
says, ^^He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The
Lord shall have them in derision.'^
A young college student who had taken up Ingerr-
sollism, because it seemed to fit his overv/helming sense
Lights 0)1 Scripture Truths. 175
of self-importance, came home full of the desire to
enlighten his less progressive relatives.
"What would you say/' he began impressively,
addressing his brother, "if I should tell you that in
twenty minutes I can produce arguments that will
utterly annihilate the religion of Jesus Christ?"
"About the same thing/' rejoined his brother,
"that I should say if I were to see a gnat crawling up
the side of Mount Washington, threatening to smash
the whole thing with its weight"
THE MODEE]S^ PEODIGAE.
We can only conjecture what the plans of the
young man in the parable were when he demanded
his portion. He wanted to have a "good time/' we
are certain of that. He wanted to live a life of sen-
sual pleasure — to throw off everything like restraint.
Somehow, though, he could not bring himself to do
it under the eve of his father, and in the very shadow
of the old home. There was only one way. He must
put distance between himself and these things. Many
a one has had the same experience.
"There were a good many things I wanted to do,'^
said a repentant profligate, telling his experience, "but
because the thou2:ht of mv mother's teachinsrs would
come back to me, I could not quite bring myself to
176 Side Windows; or,
do them. I found that I would have to get away from
the memory of her words and prayers before I could
really enjoy my freedom/' ^^Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?" Paul asks; then he goes
on to enumerate a number of things that can not do it.
There is one agency, however, that can — ^the man him-
self. Whoever finds himself a great way off from his
Father's house, may well reflect that it was his own
feet that took him there.
"lis THE BEGINNING GOD.''
Does one duty ever take the precedence over an-
other? It is the old question over which the rabbis
disputed. ^^Which is the first and great command-
ment ?" The question was, after all, a legitimate one.
Even among unmistakable obligations there are those
which have the right to rank first.
The man who builds a house can not leave out the
framework, but before that must come the foiuidation.
Roof and framework and foundation are all es-
sential, but imagine the result if he attempts to
reverse the order and begin with the roof!
Jesus did not condemn thrift and carefulness
about material concerns, but he did sav, ^^Seek
first the kingdom of God." Some one has noted it as
a significant fact that the first four words of the Bible,
Lights on Scripture Truths. 177
taken alone, set forth the same thing. ^^In the begin-
ning God/' When a man puts God first in consider-
ing that which claims his time and talent, and in map-
ping ont his plans, he will not be unfaithful to any
other obligation,
TO LET.
A gentleman going down the street stopped and
looked for a moment at an empty house, then, stepping
into the corner,' asked: ^^Can you tell me what that
house rents for ?" ^^Whv, I did n't know it was for
rent,'' was the reply. ^^Well, maybe it is n't," said the
first speaker, ^^but when a house is empty, one always
takes it for granted that it is to let." There was
something in this remark to moralize over. It is not
only empty houses, but empty lives, that wear in them-
selves the announcement that they are to let. The
busy life is the suresti safeguard against intruders.
Satan, of all others, never waits to be invited into the
unoccupied heart.
MISUNDEESTAIs^DING GOD.
A young man said, "Mother died when we chil-
dren were small, and after awhile father brought home
a. new wife. We never took the trouble to find out
what she was like; we had made up our minds that
178
Side Windows; or.
we hated her. We treated her badly. Once in awhile
father found it out, then he punished us, and so se-
verely that we were sorry for what we had done and
resolved to behave ourselves. But we never knew
what repentanca meant till we saw her real, noble
self and learned to love her. That was repentance that
cut to the quick." It is so with repentance toward
God. We see his grealj love and his true attitude to-
wards us, and our sins grow black as night beside
them. We are ready to fall at the feet of Jesus and
cry, ^^What must I do to be saved?"
WHEN AN EXCUSE DOES NOT EXCUSE.
One of the dangerous things about many of the
excuses men make for staying out of the kingdom
is that, under some circumstances, they might be rea-
sonable enough. In the parable of the great supper,
the man who had bought land was only acting the
part of the prudent man when he went out to look
at it. That is, he would have been if there had
been nothing more important to take the precedence.
The importance of all things must be considered rel-
atively. Ordinarily, it is a profitable thing for you
to take a brisk morning walk, but you would be looked
upon as insane if you should start out upon one when
your house was on fire. The Lord never discouraged
Lights on Scripture Truths, 1T9
men from being prudent and energetic about their
business affairs, but we have the injimction, ^^Seek
first the kingdom of God/' The land the man had
bought could wait; the feast could not.
^THE VOICE/'
From the brief sketch v/e have of the personnel of
John, it would seem that, in itself, it was enough to
arrest and hold the attention of the people. Yet so
completely does the message overshadow the man, that
he is referred to as a voice.
This has been, in a measure, true of every man
who has been the bearer of the King's message. When
people go away to talk of the fine appearance of the
preacher, his graceful gestures, and his perfect enun-
ciation, we may be pretty certain that the message
itself was a failure.
It is not always an easy thing to do — indeed, it
requires a good deal of grace to make us willing
to have people forget us, if they but remember what
we said. Too many who profess to be working for
Christ count it no small part of success that people
praise them.
2s^ot long ago a man who had really done a good
work in the way of rescuing boys and girls, and put-
ting them in a better way, said complainingly : ^^Oh,
180 Side Windows; or,
yes ; tliey are doing very well^ but they forget that they
owe It all to me/' Perhaps this was only natural, but
he had been to these young people a warning voice,
and the voice had fulfilled its purpose. Better, fel-
low Christian, be simply a warning voice to some
soul, and with no personality at all, than to be the
center of a much-praised spectacular performance.
The things we have lived for,
Let them be our story —
We ourselves but remembered
By what we have done.
A NEGLECTED DUTY,
Word came to the school that the father of one of
the students was dead. "Well, no fellow ever had a
better father," one of the boys remarked. "You know
I lived not far from him, and it seemed that Mr. Ely
was continually planning some new way to help Ered
or give him pleasure. I do n't think I ever saw such
love or self-sacrifice." At this all were surprised.
"T supposed his people were the sort that it wasn't
pleasant to think or talk about," some one else re-
marked. "I can't think of him having had such a
good father, .when he never said a word to any one
about it." Of co'urse, that conclusion was natural.
It was hard to believe in the goodness of a father
w^hen the son never spoke In his favor. I have won-
Lights on Scripture Truths. 181
dered if we have not made a similar impression on
the minds of some who did not know our heavenly
Father. Oh that the world should ever have reason
to say of yon or me, ^^I never heard him speak of
what his Father has done for him''!
ABUNDANT LIFE.
One of the sweetest assurances that Jesus ever gave
to his followers was that he had come not merely to
save meuj not merely that they should have life, but
that they might have it more abundantly. Look upon
some narrow, self-centered life, where the first ques-
tion is always that of self-gratification, and then look
at the life that is pouring itself out on the world,
a stream of blessing, and you will begin to catch his
meaning: ^^He that saveth his life shall lose it." Our
Lord came to teach us a more excellent way. The
saving soul can never know the meaning of abundant
life.
Hear the parable of the vine-dresser. There is a
vine, living and bearing leaves enough to feed its body,
and that is all. There are no clusters of fruit to bless
those who come to it. The vine-dresser looks at it.
It is alive, but that does not satisfy him. Of what
profit is it that the vine be kept alive, if it is to live on
in this meager fashion ? See, he begins to cut away
182 Side Windows; or,
here a limb and there a limb; and when he leaves the
vine it seems to be impoverished indeed from having
given up so much of itself. But let us return at the
time of harvest. Look at the weight of great, purple
clusters under which it bends. ^^Ah ! this is life/' we
say ; ^^it is abundant life.''
0 men, women, learn this lesson. When the Mas-
ter of the vineyard comes down to take away that
which you cherish as a part of yourself, he has come
not in anger: he has cojne that you may have life,
and that you may have it more abundantly.
THE WOEK WE LEAVE BEHIITD.
We are told of Dorcas that, because of her deeds
of charity, they mourned for her. They stood by, not
merely weeping, but showing the garments that she had
made. Have vou thousrht that the work into which
many of us put our best time and strength could hardly
be exhibited to our credit after we were gone? What
if it had been Battenberg doilies, oo* hand-painted
throws for her drawing-room, to which Dorcas had de-
voted her spare time? However artistic they might
have been, they would have seemed tawdry and trifling
in such an hour. The homely garments were beauti-
ful because of the beautiful spirit of self-denial which
had been wrought into them. We sometimes say that
Lights on Scripture Truths. 183
we wish to bo remembered by what we have done.
The nearest approach to immortality that can be
known in this changing world is impressing one's self
upon the hearts of our brethren.
THE LORD'S DAY OR OURS?
A good many people have been inclined to excuse
themselves from attending religious service on the
Lord's Day on the plea that six days of the week are
given to work, and they must have some time for them-
selves. Here is another view of the matter that is
Avorth considering:
^^I should n't think you would feel like going
out to church, even Sundays, now that you have to
work so hard all week," some one said to a young
w^oman.
^^Oh," was the reply, *^'I feel under more obliga-
tion than ever. If I can spend six days, and so much
time and strength, working for my own comfort, I 'd
be ashamed not to give a part of one day to the Lord."
'Not very many of those who appropriate the Lord's
Day for other than its rightful uses, spend it in a
w^y that elevates. Facts demonstrate that a secular
Sunday is a thing to be dreaded. In any locality
where religion does not prevail it is a day fruitful in
riots, A woman whose husband w^as making a strug-
184 Side Windows; or,
gle against the drink habit, said: ^^I think we could
pull Jim through, if it was n't for Sunday/' We are
frequently told that the church is too expensive an
institution for the working people, hence they turn
elsewhere. It would be interesting to know ho\vmuch
a single Sunday's amusements cost in dollars and
cents, to say nothing of the costs that can no't be
counted.
One of the simplest, surest ways of settling the
question as to how we shall speaid the first day of the
week — whether in our own pursuits or of our Mas-
ter's— is to consider the meaning of its name. If I
tell you that a certain bujilding is Mr. Smith's, I
will scarcely need to add that you are thcirefore not
at liberty to go in and appropriate it to your own
private use. So the fact that this day, divinely desig-
nated the Lord's, ought to stop all discussion as to how
we may sj)end it. We have no right to take possession
of it for our worldly pursuits or pleasures.
COWAEDLY COURTESY.
At a banquet a young man who had been thus far ft
Christian and an avowed total-abstainor, allowed his
wine-glass to be filled^ and even went so far as to
touch it to his lips. "Of course, I disapproved of the
w^ine," he said, ^T>ut I thought it would be boorish for
Lights on Scripiure Trutlis, 185
me to intrude my personal opinions on the rest by an
absolute refusal."
"My boy^ carry that principle into all the walks
of life and you will make a successful failure of your-
self/' was the reply. "However^ you do not believe
in it yourself. The other night in a political meet-
ing, when some one tried to pin upon your coat the
badge of the candidate you oppose, you said boldly
enough, That is against my principles.' There is quite
as much honor in having moral backbone as in display-
ing the same quality in politics."
THE PAEABLE OF THE OIL-MILL.
Hear the parable of the oil-mill. There was a cer-
tain man who had a great possession; and, when he
would find a profitable place upon which to bestow it,
a friend said to him, "Behold, there is for sale in a
certain city an oil-mill. Now, this mill is fitted out
with the finest machinery, and is capable of bringing
large returns to its owner." So the man sent and
bought the oil-mill, and, after many days, he journeyed
to the place where it was. When he came to the place
he found the mill even as his friend had said.
"Surely," he said, "this mill must be getting me
much gain." One thing he saw, however, that amazed
him sorely. ^N'early all of the great wheels and belts
.186 Side Windows; or,
were idle. In one corner of the mill a part of the ma-
chinery was in motion.
^^How is this/' he said to the overseer, ^^that my
mill is yielding me no return?"
^^jSTot so/' replied the man, showing a small cruse
of oil. ^The mill is doing well indeed, since it turns
out every day enough to keep its machinery well oiled.''
Then was the owner of the mill wroth, and said,
^^Of what advantage is it to me that I have invested
my money in this thing ? If it is to do no more than
to keep itself whole, it might as well be burned to the
ground and its place given to another."
So is he who is satisfied with using the grace of
God to keep himself pure and regards not others.
A DOUBLE EEWAED.
A gentleman who was working in a factory as ship-
ping clerk, found that his salary was hardly sufiicient
to keep his family. "My health, too, seemed to be
failing," he said, "and I knew that if I were to be
taken sick my family would suffer. I gave up my
flat near the factory and took a little house netar the
edge of the town. There was plenty of ground, and
I thought that, by working at odd times, I might raise
enough to provide in part for our necessities. The re-
sult was that I raised potatoes enough to supply us
Lights on Scripture Truths. 187
all winter. That was n't all. The exercise made a
new man of me/'
I do n't believe we ought to go into the business
of seeking souls for our own sakes. Indeed, such a
thing is impossible, but there is a reward that we reap
in our o^ynselves.
LOOKIXG rOK TKOUBLE.
^^He must have been looking for trouble/' a young
man said not long ago when the fact was mentioned
that the good Samaritan seemed to have been so well
equipped for taking care of the wounded traveler.
Whether he can be said to have been actually looking
for trouble, this much we know — he was ready for it.
There is a wholesome lesson to be found here. A
fund of sympathy is a good thing, but there are cases
where something else is needed. The Samaritan
might have felt very sorry for the imfortunate man,
and not have been able to help him.
^^I never know what to do for any one who Is
sick or in trouble," a lady said. She had never tried
to learn. She might have carried oil and wine along
the way with her, but she had never taken the trou-
ble to thus equip herself. Another confesses that,
while she is often deeply concerned about her unsaved
acquaintances, she does not know enough about the
188 Side Windows; or^
Bible to attempt to talk with them. The man who
realizes God's purpose in his creation looks for trouble
to the end that he may relieve it. He not only looks
for it, but he makes himself ready to meet it.
THE COSTLINESS OF SYMPATHY.
One of the very common fallacies is that sympathy
is a very cheap commodity, that it may be bcistowed in
place of something more tangible. Smooth words may
serve this purpose, but genuine sympathy, never.
When we feel the need of others most deeply, we are
least likely to be assuring them of our sympathy. It
is because men have possessed the genuine sympathy
for humanity that they have placed themselves and
their possessions upon the altar. "Your husband is
a man of large sympathies,'' some one said to a lady
recently. "Yes," was the curt reply, "and they have
cost him the price of a farm since I have known him."
IT WILL HOLD YOU EAST.
A company of fugitives besought th« aid of a
guide to pilot them through a dark and lonely cavern,
by which alone they could reach a place of safety from
their enemies. "You must lay aside your baggage,"
said the guide, "No man can carry anything with
Lights on Scripture Truths. 189
him through the narrow gate/' At first thej de-
murred. One had this treasure, another that, which
it seemed impossible to relinquish. By and by, how-
ever, they agreed to comply with the requirements.
One alone clung secretly to a bag of gold. As it was
dark when they set out, he tarried a little behind the
rest and secreted the treasure in the folds of his robe.
When at dawn they reached the place of safety, the
man was missing. In trying to creep through a nar-
row pass, his gold had wedged him fast, and he had
fallen a prey to his pursuers. So it is with those
who would find safety in the kingdom and yet can
not make up their minds to relinquish the world. The
treasure sooner or later holds them back and they fall
a prey to the enemy of souls.
KNOWI^s^G HIS VOICE.
One night, in a river town in southern Ohio, there
was a fearful storm, which suddenly raised the river
and sent a flood sweeping over the town. It was at
the hour when the people were returning from the Sun-
day evening service. Friends were separated in the
darkness and a number of lives were lost. A little
girl, who had become separated from her friends, was
saved in a way that seemed well-nigh miraculous.
Her father, who had gone in search of her, wandered
190 Side Windows; or,
about, calling her, with little hope of making himself
heard, even if she were near. Suddenly he felt her
little hands clasping his.
^^I heard him calling, ^Come this way! I am
here !' '' she said afterward, when questioned about the
matter.
^^But how did you know it was your father call-
ing you ?" some one asked,
"How did I know?" she returned, wonderingly.
^^I think I ought to know my father's voice. I 've
been with him enough.'^
The child's reason was certainly sufficient. It was
only by association that she could have become so fa-
miliar with his tone that she would know it even when
she could not see, Jesus said of his sheep, "They
know my voice." Those who know his voice in the
midst of the world's distracting turmoil are those who
have been much with him.
A NECESSAKY CHOICE.
A gentleman tells of having overheard this conver-
sation between a lady and her four-year-old son:
"Now, Epbert," she was saying, "you can have either
the wheel or the new suit. Do you want the suit?"
The boy nodded his head very emphatically. "And
the wheel, too," he added. "Oh, but you can have
Lights on Scripture Truths. 191
only one," the mother answered; ^Vhich do you want?'^
^^Both/^ the child persisted. When he left, she was
still trying to impress upon the boy that it must be
the wheel or the suit, not both. I am sure that many
of us are equally unreasonable. God asks which we
will have, earthly treasures or heavenly, and we an-
swer, ^^Both.'' We are appealed to as to whether we
will serve God or mammon, and we try to get on good
terms with God and mammon.
TEIFLEES.
One of the sore trials that sometimes come to the
Christian worker is the fact that men so often busy
themselves with trifles when weighty matters ought
to claim their attention. A preacher, who had been
pouring his very soul into an exhortation to men to
seek higher and better things, referred, by way of
illustration, to the fact that some plants thrive better
in the shadow than in the sunlight. At the close of
the service a lady came to him and told him that she
was so glad that she had heard him. The heart of
the almost discouraged preacher revived. Imagine his
feelings, however, when she went on to say, ^^I never
knew till to-day what was the matter with my fuchsia.
I shall go home and put it in a shady place.'' In this
trial, however, the servant is not above his Lord.
192 Side Windows; or.
Once, when Christ had been speaking to the multi-
tudes upon the high theme of prayer, a man pushed
his way to the front and asked Christ to help him get
some money that was coming to him.
Sometimes people have so low a conception of the
work of the preacher that they would have him leave
his work to settle neighborhood quarrels. Men neg-
lect priceless things and devote themselves to trifles,
because they have a mistaken idea of values.
THE STILL WATEES.
^''No, I can^t honestly say that I enjoy my relig-
ion," a lady said not long ago. ^"Of course, I feel more
comfortable and secure belonging to the church than
I should if I were out of it ; but as for peace, I do n't>
see but that I am as full of worry and discontent
as I was before.'^
"Some of us don't take the trouble to find the
paths of peace",'' her friend returned gently. "We
do n't read the Word as earnestly as we should ; and
even when we do know, we do n't try to walk where
He would have us go." The other looked mystified.
"Oh, well, I do n't profess to be a saint," she said ;
"I am too busy to spend so much time over the Bible."
There are too many Christians like that. They would
like to find the green pastures and the still waters,
Lights an Scripture Truths. 193
but they want to find them along the worldly, selfish
■ways they have chosen for themselves. When David
speaks of the still Avaters, he says, "He leadeth me
beside the still waters." Only those who let the Lord
lead can expect to find them.
FAITH K^D OBEDIENCE.
A visitor, passing through a certain department of
a large shop, noticed a set of regulations written on
a blackboard. He also noticed that, in several par-
ticulars, every man in the shop was disregarding them*
He questioned the foreman concerning the matter. At
first the man was reluctant about answering him. Fi-
nally he said, "Those rules were written by one of the
firm. He has neither wisdom nor judgment. If we
should follow his directions, we would ruin a good
part of the work.'' The men took their own way be-
cause they lacked faith in their commander. How-
ever else we may characterize it, failure to obey is
gimply lack of faith.
THE COST OF NEGLECT.
An orange-grower, showing a visitor through his
groves, pointed out several trees which, he said, w^re
unprofitable, because they bore only an inferior, bitter
kind of fruit. He gave as a reason for this that they
194 ^ 8ide Windoiosj or,
had been neglected for a long while after planting,
and expressed his purpose of uprooting them, and put-
ting the ground to a better use.
"But couldn't they be grafted?'' the visitor ques-
tioned.
"Oh, yes,'^ was the reply, "but it will pay better
to plant new ones."
I wonder how long it will take us to realize that
the same rule holds good in dealing with individuals.
There is no mistake quite so costly as that of neglect-
ing the boys and girls, with the idea that it is only
w^ork among the older people that -counts.
CHILDISH THINGS.
Jesus once told the captious, fault-finding Jews
that they were like foolish children, demanding al-
ways the opposite to what they received. Alas that
their tribe has in no way decreased ! We find them
standing outside the church, stubbornly refusing all
entreaty to come inside. The church is too narrow.
There is too much that is puritanic and rigid. And
sometimes the church, like a foolishly indulgent par-
ent, has attempted to make things over to their lik-
ing, and has laid aside her heavenly garments for
those of a more worldly cut, to but discover that the
objectors have changed their minds. What use have
Lights Oil Scripture Truths* 195
they for the church when Christians are no better than
other people I
But not all the pouting, whining children are on
the outside. There are too many who have a name to
have become men in Christ, who give the church no
end of trouble with their ill tempers and their whim-
sical wavs.
You remember the child who always Avithdrew from
the game the moment some one else was given the lead '?
Well, she is groA\m up now. Indeed, she has been
'^grown up" these many years, but she has n't put off
her childish way. She is now one of the most sacri-
ficing persons I ever knew. I was about to say self-
sacrificing, but, come to think of it, that is one of the
things she has n't sacrificed. It is true that she is will-
ing to give up her time and physical comfort to an ex-
tent that is a rebuke to the ease^loving souls in the
church. When she had charge of the mission work
dovm in the slums, her devotion was unparalleled, but
when some one else took the prominent place her in-
terest flickered out. Then, for awhile she was presi-
dent of the Woman's Missionary Society, and her zeal
caused some people to say that she was going daft.
But, of course, she could not hold the office forever,
and when she dropped to the place of a plain membeo*,
that was the last we heard of her on the subject of
missions.
196 Side Windows; or.
Passing a group of children the other day^ I heard
one of them say, "I won't play at all if I can't be ^it'/'
That is just the trouble with our friend. We have
found that no matter what is to be undertaken, if
she can't be ^4t" she will have none of it.
WORTHY OE THE COST.
What is it that the church has been bidden to
carry into all the world? Is it something sufficiently
precious to warrant the risk and expenditure? Sup-
pose that to-night, in the still hours, some one comes
knocking at your door. With difficulty you rouse your-
self, and, going to the window, look out. A woman is
standing at the door.
^^What do you want?" you question impatiently.
^^Oh," she replies, "I want you to carry this pack-
age to a friend of mine, who lives over on the other
side of the town."
^^What ! at this hour ?" vou ansAver. ^^There is no
light and an awful storm is raging. What is in the
package, that I should brave such dangers in order to
deliver it ?"
"Well," she answers, reluctantly, "it is a bou-
quet-— "
You do not wait for her to finish. Your indignation
is kindled, and you are ready to have the woman ar-
Lights on Scripture Truths. 107
rested on a charge of lunacy. Suppose, on the other
hand, she comes to ask vou to carrv some sovereim
remedy to a dying man ? Her plea, instead of rousing
your indignation, will stir you to the best that there is
in you. The storm and the darkness and the danger
will count for nothing, when you are a bearer of that
which means life to another. Brethren, when the
church realizes that men without Christ are lost, and
that the gospel has power to save and redeem them,
it will need no more bugle-blasts to arouse it to its
duty and to its opportunity.
TUEXIXG IT TETO MONEY.
(Mark xiv. 4, 5.)
The fabled stone that had power to turn every-
thing into gold — ^^vhat a blessed thing that it is only
fabled ! Imagine the stone in the hands of some men.
Precious as is the glittering substance, we can readilj^
see that there are many things the place of which it
could not fill. There are men in the world to-day who
would, if they could, turn not only all material but
also all spiritual things into money.
There is a man who is using some splendid endow-
ment— his eloquent tongue, his pen, his social gifts —
in an unselfish way. He is pouring them out as a
love offering upon the world. Some sordid-minded
198 ^ Side Windows; or,
Judas is sure to lcx>k upon his gift and exclaim, ^'This
might have been sold!'' Yes, so it might. But this
by no means proves that he has the right to sell it.
In a certain section where the farms are uncommonly
fertile, the people are stunted and inferior in appear-
ance. A traveler, noting this, inquired as to the rea-
son.
^They are a miserable, undersized set because they
sell everything that can possibly be turned into money
and live on the refuse," was the reply. The Christian
who turns every available power into money will find
that he has done so to the detriment of his own spiritual
self.
THEY THAT AEE SICK.
^^I wish you would go with me to see my phy-
sician/' a lady said to a friend who seemed to be in
declining health. ^^I am certain that he could cure
you if you Avould go at once."
^^Wait till I feel better, and I will go witli you,'^
returned the invalid, looking up with a Avan smile.
"But I said a physician," the friend explained,
somewhat impatiently. "It is because you are sick
that I wanted you to go to him."
The invalid only shook her head. "I believe all
you say about him," she said, "but I want to get my
Lights on Scripture Truths. 199
system toned up a little before I go to him. I do n't
think he can do anything for me till I am stronger/'
It is not difficult for us to see the folly of such
an answer. The same thing is not always so plain to
us when sick souls are to be brought to the great Phy-
sician.
i:j^vitixg temptation.
A young man, who had hitherto borne a good repu-
tation, was ai-rested on the charge of being implicated
in an extensive robbery. The trial developed the fact
that he had been a tool in the hands of others, and that
his part in the matter had been that of showing the
men the places where they were likely to get the largest
returns. The judge was at first disposed to believe
the young man's statement that he had never before
stepped aside from the path of rectitude. However,
his suspicions were aroused by the fact that the boy
had been singled out from among all his associates and
approached w4th the proposal that he take part in the
robbery.
^^A young man who received such a proposal had
done something to invite it," the judge declared. Sub-
sequent developments proved that he was right. Those
who asked his aid would not have dared to do so if they
had not believed that he was for sale. While it is
200 Side Windows; of,
true that all men must meet temptation, it is not a
favorable omen when evil-doers make bold to ask us
to join them in their deeds. We may be above that
which they would have us do, but we have at least
not kept our colors where they ought to be.
MISSIOITAEY SUBMISSIOK
A young woman, who was anxious to go to the
foreign field, was hindered from carrying out her de-
sires. She was listless and indifferent concerning the
work near at hand, and all effort to enlist her in it
was in vain. ^^I consecrated everything to the mis-
sionary work,'' she said, "and will never be able to care
for anvthine; else.'' That was not consecration. It
was stubborn willfulness. There is an utter absence of
the "missionary spirit" in the heart that can not be
enlisted in missionary work that lies outside of the
realm of its special plans.
OUR ADVOCATE.
Two men, stopping over night in a little village
in the Orient, unintentionally violated some tradition
and were placed under arrest. One of them was badly
frightened. The other took the matter very calmly.
^^Why arer you not afraid to be brought before the
Lights on Scripture Truths, 201
king?'' questioned the first, somewhat impatiently.
^^You are as much an offender as I am."
"Yes, but I have a friend in court/' was the reply.
^^He is all-powerful with the king, and he will speak
for me."
Here do Ave behold the man who has Christ for his
advocate and the man who has not. While the Chris-
tian is not exempt from danger, he has a Friend in
court who will not fail him in his hour of need.
WILL GOD ROB MAN?
You mean^ "Will a man rob God ?" you say. l^o.
I do not mean anything of the kind. We all know
that men do rob him. It is n't worth while to raise
that question. But the other one ? Ah ! we are not
such a unit on that subject. The average man who is
not a Christian refuses to put himself into the hands
of the Almighty because he believes that all God wants
is a chance to rob him of everything that goes to make
life w^orth living. Brother, God does n't ask you to
surrender O'ue of your noble powers; it is only the
devil who ever asks that. What the Lord does, ask
of you is that you let him use them.
In a certain family that traces its lineage back to
the days of the pilgrims, there is an heirloom that no
amount of money could buy. It is a lantern of the
202 Side Windows; or^
most primitive pattern, and, to the casual observer;
would seem to be of little value. Let me tell yoil
the secret of its worth. During the war of tlie Revo-:
lution it was borrowed by one of the men who had
much to do Avith the winning of independence. When
he returned the lantern it showed signs of hard usage,
but it had been made forever glorious bv the man who
had made use of it. So it is with the poAvers that
we loan to God. They may become worn in his serv-
ice, but they will be forever after glorious because he
used them.
LOVE^S OFFERING,
Love always offers something that is a part of itself.
Suppose your friend comes into your home just as you
are ready to dine; you go to the corner bakery and
buy him a box of tempting things to eat, and, leaving
them with him, go into the dining-room, shut the door
behind you and sit dawn to your dinner. You may
have provided handsomely for your 'friend, but the
chances are that you have wounded him by shutting
him out from your fellowship. You have been willing
to give him something, but you have refused to share
your own personal pleasures with him.
It was said of a multimillionaire who died the
other day, that while he lived a sensual life and re-
itt
Lights on Scripture Truths. 203
sented all efforts to enlist him in the service of Go<lj
he gave now and then large snms to religious enter-
prises. Whatever may have been the motives that
prompted the gifts, we can not attribute them to the
impulse of a loving heart. What God asks of you is
not some splendid gift^ but to be a sharer in your life,
whatever that mav mean.
WHY YOU ARE YOURSELF.
He was not given to finding fault with fate, but
that day the young man had come home from a great
meeting thoroughly sick at heart. He had been meas-
uring up his opportunities alongside of those of the
men he had met, and found it hard to keep back the
bitter question as to why God had so meagerly en-
dowed him. Half unconsciously, he fell to watching
a mother and her children who were in the yard just
across the way. The children were helping to carry
sundry packages from the house out of which they
were moving to the new one a little way up the street.
The boy had been entrusted with only a tiny box.
He seemed to be grieved over the fact, and was looking
with wistful eyes at the packages carried by the older
children, as he asked why she had given him so little.
^^Because mother knew that it was all you could carry
and she did n't want you to fall,'' was the gentle reply.
204 Side Windows; or.
The young man had received his lesson. After that
when he looked at his small opportunities he would
say, ^^God knew that I could n't carry a heavier load,
and he does n't want me to fall."
SPIEITUAL VAGEANCY.
ISTearly every man acknmvledges that it would be
a blessed thing to be a Christian, if only he could reap
the bencG&ts without the costs. The common tramp
has pretty much the same idea about the things that
pertain to respectable living. He would have no ob-
jections to being well fed, and clothed too, for that
matter, if only he could have these things without
working for them. ^^I often feel that you Christians
are to be envied," a young man remarked, ^^but it
would cost me something to become a Christian." In
other W'Ords, he would have been glad to have eaten
bread in the kingdom of God, but he w^as n't willing
to work for it.
THE PEKIL OE SOULS.
A party of young men were strolling along the
beach at a fashionable watering-place, watching with
idle interest the fantastic gestures of some boys who
I were disporting themselves in the surf not far away.
I
Lights on Scripture Truths. 205
Suddenly one of the young men threw off his coat
and dashed into the water.
^^Men !'' he shouted to his companions, "those boys
are not playing, they are asking for help. Do n't
you see they are drowning?"
The knowledge that lives were in danger had, in
a moment, changed indifference into the most intense
solicitude. Let the church once realize that men are
really dying without Christ, and it will have been en-
listed heart and soul in the cause of missions.
Ui^SPOTTED FKOM THE WORLD. .
"I think a Christian can go anywhere,'' said a
vouno^ woman, who was defending' her continued at-
I/O 7 O
tendance at some very doubtful places of amusement.
"Certainly she can," rejoined her friend, "but I
am reminded of a little incident that happened last
summer when I went with a party of friends to explore
a coal mine. One of the young women appeared
dressed in a dainty, white gown. When her friends
remonstrated with her she appealed to the old miner
who was to act as guide to the party:
" ^Can't I w^ear a white dress down into the mine V
she asked petulantly.
" ^Yes, 'm,' returned the old man. ^There 's noth-
in' to keep you from w^earin' a white frock down there,
206 ^ Bide Windows; or,
but there ^11 be considerable to keep you from wearin^
one back.' "
There is nothing to prevent the Christian wearing
his white garments when he seeks the felloAvship of
that .which is unclean, but there is a good deal to pre-
vent him from wearing white garments afterward.
WHEKE THE IIYPOCEITE BELONGS.
''What is a hypocrite?" I ask the pompous in-
dividual who had been railing at the despised class
who Avear that dishonorable name.
'^A hypocrite ?'' he answers. ^^A hypocrite ? Why,
he is one of ycur miserable Christians, who is just as
bad as the worst one, if the truth were known.'' My
friend, you are mistaken. That the hypocrite is the
worst man in the world, we are ready to admit, but
he is n't a Christian. He is guilty of the despicable
act of stealing the clothes that belong to some Chris-
tian and of palming himself off upon the world as
one, but in reality he belongs to the other side. He
is an infidel and a rebel.
My soldier friend, let me ask you a question. What
is a spy? You say, ^^He is the man who, while he is
not loyal to our cause, gets in among us by means of
false pretensions." Precisely ! And you never dream
of coimting the spy as a part of your forces. The
Lights on Scripture Truths, 207
name itself bears testimony to the fact that he belongs
to the other side. ISTo loyal man was ever foolish
enough to refuse to enlist for the defense of his coimtry,
because of the spies who had crept into the ranks.
There is no excuse so truly the fool's excuse as that
of the man who refuses to become a loyal soldier of
Jesus Christ because of the few who have crept into
the ranks and are wearing the uniform to which they
have no right.
WHY THE CHEISTIA2ST IS l^OT AFEAID.
In a shop where the employes were, daring a good
deal of the time, left to themselves, some of the men
paid very little attention to the rules. It vras only
when it was kno^ra that the inspector was about to
make one of his rounds that they took care to keep the
rubbish out of the way and their work-tables in order.
One man, however, was an exception to this. There
was never a time when his corner was not in proper
condition. He took pains to keep it so. Some of the
men lau^'hed at him. Thev said he was afraid of the
inspector. And yet he was not. He knew that his
coming meant commendation. He was the only man
in the shop who did not tremble to hear the inspector's
footstep. We have a way of speaking of the day of
final reckoning' as beino; an awful dav, and vet let us
208 , Side Windows; or,
remember that it will be a day of reward as well as a
day of judgment. Unbelievers may sneer at the man
who sets his house in order and keeps it that way, and
say that he is afraid of death. The fact is that he is
the one man who has nothing to be afraid of.
YOUE SUPKEME OPPOETUi^ITY.
An eminent physician picked up in the street one
day a homeless lad, and, taking him to his home, treated
him with the utmost kindness. He took the boy into
his office and gave him the training that would fit him
to be a skillful nurse. ^^Some day, when I am sick and
in need of attention, he will be able to care for me/^
the old doctor said, when his friends remonstrated with
him for the care he Was bestowing upon the boy. ^^That
will more than repay me for my pains.''
One day, when the boy had grown almost to man-
hood, he went away on a pleasure excursion, contrary
to the wishes of his benefactor, who needed his help.
While he was gone, the old doctor was stricken with
sudden illness and died alone in his office for want of
some one to minister to him. ^To think that the lad
should have failed me at the very moment for which
I have these years been planning!'' he moaned again
and again. And the boy echoed the lament when he
returned to. find his friend cold in death, But how
Lights on Scripture Truths. 209
was he to have known that he was missing that for
which he had been brought to this moment ? How are
we to know when we are slighting the supreme oppor-
tunity for which God placed us here? My brother,
we can not know. If the boy had never been faithless
to his duty, there would have been no such sad denoue-
ment; if you and I took every opportunity earnestly,
there would be no danger of our failing to grasp the
great one. Better that life should be a series of seem-
ing defeats that end in victory, than a succession of
brilliant achievements that end in failure.
THE BEST EVIDENCE.
While the truth of the religion of Christ unfolds
itself to the thoughtful mind in many Avays, one of the
best evidences is the one which the believer carries in
his own heart. The longing to know something about
God is a natural attribute. It is to be foimd even in
the Imvest type of mankind. When he finds that which
•satisfies this longing, he has no need to be urged to
believe. A company of men were shipwrecked upon an
uninhabited shore. They sought in vain for something
to satisfy their hunger, and there seemed to be nothing
but starvation before them. One of them, going some
distance inland, found a sort of fungi, growing at the
root of a decayed tree. He ate some of it, and hastened
210 ~ ' Side Wijidotvs; or,
back to his companions to tell them of what he had
found.
"Ah! but it may be poison/' they said. "How do
you know that it was ever meant for food?''
"I know it has satisfied my hunger/' he returned
simply J "and that where before I was weak and faint-
ing, I have gotten strength."
This has been the testimony of eve-ry man who has
partaken of the bread that cometli down from heaven.
It satisfies an implanted longing, and makes him
strong where before he was without strength.
DEALIlN^G JUSTLY WITH GOD.
A gentleman spent many months in collecting ma-
terials for the construction of a certain machine. The
metals were of the finest and the W'Ood costly and rare.
Taking these to a skilled mechanic, he gave orders
for the construction of the machine. Months passed.
The time came when the machine was to have been
completed ; but, though the owner sent for it again and
again, he was each time put off with some flimsy ex-
cuse. At last, at the end of the season, the maker of
the machine sent it to the man who had given tJie or-
der. He had followed directions in its construction,
but during all these months he had been using it for
himself. Kow'that it was worn out^ a3:id he could
Lights on Scripture Truths. 211
have no more use for it, he gave it to the owner. It
was an insult, you say ? Yes, beloved, but how much
more grossly do we insult God when we wear out the
best of our life, that was never our own, and in the
end offer him the broken pieces!
THE WORK OF HIS HA2s[DS.
The great heart that really loves people^ that
causes its o\vner to shed tears over the needs of Jeru-
salem, or Cincinnati, or Chicago, is all too rare. We
can love our friends, our proteges and even our ene-
mies, but to really yearn over people we can not call
by name, and who present to our gaze simply a great
troubled human sea, is another matter. Loving God
and loving people is the same thing when we keep in
mind the fact that God made the people. The work
of those we love is never lacking in interest to us.
I saw the other day a pathetic little w^ord picture
which illustrates this. A young man is fondly gazing
at a picture that has been painted and given to him
by the woman he loves. He has bought for it a beauti-
ful and costly frame. Most people would pronounce
the picture common and crude, but to him it is full
of rare beauty. He sees in it the soul of the one who
conceived it. The trouble with most of us is that we
forget that God made man. So long as he is simply
212 ^ Side Wmdows; 07%
a creature of the earth, earthy, we will pass him by
as an uninteresting clod. We need to associate him
with the great Father to whom he belongs, before we
can appreciate him.
HE U.YDEESTANDS.
A yoimg mechanic became involved in some trouble
with his employer on the question of money that was
due him. A friend expostulated with him, upon learn-
ing the name of the lawyer to whom he had gone for
consultation. ^^Why, I could direct you to a score of
better lawyers,'' said his friend. ^^That man is only
a commonplace fellow.''
^^That may be true," replied the mechanic, ^^but he
understands my case as no one else would be able, to
understand it. He used to work at my trade himself."
Jesus Christ attracts the man who is in need of
help, because he knows all about human sorrows. He
was once in the place of the sorrowing one himself.
THE SECEET OF CONTENTMENT.
The small boy who admitted that he had several
times had all he could eat, but never yet all that he
wanted, finds his counterpart among children of a
larger growth. While there is such a thing as desiring
Lights on Scripture Truths. 213
great possessions for a noble purpose, such instances
must always be painfully rare. The capacity of the
millionaire and the multimillionaire for eating and
drinking is no greater than that of the poor man.
He can only wear so much clothing. He must ac-
knowledge that he has long ago had all he could make
use of, but the greed of getting has not abated. Paul
says: '^Tlaving food and raiment, let us therewith be
content." And he mioht have added : If you are not
content with that, you never will be.
A QUESTIOIs^ OF OWNEKSHIP.
When we want to describe certain very disagree-
able people, we say that they act as though they own
everything. Perhaps not many of us are disposed to
be thus in our intercourse Vvdth each other, and vet it
is a common fault. Xothing is plainer than the teach-
ing of the Bible on the subject of our Indebtedness to
God. He gives nothing, though- he entrusts us with
many things. Yet there is a common feeling that it
is our business, and ours alone, as to how we make use
of that which has been left in our hands. In other
words, we act as though we owned things.
Suppose, if, when you leave your watch with the
watchmaker to be looked after, he should put it on
and use it himself. Suppose the tailor should make
21 i - ^ Side Wmdoios; or^
up the oloth yo'U bring him, and wear it out going
about his own affairs. It would, to say the least of
it, cause a coolness between you and your watchmaker
01 tailor, as the case might be. When you are about
to decide how you shall use this opportunity, or that
talent, remember that the Owner has some rights that
ought to be considered.
PUTTmG THEM TO SILENCE.
A student, noted for his indiscretions, went to one
of his teachers and complained because he was being
made the subject of unfavorable comment.
"How can I make them quit talking about me V^
he asked.
"Quit giving them anything to talk about/' was
the sententious reply.
While the answer was not exactly pleasing to the
young man, he had the good sense to see that his
friend had offered the only remedy.
While there are idle tongues and malicious tongues
that busy themselves when they seem to have abso-
lutely no pretext for doing so, we may be sure that
we can never put them to silence so long as we allow
what they say to be true. Sharp answers and adroit
reasoning, without the backing of absolute truth be-
hind them, will never effectually silence criticism.
Lights on Scripture Truths. 215
An evangelist went into a town where' there were
St few people who chose to be known simply as Chris-
tians, and began to plead for a return to primitive
Christianity. The tongues of the gossips began to wag.
^^Those people are whitewashed infidels/' they said;
^^they don't believe in anything but baptism/^ In
vain the evangelist denied the accusation, and in vain
did they all seek to stop the mouths of the slander-
ers. Though in time they despaired of getting just-
ice, they went on seeking to save the lost and to serve
where they were needed. Years rolled by and their
neighbors began to point to those they had despised
and to commend them for their spirituality, for their
fervent zeal and for their consistent living. The dis-
ciples had long ago ceased trying to vindicate them-
selves, and had devoted themselves to the simple per-
formance of duty. In so doing they had unwittingly
put to silence their traducers.
DIAMONDS AND COKN.
(John xii. 24.)
Generally speaking, there is no comparison to be
made between the value of a diamond and that of a
grain of corn, yet all depends on the disposition you
make of the com. Put both of them away, and at
the end of a hundred years tlie grain of corn will still
216 ' Side Windoivsj or,
have no money value, while the diamond's value, run-
ning up into the hundreds of dollars, will be undimin-
ished. At the end of ton times a hundred year* the
same thing will be true. But suppose, instead, we bury
the grain in the warm, moist earth, and year after
year throughout the centuries let it go on producing
and reproducing. In that time it will have produced
a store that the whole earth could hardly contain. Its
production represents a money value that makes the
diamond's price not more than an. atom in comparison.
To have saved the grain of com would have been to
lose all it was capable of producing. ^^Except a corn
of wheat fall into' the ground, and die, it abideth
alone." Brother, to save your gift from God may
seem to be the prudent thing, but let me tell you that
in the end it will mean loss.
THE WISDOM OF GOD.
^^The woman means well, and I am certain that
she loves her boy,' ^ some one said concerning the motlier
of several children. ^^I can't understand why she is
such a failure when it comes to family government.^'
^The trouble lies in the fact that she has no con-
ception of the abilities and disabilities of her chil-
dren," was the reply. ^^She asks them to do things
that are out of the range of possibilities. The chil-
Ligliis on Scripture Trulhs. 217
dren, who are uaturally of an obedient temper, liave
found this out, so they have given up trying to obey
her/' The whole trouble lav in the mother's lack of
wisdom. There is no more unmistakable sign of unwis-
dom than that of asking men to do the impossible.
Most men believe that God is good, but multitudes of
them charge him with being unwise when they de-
clare that he has asked of them things that it is un-
possible for them to do.
PRESEEVIXG THE LAXD^IARKS.
The summer after tho flood of 1873, in which a
part of Cincinnati was submerged, a country merchant
visiting the city was in conversation with a German
citizen on the subject, when the latter volunteered to
show him the high-water mark on his warehouse just
across the street.
^^Why,'" said the merchant, in astonishment, look-
ing at the chalk-line above one of the upper windows,
^^I had no idea the water rose so high."
^^Oh ! it did n't," the Gemian returned complais-
anljly, ^^but I had to put it up there to keep the boys
from rubbing it out."
In religion, from the beginning until now, men
have been setting up ^^ancient landmarks" for other
people to let alone.
218 Side Windows; or^
I am afraid tJiat there are no»t a few ^^apostolie
landmarks'' to which some have been fond of pointing
people that are about as genuine as the German's high-'^
water mark.
PAEADE OR SEEVICE.
A little girl, watching a regiment of soldiers march
down the street, turned to her mother as the last sec-
tion of the band went past, and asked with a note
of impatience in her voice, ^^Mamma, what are sol-
diers for if they can't play?" The child had lost
sight of, or really had never understood, the fact that
the real business of the soldier is not to make a part
of an attractive spectacular performance. In our
very laudable desire to make the church attractive,
we often make a similar mistake. The real business
of the church is to save souls and not to furnish an
attraction that will draw ^^the best people in town"
into its charmed circla
WHY HE EELT SECUEE.
"The promise that has helped most in my Christian
life," said a traveling salesman, "is tliis: ^My God
shall supply all your need.' When I first began, I was
troubled for fear that some sudden temptation would
Lights Oil Scripture Truths. 219
prove too much for me. The first house I traveled for
was n't very reliable, and several times I found myself
stranded in a strange town, just because they were
not able to honor my draft. But since I 've been work-
ing for my present employers, it's different. When
I run short of funds, I have only to draw on the house,
knowing it is all right, because they are to- be relied
on. Well, I 've put that into my Christian life. And
though I have passed through some pretty hard expe-
riences, I find that I have only to look to Him, and he
supplies my need according to his riches of grace."
WHAT THEY EEALLY \NKET.
(John XII. 21.)
^^The people of this to^^m do n't want the gospel,'^
said a disgusted preacher who was just quitting a large
congregation — made up mainly of empty benches. ^^I
have tried in every possible way to make the services
attractive, but they simply will not go to church.'^
The man thought he was telling the truth, and yet
within two years after he quitted the field, the old
church was the center of life and interest for the entire
community. Instead of empty benches, there were not
enough to seat the people. What made the differ-
ence? A better preacher? Yes and no. The first
man imagined the people were tired of the religion of
220 Side Windows; oVj
Christ, when in reality they were tired of the poor
substitutes he had been oiiering them. Even worldly
men who go up to the temple do not go there to hear
scientific discussions or flowery oratio^ns. They can
get them elsewhere. ^^We would see Jesus/' their
hearts are saying. Men may grow tired of the man
who steps between them and the Son of God, but they
have never yet grown weary of looking at the Christ
himself.
SACKIFICED EOK US.
Under the old law the blood of the sacrifice was
a reminder to Israel of the awful nature of sin. When
man saw it, he said, ^^I am worthy of death, but the
loving, merciful God accepts the slain beast in my
stead/'
A young man went away from home to start in
business. He was wild and reckless and had repeatedly
to call upon his father for help to save him from getting
into serious trouble, x^fter several years of profligacy,
he returned home, to find his aged parents in the most
straitened circumstances. The old farm had been
sold to pay the debts he had contracted, and by hard
labor his father was eking out a scanty living. Then
there were on the faces of both father and mother deep
lines, which told a tale of what they had suffered. The
Lights on Scripture Truths. 221
sight opened the young man's eyes and brought him
to repentance. ^^I never realized the enormity of my
sin till I saw something of what it had cost/' he said.
Thus has the blood of Christ spoken to the world of
the awfulness of sin. Men^ looking upon it, see the cost
of their disobedience and are brought to repentance.
COA^TRADICTORY TESTIMONY.
If you do n't recommend Christ by your life, you
need not expect that your words will carry conviction
with them. A young lady was very enthusiastic over
her music teacher, and w^ent about among her friends
telling them what a good teacher he was and advising
them to employ him. That would have been all very
well but for the fact that the young woman's musical
performances w^ere atrocious. They spoke of just the
opposite to efficient teaching. It may have been that
her teacher was not responsible for her mannerisms,
but because of them his reputation certainly suffered.
THE GARMENT OF SERVICE.
A certain benevolent association had several times
provided decent clothing for the child of an improvi-
dent family, only to find the girl, a week or two later,
with dirtv hands and face, and her dress soiled almost
222 Side Windows; 01%
beyond recognition. When the others were about ready
to give lip the case as hopeless, one lady offered to take
the child in hand. This time the noAv dress and trim-
mings were creamy white, and fine and delicate in text-
ure. On the following Sunday she appeared with
clean face and hands and neatly combed hair. During
the rest of the season no one had reason to complain of
her untidy appearance. She had put her grimy hands
alongside of the white dress and thus became con-
scious of their unattractiveness. ^^What! Put those
giddy young people to work in the church V^ said an
objector in the early days of Christian Endeavor.
'They're a disgrace to us now^, and it will be enough
v/orse if they are given responsible positions." A
trial, however, proved that he was wrong. More than
one young Christian saw-, for the first time, the fault-
iness of his life as it lay alongside the w^hite gar-
ments of service he had donned.
'^EXCEPT YE TUEN/'
Do n't imagine that you can progress into a Chris-
tian life without first turning squarely away from the
world and toward heavenly things. If you were on
the wrong *road last year, your only salvation is in
a right-about-face. A man who started from Cincin-
nati with the desire of reaching: San Erancisco, turned
Lights on Scripture Truths. 223
liis face toward the east instead of toward the west.
He realized his mistake, but he did not want to turn
around; and so, in spite of regrets and resolutions
and protestations that he wanted to go to the Pacific
coast, he one day found himself confronted by the
Atlantic. Conversion means tmrning about, and it
means that you are to do the turning yourself.
LAMPS OE LIGHTS?
An enterprising dealer ' advertises a lamp which
gives a light so brilliant as to make the sun feel like
it is almost a back number. Passing by the fact that
the language of the dealer is, to say the least of it, a
trifle florid, we are ready to go further and say that
neither his lamp, nor any number of lamps, can of
themselves light up a room ten feet square. The mis-
sion of the lamp is not to give light, but to hold it up
and to spread its beams. The same thing is true of
the church; it is not a light. It is a light-bearer. It
is so with the individual Christian. We can not have
the light without the vessel to hold' the oil, but with-
out the oil all the lamps in the world can not send
out a ray of light. There must needs be the visible
forms that have to do with the perpetuation of the
church and that test our loyalty to him that planned
them, for all our professions and performances amount
224 Side Windows,
to nothing if they are not more than this. The foolish
virgins were, probably, very v^ell satisfied with their
lamps till the time came for them to be put to use.
Mere church membership may salve the conscience, but
it will never save the soul.
LIYIIs^G GKATITUDE,
We may offer fervent expressions of gratitude in
the prayer-meeting and sing aloud in the praise service,
but our real sense of indebtedness must manifest itself
in more practical ways. A king had saved the life of
one of his subjects, and every day afterwards she came
to his gate with protestations of gratitude. ^^I can never
begin to pay the debt I owe him,'' she bewailed. One
day the king, in his chariot, passed her cottage. He
saw in her garden a tree bearing some luscious fruit,
and was seized with a desire to taste it. When he
sent his servant with the request that he be given some
of the fruit, the woman replied that she would gladly
give the fruit to the king but for the fact that there
was no more of it than she needed for herself. She
thus laid bare the fact that her expressions of grati-
tude had been mere words which lacked the element
of truthfulness.
^Mt
•7 \pf>\
MAY 31 1901
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