There Is a Spirit in Man

Man is a complex being—a mysterious conjunction of matter and mind, a wondrous collection of energies and instincts, of appetences and aspirations. He belongs to the physical and to the spiritual, to the visible and to the invisible, to the temporal and to the eternal. Amazing creature, Who shall explore the labyrinths of thy nature? Who shall explain the enigmas of thy history? Who shall fathom the depths, or scale the heights of thy destiny? He only who called thee into existence, and who has made thee the reflection of His own immortality. In His light we discern thy subtle nature, thy varied capabilities, and thy lofty destiny. And shall we scorn His teaching? That were "high treason" against the Majesty of heaven. And shall we confound the distinctions of things, and level the ethereal spirit with the dust? That were to raise onr fratricidal hand against the brotherhood of man. No, precious, priceless spirit, we dare not thus dishonour thee. Thy retrospections and thy anticipations, thy hopes and thy fears, thy joys and thy sorrows, thy projects and thy pursuits, proclaim thee superior to the dull clod, and destined to pass the narrow limits of earth, and to expatiate in the immeasurable fields of immortal existence: there thy god-like powers will be fully developed, and thy capabilities of observation, enjoyment, and action, will find ample scope and appropriate objects. Stretch forth thy pinions, O "bird of Paradise!" shake off the dust of this vain world, and prepare to take thy flight to the realms of boundless being and blessedness.--W. Jones

Human Discovery and Revealed Truth

Though the Bible is not a revelation of science, it may be expected to be free from error, and to contain, under reserved and simple language, much concealed wisdom, and turns of expression which harmonise with natural facts, known perfectly to God, but not known to those for whom at first the revelation was designed. This expectation is just; and in both respects the Bible presents a striking contrast to the sacred books of heathen nations.--Anon

Prayer's Message

Prayer hath her message. Away she flies, borne on the sure and swift wings of Faith and Zeal, Wisdom having given her a charge, and Hope a blessing. Finding the gate shut, she knocks and cries, "Open, ye gates of righteousness, and be ye open ye everlasting doors of glory! that I may enter, and deliver to the King of Jerusalem my petition." Jesus Christ hears her knock, opens the gates of mercy, attends her suit, promiseth her infallible comfort and redress. Back returns Prayer, laden with the news of consolation. She hath a promise, and she delivereth it into the hands of Faith—that were our enemies more innumerable than the locusts in Egypt, and stronger than the giants, the sons of Anak, yet Power and Mercy shall fight for us, and we shall be delivered. Pass we then through fire and water—through all dangers and difficulties, yet we have a messenger, holy, happy, accessible, acceptable to God, that never comes back without comfort—Prayer!—Thomas Adams

The Setting Sun

There is a splendour peculiar to the meridian sun. There is a majestic and uncontrollable energy and boldness, with which it spreads light and blessedness on all around. The sun shining in its strength is a grand and exhilarating sight. But there is a still deeper interest attendant on its decline; when the warm and mellow tints of evening soften the dazzling brightness of its ray; and when surrounded, but not obscured, by clouds, and rich in a golden radiance, on which the eye lingers with chastened and inexpressible delight, it sinks below the horizon. It is with similar feelings that we regard the faithful servant of God, when he comes towards the close of a long, consistent, and useful life. We watch with a very tender interest the terminating scene of his pilgrimage; and survey with a more sublime veneration the holier radiance which gilds his declining years.—Ed. Craig

Strongest When Helpless

Stumbling proves undoubtedly our tendency to fall but it proves also our capacity to stand erect. Had we been lying supine we could never have stumbled. The very fact of our fall should increase our dependence upon God. God's assurance in this case is man's strength, as well as his caution. The very knowledge that he upholds us enables us to rise. If it were not so, or if it were a mere matter of human pride, the mere act of our infinite disgrace in sinning against him would keep us prostrate. But when we feel our nothingness, as was once said, we have nothing to fear. When we lose ourselves, we save ourselves. When we hang only on the Lord, we can alone have strength.--Anon

Remembered Happiness

Mankind are always happier for having been happy; so that if you make them happy now, you make them happy twenty years hence, by the memory of it. A childhood passed with a due mixture of rational indulgence, under fond and wise parents, diffuses over the whole of life a feeling of calm pleasure, and in extreme old age is the very last remembrance which time can erase from the mind of man. No enjoyment, however inconsiderable, is confined to the present moment. A man is the happier for life from having made once an agreeable tour, or lived for any length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed any considerable interval of innocent pleasure.--Sydney Smith

Men Ought Always to Pray

In this precept—to pray always —there is nothing of exaggeration, nothing commanded which may not be fulfilled, when we understand of prayer—the continual desire of the soul after God! having, indeed, its times of intensity, seasons of an intenser concentration of spiritual life, but not being confined to those times; since the whole life of the faithful should be in Origen's beautiful words, "one great connected prayer;" or, as Basil expresses if, "prayer should be the salt, which is to salt everything besides." "That soul," says Donne, "that is accustomed to direct herself to God on every occasion; that, as a flower at sunrising conceives a sense of God in every beam of his, and spreads and dilates itself toward him, in thankfulness, in every small blessing that he sheds upon her; that soul who, whatsoever string be stricken in her, bass or treble, her high or low estate, is ever turned toward God;—that soul prays sometimes when she does not know."—Trench

Learning Hymns

As soon as a little child commences speaking, it is not too early to begin teaching it the sweet simple hymns which devout hearts have composed and compiled for " the little ones at home." They may not now be fully understood, but they will be remembered, and after-years may prove their benefit. Any truth is more easily retained, especially by children, when expressed in simple verse. What a rich treasury that mind possesses which has a memory well stored with scriptural hymns, adapted to every circumstance in life! What Christian would not sooner part with his earthly wealth, than have them all for ever blotted from his heart?--Anon

Your Child Is Immortal

That child must live for ever. Its existence is endless as the life of its Maker. There lies concealed in that frame, clasped to a mother's bosom, and so feeble that the evening breeze might seem sufficient to destroy it, a living spark which no created power can ever extinguish! Cities and empires shall rise and fall during coming centuries; but that infant of yours will survive them all! The world and its works shall be burnt up, and the elements melt with fervent heat; new systems in the starry heavens may be created and pass away; but your child will live amidst the changes and revolutions of endless ages, which will no more touch or destroy it than the wild hurricane can touch the rainbow that reposes in the sky, though it may rage around its lovely form. When eras that no arithmetic can number have marked the life of your child, an eternity will still be before it, in which it shall live, move, and have its being! What think you, parents, of having such a creature as this under your roof and under your charge,— and that creature your own child? Consider,—


Your child must live for ever in bliss or woe. It must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. It must be for ever lost, or for ever saved. It must be with God and Christ, with the angels and saints, loving and beloved, a glorious and majestic being; or for ever wicked and unutterably miserable, with Satan and lost spirits! I am assuming, of course, that it here attains such an age as makes it fully responsible to God; for if it die in infancy, I believe it will be saved through Jesus Christ. But to know that your babe, though dead, actually lives somewhere with Jesus; or that, if living here, it is yet capable of becoming one of God's high and holy family in his home above for ever,—may well deepen within you a sense of its personal value! Now, whether your child—should it be spared some years on earth—shall live for ever in joy or sorrow, depends upon what it believes and does in this world. It is how it lives here, which must determine where and how it shall live hereafter. Is that not a solemn consideration for you? And is it not more solemn still, when yon remember, that you, more than any other in this world, shall, under God, fix your children's fate for ever? The reason is plain; inasmuch as their character for time, and therefore for eternity, is affected chiefly by the manner in which they are trained by you in their early years. By your words and life, by your example and your instruction, you are most assuredly every day making use of what is to them, for many a day, the greatest power on earth, to give their souls, when most easily impressed, that stamp which they will retain for ever. Have a care, then, how you train them up.--Anon

Little Things

Great virtues are rare: the occasions for them are very rare: and when they do occur, we are prepared for them; we are excited by the grandeur of the sacrifice; we are supported either by the splendour of the deed in the eyes of the world, or by the self-complacency that we experience from the performance of an uncommon action. Little things are unforeseen; they return every moment: they come in contact with our pride, our indolence, our haughtiness, our readiness to take offence; they contradict our inclinations perpetually. It is, however, only by fidelity in little things that a true and constant love to God can be distinguished from a passing fervour of spirit.--Fenelon

Too Late

How like the sound of the fresh earth upon the coffin-lid fell those words upon my ear and heart. The physician had been hastily summoned to the bedside of my dear and only son, upon whose fair forehead lay the dew of death. He had been suddenly stricken, and we knew not how to give him up; and, hoping against hope, we sought to save him. The physician turned to me, saying, "It is too late."

Ah, thoughtless youth, seeking for earthly happiness, death will one day come to thee. Thou mayst not be prepared for it. The stern messenger may come to thee as he did to little Charles, with no voice of warning, and summon thee before the Judge; and then, with the thought of misspent hours, and a vision of eternity before thee, thou mayst exclaim, "Would to God I had thought of this hour, and prepared for it; but now it is too late,—eternally too late!"--Anon

Side Winds

I have heard that a full wind behind the ship drives her not so fast forward as a side wind, that seems almost as much against her as with her; and the reason, they say, is because a full wind fills but some of her sails, which keep it from the rest, that they are empty; when a side wind fills all her sails, and sets her speedily forward. Whichever way we go in this world our affections are our sails; and according as they are spread and filled, so we pass on swifter, or slower, whither we are steering. Now, if the Lord should give us a full wind and continued gale of mercies, it would fill but some of our sails—some of our affections—joy, delight, and the like. But when he comes with a side wind,—a dispensation that seems almost as much against us as for us,—then he fills our sails, takes up all our affections, making his works wide and broad enough to entertain every one,—then we are carried fully and freely towards the haven where we would be.--Owen.

Love Thinketh No Evil

The divine virtue delights to speak well and think well of others; she talks well of their good actions, and says little or nothing, except when necessity compels her, of their bad ones. She does not look around for evidence to prove an evil design, but hopes that what is doubtful will, by further light, appear to be correct. She imputes no evil as long as good is probable; she leans on the side of candour, rather than that of severity; she makes every allowance that truth will permit; she looks to all the circumstances which can be pleaded in mitigation; suffers not her opinions to be formed till she has had opportunity to escape from the midst of passion, and to cool from the wrath of contention. Love desires the happiness of others, and how can she be in haste to think evil of them?--Anon

Sick Bed Reflections

It is a mistake to suppose that a man's mind is in a better state to attend to religion when he is sick than when he is well. It may not have its ordinary clearness and vigour. But a fit of sickness affords this advantage, that it makes a break, a chasm in a man's life, and gives him a chance to start anew. It cuts him off from bad companions, and gives him time for reflection. It opens his eyes to the vanity of the world, and forces him to look at the stern realities of death and of an eternal state. The rich and the gay, as well as the poor and wretched, have to die, and go to their Judge. The tomb stands open for them all. Eternity wraps in a dark doad the foremost of this mighty procession. No wit or frivolity can deceive him long with the dream of life or happiness. No wealth can buy a ransom from the grave. In view of these things, man is forced to reflect soberly on his course of life. If it has been bad, he must suffer the bitter reproaches of conscience and the fears of a hereafter. While thus saddened and depressed, there is hope of an abiding religious impression.

But if these reflections pass away with the sickness that occasioned them, —if the solemn vows of the sick-bed are forgotten at the first moment of restoration to health,—the effect is to kill religious sensibility. No man can be, after such seasons, as he was before. The renewal of a wicked course, after breaking off for a time, doubles the probability of eternal ruin, by its aggravation of guilt and its hardening influence.--Anon

The Raw Material of Scandal

Mr. Wilberforce relates that at one time he found himself chronicled as "St. "Wilberforce" in an opposing journal, and the following given as an instance of his Pharisaism." "He was lately seen," says the journal, "walking up and down in the Bath Pump-room reading his prayers, like his predecessors of old, who prayed in the corners of the streets to be seen of men." "As there is generally," says Mr. Wilberforce, "some slight circumstance which perverseness turns into a charge or reproach, I began to reflect, and I soon found the occasion of the calumny. It was this:—I was walking in the Pump-room in conversation with a friend; a passage was quoted from Horace, the accuracy of which was questioned, and as I had a Horace in my pocket, I took it out and read the words. This was the plain 'bit of wire' which factious malignity sharpened into a pin to pierce my reputation." How many ugly pins have been manufactured out of smaller bits of wire than even that!--Anon

Hear the Word of the Lord!

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."— (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.)

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightcuing the eyes: the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned : and in keeping of them there is great reward."—(Ps. xix. 7—11.)

"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."—(John v. 39.)

Men's Duties

Men's proper business in the world falls mainly into three divisions:— First, To know themselves and the existing state of the things they have to do with. Secondly, To be happy in themselves and the existing state of things. Thirdly, To mend themselves and the existing state of things, as far as either are marred or mendable. These, I say, are the three plain divisions of proper human business on this earth. For these three, the following are usually substituted and adopted by human creatures. First, To be totally ignorant of themselves and the existing state of things. Secondly, To be miserable in themselves and the existing state of things. Thirdly, To let themselves and the existing state of things alone (at least in the way of correction).—John Ruskin

The Mother

It has been said,"that the first being that rushes to the recollection of a soldier, or sailor, in his heart's difficulty, is his mother." She clings to his memory and affection amidst all the forgetfulness and hardihood induced by a roving life. The last message he leaves is for her, his last whisper breathes her name. The mother, as she instils the lessons of piety and filial obligation into the heart of her infant son, should always feel that her "labour is not in vain." She may drop into the grave, but she has left behind her influence that will work for her. " The bow is broken, but the arrow is sped, and will do its office."--Anon

A Mother's Praters

Every one who has thought on this subject must know how great is the influence of the female character, especially in the sacred relations of wife and mother. My honoured mother was a religious woman, and she watched over and instructed me, as pious mothers are accustomed to do. Alas! I often forgot her admonitions, but, in my most thoughtless days, I never lost impressions which her holy example had made on my mind. After spending a large portion of my life in foreign lands, I returned again to visit my native village. Both my parents died while I was in Russia, and their house is now occupied by my brother. The furniture remains just the same as when I was a boy, and at night I was accommodated with the same bed in which I had often slept before. But my busy thoughts would not let me sleep. I was thinking how God had led me through the journey of life. At last the light of the morning darted through the little window, and then my eye caught sight of the spot where my sainted mother, forty years before, took my hand, and said, "Come, my dear, kneel down with me, and I will go to prayer." This completely overcame me, I seemed to hear the very tones of her voice. I recollected some of her expressions, and I burst into tears, and arose from my bed, and fell upon my knees just on the spot where my mother kneeled, and thanked God that I had once a praying mother. And, oh! if every parent could feel what I felt then, I am sure they would pray with their children as well as pray for them.


Happy the child who is blessed with a praying mother! But the privilege involves the highest responsibility. Sad will be the condition of the man who never added to his mother's prayer his own, and who heard her lessons only to neglect them!--Anon

Everlasting

All the ineffable delight, all the high prerogatives "of the saints in light," are stamped with the seal of eternity. How do we read, again and again, of "everlasting life," "eternal glory," "the everlasting kingdom," "going no more out for ever," "an enduring substance," "pleasures for evermore," "an incorruptible crown," "a kingdom which cannot be moved," "afar more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"! And why is this placed before us iu so rich a variety of forms, but that we may trust the record even when we cannot trace the hand, and cherish the persuasion that when our heavenly Father removes from us our dearest delights, he takes what is his more than ours, and transplants them to a brighter region, his providence concurring with his grace in saying, "Come up hither"?

"Remember in Prayer, a Man under Sentence of Death"

We recollect, when a boy, hearing a minister read these words from the pulpit, one Sabbath afternoon, when the congregation rose up to prayer. A man had committed murder, and he was lying in the jail, condemned to die. We have sometimes been mournfully reminded of this in a Sabbath-school. Every boy or girl who is out of Christ is under condemnation. Dear reader, when the lessons are over next Sabbath, and all the classes stand up to pray, could the teacher say of you, before he began, " Remember in prayer, a scholar under sentence of death?—Free Church Children's Missionary Record

To Save a Soul

Nothing more excellent or desirable (covetable) than to rescue a soul from death eternal: he does this who brings back his erring brother to the way of life. Wherefore this noble work is not to be neglected. We see how much our Lord regards giving bread to the hungry and drink to the thirsty; but much more precious is salvation to the soul than the life of the body. Therefore let us take care lest souls redeemed by Christ should perish by our sloth, whose salvation God does in a sense put in our hands not that we can of ourselves convey salvation, but that God by our ministration delivers and preserves what otherwise seems near to destruction. — Calvin

Good Nature Not Always Good

I perceive there is in the world a good-nature, falsely so called, as being nothing else but a facile and flexible disposition, wax for every impression. What others are so bold to beg, they are so bashful as not to deny. Such osiers can never make beams to bear stress in church and state. If this be good-nature, let me always be a clown; if this be good fellowship, let me always be a churl. Give me to set a sturdy porter before my soul, who may not equally open to every comer. I cannot conceive how he can be a friend to any who is a friend to all, and the worst foe to himself.--Anon

The Puritans--Their Dress and Manners

In the matter of dress and manners, the Puritan triumph has been complete. Even their worst enemies have come over to their side, and "the whirligig of time has brought about its revenge." Their canons of taste have become those of old England, and High Churchmen, who still call them roundheads and cropped ears, go about rounder-headed and closer cropped than they ever went. They held it more rational to cut the hair to a comfortable length, than to wear effeminate curls down the back; and we cut ours much shorter than they ever did. They held (with the Spaniard, then the finest gentleman in the world) that sad,—i.e. dark,—colours, above all black, were the fittest for stately and earnest gentlemen: we all, from the Tractarian to the Anythingarian, are exactly of the same opinion. They held that lace, perfumes, and jewellery on a man were marks of unmanly foppishness and vanity, and so hold the finest gentlemen in England now. They thought it equally absurd and sinful for a man to carry his income on his back, and bedizen himself out in reds, blues, and greens, ribands, knots, sashes, and "tripple quadruple dcodalian, ruffs, built up on iron and timber (a fact), which have more arches in them for pride, than London Bridge for use:" we, if we met such a ruffed and ruffled worthy as used to swagger by hundreds up and down Paul's Walk, not knowing how to get a dinner, much less to pay his tailor, should look on him firstly, as a fool, and, secondly, a swindler; while if we met an old Puritan, we should consider him a man, gracefully and picturesquely dressed, but withal in the most perfect sobriety and good taste; and when we discovered (as we probably should), over and above, that the harlequin cavalier had a box of salve and a pair of dice in one pocket, a pack of cards and a few pawnbrokers' duplicates in the other; that his thoughts were altogether of citizen's wives and their too easy virtue; and that he could not open his mouth without a dozen oaths, we should consider the Puritan (even though he did quote Scripture somewhat through his nose), as the gentlemen, and the courtier as a most offensive specimen of the "snob triumphant," glorying in his shame.--The North British Review

A Faithful Witness

Five years ago, a lady employed a man to put up a stove. She chose a fitting opportunity, and addressed him on his soul's eternal interests, and gave him a suitable tract. Subsequently, she had from time to time occasion for his services, when she prayerfully embraced some favourable moment for dropping an admonition or an exhortation. Time passed on, and disease, which had doubtless been some time preying on his vitals, manifested itself. There was a distressing cough, and great debility. He was obliged to abandon work. Now our friend administered to his relief and comfort, and visited his family often, to impart the consolations of religion.

Many a time did the dying man testify to the value of these humble efforts for his good. How long he had lived among the people of God, without ever been spoken to about his soul! One kind word, one little tract opens the door of his heart, and he receives the truth as it is in Jesus, by the effectual operations of the Holy Spirit, and dies in peace, commending his bereaved wife and children to his heavenly Parent. Who cannot win a soul to God ? Who is so young, so feeble, so ignorant, that they cannot say, " Come thou with us, and we will do thee good?"--Anon