ANSWERING TO HIS NAME. "AMONG the number brought to the hospital," says an Army Chaplain, "was a young man, mortally wounded, and not able to speak. It was near midnight. The surgeons had been their rounds of duty, and for a moment all was quiet. Suddenly this young man, before speechless, called in a clear, distinct voice, Here!' The surgeon hastened to his side, and asked what he wished. 'Nothing,' said he; they are calling the roll in heaven, and I was answering to my name.' He turned his head, and was gone." MAKING ACQUAINTANCES. WHILE John Wesley was a young man, his company was sought by many on account of his learning, his good manners, and his amiable spirit. He writes of himself, about the year 1727, in reference to this matter, "I made my acquaintances by choice and not by chance." And this sentiment is worthy of Methodism. A young man who values his time and properly understands his mission in life, has not an hour to trifle away with idlers. When young Wesley was asked to return a call which was volunteered and of doubtful advantage, he answered nothing. True politeness pronounces no unmeant compliments. The time-killers never called again upon one who so clearly indicated his willingness, from surface indications, to drop the proposed acquaintance. Unless he saw that he could do the people good, or receive good from them, he never desired their company. He had no time nor breath to waste in empty talk. It would be well for all young men and young women of the present busy times, to assume the mastership of themselves in this particular. Much precious time is frittered away in senseless conversation merely to answer the demands of etiquette. Life is too short for such waste. Let every one be wise in selecting companions, choice of the soul's fellowhood, and brave to maintain the sacredness of the passing hours. A limited. circle of friends is better than an extended medley of mere acquaintances. Take no one near the heart who is not attested worthy of confidence. The true method of friend-making and friend-keeping, is to gather them slowly around you, and to esteem them by their merits rather than by their name, their money, their appearance, or their profession. The time spent in mere social entertainment is apt to be lost time. Make your acquaintances "by choice and not by chance." It is the safe way. A SHORT SERMON ON SHADOWS. "Our days upon earth are a shadow."-Job viii. 9. THE author of "Ecce Homo" has remarked that Westminster Abbey is more attractive than St. Paul's Cathedral. The reason is obvious. Westminster Abbey is full of human interest. There lie our kings, poets, and conquerors. Statues of great men in characteristic attitudes confront us at every turn. St. Paul's, on the contrary, is comparatively barren in this respect. An imposing temple it is, nevertheless almost empty. As much may be said of Dante and Milton. The poems of the former are occupied with the hopes and fears, loves and hates of those who were "of like passions with ourselves," whereas the productions of the latter are occupied with heaven and hell rather than with our own familiar earth. To which of these classes the Bible belongs we need not state. While divine in its origin, it is intensely human in its theme, end, and sympathies. Man's dangers and duties, character and condition, absorb the anxiety of each sacred writer. The text reminds us of this. It speaks of life. Our existence is compared to a shadow. The figure is a favourite one in the Old Testament. No less than eight times is it used. What does it mean? A shadow is dark.-We always associate the word with that which is gloomy and sombre. And, alas! how dark is life to many! To them the statement of Holy Writ emphatically applies, "Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery." As Sydney Smith observed, "We talk of human life as a journey, but how variously is that journey performed. There are those who come forth girt, and shod, and mantled, to walk on velvet lawns and smooth terraces, where every gale is arrested and every beam is tempered. There are others who walk on Alpine paths of life against driving misery and through stormy sorrows, over sharp afflictions; walk with bare feet and naked breast, jaded, mangled, and chill." Yonder is a poor lad, a wretched city Arab. He cannot read or write. He does not know that there is a God. He has hardly heard the name of Christ. Father and mother he does not recollect. When He arises in the morning he cannot tell where he shall find a breakfast; when he has finished his wanderings he has no pillow for his head at night. His "days upon the earth are a shadow." Here is a young widow, scarce out of her teens. Less than twelve months ago she was a blooming bride; now she weeps at her husband's grave. Her fondest earthly expectations are blasted. Her" days upon the earth are a shadow." There is a large and prosperous household. Father and mother, son and daughter, have a noble ambition-to excel each other in kindness. Brothers and sisters emulate one another in affection. On a certain morning, however, a letter is laid upon the breakfast-table which tells them that, by one blow of misfortune, they are ruined. The home-nest is destroyed. They must go forth, separated for life, in order to procure their subsistence. Their "days upon earth are a shadow." All lives are more or less shadow-like. A shadow is not possible without light.-Natural or artificial radiance is essential to shade. As much may be affirmed of our troubles. They are accompanied by the light of the Sun of Righteousness. To console us in all trial we have the light of God's presence. "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee." A vessel crossing the Atlantic was suddenly struck with a terrible wind. She shivered and reeled under the stroke. Passengers and crew were thrown into confusion. The captain's little girl awoke during the disturbance, and raising herself in bed, said, "Is father on deck?" Assured that he was, she laid herself down quietly and slept again. We may do the same. Calmly ought we to trust our heavenly Father, who is always with us in life's storms. Does the reader remember the dying words of John Wesley? As he was drawing near his end he tried to write. But when he took up the pen he discovered that his right hand had forgotten his cunning. A friend offering to write for him, asked, "What shall I write ?" 66 Nothing but this: The best of all is, God is with us." Such was the support of the expiring saint, and such is an unfailing source of strength to us in every hour of trial. We have also the light of God's purpose. The very meaning of certain commonly used words bears important testimony to the kindly and wise object of the Lord in afflicting us. "Punishment" is derived from the Sanskrit "pu," to cleanse. "Častigation" comes from "castus," pure. Tribulation” has grown out of "tribulum," a threshing instrument, whereby the Roman husbandmen separated the corn from the husks. "Till from the straw the flail the corn doth beat, To quote from a living author: "A Chinese mandarin who has a fancy for foreign trees gets an acorn. He puts it in a pot, places a glass shade over it, waters it, and gets an oak; but it is an oak only two feet high. God does differently. He puts the sapling out of doors; He gives it sunshine and pure air. Is that all? No. Hail whistles like bullets in its branches, and seems as if it would tear them to ribands. But is the tree the worse for it? No; it is cleansed from blight and mildew. Then come storm and tempest, bowing the tree until it appears as if it must fall. But only a few rotten boughs are removed, and the roots take a firmer hold, making the tree stand like a rock. Then comes the lightning, like a flaming sword, rending down huge pieces. Surely the tree is marred and injured now! Not at all. The lightning has made a rent through which the sunlight reaches other parts." This is a picture of God's dealings with us. The storms of trouble develop holiness and virtue. A shadow affects the appearance of things. Shadows render objects less distinct. On the side of yonder hill stands a house. Gaze at it while the sun is shining. Look at it afterwards when it is in the shade. It is less visible. The changing colours of the sea are attributable to the shadows of clouds upon it. "Our days upon earth are a shadow" in this respect. Our characters and lives change the appearance of things. What is great to some is small to others. This man's delight is that man's dread. Our different moods influence all that comes under our notice. Two men stand by the ocean. As he looks at the grand green waves, galloping like Neptune's wild horses, and shaking their foaming manes with delight, one of them sees in the ocean an emblem of eternity, a symbol of infinitude, a manifestation of God. But the other, as he glances at it, sees in it nothing but a fluid composed of oxygen and hydrogen, forming a convenient means of sending out shiploads of corn and iron, silk and spices. Thomas Fuller tells us that he heard that the brook near Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, into which the ashes of Wickliffe's burnt bones were cast, "never since doth drown the meadow about it. Papists expound this to be because God so well pleased with the sacrifice of the ashes of such a heretic. Protestants ascribe it rather to the virtue of the dust of such a martyr." "To the pure all things are pure." Let us be righteous, and we shall find spiritual help in everything. If we have but a heart yearning after Christ, we shall never fail to get strength and solace from nature, revelation, and mankind. The same bee has a sting for its foe and honey for its friend. The same sun sustains and ripens a rooted tree, was but kills the uprooted one. The same wind and waves sink one ship and send another to its destination. A shadow agrees with its substance.-It corresponds in shape. The tree has a shadow, which is its precise similitude. It corresponds in size. A small house or stone has a small shadow. Life is a shadow. God is the sun. What is the substance? Eternity. Surely it is not outstraining the figure to say this. Life is a "shadow of good things to come" in the other world. But is it so? Is life a "shadow of good things to come?" That depends upon circumstances. The character of our being hereafter agrees with the character of our being here. The people of Ashantee believe that the rank and position of the dead in the other world are determined by the number of attendants he has. Hence, on the death of his mother, the king sacrificed three thousand of his subjects on her grave, that she might have a large retinue of followers, and therefore occupy a situation of eminence. In this horrible custom there is the germ of a solemn truth. Our moral and spiritual state in eternity are regulated by our experience in the present. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." "He that is holy, let him be holy still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Oh, what a mighty argument on behalf of goodness. Be it not forgotten. God help us in our daily deeds to remember that our thoughts, feelings, acts, help to decide our everlasting destiny. May we so affectionately serve Christ, and so zealously bless our fellows, that our inevitable future may be bright and glorious. A shadow is useful.-It is serviceable in many ways. Sometimes it saves life. "The shadow of a great rock in a weary land" is of more value than we in our climate can fully understand. Distance may be measured by shadows. The height of mountains has been discovered thus. Time, too, is ascertainable by shadows. Orientals are known to practise this method of finding the hour of the day. To be true followers of Christ, our lives, like the shadow, must be marked by utility. St. John closes his gospel with these remarkable words: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Nay (we feel inclined to say) not so, thou beloved disciple! Surely thou art wrong. Think again. Withdraw thy hyperbole of enthusiasm. We venture to correct thee. Less than "the world itself," very much less will contain' an accurate account of all thy blessed Master |