LIBRARY. Phillips Brooks' sermons, "The Candle of the Lord." Spurgeon's "Sermons in Candles" is full of illustrations. A.D. 28. ON THE MOUNT. "A man was sent up a dangerous mountain by night to light a beacon. His friends, anxiously watching, could not see him as he went, but they could see the light of the lantern that he carried." Men should see not us, but our good deeds. PULPIT REFLECTORS.-An aged minister said that he wanted most of all pulpit reflectors, that every one should reflect to the world the truths preached in the pulpit. The light in our great lighthouses is simply a large oil-lamp: why, then, does it send its rays so many miles out to sea and penetrate the fog so far? Because the light is reflected by a large number of glass prisms, which multiply and concentrate the light of the central lamp. SPREADING THE FIRE.-" As a tree on fire kindles a whole forest into a flame, so the apostles, burning with the fire of heaven, have set in a blaze the whole world, and have filled it with the light of truth and the warmth of charity."—Augustine. (2) "The apostles were, as burning coals, scattered throughout the nations, blest incendiaries of the world."-Archbishop Leighton. DISPERSION OF LIGHT.-The diffusion of light in our world is caused by the reflection of the rays of the sun from the particles in the air, from the clouds, from the earth and all that is on it. Otherwise we could see only the sun, and in all other directions would be darkness. But by the dispersion of light every particle becomes a miniature sun, and the world is full of light, even to those who do not live in the direct rays of the sun. BUNYAN'S CHRISTIAN.-"It has been pointed out," says Prof. Henry Drummond in "The Programme of Christianity," "as a blemish on the immortal allegory of Bunyan that the Pilgrim never did anything-anything but save his soul. The remark is scarcely fair, for the allegory is designedly the story of a soul in a single relation; and besides he did do a little. . . . . Christ's conception was .... heavens removed from that of a man setting out from the city of Destruction to save his soul. It was rather that of a man dwelling Saved in amidst the Destruction of the City, and planning escapes for the souls of others, escapes not (merely) to the other world, but to purity and peace and righteousness in this." Bunyan's object was to save souls, because only saved souls could save others. He wanted more lamps burning, and his work was to kindle them, that they might kindle others, as his whole life showed. In a neighboring city is an immense electric-light manufactory. If I were describing that, I would not tell what the electric light was doing in churches and libraries and homes and streets. I would only describe how the lights were made, and he would wholly misunderstand the description and the factory who should imagine that the factory was an end in itself, and not for the very purpose of giving light. Let us not make this mistake in thinking of our salvation. We are saved to save others; our hearts are lighted that we may light others. lan THE BLIND MAN AND HIS LANTERN.-"I remember hearing, some years ago, of a blind man who sat by the wayside with tern near him. When he was asked what he had a lantern for, as he could not see the light, he said it was that people should not stumble over him The eyes of the world are upon us. I think it was George Fox who said, every Quaker ought to light up the country for ten miles around him."—D. L. Moody. THE LIGHT-House Keeper.—"Are you not afraid to live here? It is a dreadful place to be constantly in," said a visitor to a lighthouse keeper in his lonely tower. "No,' replied the man; 'I am not afraid. We never think of ourselves here.' 66 6 'Never think of yourselves! How is that?' "We know that we are perfectly safe, and only think of having our lamps burning brightly, and keeping the reflectors clear, so that those in danger may be saved.'"-H. L. Hastings, in The Christian. THREE KINDS OF LIGHT RAYS.-The rays of the sun are of three kinds, different from one another probably only as to the length of the waves of which they are composed. (1) LIGHT RAYS. White sunlight is really composed of thousands of colors, shades, and tints, which fill the world with beauty. Such variety is in the pure light from Christ, reflected from our manifold natures, needs, and circumstances. The light drives away darkness, shows the way, makes clear heaven, goodness, God, the future; it fills the world with beauty and glory. A.D. 28. ON THE (2) HEAT RAYS. Nearly all the heat in the world comes directly or indirectly from the sun. The fires that warm us and that are the source of power are from the wood or coal in which the heat of the sun has been stored. Such is God's love to us in Jesus Christ, bringing cheer, warmth, and blessing. (3) CHEMICAL RAYS, which act upon plants, and cause the movements of life. These rays are in a sense the source of life, the instrumentality of life. So Christ is the source of our spiritual life. Light, love, and life all come from him, as the bringer of light and truth from the Father of light. Now all these kinds of light are to be reflected by the Christian upon the world. By word and by deed he is to shed abroad light, and beauty and comfort and life; and thereby glorify his Father in heaven. GIVING LIGHT.-"What a man gives out, not what he keeps, determines his appearance in the eyes of the world. Beauty, brightness, color, consist not in what a thing keeps but in what it gives out. A well-known law of optics teaches us that a thing is seen, not in the color which it takes in and keeps, but in that color which it gives back again. The thing that we call red is the one which is, in one sense, blue; that is, it takes in the blue rays and keeps them for itself, but gives back the red ones in color. Gold has kept all the green rays, and given back the yellow ones, so we think it is yellow. The object which we call black takes in every ray of light, and keeps them for itself, and we have strikingly enough seen in it the symbol of all evil. The object which we call white keeps nothing of the sun's rays, but gives them all out again, and we have seen in it the symbol of all good. So a man is seen and known, not by what he receives and keeps for himself, but for what he gives forth to others. The rich man who keeps everything for himself is seen and known to be a poor, mean man. The wise man who holds haughtily his learning to himself will, in the judgment of men, be very apt to seem a proud fool. We are not what we take and keep and have, we are what we give. 'Measure thy life by loss instead of gain, Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth. For life's strength standeth in life's sacrifice, And whoso gives the most has most to give.'" -Sunday-School Times. THE LOST PANE IN A LIGHT-HOUSE.-At one time in a great storm one of the panes of glass in a Florida light-house was broken, and a piece of tin was nailed up in its place, casting a broad shadow over the sea. And it is said that some vessels were lost, because while sailing in this shadow they could not see the light. "This is the lookout "LIGHTS BRIGHT AND ALL IS WELL."cry on the Mediterranean steamers, as their mighty engines drive through the deep, bearing hundreds of passengers to their destined port. Lights bright and all is well,' cries the man on the lookout; and the word is caught up by one and another until it echoes through the ship."-H. L. Hastings. FROZEN LAMPS.—Dr. McVicar, of Montreal, once said that in the Northern part of China, at his boarding-house, he was given a lamp that burned well for a short time, and then grew dim. He sent for the landlord, who took it away, and soon returned with the same lamp shining brightly. Again it grew dim. Why? He learned that the oil was frozen. Taken to the fire it was thawed a little at a time and burned well, but only the melted oil would burn. Cold Christians cannot shine brightly. 16. Let your Light So SHINE.-How can we let our light shine, and at the same time be secret as to our giving and praying? "Distinguish between doing right in order to help others, as when one lights a beacon in order to guide the sailor; and doing right in order to be praised by others, as when one stands in the full blaze of a chandelier in order to display his own jewelry. It is one thing to shine for the sake of illuminating others, and so helping them; it is ! 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. another thing to shine for the sake of illuminating ourselves, and so be seen to advantage." REFERENCE. See on vi. 1–4. -Boardman. A.D. 28. ON THE The Bell 17. NOT TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFIL.-When a bell is made, two moulds of sand are made, an inner and an outer, so arranged as to form between them precisely the shape desired for the bell. The metal is poured in, and then the moulds are broken. But that form is not destroyed, it is only fulfilled, and the bell rings out the glad song of fulfilment. EVIL OF DESTROYING WITHOUT FULFILLING.-The true reformer is one who gives his attention chiefly to building up better things, not to destroying the old. It is easy to find fault. It requires neither talent nor goodness to tear down; it requires both to build up. Destroying all the weeds in a field is of little account, unless good seed is planted; and the weeds are best destroyed in the act of culturing the good crop. Sahara is a region where there is destroying without fulfilling. A garden, an orchard, a park, are places where the seeming destruction, as of weeds and wild growth, and uneven surfaces, permitted the real fulfilment. COMPARISONS.- "As the shell breaks when the bird is hatched; as the sheath withers when the bud bursts into leaf; as the rough sketch is done with when the picture is finished; as the toys of boyhood are laid by in adolescence,'-so the system of law, which is preparatory only, is superseded, not repealed or destroyed; and this just in the proportion in which the individual, the community, or the race comes into a moral state in which it no longer needs to be commanded and forgiven (Gal. iii. 24, 25 ; iv. 1–6).”—Abbott. THE full-blown rose does not destroy, but fulfils the rose-bud. The oak does not destroy, but fulfils the acorn. The tulip fulfils the bulb. The butterfly fulfils the caterpillar. The college fulfils the school. The man fulfils the boy. |