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October 11, 1911] T H B
she slept, and next day, being a wise woman,
laid the beakfast for two. The dawn crept up
over a wide, white world. In the night, the
snow had come down gently, softly, covering
up all ugliness and impurities, and creating
loveliness beyond compare. It was not a heavy,
wild storm to block the roads, or render traffic
by them difficult, and the sun shone out so gloriously
that there came a great gathering to
the kirk. Some thought the minister looked
tired when he took his place in the puljpit. A
few of the keener eyes observed the stranger
in the pew under the gallery, but it is safe to
say that not one recognized him. In the Castle
pew sat the Laird, a poor, thin, shrunken figure
of a man, leaning heavily on the arm of his
man Gardiner. Punctually at twelve the service
began with the singing of the one hundred
and third Psalm:
"Such pity as a father hath unto his children
dear,
Like pity shows the Lord to such as worship
him in fear."
It seemed to the congregation that never had
their minister been more impressive in his conduct
of the early part of the service. It was
the story of the prodigal son he read, but during
its solemn and moving recital the Laird
never once looked up. The text which the minister
had received, as he believed, direct from
the hand of God in the silent night watches was
this: "Break not the bruised reed."
That Sabbath morning was long remembered
in the Merkland valley by reason of its strange
and gripping experience, following on the minister's
powerful preaching of the word. Never
had his faithful flock heard him more eloquent,
more passionate, more appealing. He brought
home to every heart in the church the sin of
hardness of heart, made them shrink and curl
before him, till they asked themselves what they
had done to deserve such an onslaught. Then
he drew a melting picture of the power one human
soul can have upon another, when it exercises
the God-given instincts of tenderness and
compassion. His own voice faltered as he
leaned far over the faded cushion on which the
Bible lay.
"My brethren, I give you the message my
own soul has gotten from God in the night that
has passed away. Up till then, I was harboring
hardness of heart and bitterness unspeakable
against a fellow-sinner. That bitterness God
has helped me to wipe away, and with clean
hands I can call upon any man or woman here
to rid himself of the sin of hardness of heart.
Brethren, where should we be if the Lord God
dealt with us according to our deserts ? Is there
one here that could lift up his head in his sight?
Faith, hope, charity, these three, and the greatest
of these is charity."
He would have said something more, but his
attention and the eyes of the whole congregation
were arrested by the tall figure of the
Laird of Merkland suddenly uprising in his
pew. He stretched out his trembling right
hand, and made as if he would break into impassioned
speech, but as suddenly fell back on
his seat. Before any hand could be stretched
out to help him, there arose a slight commotion
at the back of the church, and a tall stranger
came with great strides down the aisle, opened
the door of the wide, square pew, and knelt by
the side of the stricken man. some hid their
faces, but the most part started open-mouthed
and open-eyed, and some few who had lived all
their days in Merkland knew that the prodigal
had come home.
It was Sandy Calvert himself who hore his
father's inert figure to the vestry, where the
PRESBYTERIAN Of THE SO
doctor, who happened for a rare thing to be in
the church, was at hand to give his assistance
and advice.
The old man rallied sufficiently to recognize
his son, and to bid him come home. There were
four days of peace in the old house of Merkland,
days in which the years rolled back, and
the two men, father and son, had restored to
them the hearts of little children. These days
the minister spent entirely at Merkland, and
the wonder of it went from one end of the parish
to the other. He was God's messenger to
these two, interpreting the message as it came
to him from heaven, and all the while adding
something of his own precious store. There
was something more at Merkland, the spirit of
a gentle girl, who, having little, had given her
life for Sandy Calvert, and by her death had
saved his soul.
Four short days, ever afterwards to be
marked with white stones of remembrance by
Sandy Calvert, then the old man, easy in his
mind and happy in his heart, was gathered to
his fathers, and his son reigned in his stead.?
The British "Weekly.
WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN.
1. Is it because I am afraid of ridicule ??
"Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and mv
words, of him shall the son of man be ashamed."?Luke
9:26.
2. Is it because of the inconsistencies of professing
Christians??"Every man shall give account
of himself to God."?Rom. 14:12.
3. Am I not willing to give up all to Christ?
?"What shall it profit a man if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?"?
Mark 8:36.
4. Am I afraid I shall not be accepted??
"Him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast
out.''?John 6:37.
5. Is it for fear I am too great a sinner??
"The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth
us from all sin."?John 1:7.
7. Is it because I fear I shall not hold out??
"He that hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."?
Phil. 1:5.
7. Am I thinking that I will do as well as I
can, and that God ought to be satisfied with
that??"Whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.''
?James 2:10.
8. Is it because I am postponing the matter
without any definite reason??"Boast not thyself
of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a
day may bring forth."?Proverbs 27:1.?Selected.
THE GREATEST MASTER.
"I am my own master!" cried a young man
proudly, when a friend tried to persuade h'm
from an enterprise which he had on hand: "I am
my own master!"
"Did you ever consider what a responsible pod
that is?" asked the friend.
"Responsibility?is it?"
"A master lays out the work he wants done,
and sees that it is done right. He should try to
secure the best ends by the best means. He must
keep on the lookout against obstacles and accidents,
and watch that everything goes straight,
else he will fail.
"Well!"
"To be master of yourself you have your conscience
to keep clear, your heart to cultivate,
your temper to govern, vour will to direct, and
judgment to instruct. You are a master over a
liard lot, and if you don't master them they will
master you."
"That is so," answered the young man.
tJTH (965) 5
1' Now, I could undertake no such thing,'' said
his friend. "I should fail sure if I did. Saul
wanted to be his own master, and failed. Ilerod
did?Judas did. No man is fit for it. 'Onei
is your master, even Christ.' I work under
God's direction. When He is Master all goes
right.''?Selected.
THE LITTLE CHURCH.
The little church?and how many small
churches there are!?may in the sight of God
have a very important function to discharge as
a constituent part of big Zion. It can be called
small only in its lack of physical bulk, or because
its roll does not lengthen out, but no smallest
church, in which the means of grace are faithfully
conserved, is unimportant, for God is with
it, and wherever God is there is dignity, force
and worth. We judge too much by stately cathedral
splendor, or by church lists that run up into
the thousands, while God looks to the quality of
the work?and whether by many or by few
blesses richly those who loyally serve in their
lot, and do his bidding as sowers of the Word.?
New York Observer.
CLERGYMEN AND THE SICK.
The bishop of London recently spoke of the
growing tendency to keep people out of the sick
room. He had consulted some of the physicians
of London and they agreed that they '' had never
traced the slightest harm to the spiritual attentions
of the earnest, tactful minister." The
bishop remarked that it was the duty of the
clergymen to make a protest against the sick
being debarred from the comfort of spiritual
ministration. "After all," said the bishop, "it
is only a certain class of doctors who are responsible
for the attempt to keep out the clergy."
Among the best and highest of the medical profession
are most devoted churchmen, and they,
together with the whole church, are against shutting
the door of the sick-room on the clergy. Of
course, if the sufferer does not wish to see him,
a clergyman should not be forced upon him, nor
should he he forced into the room against the
expressed will of the physician based upon the
condition and possibilities of the case. But it
is seldom that a Christian physician, knowng the
pastor of the family to he discreet, objects. On
the contrary, physicians suggest calling him in.?
The Christian Advocate.
SEEKING A CROWN.
A French officer, a prisoner on his parole, met
with a Bible, and was so struck with its contents
that he was convinced of the folly of scepticism,
and of the truth of Christianity. When his gay
associates rallied him for taking so serious a
turn, he said: "I have done no more than my old
school-fellow, Bernadotte, who is become a Lutheran.*'
4'Yes, but he became so," they answered, "to
obtain a crown."
"My motive," said the officer, "is the same;
we differ only as to place. The object of Bernadotte
was to obtain a crown in Sweden; mine to
obtain a crown in heaven."
Among the proudest people one meets are
those who are proud of their humility. They lay
the flattering unction to their souls because they
have a certain low estimate of themselves they
are just a little better than others. This fault is
especialy marked in those who have reached, as
they think, a state of sinless perfection. To
the outside world and to the great body of thinking
Christian people they are simply lifted up
with pride. The Uriah Heep 'type is always
I* t Ti 4J
nere. it is <a pity mat tney cannot see themselves
as others see them.