Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

ESTABLISHED 1821. The Christian Index PublUbel Every Thursday By BELL & VAIN NESS Addreu Christian Imdkx, Atlanta, Ga. Organ of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. Subscription Prick: One copy, one year 12.00 One copy, six month! 1.0! About Our Advkrtiskrs.— We propose Hereafter to very carefully Investigate our advertisers. We shall exercise every care to allow only reliable parties to use our col umns. Obituabiks.—One hundred words free of ebarge. For each extra word, one cent per word, cash with copy. To Corrkspondknts—Do not use abbrevi ations; be extra careful In writing proper names; write with tnk.on one side of paper. Do not write copy Intended for the editor and business Items on same sheet. Leave off personalities, condense. Businkss.—Write all names, and post Offices distinctly. In ordering a change give the old as well as the new address. The date of label Indicates the time your subscription •xplres. If you do not w ish It continued, or der It stopped a week before. We consider each subscriber permanent until he orders his paper discontinued. When you order it stopped pay up to date. Rkmittancks by registered letter, money order, postal note For the Ihdkx. The Ark Brought to Jerusalem- Sunday School Lesson for July 19—2 Sam 6:112 BY S. G. HILLYER. In the verses of the lesson we have an account of the removal of the Ark from the place where it had been resting, not many miles from Jerusalem. David intended, no doubt, to make Jerusalem the place of.its permanent abode. Hitherto it had occupied several different places; and once had fallen into the hands of the Philistines. But it proved to be a terrible guest for that people ; they soon sent it out of their country. So it was restored to the people to whom it belonged. When therefore Da vid had chosen Jerusalem to be the fixed capital of his country, it was fit and proper that he should have the Ark of the Cov enant with him in his chosen city. WHAT WAS THE ARK ? To the eye, it was a very sim ple piece of furniture—a wooden chest a little over three feet in length, and a little more than two feet in breadth and depth. But though so simple in its structure it was very rich and beautiful in its appearance; for it was cov ered, inside and out, with pure gold, and still further adorned with the Mercy-seat,overshadow ed by the wings of two beautiful cherubim. Such was the Ark in its visible appearance. ITS DESIGN. Its chief design was to stand through all the generations of Israel as a memorial of the cove nant which the Lord entered into with his people at Mt. Sinai. And subsidiary to this main design, it was made the repository for the two tablets of stone on which the Lord had inscribed, with his own finger, the Ten Command ments. Besides these, we learn from Paul, in Hebrews, that it contained the pot of manna which was ordered to be kept as a memorial of God’s care of his people through the wilderness, and also Aaron's rod that budded. These, and possibly other sacred relics, were deposited for safe keeping in the Ark. ITS SIGNIFICANCE. In Butterworth’s Concordance the work Ark means “a chest or coffer to keep things safe and secret.” We learn also that it was the name of the great ship in which Noah saved himself and family from the waters of God in the deluge. The Ark of the Covenant, with its appendages, must denote a place of safety, or of salvation. And, by an easy transition of thought, it may stand for one who saves; i. e.—a Savior. It is interesting to notice this typical significance of the Ark of the Covenant. It points di rectly to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are perhaps a dozen points of analogy be tween the Ark of the Covenant and Christ- I can mention only a few of them, as given by But terworth. (1) The Ark was made of wocd and of gold, so Jesus is revealed to us with a two-fold nature—the human, represented by the wood, and the divine, represented by the gold. Some may imagine that this point of resemblance is too vague to deserve mention. Per haps it would be if it stood alone. But suspend judgment till we find the next. (2) The contents of the Ark. These were the law, the map na, and the rod of Aaron, with its blooming flower. In harmony with these contents, we learn (a) that an ancient prophet spake of the Messiah as saying: “Lo! I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God, yea thy Law THE CHRISTIAN INDEX. is within my heart.” In harmo ny with these prophetic words, Jesus said of himself: “I came not to do mine own will but the will of him who sent me.” And again he said: “I came not to de stroy the Law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.” The Law was in Christ as the valid expo nent of God's eternal sovereignty, and Christ expounded it with a fulness and -a wisdom far sur passing all mere human teach ings. (b) Another content of the Ark was the manna. To correspond with this, we find in Jesus the “bread which cometh down from heaven.” Jesus said to the Jews: “Your fathers did eat manna in the wil derness and are dead, but he that eateth of the bread that I shall give him, shall never die.” True, the manna stored in the Ark, was designed primarily to be a per petual memorial of the miracu lous preservation of Israel in the wilderness. But mark : that bread seemed to the Jews to come down from heaven; but it was only a material bread, and could sustain only a material life. Nev ertheless how beautifully does it represent the aliment that Jesus brought down from heaven with him that men might eat thereof and live forever. (c) A third content of the Ark was Aaron s rod that budded. You may recall the facts. Aaron's rod, of all the rods sub mitted to the test, was the only one that budded. This miracle was intended to show that Aaron and his sons were set apart, by the choice of God, to be his priests —to serve in the sanctuary and to instruct the people in all the requirements of the Law. Anal ogous to this, Jesus is our high priest, proved by his resurrec tion from the dead; of which res urrection the budding of a dried and dead stick of wood into veri table life may well be accepted as an impressive type. Yes, the budding of Aaron’s rod was a type of Christ's resurrection. (3) The Ark afforded access to God. Upon it was placed the Mercy seat, over which the glory of God was often revealed in a pillar of cloud—the symbol of Jehovah’s Presence. How plainly does all this point to Jesus! It is in him that we find the true Mercy seat, where only we have access lo God and are able to ‘behold the Glory of the Lord as it beams in splendor from the face of Jesus Christ. (4) The Ark was a place of safety for all that was inclosed within it. There we find an analogy with Christ of transcendent value. There is something superlatively grand in the thought of a Cove nant with God. Covenants, even among men, are always intended for the mutual safety of the con tracting parties, and when faith fully kept they usually do afford protection. But these parties are equals, and often fallible, and hence may enter into unwise and hurtful contracts. But God has actually condescended on several occasions to make covenants with men—notably with Israel at Mt. Sinai. The central purpose of God, in this great covenant, was to provide for the temporal and eternal salvation of his people, that he might, through them, re veal to all mankind his mercy and his glory. O, if Israel had only performed her part in this covenant, how exalted would have been her history! It would have been to her indeed an Ark of safety. No wonder that God called the chest, which held in its sacred enclosure the words of this covenant, an Ark. The very name was a sign and a promise of safety to all who were em braced within the conditions of the covenant. But Israel did not perform her part of the covenent. Neverthe less the Ark continued, for near ly a thousand years, the center of her religious interest. When ever her people would repent, and draw near through the medi ation of the priest, with appro priate offerings, to its Mercy seat, they were graciously pardoned. Mercy and grace and deliverance often rewarded their penitence and sorrow. David knew the past history of the Ark. He knew that for cen turies it had been Israel’s strong hold for safety. Hence we can well understand the joy with which he celebrated its reception within the walls of Jerusalem. But the Ark which David loved so well has long since passed away. The covenant which it concealed has, long ago, been superseded by a new and better covenant, founded upon better promises. Yes, and he has placed it, for safe-keeping, notin a chest of wood and gold, but in the care of his own exalted son, of whom the ancient Ark was the type and the promise. The beneficiaries of this new covenant are those “who are I •ÜBSC»A>.AN, PkrYi«k.....*2.00. ) Ito minik t 00. f born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God,” for the prom ise is, “I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people, . . for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the great est of them, . . for I will for give their iniquity and I will re member their sins no more.” See Jer. 31:31-34, and Heb. 8:8-12. 563 S. Pryor st., Atlanta. rue Baptists of England in tbe Six teenth and Seventeenth Centuries. BY A. B. VAUGHAN, JR., D.D. The Baptists of England, if such there were, during these centuries, are known in history as Anabaptists, which means re baptizers. These Anabaptists moved along sometimes more stealthily, sometimes more open ly, as a wise discretion dictated. Their religious contemporaries were Roman Catholics, Episco palians, Puritans, Independents, and Brownists. While these do not exhaust the list, they repre sent all the different phases of religious belief needful for my purpose. I shall therefore first state the difference between these respect ive religious communities and the Anaoaptists, when that dis ference is not generally known; and secondly, I shall notice some of the things with which the Ana baptists were charged, and on account of which they were often bitterly persecuted, even unto death; and lastly, I shall notice their faith with reference to the church of Christ and the ordi nances of the Lord's house, weav ing in here and there, as it may be appropriate to my purpose, the testimony of those who were their opponents. If this task shall be well per formed, my readers will be en abled for themselves to judge (1) whether these Anabaptists should be included in the chain of Baptist succession; and (2) whether prior to 1641, the Ana baptists of England were in the practice of immersion. ROMAN CATHOLICS. The difference between the Baptists of to-day and the Ro man Catholics4s radical and well Known. But what was the dif ference between the Anabaptists of England two ’ undred and sis ty-five years ago and the Roman Catholicchurch? Briefly stated, it was this: The Anabaptists held, “The kingdom of Christ, or the visible church he had established on earth, was an assembly of true and real saints, and ought, therefore, to be inaccessible to the wicked and unrighteous, and also exempt from all those institutions which human prudence suggests to oppose the progress of iniquity or to correct or reform transgres sors.” — “Struggles and Tri umphs of Religious Liberty,” page 80. The Roman Catholic church held then, as it holds now: “The church has authority from God to teach regarding truth and morals; and in her teaching she is preserved from error by the special guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is no just grounds for denying to the apostolic teach ers of the nineteenth century a prerogative clearly possessed by those of the first century. Espe cially-as the divine Lord nowhere intimates that this unerring guid ance was to die out with the apostles”—“The Faith of Our Fathers,” Gibbons, This dogma the Anabaptists then, and the Baptists now, repu diate as the first origin and con tinuous source of all the hurtful errors which have divided God’s people into contending factions, and which have maintained the unholy warfare. EPISCOPALIANS. Nor need I linger longer here, especially as the differ ence between this church and the Roman Catholic church dur ing the centuries now under con sideration, was of little or no consequence. And so the differ ence between the Church of Eng land and the Anabaptists was scarcely less radical than that between the Romish church and the Anabaptists. Lord Macaulay says: “To this day the constitution, the doctrines, and the services of the Church (of England) retain the visible marks of the compro mise from which she sprang. She occupies a middle position between the church of Rome and Geneva. Her doctrinal confes sions and discourses, composed by Protestants, set forth princi ples of theology in which Calvin or Knox would have found scarce ly a word to disapprove. Her prayers and thanksgivings, de rived from the ancient liturgies, are very generally such that ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. JULY 16, 1896. Bishop Fisher or Cardinal Pole might heartily join in them. A controyersialist who puts an Ar min ian sense on her articles and homilies, will be pronounced by candid men to be as unreasonable as a. controversialist who denies that the doctrine of baptismal re generation can be discovered in her liturgy.” You will please to note par ticularly the phrase “baptismal regeneration ;” it will be of ser vice in settling something else further on. But wherein did the Anabap tists of England differ from the Church of England? The latter held it to be “the duty of the secular magistrate to shape and fashion the church to that form which his conscience, instructed by the’Word of God, or by the interpretations of the church’s teachers should dictate. To kings was granted the high honor of being i s nursing fath ers, to protect it from its foes, to maintain in physical comfort its jninisters, to root out the weeds of evil doctrine, and to ex ecute the decisions of the eccle siastical body.” Triumphs of Religious Liberty, page 82. Bullinger, a great light in the Church of England, and hater of the Anabaptists,wrote: “Where fore do I now, as a Christian mag istrate, assume to myself such power in matters of faith? Not as a magistrate, but as a Chris tian magistrate do I manage this; nor do I this without precept and example. . . Let us observe the example, etc. ' Here he men tions several Old Testament kings, among them Darius im prisoning Daniel. Cited by Underhill, Triumphs of Religious Liberty, foot-note page 82. Opposed to this, the Anabap tists held “that the temple can not be built until God has pro vided the stones. Holy men must be first provided by the power of the Spirit of God, and then shall a building rise to the glory of him who has redeemed them by his blood. No human workman can be of use but as the channel of blessing; it is the prerogative of God to create men anew in Christ Jesus. His word is the only effectual instrument of divine energy; force and coer cion of every kind are inadmissi ble. Faith gift of God. t Faith and ■ ■ ■ ■ ' no other the minis- ters of God’s word employ.”— Struggles and Triumphs of Re ligious Liberty, page 82. On the question as to the mode of baptism, there was no dispute between the Anabaptists and the Church of England at this time. But remember that both Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth were immersed, and that in the six teenth century the “Anglican Liturgy prescribed immersion as the “normal mode.” For this as sertion we have at hand abundant testimony, which will in time be shown. The fact “that almost” down to the middle of the sixteenth cen tury, immersion was the “prac tice of the people as well as the law of the church,” is of especial importance. Please to note this fact particularly. A Curiosity in Polemics. BY J. H. HALL, D. D. The arguments in support of infant baptism have a humorous side. The proof-texts in such ar guments are specially ludi crous in their irrelevancy. Among some preserved curiosi ties I find a scrap in defense of the practice of pedobaptism in which the proof-texts are so foreign that their citation is enough to provoke a smile from the most sedate hermeneut. We should not ridicule the honest religious opinions of others —it is not right to do so, nor in good taste; but when, in support of those opinions the scriptures are absurdly misapplied, it becomes necessary, in exposing the ab surdity, to resort to the reduc tio ad absurdum method of treat ment. The scrap referred to is given below, followed by an anal ogous argument, with proof texts, in support of animal baptism. The reader is left to judge whether the proofs in the one case are not just as relevant and conclusive as in the other. PROOF TEXTS OF INFANT BAP TISM. “Arelhe children of believing parents to be baptized in their infancy ? Yes. For ‘a seed shall serve him, it shall be counted to the Lord for a generation’: Ps. 22:30. “Are children of Christians members of Christ’s visible church? Yes. For ‘of such is the kingdom of God : Mark 10:15. “Are they born unto God? Yes. For ‘thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me’: .Ezk. 10:20. “Is it probably they should be in covenant? Yes. For ‘when Israel was a child, then I loved him.’ Hos. 11:1. “Is it certain they were in cove nant? Yes. For T will be a God to thee and thy seed’. Gen. 17:7. “Is it certain, therefore, they are in covenant? Yes. For‘the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles.’ Gal. 3:4. “Doth the seal of the covenant therefore belong to them? Yes. For ‘every man child among you shall be circumcised.’ Gen. 17:10. “Was it a great mercy to us that we were baptized? Yes. For ‘we are the children of the cov enant.’ Acts 3:25. “Is infant baptism useful for preserving the church? Yes. For ‘so shall your children not , cease from fearing the Lord.’ , Josh. 22:25.” This is wholesale, indiscrimi- , nate citation. It is serio comic ! If such reckless methods , of misapplication of Scripture, a , sample of which we have in the above catechism, prove that in- ] fants should be baptized and be j members of the churches, then , it may be proved, in the same ( way, that animals should be bap- ■ tized. j PROOF-TEXT OF ANIMAL BAP- i TISM. 1 Are the animals of believing ‘ owners subjects of grace? Yes. Proof : “Praise him . . . beasts ! and all cattle.” Ps. 148:10. ' Are the animals of believers in the covenant of God? Yes. ' Proof: “And I, behold, I estab- i lish my covenant with you, and ' with your seed after you ; and with every living creature that is 1 with you, of the .. . cattle, and every beast of the earth.” Gen. 9:10. Are animals to be members of Christ’s kingdom? Yes. Proof: “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” Ps. 50:10. Are animals capaole of receiv ing the Holy Ghost? Yes. Proof: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.” Joel 2:28. Should animals then be bap tized. Yes. Proof: “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we.” Acts 10:47. Are animals of believers born unto God? Yes. Proof: “All thafropeneth the matrix is mine; aMMsAery firstling among the cattle, whether ox or sheep.” Ex. 34:19. Are believing owners responsi- 1 ble for their animals? Yes. Proof: “I will require my flock 1 at their hands.” Ez. 34:10. Is it then certain that believers should have their animals bap tized? Yes. Proof: (the jailer) ' “was baptized, he and all his.” Acts 16:33. Is it certain that the church : was designed for animals? Yes. ' Proof: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.” Is 11:6. Is animal baptism useful to the church? Yes. Proof: “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaith shall minister unto thee, they shall come up with ac ceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” Is. 60:6, 7. Is it therefore certain that ani mal church members will be saved? Yes. Proof: “There fore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle . . . And I the Lord will be their God . . . And I will make with them a covenant of peace.” Ez. 34:22-25. The Western Becorder : Children so trained come into the church es with the idea that the Sunday services must be entertaining. The singing must attract men in stead of being done solely to God's glory. The preaching must entertain instead of edify ing the saints and convicting sinners. Therefore growth in grace and power with God are at a discount in pastors. What mat ter that the church is not built up in its most holy faith, and sin ners are not convicted and regen erated, if crowds are attracted and entertained? The other cause, and the chief one in these days, is this pushing young peo ple to the front in these latter day organizations to do the work God laid on the churches. Expe rience, ripe piety and that most important of all things, the pow er with God which only comes from growth in grace and years of walking with him, are all at a discount. Preachers who en courage this thing would do well to consider its results. They may be young now, and many posi tions open to them on that ac count. But let them remember they cannot keep young,and some day they will be told such words the Observer quotes. Psalm XXIH. RICHARD ARNOLD GKKKNK. My Shepherd is the Lord of all; No want into my lot shall tall, While 1 have him beside me. He makes me rest In pastures green, And where still waters flow between, He graciously doth guide me. My soul to health hedotb restore; In paths of right he goes before And leadetn.ever ne»r me. Yea. though I walk within death’s vale, No evil thing shall make me quail; Thy rod and staff, they cheer me. Before my foes thou dost appoint My table; and my head anoint; My cup Is still outgiving. Goodness and mercy ’tend; my days, God’s house, the goal of all my ways, Where I'll be ever living. The Common Task. A young friend, richly gifted, but who is tied by inexorable ne cessity to an office stool, has complained to me that his life af forded no outlet for the adequate exercise of his powers. His groan is a very common one. So many grumble about the monotony of life’s dead-level, which the great majority of us have to traverse. The upland paths which give an ecstacy to (read in the bracing air and the expanding glory of the world are for the few. For most of us it is the trivial round, the com mon task. Each morning the bell calls to the same routine of commonplace toil. Each hour brings the same program of tri fles. There seems no chance for doing anything heroic, which will be worthy having lived ’’or, or will shed a light back on all past, and forward on all coming days. But there are two or three con siderations. which, if wrought into the heart, will tend to re move much of this terrible de pression. ALL LIFE IS PART OF A DIVINE PLAN. As a mother desires the best possible for her babes, bending over the cradle which each occu pies in turn, so does God desire to do His best for us all. He hates nothing that He has made, but has a fair ideal for each, which He desires to accomplish in us with perfect love. But there is no way of transferring it to our actual experience, ex cept by the touch of His Spirit within, and the educaticn of our circumstances without. He has chosen the ciacumstan ces of our Jife. because they are the shortest path, if only we use them as we should, to reach the goal on which He has set His heart. He might have chosen some other country—China, In dia, Italy, or Mexico. He might have chosen some other age— that of the Flood, the Exodus, or of the early martyrs. He might have chosen some other lot —a royal court, a senate, a pulpit, or an author’s desk. But since he chose this land, this age, and your lot (whatever it may be), we must believe that these pre sented the likeliest and swiftest way for realizing his purpose. If, my brother, you could reached your truest manhood as an emperor ’or a reformer, as a millionaire or a martyr, you would have been born into one of those positions; but since you are only a servant, a bank clerk, or an ordinary business man, you will find right beside you the materials and possibilities of a great life. If, my sister, you could have attained to the loftiest develop ment of your nature by being a mother, or a rich man's wife, or a queen, you would have found yourself placed there; but since your lot is that of a milliner’s as sistant, factory hand, or toiling mother, you must believe that, somewhere within your reach, if only you will search for them, you will discover the readiest conditions of a noble and useful life. Who can wonder at the com plaints of the aimlessness, the vanity, the weariness •of life? People either have no plan, or they have got a wrong one. “What's the fashion?” “What do others do?” “What’s the cor rect thing?” How much better and wiser to believe that God has a perfect plan for each of us, and that he is unfolding it a bit at a time, by the events .which He puts into our life each day! ’ EVERY LIFE AFFORDS OPPORTU ! NITIES FOR BUILDING UP NOBLE CHARACTER. : We are sent into this world to build up characters which will be t blessed and useful in that great future for which we are being 5 trained. There is a niche which » only we can fill, a crown which i only we can wear, music which • only we can waken, service 1 which only we can render. God r knows what these are, and He is • giving us opportunities to pre- • pare for them. Life isour school ' house. Its rooms may be bare, i but they are littered with oppor ; tunities of becoming fit for our great inheritance. VOL. 76-NO. 29 J Knitting needles are cheap and common enough, but on them may be wrought the fairest de signs in the richest wools. So the incidents of daily life may be commonplace in the extreme, but on them as the material founda tion we may build the unseen but everlasting fabric of a noble and beautiful character. It does not so much matter wnat we do, but the way in which we do it mat ters greatly. What we do may or may not live; but the way in which we perform our common tasks becomes an indestructible part of our character, for better or worse, and-forever. Suppose we meet the daily de mands of life in a slovenly and careless spirit, caring only to es cape blame, to earn our wage, or to preserve a decent average. Or suppose our one aim in life is to get money for our own enjoy ment. Is it not clear that the meanness of the motive will re act on the whole character be hind it? Will it not be certain and inevitable that the soul which is always bathed in such atmosphere, confronted with such ideals, wil,l become sloven ly, careless, mercenary, and self sh? And when some great occasion arises it will call in vain for the high qualities of a noble nature. Suppose, on the other hand, that we do the little duties of life faithfully, punctually, thought fully, reverently—not for the praise of man, but for the “Well done” of Christ—not for the pay ment we may receive, but be cause God has given us a little piece of work to do in His great world—not because we must, but because we choose—not as the slaves of circumstances, but as Christ’s freed ones—then far down beneath the surge of com mon life the foundations of a character are laid, more beauti ful and enduring than coral, which shall presently rear itself before the eyes of men and an gels, and become an emerald islet, green with perennial beauty, and vocal with the songs of Para dise. THE GREAT DOING OF LITTLE THINGS WILL MAKE A GREAT LIFE. Let ? be granted that you are a person of ordinary ability. It is as likely as not that you will never be removed into a wider sphere than the obscure one in which you have been pining, like a wood bird in its cage. Give up your useless regret, your queru lous complaint, and begin to meet the call of trival common-place, with tenderness to each person you encounter, with faith in God, as doing His best for you, with heroic courage and unswerving fidelity, with patience, thorough ness, submission. Go on acting thus, week in and week out, year by year, with no thought of human notice, de termined always to be at your best, eager only to pay out, with out stint, the gold of a noble un selfish heart. At the end of life, though you wist not that your face glistens, others will see you shining like the sun in your Heavenly Father’s kingdom. It will be discovered that you have unwittingly lived a great life, and you will be greeted on the threshold of heaven with the “Well done” of your Lord. Some who are sighing for a great life are unconsciously liv ing it in the eye of God’s angels. Those who forego marriage that they may bring up and educate the younger children of their homes; those who deny them selves almost the necessaries of life to add some coals of comfort to the meagre fire at which the chill hands of age warm them selves; those who are not only themselves pure amid tempta tion, but the centres of purity, shielding others; those -who stand to their post of duty, though the tires, as they creep near, are scorching the skin and consuming the heart; those who meet the incessant demand of monotonous tasks with gentle ness, unselfishness, and the wealth of a strong, true heart— these, though’they know it not, are. graduating for the front ranks of heaven's nobility. ‘•Oh! where is the sea?” the fishes cried, As they swam the crystal clearness through: “We've heard from of old of the ocean's tide. And we long to look on the waters blue. The wise ones speak of the infinite sea. Oh! who can tell us if such there be?” The lark flew up in the morning bright, And sang and balanced on sunny wings; And this was its song: “I see the light, I look o'er the world of beautiful things; But flying and singing everywhere, In vain I have searched to find the air,” —Light on Life's Duties.—Meyer Subscribe for the Christian Index.