mother-the loving child, brother, or sister-can each light up the different branches of the home party with something of their own bright and kindly feelings. The schoolboy wakens up the flame of joyousness among his chosen set of companions, and the man goes forth into the world endued with the same capability of cheering and inspiriting his dependents, his comrades, or his associates in rule and power. The size of the chandelier may differ; its cold and dark tapers may be more or less; but every one-young or old, rich or poor-has it in his power to illumine at least some of them by the prevailing influence of his love or kindness.

Our little waxlight bears with it, however, a deeper lesson— deeper, as regards the depths of the heart; but higher, far higher, as concerns the end to which it strives to attain. The light of love and of kindliness is very beautiful; like the sunbeams

"Touching all things with hues of heaven;"

but there is a still brighter light; and the poet had very nearly pointed it out when he said

"My mounting soul

Catches strange fire, eternity, at thee."

He had shown that there was a more lasting light than any earthly joyousness or any earthly love could kindle in the human heart; but if we would possess it, we must catch it, not from eternity only, but from the Lord of eternity, even from the "Father of light" himself. Now, this light the Christian has, and it is this light which he strives to impart to all about him. The Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar was an instance of this. She had no sooner received the light of life from Jesus himself, than she immediately set out to summon her friends and her neighbours, and to bring them within its influence. They came, and were enlightened also.

But to look more particularly to our own time of day. How many dark tapers are there in the world about us, each fixed comfortably and securely in its own splendid branch, shedding forth no light, and showing no sign of spiritual life, yet endued with every capability for shining usefully here and gloriously hereafter. Among these we may sometimes observe the movements of the little waxlight—some spirit burning with all the fervency of Christian faith and love, and seeking to light up the same faith and love in the bosoms of others. Were every one to do this in his respective sphere, what a world of brilliancy we should live in. Our thoughts do not now turn to the min

isters of God's word, for they are more especially set as lights to the world, and should, therefore, be considered rather as torches than as the lesser lights before mentioned. It may also be said of men of family and of fortune, that their station places them more as beacon-fires to all in their vicinity, gathering around them friends, neighbours, and dependents to rejoice in their genial blaze, and gilding every approaching object with the rich warmth of their own bright glow. Though too often the possessor of this mighty influence spends all his powers upon destroying the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, and in " runnynge after lytle dogges," as an old writer somewhere quaintly expresses himself; while at the end of a long life he can but claim the boast not long since made by a noted huntsman, that he had not spent his time in vain, for that he had occasioned the death of some thousands of foxes. But what a stewardship does rank and wealth possess ! and how nobly is it employed by some of its owners! The fire that burns so fervently within the hearts of such, like that upon the watchtower, illumines everything within its reach; the dark skirts of the woodlands gleam from the shadows behind, the cottages shine out from the hill-sides, the billows of the sea roll in, crested with its glittering spray. Every one who draws near may carry thence a lighted brand for his own hearth, a flame for the lamp of his own chamber. The noble, the statesman, and the ruler, are scarcely within the range of our present reflections, which belong rather to a more limited sphere; and yet, perhaps, the word limited is scarcely correct, for in our heavenly Master's hand the veriest little waxlight of all may be the least circumscribed in its good effects. What, for instance, is the lonely Missionary sent into a heathen land? A light scarcely visible through the darkness of the benighted multitudes who surround him. Yet does he go on, slowly working his way, and lighting up soul after soul with the bright truths of the Gospel, till, by the blessing of God, a whole country becomes christianized, and the dark tapers shine out like a constellation in the heavens.

To look nearer home. There is the Scripture Reader. His lamp is the Word of God, and with it he travels from house to house in the close yards and alleys of the great city, or among the wearisome wintry lanes of the open country. The wealth of others sends him forth, it is true; but it remains with himself to do his work as unto God and not unto man, knowing that his reward is of the Lord Jesus, for it is him whom he serves.

There is also the District Visitor. Her vocation is to minister to the wants of the sick and needy. She may not always consider herself called upon or even entitled to do more than this.

But is there no more that she can do? May she not resemble the little waxlight in her visits from house to house? Is there no "word spoken in due season" that she can find for the suffering or the desolate? She may not be gifted with much learning or with much eloquence, but is there no oil from the Word of God which she can pour into the empty lamps of her ignorant or unheeding hearers? Is there no fire in her own soul which burns strongly within her, and which must communicate itself to the dark tapers within her reach?

School teachers of every description have a yet wider field for exertion. The light which they enkindle is in the souls of those who belong to the future generation of men and women; of those who will themselves be the teachers, leaders, or workers in the years to come, and to whom will be entrusted the lighting up of the world when the present generation shall have passed away. "I hate to sit amongst a number of dirty children,” says a lady teacher, in whose eyes those dirty children are but dirty children. Doubtless she forgets they are likewise immortal spirits; spirits that may be numbered with those of the "just men made perfect," and that she may be the honored instrument of causing them to be so. In schools of a higher order this light is still more needed, and will produce still wider benefits. The master may not be able personally to influence each of his numerous pupils; but if his assistants are sincere laborers in the Lord's vineyard, they may awaken the bright flame in many hearts, and of those some may be inspirited to awaken it in others.

Again, there are the heads of large commercial establishments.. The young and the thoughtless are especially in their keeping; and it is the same with the rich merchant and the rising tradesman, among whom there are some, no doubt, who care, for the souls of those from the labor of whose hands they derive their wealth, and who treat them not as mere machines, but who provide (as far as in them lies) for their eternal welfare, and who strive to light up the many branches which surround them with some of their own lustre. Would that it were so with all!

But these, it may be said, have a fixed office, as it were; they are so placed as to leave no doubt upon whom to exert their influence. Their path is open, and they have only to walk in it.

Let us call our thoughts still closer towards home. There is the master of a household. He has many servants: they are outwardly moral, and generally obedient to his will, or he would not retain them in his service. But does he look any further? Does he interest himself in their spiritual good?

THE ENGLISH MONTHLY TRACT SOCIETY, 27, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON

Does he ask himself, "Are these souls journeying toward heaven or hell? We are dwelling in one mansion here: shall we be dwelling in one mansion hereafter?" He sometimes wonders that they are not better servants. Does he ever attempt

to make them so ?

Perhaps it is the same with the mistress. She would be shocked at the thought of denying them their just portion of the good things of this life, but it never occurs to her that the soul wants nourishment as well as the body; and so both master and mistress live, as it were, in a world of their own, knowing, and caring to know, little of the good or evil going on in that quite separate world belonging to their domestics, until, perhaps, the evil comes so prominently forward as to interfere with their notions of comfort or propriety, and the offender is dismissed at once. But what says Joshua of old? "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord;" thereby, doubtless, meaning his whole household, servants as well as children. And when we look at the large class of dependents coming under the denomination of domestic servants, what are they, for the most part, but the children of many households; poor, indeed, but possessing each its own fond rulers-father and mother-caring earnestly for the son or daughter sent forth to earn a living in a stranger's home, and sent forth just at the age when the world's pleasures are most inviting, and the soul's strength is at best but feebleness? Set free, as they then are, from the control of parents and from the guidance of teachers; mingling, nay, forming one family, with those of their own age, but possibly not of their own education nor of their own principles; they are then more in need of kind watchfulness and of judicious counsel than they may ever be again in after years. The sons and daughters of the rich are generally held longer under the influence of their parents than those of the poor; for, being sooner called upon to maintain themselves, these last become sooner independent of the friends who can no longer assist them.

But when we turn our attention to the home circle, it is not only the master and the mistress who may perform the part of our enlivening waxlight, by kindling the flame of religion in the family chandelier, with its varied branches of children and servants, but the children may also be of the like use, either among themselves or with their friends and companions, and so likewise may even the servants among their fellows. The same command is given to all—" Occupy till I come," and the one talent may be no more hidden in the earth than the two or the five. There are, however, some who are so situated as to

be lonely and without any apparent call for usefulness either at home or abroad, poverty compelling them to spend their time in labor for their own maintenance. And here one cannot help recalling to mind a very strong resemblance to our little waxlight, so usefully and so successfully employed. It is to be found in the life of Sarah Martin, of Great Yarmouth, with whose exertions the readers of tracts are already acquainted. Poor and of humble birth, and seemingly without means for carrying on so great a work, she yet moved about from school to prison, burning with a fervent zeal in her Lord's service, and lighting, or striving to light, the same spirit in the dark minds of the uneducated and the criminal. No difficulties deterred her-no fears dismayed her. She was a striking example of the power of Christian faith and love to devise, to sustain, and to accomplish a task at that time unknown to the world, and quite uninfluenced by any reward or applause that the world could give.

Let us

But to pursue these reflections somewhat further. observe that, unless the little wax taper had been lighted itself, it could not have been employed to light up others. Nor can any of us expect to awaken either faith, love, or religion (call it by what name we will) in the hearts of others, if we have it not first in our own. Far be it from us to suppose that we can of ourselves at any time awaken or light up the Christian spirit in the hearts of our fellow men; that is the work of One who rules all hearts, and it is his work only: but then he is pleased to use us as his instruments (there was a hand uplifting and guiding the waxlight upon the wand), and it is a glorious privilege to be so made use of by him. Unprofitable servants though we be, we yet are servants; and to be a servant implies service, and that not only the service of worship and of passive obedience, but of doing "whatsoever" our "hand findeth to do," and to do it with our might; "for there is no knowledge, nor device in the grave," says the preacher, "whither thou goest."

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"Let your light," then, "shine before men." Why? "That they may see your good works." And what, we may next inquire, are our good works? The precept continues, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven." It follows, therefore, that when our own light is lighted up, it should not be put "under a bed," or "under a bushel," but be made of some use; and that it should not only shine forth itself in glorifying God, but should also be the cause (in his hands) of others glorifying him also. "Now in what way can this be done?" asks one; "am I to be always teaching, and expounding,