penny

I have alluded to the effects which a small tract may produce, and has often produced; and I know of no more striking illustration of the power of influence in humble station than that afforded by one whom such a tract makes known to the world. There lived, about half a century ago, in an humble cottage on a small island near the English coast, a simple, uneducated, but pious child. By the hand of God she was afflicted with prolonged disease; and during its continuance, and until her death, she manifested the fruits of much submission and faith. The gospel was her only support; and her example, cheerful amidst suffering, commended it with success to the hearts of other lowly tenants of that cottage. There it might have been supposed it would end, and the thought that she would exert any influence beyond this circle never probably entered her mind. She lived and died unknown to the world. But for many years her name and life have rendered that cottage a sacred spot to thousands of Christians of every name. The brief narrative of the retired life of the young cottager is now read in many languages, is circulating among millions, and has been the instrument of converting large numbers to the faith of Christ. And who, but the omniscient Being, can trace to the end all the lines of influence, resplendent though they be with the light of holiness, which found their beginning in the example of that secluded daughter of affliction ? How many souls has she not turned to

God! and through them how does she not, being dead, yet speak with many tongues to many people! Here is the gift of tongues bestowed upon her by the providence of God, tongues flaming with love, preaching the gospel to every nation. What an incentive should such instances of the power of a consistent religious life furnish. Every person may exert a pure and holy influence, which may diffuse itself without limits. Every person may, by his offerings of charity, be the instrument of carrying the blessings of salvation to souls without number.

And the life of every man is producing an effect upon some souls which can never fully be measured. What a responsibility, then, rests upon every one of us! What power for good or evil! For our direct and voluntary influence we are all responsible. We are accountable, also, for neglect to exert that influence which is within our power and proper sphere. As Christians, we profess to govern our lives by the law of love to God and

And if not professed Christians, our moral influence will not end with ourselves. May God enable us to do our duty in all things, that, when the revelation of eternity shall open upon us, we may hear the welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and may then receive the glorious recompense of beholding many souls, unknown to us on earth, redeemed by our means, and exalted to everlasting glory.

XXXI.

SPIRITUAL TRUTHS TO BE VIEWED THROUGH A SPIRITUAL MEDIUM.

"In Thy light shall we see light."- PSALM XXXvi. 9.

It is no less true of moral and spiritual objects than of natural, that the impressions which they awaken depend upon the medium through which we view them. The hues of nature vary with the changing light. The same scene which is now clothed with brilliancy and beauty by the rays of heaven, may soon be invested with a sombre garment, awakening emotions of sobriety and awe. "The heavens change every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom on the plain beneath."

And as objects around us thus present different appearances with the changing light of nature, so do their appearance and effect vary with the inward light through which we behold them. The visible universe is not the same to different men, and to the same man it is different according to the changes of his mind. Nature always takes the color of his spirit. It always seems in sympathy with his soul. As he is gay or sober, calm or agitated, happy or miserable, so he finds all nature around him.

"Outward forms, the loftiest, still receive

Their finer influence from the life within."

What is thus so true in regard to the visible world, is equally or even more so of the moral and spiritual world. While all those truths and influences which belong to the latter are unchanging, the differences among men in regard to them are endless; and almost every individual finds himself to have passed through great changes of emotion and sentiment in view of them.

To a large part of mankind the spiritual world is a blank. Amidst the effulgence of the Sun of Righteousness, they see no light of divine truth and glory. No beams from that brightness which surrounds the throne of the Majesty above, from the radiance which encircles the person and life of the Son of God, from the holy cross on which infinite love was displayed for a world in sin, enter their minds to expel the darkness of transgression, of guilt, and of death. Or, if they gaze through some false medium upon those glorious truths which shine upon them like so many lights in the spiritual heavens, they behold them obscured, defaced, distorted, or discolored, and so yield to doubt or indifference or scorn.

Before developing the main truth of the text, let us dwell upon some of those false lights by which men obscure spiritual truths, and so fall into error or indifference.

1. Some persons view all spiritual truths by the light of natural reason. They assume that as rea

son is a noble faculty of the human soul, and was given by God for our guidance in knowledge and conduct, whatever conflicts with its decisions must be rejected as false and evil. And finding, as they suppose that some truths, which the Christian world has regarded as sacred and of Divine authority, are open to objections, from their reason, which they deem insurmountable, they summarily reject them as untrue and unscriptural. That is, in short, they are unwilling to receive as true and divine whatever does not accord with their own reason. But the fallacy of such a sentiment is most apparent, for it must be remembered that reason is an unreliable and defective standard. In regard to the ordinary affairs of this life it falls into manifold errors, and often pronounces truths irrational and absurd, which the higher light of even human philosophy ultimately establishes beyond a doubt. And as

soon as we rise into the region of the greatest spiritual truths, those which relate to the infinite counsels of God, and whose range of operation is the ages of eternity, still less is it a valid objection to them that they seem irrational to the limited and finite mind of man.

Had we no reliable revelation, reason, however fallible and uncertain, would, of necessity, be our standard. Through its light only we should be compelled to seek all truth. And in regard to

merely human truths it is

still our standard.

These we must receive or reject, according as they seem, after the most thorough and impartial