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were talking over it with the most flattering interest. My particular little girl, with a friend on each arm, passed so near me that I could see the happy look in her eyes, and hear her say, with a toss of the bright hair:

"Mother will plan it for me, and I can get it done by New-Year. Won't it be fun to hang it on the door some day, and then run ?"

I fancied that she meant to make something for me, and waited with patience, wondering how this odd frolic with my little school-girl would end.

New-Year's Day came and passed, but no gift hung on my door; so I made up my mind it was all a mistake, and being pretty busy about that time, thought no more of the matter till some weeks later, as I came into town one day, after a visit to the country. I am fond of observing faces, and seldom forget one if anything has particularly attracted my attention to it. So this morning, as I rode along, I looked at the conductor, as there was no one else to observe, and he had a pleasant sort of a face. Somehow, it looked familiar, and after thinking idly about it for a minute, I remembered where I had seen it before.

He was the man who waited for "little Missy," and I at once began to hope that she would come again, for I wanted to ask about the holidays.

When we came to the South End square, where I met her first, I looked out, expecting to see the little figure running down the wide path again, and quite willing to wait for it a long time, if necessary. But no one was to be seen but two boys and a dog. The car did not stop, and though the conductor looked out that way, his hand was not on the strap, and no smile on bis face,

"Don't you wait for the little girl, now ?" I asked, feeling disappointed at not seeing my pretty friend again.

"I wish I could, ma'am," answered the man, understanding at once, though of course he did not remember me.

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"New rules, perhaps ?" I added, as he did not explain, but stood fingering his punch, and never minding an old lady, wildly waving her bag at him from the sidewalk. No, ma'am; but it's no use waiting for little Missy any more, because"-here he leaned in and said, very low-"she is dead ;" then turned sharply around, rung the bell, put the old lady in and shut the door.

How grieved I was to have that pleasant friendship end so sadly, for I had planned many small surprises for my girl, and now I could do no more, could never know all about her, never see the funny face again, or win another word from lips that seemed made for smiling.

Only a little school-girl, yet how many friends she seemed to have, making them unconsciously by her gentle manners, generous actions, and innocent light-heartedness! I could not bear to think what home must be without her, for I am sure I was right in believing her a good, sweet child, because real character shows itself in little things, and the heart that always keeps in tune makes its music heard everywhere.

The busy man of the horse-car found time to miss her, the schoolmates evidently mourned their queen, for when I met them they walked quietly, talked low, and several wore black bows upon the sleeve while I, although I never knew her name or learned a single fact about her, felt the sweetness of her happy nature, and have not yet forgotten my little school-girl.

THE TEN VIRGINS.

BY THE REV. T. R. STEVENSON.

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish."-Matt. xxv. 1, 2.

"THEN!" a favourite word with the great Teacher. He often used it. The world says, "now; " it thinks chiefly of the present. "The life which now is" absorbs the attention of most men. Put into plain language, their sentiment is this: "Let us eat and be merry, for to-morrow we die." What a contrast is afforded in Christ! He never lost sight of the solemn hereafter. As His feet trod the shores of time, the monotone of Eternity's ocean always sounded in His ear. He pointed to the future. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun; "Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; "Then he that had received the five talents came."

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We do not now attempt an exposition of the parable. less ambitious. Some of the salient, practical lessons we wish to indicate. In doing this, care will be necessary. There is a church in Normandy which formerly had on the spire a gilded statue of St. Michael holding a drawn sword above his head. The image turned on a pivot, and was, of course, moved hither and thither by the wind. "The sword of the Spirit" too often suffers a like fate. It is turned about on the pivot of party prejudice and sectarian sentiment. This is especially true of the parables. They may be made to mean anything..

For instance, the one in question has been frequently employed to bolster up a dogma which to a humane heart is simply shocking. Preachers and divines have argued that as five virgins were wise and five were foolish, so only half mankind will be saved. But how about the parable which immediately follows it? There, out of three servants, two are represented as having made a good use of the talents committed to them. Are we, therefore, to infer that two thirds of the race will get to heaven? The one deduction is as logical and fair as the other. Again, in the parable of the sower, merely a fourth of the seed is spoken of as springing up and prospering. Must we from this premiss conclude that not more than a fourth of the world will be delivered from "the wrath to come"? It is quite clear that no doctrine as to the proportion of the saved is taught in any of these Scriptures. The number of those who will be finally pardoned and purified has not come within the Master's scope here.

No utterance of our Lord's is more impressive. It shows what a perfect word-painter He was. As a certain writer has remarked, it is like Paul, "weak and contemptible" in "bodily presence," but also "weighty and powerful" in significance. Told by some, how ridiculous would the incidents appear! Ten girls are appointed bridesmaids to a mutual friend, they go to the wedding, they get so tired

that they all doze; five enter the house of the marriage entertainment, and five are kept out in the cold. Thus related the story is childish, not to say droll. But read it as given by the great Author, and what a difference you notice! Though homely, it is dignified. There is nothing trivial in it. We may sigh over it, but we cannot smile at it. It awes rather than amuses.

Humanity is divided into two classes.

The ten maidens were alike yet unlike. Did they not resemble each other? Plainly enough. They belonged to the same sex; they were called to the same wedding; they set out on their way to it; they all had vessels and lamps; they "all slumbered and slept." So far they correspond. Nevertheless, there was a broad and marked distinction between them. "Five of them were wise and five were foolish."

An accurate picture of mankind. All are identical in certain particulars. "God hath made of one blood all nations.' The most depraved may ask, "Am I not a man and a brother?" We have the same physical and mental, social and moral, nature. The purple sea that breaks into white foam on the palm-fringed strand of Ceylon, also ebbs and flows on the rocky coast of romantic Devon and beneath the white chalk cliffs of Dover. It is not otherwise with the ocean of human experience. "Would you," said David Hume, "know the sentiments, inclinations, and course of life of the Greeks and the Romans? Study well the temper and actions of the French and the English." Shakespeare fascinates because he delineates. We find our virtues and vices in his characters. The plays which he wrote enable us to realise the fact that, whether high or low, rich or poor, we have one common heart." The men of the past were the men of the present. Inhabitants of temperate, torrid, and frigid zones are members of a universal family,

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Yes, members of a universal family. Yet who that knows anything of domestic life is not aware of the singular dissimilarities that obtain in one household ? And thus is it with mankind. The verdict of the Bible is clear and emphatic. It declares that the human race is separated into two classes. All are either "wise unto salvation or "fools and slow of heart to believe." Some are "friends of God, others "enemies." One is spoken of as in "darkness," the second as in "marvellous light." "The Church" and "the world" are alluded to as being quite distinct. The old question, "Who is on the Lord's side?" has not lost its meaning. Christ taught His hearers that there is a broad way and a narrow way.

The doctrine may not be fashionable. By many it is repudiated as uncharitable, and stigmatised as a ragged relic of a barbaric theology. That cannot be helped. Does truth always smile? Has it never a severe look? The statements under consideration accord with fact. Say, if you choose, that they are antiquated and bigoted: can you deny that they tally with spiritual experience? No man who keeps

THE TEN VIRGINS.

BY THE REV. T. R. STEVENSON.

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish."-Matt. xxv. 1, 2.

"THEN!" a favourite word with the great Teacher. He often used it. The world says, "now;" it thinks chiefly of the present. "The life which now is" absorbs the attention of most men. Put into plain language, their sentiment is this: "Let us eat and be merry, for to-morrow we die." What a contrast is afforded in Christ! He never lost sight of the solemn hereafter. As His feet trod the shores of time, the monotone of Eternity's ocean always sounded in His ear. He pointed to the future. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun; "Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; "Then he that had received the five talents came."

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We do not now attempt an exposition of the parable. Our aim is less ambitious. Some of the salient, practical lessons we wish to indicate. In doing this, care will be necessary. There is a church in Normandy which formerly had on the spire a gilded statue of St. Michael holding a drawn sword above his head. The image turned on a pivot, and was, of course, moved hither and thither by the wind. "The sword of the Spirit " too often suffers a like fate. It is turned about on the pivot of party prejudice and sectarian sentiment. This is especially true of the parables. They may be made to mean anything.

For instance, the one in question has been frequently employed to bolster up a dogma which to a humane heart is simply shocking. Preachers and divines have argued that as five virgins were wise and five were foolish, so only half mankind will be saved. But how about the parable which immediately follows it? There, out of three servants, two are represented as having made a good use of the talents committed to them. Are we, therefore, to infer that two thirds of the race will get to heaven? The one deduction is as logical and fair as the other. Again, in the parable of the sower, merely a fourth of the seed is spoken of as springing up and prospering. Must we from this premiss conclude that not more than a fourth of the world will be delivered from "the wrath to come"? It is quite clear that no doctrine as to the proportion of the saved is taught in any of these Scriptures. The number of those who will be finally pardoned and purified has not come within the Master's scope here..

No utterance of our Lord's is more impressive. It shows what a perfect word-painter He was. As a certain writer has remarked, it is like Paul, "weak and contemptible" in "bodily presence," but also "weighty and powerful" in significance. Told by some, how ridicu lous would the incidents appear! Ten girls are appointed bridesmaids to a mutual friend, they go to the wedding, they get so tired

that they all doze; five enter the house of the marriage entertainment, and five are kept out in the cold. Thus related the story is childish, not to say droll. But read it as given by the great Author, and what a difference you notice! Though homely, it is dignified. There is nothing trivial in it. We may sigh over it, but we cannot smile at it. It awes rather than amuses.

Humanity is divided into two classes.

The ten maidens were alike yet unlike. Did they not resemble each other? Plainly enough. They belonged to the same sex; they were called to the same wedding; they set out on their way to it; they all had vessels and lamps; they "all slumbered and slept." So far they correspond. Nevertheless, there was a broad and marked distinction between them. "Five of them were wise and five were foolish."

An accurate picture of mankind. All are identical in certain particulars. "God hath made of one blood all nations.' The most depraved may ask, "Am I not a man and a brother?" We have the same physical and mental, social and moral, nature. The purple sea that breaks into white foam on the palm-fringed strand of Ceylon, also ebbs and flows on the rocky coast of romantic Devon and beneath the white chalk cliffs of Dover. It is not otherwise with the ocean of human experience. "Would you," said David Hume, "know the sentiments, inclinations, and course of life of the Greeks and the Romans? Study well the temper and actions of the French and the English." Shakespeare fascinates because he delineates. We find our virtues and vices in his characters. The plays which he wrote enable us to realise the fact that, whether high or low, rich or poor, we have "one common heart." The men of the past were the men of the present. Inhabitants of temperate, torrid, and frigid zones are members of a universal family,

[ocr errors]

Yes, members of a universal family. Yet who that knows anything of domestic life is not aware of the singular dissimilarities that obtain in one household? And thus is it with mankind. The verdict of the Bible is clear and emphatic. It declares that the human race is separated into two classes. All are either "wise unto salvation or "fools and slow of heart to believe.' Some are "friends" of God, others" enemies." One is spoken of as in "darkness," the second as in "marvellous light." "The Church" and "the world" are alluded to as being quite distinct. The old question, "Who is on the Lord's side? has not lost its meaning. Christ taught His hearers that there is a broad way and a narrow way.

The doctrine may not be fashionable. By many it is repudiated as uncharitable, and stigmatised as a ragged relic of a barbaric theology. That cannot be helped. Does truth always smile? Has it never a

severe look? The statements under consideration accord with fact. Say, if you choose, that they are antiquated and bigoted: can you deny that they tally with spiritual experience? No man who keeps

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