are all workers together with God-Petrarch to find the maunscript, Guttenberg to print it, Martin Luther to proclaim it, and Columbus to carry it on the wings of the wind across the sea to a new world, thence to be disseminated to the islands of the sea, and all the ends of the earth.

The great Pascal was accustomed to think and speak of the human race as one man. And it is this continuity, the acquisitions of one age poured into the lap of the next succeeding age, which gives vitality to history. It is this continuous flow which reveals the eternal plan and purpose of God to redeem mankind from selfishness and sin to righteousness and truth. And this is the meaning of history, to see and feel and realize the presence and power of the Invisible above us, beneath us, within us, and all about us in our history.

As we look back over the past we see the human race has been under marching orders from the first man down to the last. The leaders of the march have been great men, men who have stood far above the great army encamped in the valleys below. They have been solitary watchers and worshipers on far separated heights, passing on the torch of truth which God had committed to their hands, from Mount Moriah to Sinai, from Sinai to Pisgah, from Pisgah to Calvary, to the city of Worms, to Plymouth Rock.

And still westward the Star of Empire takes its way." There has been a progressive evolution not only in the economics of life but also in its morals, an unfolding of the moral sense, a moral march of mankind under the leadership of God.

There is a judgment day for nations as for individuals. If our view is broad enough we shall see great tidal waves overwhelming every nation that forgets the eternal distinctions between right and wrong.

This was Saint Paul's word to the philosophers of Athens. And if we look for historical illustrations of this statement they rise up before us as if touched by a magician's wand. The very place where Paul stood and proclaimed this truth, the court of the Areopagus, has become a hooting-place for the midnight owl. The altar to an unknown god which he beheld as he entered the city is buried in the dust and debris of centuries. Time came with ruthless hand to that bravest and wisest of nations, and has swept away her porticoes and porches where Plato and Zeno held their schools, and Socrates taught the immortality of the soul. The propylæa, the temples where ægis-bearing Minerva was worshiped, and Jove was propitiated by the fat offerings of a hundred slain bullocks, all these and more, tumbled into one mass of wreck and ruin, attest the truth that the nation and kingdom that will not serve God shall perish from off the earth.

Greece has been called to judgment and her history is written. But rising up like the fabled Phoenix of old out of the dead ashes of this once bravest and wisest of nations are the truths which NEVER die. And these are our inheritance. Though beautiful Athens is a prey to the barbarous Turk, though the ashes of Socrates and Aristides are mouldering in unknown graves, God hath preserved for us the thoughts of Socrates on death, and the justice of Aristides in life.

Nations come and go; generation after generation comes up to life and goes down to death, but God's truths once above the horizon, though obscured for a time, clouded for a season, never sink fully and finally out of sight; they never die. God buries his workmen, but his truths he sends down the centuries. And Truth may well speak in the language of Tennyson's brook,

"For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever!"

Thus for him who observes and thinks, there is history all about, and happy is he who is able to read out of these common things divinely taught lessons of the true, the beautiful, and the good in life, and to see over all and through all the progressive unfolding. of God's truth to man.

Congregational Church, Elkhart, Ind.

M. W. DARLING.

THE INFLUENCE OF A HOLY LIFE.

A godly example has a powerful influence, which few can withstand. The people of the world form their opinion of the Christian religion more from the example of Christians than from the word of God. A godly walk is an argument for Christianity that sways more minds than the soundest logic or the most powerful eloquence. Said a man of the world concerning a missionary who brought the gospel into his wicked village, "I watched him narrowly, heard him preach a little, saw how he lived day by day, but could find nothing amiss, and I began to be exceedingly afraid of him." His conscience was awakened and bore testimony against his wicked heart and life. Example has power not only on great occasions, but in the most insignificant acts of every-day life.

It may be said that the most unobtrusive acts, acts that are but little thought of, have the greatest influence in shaping one's own character-in accomplishing the work which every one should accomplish for himself. Every act, however trivial, if done from love to God, is aiding in building up a true and noble

character.

A little animal that floats as a speck in the water increases, divides, and multiplies into myriads of polyps,

which in time build islands in the ocean; and these islands at length become covered with vegetation, and are made fit for the habitation of man.

So, from a small beginning, little by little, character is built up. The little deeds of kindness, of honesty, of truth, of love, performed at home and in the daily intercourse of society-those duties that are apt to be neglected— are most intimately connected with our own improvement, and our future well-being.

On the other hand, character is in danger of being ruined, not so much by what are regarded as great sins, as by such that are looked upon as of a trivial nature. A few dead flies taint the apothecary's ointment, so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor."

Men are not usually tempted to commit great crimes without some previous training. They are first induced to swerve a little from the path of duty, to tread upon doubtful ground, then to step a little over the line, thus being by degrees led on in the path of sin till they are lost. When a man who has stood high in the church or community falls suddenly into some great sin, you may be sure he has been in a long course of preparation for his final fall. St. James, in addressing a certain class of men, says, "Your garments are moth-eaten." As the little insect cuts thread after thread till the garment falls in pieces, so the little moths of dishonesty, of untruthfulness, of self-indulgence, are secretly at work, cutting thread after thread of a man's character, till all at once it falls in pieces. The outbreaking sin but reveals the fact that his character has been moth-eaten by numerous little sins.

As the little deeds of a man's life, the daily conquests of appetite and passion, and the manly resistance of temptation, have the greatest influence in the formation of his own true character, so they have the

most powerful influence over others.

Christians are apt to think that if they were in other and more favorable circumstances they could do more for Christ. This suggestion comes from the evil one, who endeavors to lead them to neglect present duty, by persuading them that they can perform greater deeds by waiting for some more favorable opportunity. It should be borne in mind, that the most public acts of men, those that make the greatest show and noise in the world, are not the acts that have the most to do in shaping the character of society; but the daily deeds less showy, and the unconscious influence which one exerts, have a more powerful sway. Even the silent influences in home life, the things unseen and for the most part unknown by the public, are the most potent. Proper government and training in the household, and a proper example there, will do more for the welfare of our country than all other influences put together. It is the moulding power put forth at these centres of influence that give character to our laws and our religion.

We are startled and struck with astonishment at the mighty power of the earthquake, that sinks mountains and upheaves valleys; at the power of the cyclone, that carries desolation in its track; yet how much more potent is the sun, whose rays kiss the earth in spring, reviving vegetation and clothing the earth with beauty. Under its silent influence the buds swell, the blossoms appear, the fruit matures, and there is an abundant harvest. Were the sunshine withdrawn, the pall of death would settle down over the whole earth.

Like the sun, Christians should shine with a steady light, and not blaze like the comet to astonish men for a while and then withdraw their light while they make the wide circuit of worldly business and worldly pleasures.