THE NEW HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. ACTIONS. "The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed."1 Sam. ii. 3. WHEN man deals with God, he must never remember what he is before others. ACTIONS measured by time seldom prove bitter by repentance.Old Proverb. bread; it is necessary for him that is hungry to receive it, but it almost chokes a man in the going down.— Seneca. Actions must Speak for Themselves. As the poet Prior was one "OUR actions are our own," re-day surveying the apartments at marks Francis; "their consequences belong to Heaven." "ACT well at the moment," says Lavater, "and you have performed a good action to all eternity." WE should often blush for our best actions if the world did but see all the motives on which they are grounded.-Palmer. JUST as the tiny shells make up the chalk hills, and the chalk hills together make up the range; so the trifling actions make up the whole account, and each of these must be pulled asunder separately. THAT was an excellent rule which Marcus Antonius prescribed to himself in his private meditations. "Manage," says he, "all your actions and thoughts in such a manner as if you were just going out of the world." Good Actions done Harshly. The manner of saying or of doing anything goes a great way in the value of the thing itself. It was well said of him that called a good office that was done harshly and with an ill-will a stony piece of Versailles, being shown the victories of Louis painted by Lebrun, and asked whether the King of England's palace had any such decorations; "The monuments," said he, "of my master's actions are to be seen everywhere but in his own house." The most Dangerous Kind of Actions.-There are three sorts of actions: those that are good, those that are bad, and those that are doubtful; and we ought to be most cautious of those that are doubtful, for we are in most danger of these doubtful actions, because they do not alarm us. And yet they insensibly lead to greater transgressions, just as the shades of twilight gradually reconcile us to darkness. A. Reed. The Right Basis for our Actions. -What action was ever so good, or so completely done, as to be well taken of all hands? It concerns every wise Christian to settle his heart in a resolved confidence of his own holy and just grounds, and then to go on in a constant course of his well-warranted judgment and The Regulation of Actions. practice, with a careless disregard "Imagine in your mind," says of those fools'-bolts which will be Maximus Tyrius, "a great and sure to be shot at him, which way powerful kingdom or principality soever he goes.-Bishop Hall. in which all freely and with one Your Duty. "What I must consent conspire to direct their do," says Emerson, "is all that actions agreeably to the will and concerns me, and not what people command of one supreme king, the think. This rule, equally arduous oldest and the best and then supin actual and in intellectual life, pose the bounds and limits of this may serve for the whole distinction empire not to be the river Halys, between greatness and meanness. nor the Hellespont, nor the Maotian It is the harder because you will lake, nor the shores of the ocean, always find those who think they but the heaven above and the earth know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to look after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." Actions and Prayers. He that acts towards men as if God saw him, and prays to God as if men heard him, although he may not obtain all that he asks, or succeed in all that he undertakes, will most probably deserve to do so. For, with respect to his actions to men, however he may fail with regard to others, yet, if pure and good with regard to himself and his highest interests, they cannot fail; and with respect to his prayers to God, although they cannot make the Deity more willing to give, yet they will and must make the supplicant more worthy to receive.-Colton. A Turkish Allegory.-"Every man," a Turkish allegory tells us, "has two angels, one on his right shoulder and another on his left. When a man does anything good, the angel on the right shoulder writes it down and seals it, because what is done is done for ever. When a man does evil, the angel on his left shoulder writes it down. He waits till midnight. If before that time the man bows down his head, and exclaims, 'Gracious Allah! I have sinned: forgive me!' the angel rubs it out; and if not, at midnight he seals it, and the angel upon the right shoulder weeps." beneath. Here, then, let that great king sit immovable, prescribing laws to all his subjects, in which consist their safety and security. And thus you see how the order and chain of this government descend down by steps and degrees, from the supreme God to the earth and men." The Good Deeds Performed Unconsciously.-A farmer goes to market to purchase grain. He puts the bags containing it into his waggon, and drives slowly home. As the waggon jolts over the stony road, one of the bags becomes untied, and the grain is scattered along the way. birds catch some, fly off with it, and drop it in distant places. Some is blown in different directions by the winds. Thus the farmer goes on for leagues, without knowing what he is doing; but the next summer finds the scattered seed. It starts and grows, and when he sees his own grain he does not know it. He did not even know that he lost it. And so with good deeds. Men often perform them unconsciously, and they bear fruit, and when they see that fruit they do not know that it is the result of anything they have done.-Beecher. Daily Actions. "It is the bubbling stream that flows gently," observes Barnes, "the little rivulet which runs along day and night by the farm-house, that is useful, rather than the swollen flood or warring cataract. Niagara excites our wonder; and we stand amazed versal scope; whence they alter upon every change of occasions, and never reach any perfection; neither can do other but continue in uncertainty and end in discomfort. Others aim at the powerful greatness of God there, as He pours in from the hollow of His hand. But one Niagara is enough for the continent of the world, while the same world requires thousands and tens of thou-at one certain mark, but a wrong sands of silver fountains and gently flowing rivulets, that water every farm and meadow, and every garden, and shall flow on every day and night with their gentle, quiet beauty. So with the acts of our lives. It is not by great deeds, like those of the martyrs, good is to be done, but by the daily and quiet virtues of life." A Great Folly.—It is known that the Emperor Caligula is laughed at in all stories. There was a mighty navy provided, well manned and victualled, and every one expected that the whole country of Greece should have been invaded, and so it might have been; but the emperor had another design in hand, and employed his soldiers to gather a company of cockle-shells and pebble-stones, and so returned home again. one. Some, though fewer, level at a right end, but amiss. To live without one main and common end is idleness and folly. To live at a false end is deceit and loss. True Christian wisdom both shows the end and finds the way; and as cunning politics have many plots to compass one and the same design by a determined succession, so the wise Christian, failing in the means, yet still fetcheth about to his steady end with constant change of endeavours; such one only lives to purpose, and at last repents not that he has lived." Stimulus to Achievement from the Actions of Others.-The leisure of Cæsar was spent in reading the history of Alexander the Great. Upon one occasion his friends found him In bathing the book with tears. deep concern they asked him the The reply Just such another voyage doth reason why he wept. almost every man make here in was, "Do you think I have not sufficient cause for concern, when this world, were the particulars but Alexander at my age reigned over truly cast up. God hath given us so much time-it may be twenty, so many conquered countries, and thirty, or forty years; it may I have not one glorious achievebe ment to boast?" but a day or two more. In this time He hath furnished us with that which may be a means to conquer heaven itself. Now, if we lay out this little only about wife, or children, or to purchase a little wealth, is not this to spend money for that which is not bread, to labour for that which satisfieth not? Is not this the greatest folly that may be? Our Actions should have an Aim. -Bishop Hall points out that the lives of most are misspent for want of a certain end to their actions; "wherein they do," he says, "as unwise archers, shoot away their arrows they know not at what mark. They live only out of the present, not directing themselves an their proceedings to one uni So the lives of the apostles and the early saints may well be studied by us who are Christians, that we do greater deeds for God; and we may be fired by their exploits to should mourn bitterly when we with His whom we call Master and compare our small achievements tained the years of middle manLord, and who, before He had athood, had performed deeds at which the stoutest frames might quake and the most faithful soul might blush. Comparisons such as these would first stir our gratitude that such an example has been left us, and then fire our valour, that at the end our lives might not be mere empty names, but such as men might gaze upon with admiration, and seek to copy. ADMONITION. "He that rebuketh a man, afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with his tongue."-Prov. xxviii. 23. THE Cross gives us much to say. | knowledge of the depravity of the -Rutherford. human heart, with perfect pity for the infirmities of it, never co-existed but in one breast, and never will.Colton. IF we hate reproof, we are far from being the followers of the Lamb. THE kindest reproofs are felt as reproaches by unhumbled hearts.— Van Doren. IF you cannot bear to be handled, it is a proof you have ugly sores, which are not the less dangerous for being skinned over.-Henry. THE admonition of a good man resembles fuller's earth; it not only removes the spots from our character, but it rubs off when it is dry. "I HAVE met with some unexpected rubs," confesses Whitefield, but not one more than was absolutely necessary to humble my proud heart." "CONSIDERING how many difficulties a friend has to surmount before he can bring himself to reprove me," says John Foster, "I ought to be very much obliged to him." To reprehend well is the most necessary and the hardest part of friendship. Who is there that does not sometimes merit a check? And yet how few will endure one Feltham. An Infidel Reproved.- -When the Rev. Mr. Newton heard an infidel jestingly say, "I always spend the Sunday in settling my accounts," that venerable minister turned round and said, in an accent of deep solemnity, "You may find, sir, that the day of judgment is to be spent in exactly the same manner.' Human Reprovers. If none were to reprove the vicious excepting those who sincerely hate vice, there would be much less censoriousness in the world. Our Master could love the criminal while he hated the crime; but we, His disciples, too often love the crime, but hate the criminal. A perfect Judicious Reproof. Before we reprove, let us know the condition of our brother; whether he be not like the young vine, soft and tender, and so to be cured rather by the hand pulling the branches away than by the knife. And if he be grown so bad that he shall need the knife, we must not rashly adventure on it, but know that there is a skill in using the knife; like a skilful physician of whom we read, who, having to heal an imposthume, and finding the person to be afraid of lancing, privately wrapped up his knife in a sponge, with which, while he gently smoothed the encounter an offending brother, we place, he lanced it. So, when we must not openly carry the dagger in our hand, but with words of sweetness administer our reproof, and so effect the cure.-Hales. Friend or Enemy ?—It was the saying of a heathen, though no heathenish saying, "that he who would be good must either have a faithful friend to instruct him or a watchful enemy to correct him." Should we murder a physician because he comes to cure us, or like him worse because he would make us better? Truth is not always relished where sin is nourished. Light is pleasant, yet it may be offensive to sore eyes. Honey is sweet, though it cause the wound to smart. But we must not neglect the actions of friends, for fear of drawing upon ourselves the suspicion of being enemies. Most people are like restive horses, which no sooner feel the rowel than they strike with their heels; or like bees, which no sooner are angered than they put squandering away their valuable out their stings.-Secker. time with such useless things. Some had received, and the rest were approved of the admonition they restrained from carrying their intention into effect. The Archbishop and the Waggoner.-A belated waggoner was discovered some time back on the high road between York and Bishopsthorpe, with his cart embedded in a heap of stones. The man was doubly unequal to the emergency, seeing that he fully answered all that used to be implied in the old drinking days by the term "jolly." A compassionate passer-by, who gave what assistance he could, was equally unsuccessful, when a carriage drove up containing the Archbishop of York and a party of clerical friends. His Grace took in the situation at a glance, and with characteristic promptitude was out of his carriage and planting his shoulder to the cart-wheel in an instant. His help made the hitherto obstinate wheels begin to revolve, and the horse and cart were soon planted safe in the middle of the road. Having first discharged the duty nearest to his hand, the Archbishop then administered a suitable admonition" to the waggoner for the over-indulgence, which was probably the real cause of his disaster. Well-timed Admonition. We should never be silent when our consciences prompt us to speak. It is related of Gerhard Tersteegen, that, being once on a journey to Holland, and finding in the passage-boat a number of merchants and people of respectable appearance, he leaned his head backwards and closed his eyes as if he were asleep. After all kinds of tales had been told, and a game of cards had been proposed, he opened his eyes and said that he had an excellent pack of cards in his bag. Upon being requested to produce them, he drew forth a New Testament; on seeing which they said that was a book to make people mad. He replied, "Is it not you that are mad?" and rehearsed all their foolish and unprofitable conversation, and sought from their own words to convince them how foolishly they acted in had been led to see his sinfulness A Christian Duty.-A man who and his fearful doom, being surprised that he was allowed to go on quietly in impenitence, exclaimed, salvation." There were in the place "No one ever spoke to me of my many Christians who professed to long for the conversion of souls. If he had been sick, some one would have sent for a physician. If he had been starving, some one would have given him bread. If he had been naked, some one would have clothed him. But his soul was wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, yet no one pitied him. He was blamed, he was shunned, but he was not treated as a fellow-creature whose soul was exposed to eternal wrath ought to be treated. Is there any one living near you that can say, "No one ever spoke about the weather and the crops, to me of my salvation"? You talk and births, accidents, and deaths: do you ever speak to any one of Jesus? Do you ever affectionately tell any to flee from the wrath to come? If not, is it kind? Is it faithful? Is it honest to your Christian profession? Does it accord with your prayers? Can you consistently pray for a revival of religion? Can you have any compassion for souls or any love for Christ? Never let any one die in your neighbourhood, or even live there long, and be able to say, "No one ever spoke to me of my salvation." A tear, a sigh, a kind word, a pressure of the hand of Christian sympathy, a verse of the Bible, a page of pious reading, with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, may save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins. "It is the fact of responsibility that makes existence so solemn a thing." |