XXXV

DRIFTING

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them.Heb. 2: 1.

Which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil.Heb. 6:19.

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HERE is a drifting away in belief. The loosening of our hold upon the great verities. Of course we may be swept away as by a great tidal wave; some with startling suddenness make shipwreck of the faith and of a good conscience. On the grammatical structure of the first text Vaughan observes: "The aorist expresses the possible suddenness as well as completeness of the defection." The general thought, however, seems to be that the truth may gradually ebb away from us, or that we may drift from the grand articles of the Christian faith. "But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven to and fro in the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some country; and they sounded, and found twenty fathoms: and after a little space, they sounded again, and found

fifteen fathoms. And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosing the bands of the rudders." Graphic picture of many sorrowful histories of defection from the faith! Little by little even distinguished saints have lost the lucidity and assurance of the soul, their confidence in Christ and His teachings becoming gradually shallower and more precarious, until in the end nothing remained but a melancholy skeleton of the once brave bark that bore the pilot of Galilee. We must beware of this mental and moral drifting which sometimes seems to have so much to say for itself, or we may be transported farther and farther into the region of eternal night and winter, like an Arctic ship is borne along with the motion of the drifting ice in which it is bound. "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard." With deep seriousness we must again and again reflect upon and realize in the soul those cardinal doctrines of revelation which alone secure the soul's salvation. Indifference, neglect, or levity towards these great truths of redemption may mean their total eclipse, and that we drift to sea losing sight altogether of the City of God.

There is a drifting away in character. As the years pass we may recede from the ideal instead of approaching it, losing the better qualities and characteristics which we once recognized in ourselves. Recently the Comtesse de Castiglione,

who was one of the most renowed of the beauties of the Second Empire, passed away in Paris. When her beauty began to vanish, her anguish of mind was intense, and displayed itself in her actions and mode of life. She possessed a portrait, or, rather, a full-length picture, of herself by Paul Baudry. One day her friends noticed that it had disappeared from the walls of her drawing-room. The comtesse had fretted over the fact that every day she was growing more and more unlike the exquisite creature portrayed on the canvas, which, in a final fit of anger and vexation, she had cut up into strips with a pair of scissors. Are there not Christian people who with the lapse of years grow more and more unlike the moral portrait of their early history? They have imperceptibly become colder, sourer, narrower, and more selfish the fresh and simple charm, the pure enthusiasm, the sweet and sincere devotion, the kindly disposition and sunny hopefulness of the morning life have given place to harsh and grim features not at all pleasant to contemplate. Blackburn, in his Artistic Travel, tells of seeing an old woman in Brittany with worn hands kneeling on the steps before the altar. The worshipper and the beautiful Madonna before which she worshipped were one and the same; she had sat in her youth as a model for the Holy Virgin, and now she kneels every day before the portrait of her old self. Far more pathetic is it

when the years rob us of the bloom and beauty of the soul. Time will write wrinkles on the brow, efface the lines where beauty lingers, and bow the once erect and stately frame; but spiritual deterioration need not follow: whilst the outer man perishes, the inner life may be renewed day by day. Let beauty of suffering atone for the lost beauty of youth, the tender glow of love and patience succeed the fire of enthusiasm, disciplined purity replace sweet innocence, ripened principles follow generous impulses, and the smile of sympathy better the sparkle of humor. We ought not to envy or worship our older self, but to know that through work and suffering, joy and sorrow, grace and blessing, God has brought us nearer to the likeness of His Son.

XXXVI

ORGANIZED EVIL

Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the mischief of his soul: thus they weave it together.-Micah 7: 3.

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STARTLING insight into the great world of evil against which the righteous war !

Mark the enthusiasm of evil. As the margin gives it: "Both hands are put forth for evil to do it." These conspirators mean to succeed, and so apply themselves to their dark task with might and main. This enthusiasm is displayed in the defense and propagation of error. A diseased brain sometimes reveals itself in extraordinary activity and brilliance; and error similarly asserts itself with a power and passion altogether abnormal. The hands of blind men are proverbial for deftness; and when the eyes of the understanding are put out both hands not uncommonly acquire surprising facility and vigor in mischief.

We see this enthusiasm in practical evil also. What a scene of tremendous energy is the world of iniquity! Evil asserts, diffuses, and defends