"By Their Fruits ye shall Know Them" [pp. 415-416]

THE LADIES' REPOSZTOR Y.
she only managed all her other affitirs as well I
would n't complain. But I want her to appreciate that Awhat we do for her is meant for herself alone. We can't be helping her to provide
for half the toxwn. Now, if she took the money
ml y girls' clothes save her, and used it for herself and her family, how much better off she
wxould be!"
I am not at all sure of that, Katherine."
"XVWhy it stands to reason that ten dollars
saved would buy a number of useful things for
hler house, which she can not have if she squanders it on that girl."
"I think she will have full ten times as much
as she would if she did not take pity on the
poor child, because God will be her pay-master.
He has promised it. But he has made a very
different promise to those who turn coldly away
from his suffering children, and do not minister
unto them. He will say to them, at the last
cday, I Depart from me, ye cursed."'
Kate winced a little at this close arguing, but
she retorted,
"She need not be turned out into the world
to die, without a roof to shelter her. The almshouse has been fixed up until it is quite a nice
place, and quite good enough for people who
have no other home."
"Katherine, if the Lord should come to your
door, sick and destitute, would you call for the
parish cart and have him sent to the poorhouse?"
"WVhat a question, aunt," said the other,
half angrily. "Of course I would not."
"He says:'Inasmuch as ye did it not unto
one of the least of these, ye did it not unto
mle."'
"Then do you think it my duty to take in
every poor, sick straggler, I happen to meet in
lit-e, and give them my nice chambers to sleep
in, and take care of them?"
"'Yes, I think it is your duty to take care of
Chlrist's suffering sick to the extent of your
ability; not thile extent of your inclinations,
for that would stop far short of what God requlires. Your ability is thile only limit he puts
to it."
'WVell, I can tell you, Aunt Mabel, I shall
not make a hospital of my house; I did not fit
it up for that."
"I presume you will not. But what are you
going to answer when Christ asks you why,
when he was sick, you did not minister unto
him?"
"I do n't believe you get the meaning of the
passage. I am sure the Lord never intended
to have us do any thing so disagreeable."
"I can't see why you should think so when
we are told that he pleased not himself, and
that we are bidden to walk even as he walked."
"You do n't find Christians, nowadays, taking,
these things so literally as you do. They live
quite differently from what they used to."
"There are many trying to get to heaven on
the Celestial Railway; but there is an awful
gulf at the end. 0, Katherine, be warned in
time. Tlhere is only one way of judging whlether
persons are true or false professors of Christ.
He gave us the rule, and all the philosophy of
the world has not improved upon it:'By their
fruits ye shall know them.' If all your labors
are spent on self, you are none of his. Is n't
that an awful thought? The time is quickly
coming when you would give more to have
some child of God say,'I was sick and poor
and she took me into her house and nursed and
cared for me till I was well again,' than you
will to have your children say,'My mother
always dressed us the most elegantly of any
children in town. She labored for us constantly, and strove to have our house the most
elegant and beautifully adorned of any of our
neighlbors.' Will this be much to show for a
life-workl?"
The silver-lhaired old lady's words were
spoklen as l)y one who had looked beyond this
bound of time to the great day when the awar(ds
of eternity should be bestowed. They smote
on the worldly heart of the listener, and made it
uneasy for a time. But, alas! here ended their
influence. Wily was the truth so powerless?
Because the heart was yet unrenewed. Thlough
numbered with Chlrist's fold, she had no place
there. She was one of the tares whom tlhe
Lord bade let grow tog,ethler withl the wheat
until the harvest.
Reader, of whlichl class are you, "the tares
or the wheat?" "By their fruits ye shall know
them."
IN the Christian life itself, is not religion
something which is put into it, rather than the
substance of lwhichl it is made? Is not piety
used as the garnisher of food, instead of being,
our very meat and drink? Do we not eat one
dinner of sanctity on Sabbath, and then try to
live on the odor of it all the week? Are we
not Christians because it is respectable; because, on the whole, it makes life more polished,
more agreeable, more sweet-tasted, rather than
as a matter of life and death? And, if we did
not go to church, and stop now and then at the
communion table, and let fall occasionally a few
pious words, would it be known, firom the very
substance of our souls, that we are servants
of the Lord Jesus?
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