66 people the truths which they preach. 'They should continually have the joy of God's salvation." Above all, they should have strong faith in prayer. Of all things, prayer is most needful for the success of the truth in winning souls to Christ. IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. THERE are some truths for which we must dig deeply by research, and others which must be won from reflection upon events of rare occurrence; but this truth" there is importance in little things," we find written on the page of common life, and uttered by the voice of every day. There is something fixed in the very nature of the proposition, which nobody disputes. Every one, when he hears it said that "little things are important," remembers some definite instance in which they were important to him. That but for such and such minute circumstances affairs had not stood with him as now they do; how his influential impressions of the character of another were derived from the observation of a "little thing;" how that some very trifle once told kindly or unkindly on his feelings in a way which he has never forgotten. These and similar remembrances induce us directly to assent to the notion as true. Dr. Johnson asserts, that it "is principally by the study of little things, that in this life we may avoid misery and secure happiness:" and, to quote from a source far higher, "Who hath despised the day of small things?" is the word of the "Lord of Hosts." It is precisely these common, long-admitted, general notions, that it is good for us to reconsider, to analyze, and to admit over again, if we desire that they should influence our conduct. Coleridge speaks of the soul as "too often a sleeping-place of received opinions." We derive the idea expressed by the word "little" from its comparison with what we term "great." It literally signifies, "small, mean, low, not much, nor many," and these qualities of things are, by a kind of paradox, pronounced important. The subject has various aspects, which seem worthy of attention, and capable of improvement. 66 A subject is of importance to a renewed mind as it can be brought to bear upon its progress in the spiritual life; this surely may "the Canaanite, the Hivite and the Perizzite, were to be driven out before Israel, by little and little," a beautiful type of gradual growth in grace, and when the believer is not pressing forward," but, alas! "backward." Is it most often by giant footsteps that he goes out from the presence of God? or by insensible, unconscious degrees? "Enter into thy closet, and shut the door." The last clause of this injunction may be "the little thing" that he neglects, yet upon this is found to depend all the privileges of the first; unless in that sacred retirement, the door is shut upon the worldour world, whatever it may be-we shall "not pray to our Father which is in secret, nor shall He reward us openly." "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." Little things are an index to the volume of character. As the minute circle of a watch is an index to the machinery of its hours, they compose the science of beginnings, with all its momentous interest, the beginnings of good and evil,-" the beginning of strife, which is as the letting out of water," and the beginning of the good work in the heart, which is to be performed until the day of Jesus Christ." Small at first as "the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air, come and lodge in the branches thereof." 66 It might often decide us whether to allow a habit, C at present of neutral tendency, if we asked the question, Is it the beginning of good or evil? Is it a little thing? But whither will it lead? and where will it end? Consequences are among the deep things of God. Mortals can only look upon them in the light of the past and the probable. "The Lord seeth the end from the beginning ;" but it is ours to watch commencements. Life and character are not composed of two or three great accidents, but are a tissue of trifles, a history of degrees: no man ever became worthless in a day, or descended but by gradual steps into the depths of evil. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" 66 How often are the depths of feeling stirred by "little things." Love dwells on trifles and feasts on minute endearments. It can make the greatest sacrifices, but often its tenderest are its least; and how frequently are "little things" the first impulses of all that is generous and lovely in disposition; the spells of home that hang about the heart in after years, are little things, but of mightiest influence over the soul of the wanderer. The mother notes minutest traits, in checking the weeds, and watering the flowers, of character. The silent tear of childhood, if it fall in sympathy for others, how does she mark and cherish! It is but a "little thing," yet the fount of pity had its spring-time in the heart of a Howardand if she perceive that the frost of indifference has but touched the tendrils of her nursling plant, how anxiously does she endeavour to revive and recover it, lest a "little thing" should in time amount to independence and rebellion. In this sense it was said, "The child is father of the man," and that "Character is created in the nursery." How very important is a little thing in narration and description. A word misplaced, an altered tone, a look unfaithfully reported, changes the complexion of a fact, as entirely as the distribution of light affects a landscape, or a line destroys the truth of a portrait; yet how long is every day's chapter of minute exaggerations. To the idea of domestic comfort little things are absolutely essential, their absence best proves their importance. Genius may spurn, and romance may ridicule them, but real life owns their value; yet this section of the subject has an extreme; it is as easy to be absorbed in trifles as to forget them. Most worthless and wearisome is a life passed in the region of minutiæ. Never to rise out of the atmosphere of little facts is not rational, and it is not Christian-it is not to fulfil the end of our being; it is not "to glorify God, and enjoy him for ever.' If this conviction be followed out spiritually, morally, and mentally, the beauty of the natural world lies much in "little things;" grandeur and magnificence abide with its mountains, but who would forget its flowers? In the world of animate and of inanimate existence, "He who feels contempt For any living thing, hath faculties WORDSWORTH. The importance of little things is scattered thickly throughout Scripture history. Only a mess of pottage cost Esau a birthright and a blessing; only a coat of many colours made Joseph the envy of all his brethren; only the talent of silver, and two changes of raiment, made Gehazi and his house "leprous for ever;" only a touch upon the ark of God procured the punishment of Uzzah; only a stone destroyed Goliath. "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." "There are four things which be little on the earth," says Solomon, "but they are exceeding wise The ants are a people not strong, but they prepare their meat in the summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands; the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's palaces." "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" "And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth that is to be ruler in Israel." "Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase." was Finally, if we have to think upon this subject in heaven, we shall probably find that which " first, last, and the last, first." Nothing will then seem "little" to us in the way by which our Father led us home. Earth's pride, and thrones, and all besides, will be but little things. Nothing so great as our least sins, and God's least mercies. We can conceive of no littleness with God, of no trifle in eternity: no law of his can be light, no sin that transgresses it, small. Let us then "watch unto prayer," that a "little thing" be not "the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion." L. N. HINTS TO PARENTS. YOUR children have just entered into a world of sin, and are liable to be led astray by the influence of example and the allurements of the world. You are commanded to train them up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." They were given, or rather lent, to you for this purpose. The influence they receive in their early days will have an important bearing upon their future life and usefulness, and their final destiny. Let not your paternal affection |