stones, and were pierced through with cruel nails, that our feet
might be shod for earth's rough roads, and might at last enter the
gates of pearl and walk on heaven's gold-paved streets.

Dropping all figure, the whole lesson is that we cannot get along on
our life's pilgrimage without Christ; but having Christ we shall be
ready for anything that may come to us along the days and years.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE SHUTTING OF DOORS.

"Never delay
To do the duty which the hour brings,
Whatever it be in great or smaller things;
For who doth know
What he shall do the coming day?"

The shutting of a door is a little thing and yet it may have infinite
meaning. It may fix a destiny for weal or for woe. When God shut the
door of the ark the sound of its closing was the knell of exclusion to
those who were without, but it was the token of security to the little
company of trusting ones who were within. When the door was shut upon
the bridegroom and his friends who had gone into the festal hall, thus
sheltering them from the night's darkness and danger, and shutting them
in with joy and gladness, there were those outside to whose hearts the
closing of that door smote despair and woe. To them it meant hopeless
exclusion from all the privileges of those who were within and exposure
to all the sufferings and perils from which those favored ones were
protected.

Here we have hints of what may come from the closing of a door. Life
is full of illustrations. We are continually coming up to doors which
stand open for a little while and then are shut. An artist has tried
to teach this in a picture. Father Time is there with inverted
hour-glass. A young man is lying at his ease on a luxurious couch,
while beside him is a table spread with rich fruits and viands.
Passing by him toward an open door are certain figures which represent
opportunities; they come to invite the young man to nobleness, to
manliness, to usefulness, to worth. First is a rugged, sun-browned
form, carrying a flail. This is labor. He invites the youth to toil.
He has already passed far by unheeded. Next is a philosopher, with
open book, inviting the young man to thought and study, that he may
master the secrets in the mystic volume. But this opportunity, too, is
disregarded. The youth has no desire for learning. Close behind the
philosopher comes a woman with bowed form, carrying a child. Her dress
betokens widowhood and po