uddenly
the vision of better things breaks through the cloud and storm. Then
the vision strikes clarity into reason, memory and imagination. In
these hours the soul scoffs at sordid things. As the flower climbs
upward to escape from the slough, as the foot turns away from the
mire, as the nostril avoids the filth, as the ear hates discord, so in
these hours the soul scoffs at selfishness and sin. Oh, how beautiful
seem purity and gentleness, and sympathy and truth! And these hours
are big with prophecy. They tell us what the soul shall be when time
and God's resources have wrought their will upon man. They are to be
cherished as the mariner cherishes the guiding star that stands upon
the horizon; they are to be cherished as some traveler, lost in a
close, dark forest, cherishes the moment when the sun breaks through a
rift in the clouds and he takes his bearings out of the swamp and
toward his home. Visions are God within the soul. They come to lead
man away from sin and sorrow. They come to guide him to his heavenly
home.

THE USES OF BOOKS AND READING

"Bring with the books."--_Paul._

"A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit
embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond
life."--_Milton._

"God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the
distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual
life of past ages. In the best books great men talk to
us, give us their most precious thoughts and pour their
souls into ours."--_Channing._

"All that mankind has done, thought or been is lying as
in magic preservation in the pages of books. They are the
chosen possession of men."--_Carlyle._

"We need to be reminded every day how many are the books
of inimitable glory, which, with all our eagerness after
reading, we have never taken into our hands. It will
astonish most of us to find how much of our very industry
is given to the books which have no worth, how often we
rake in the litter of the printing press, whilst a crown
of gold and rubies is offered us in vain."--_F.
Harrison._

XI

THE USES OF BOOKS AND READING

Paul was at once a thinker, a theologian, and a statesman, because he
was always a scholar. One duty he never neglected--the duty of
self-culture through reading. Certain companions were ever with
him--his favorite authors. Imprisoned